Flying diary
15 December 2006 - Charlie Richardson
Both days look just about flyable if you are interested for this weekend.
08 December 2006 - Charlie Richardson
Sunday looks blown out. Saturday may be flyable this weekend.
23 November 2006 - Charlie Richardson
Im afraid this weekend also looks blown out at present. There is a slim chance that wind speeds may drop a touch on Sunday afternoon.
09 November 2006 - Charlie Richardson
No flying last weekend - everyone busy doing other things...
This weekend looks blown out at present.
03 November 2006 - Charlie Richardson
We had a good sunny day's flying last Sunday, even some gentle thermals around - sufficient to maintain height and Jason won the day with a 150' height gain! Very relaxing towing and flying and it was good to see George and John Leggott out with us again.
This weekend looks flyable with Saturday being the better day. With this cold, dry airmass, sunny skies and reasonably light winds there ought to be stronger usable thermic activity than last weekend. Remember that you need to get out early at this time of the year - we started flying at 11.30 and finished flying at 16.00 last Sunday.
28 October 2006 - Charlie Richardson
We will be flying tomorrow (Sunday). Looks sunny and light winds in the afternoon. If you turn up remember to get there early - the clocks will have gone back so we will be finishing earlier.
26 October 2006 - Charlie Richardson
Finally we have a weekend that looks flyable, at least on Sunday. With a cool light northerly wind and sunshine forecast it may even have some bits of thermal stuff. Let's get you out flying before you all turn into winter mode.
19 October 2006 - Charlie Richardson
There was no flying last weekend.
This weekend looks blown out on Sunday and probably windy on Saturday.
13 October 2006 - Charlie Richardson
No-one flew last weekend, although Sunday turned out ot be flyable.
This weekend looks definitely flyable and reasonably sunny for Saturday. Sunday currently looks too windy at upper levels.
05 October 2006 - Charlie Richardson
There was no flying last weekend - blown out. Forecast looks windy for this weekend as well.
29 September 2006 - Charlie Richardson
There was no flying last weekend - too many people away doing other things which is a shame as Sunday looked good.
This weekend looks blown out on Sunday. Saturday should be flyable.
22 September 2006 - Charlie Richardson
Last Sunday turned out to be a nicely gentle day. A light south westerly wind and large areas of 0-1 up meant that maintaining and slowly gaining height was possible although there was nothing strong enough to do XCs. Sort of lovely relaxing towing and flying.
This weekend looks flyable on Saturday and possibly Sunday. Saturday is lighter wind and some forecasts are suggesting it could be reasonably good.
15 September 2006 - Charlie Richardson
Last Sunday turned out to be an excellent flying day. Light SEs and an almost blue sky brightened the spirit to start with and it proved to be more thermic with a higher inversion layer (@3800) than forecast. At least 4 of us had a really good couple of hours in the air with a 5 mph drift and woolly 0-1 up thermals holding little 2-4 cores that lasted for a few hundred feet. If you could avoid the sink between thermals this combination allowed everyone to stay up within sight of the field and I managed a small scoring out and return. The highpoint of the day for me was watching Steve Wood thermalling for 3 or 4 360's with a bird of prey (marsh harrier?) about 200 ft below me at 2500'.
The low point of the day was Roger getting knocked on the back of the head by the wingtip of a landing glider. He was knocked unconscious for a short while. We eventually got him to hospital to get checked out and he's fine and fit. There are some lessons to be learned by us all in this incident. An incident report is being prepared.
This weekend looks flyable both days with a slightly more thermic looking forecast for Sunday. Get out there and get flying - there are not many thermic days left this year!
07 September 2006 - Charlie Richardson
It was blown out last weekend.
This weekend looks flyable with Sunday currently having the lighter winds.
31 August 2006 - Charlie Richardson
A small contingent was out flying last Sunday, enjoying rather ragged thermals due to the strongish winds above 200'.
This weekend looks blown out for aerotowing as far as I can see, which is a shame as it is the date of the annual Charity-Fly-In that the microlight club organises. If you can get out it would be good - Sunday looks dry at least. There will be a number of other attractions for the family at the field, including microlight trips. Keep an eye on the forecast in case it does somehow change.
24 August 2006 - Charlie Richardson
There was no flying last weekend, again due to the weather...
This bank holiday weekend is looking flyable Saturday and Sunday. Saturday could be good, light winds and thermic once early showers clear. Sunday may be equally good. Monday currently looks blown out. Keep an eye on the forecast.
18 August 2007 - Charlie Richardson
There was no flying last weekend due to the wonderful weather...
This weekend is looking non-flyable Saturday and probably flyable on Sunday.
10 August 2006 - Charlie Richardson
Last Saturday was brilliant! Ideal conditions for aerotowing, almost nil wind, thermals between 2 and 8 up and cloudbase rising from 3500' at 12.30 to 5500' at 18.00 with no top cover.
Three of us managed triangles, for Steve Wood and Brian Young this was their first triangle. Brian launched to start his at 4.00pm! Everybody got to cloudbase at least once, had at least 90 minutes in the air and DECIDED to land once they had had enough, rather than landing because they had to. If you missed it, you regretted it! (Neville - where were you?)
This weekend is not looking so good. Sunday may be flyable. I think Saturday will be wet and windy.
04 August 2006 - Charlie Richardson
We will be flying tomorrow (Saturday). Depending on whether we end up in the "Central" airmass that has a WeatherJack 4 on it, or not, it could be a really good day. My punt is that we will be in the good air...
03 August 2006 - Charlie Richardson
A few of us were out last Saturday and for a while the conditions were brilliant, before the encroaching front cut off the full power of the sun. Steve Wood and yours truly got dropped by Roger into wide and wonderful first thermals at 2000' and hoovered up to 5300' averaging 600'/min. I got joined by 8 fixed wing gliders above and below who came over to join me when they saw I was going up faster than them. They then nicely marked my second thermal making the first 10 miles of XC a breeze. With a goal of making it to the Norfolk club site at Hill Farm I unfortunately was forced to track around the wrong side of Marham with the thermals getting weaker under the front. I finally ended up 10k from goal at 1500' being blown away from it and finding no lift strong enough to get up quick and go upwind to goal.
This weekend looks flyable both days with Saturday the preferred day due to light winds and probably less cloud. Sunday may have slightly stronger winds and cloud from a warm front although forecasts keep changing. Cloudbase is forecast to be 5000'. It could be good for triangles and Out and Returns on Saturday.
20 July 2006 - Charlie Richardson
Last Sunday turned out to be potentially the best day of the year so far, completely against unforecast! Weahterjack only gave it a 1 with low inversion. Those who managed to brave the heat and turn out found light winds and thermals breaking through the inversion (@3000') taking them up to 5500'. Those who turned out had big smiles on their faces and plenty of fun. Those who did not (like myself) have suffered a fair amount of taunting....
This weekend looks flyable both days with Saturday having lighter winds but possibly some early showers clearing away.
13 July 2006 - Charlie Richardson
Last Saturday turned out to have more spreadout than we wanted although it did cycle at times. Thermals were punchy, and scrappy. Marek managed to get away after having got to cloudbase at 5000' to land at Littleport. The rest of us had a good but frustrating play.
This weekend looks flyable both days with Sunday having slightly lighter winds but probably a lower inversion.
07 July 2006 - Charlie Richardson
We will be flying tomorrow. The forecast suggests a 60k+ goal of somewhere in North Norfolk...
06 July 2006 - Charlie Richardson
Last Sunday was hot (31C) and sunny with 5-10 South Easterlies and for about 3 hours through the middle of the day there was some good lift to be had if you were lucky enough to find it at low level. Richard Murphy and I managed to get away and both make it past Peterborough. The lift was scrappy and strong at times, I was in 800'up at 4000-5000' above Peterborough before it rapidly got weaker and disappeared. Neither of us reached base which was over 6000'.
This weekend only looks flyable on Saturday with potentially a good forecast. The winds on Sunday currently look too strong.
29 June 2006 - Charlie Richardson
Last Sunday was more cloudy than predicted but there was still some reasonable thermic activity to be had.
We will definitely be flying tomorrow (Friday 30th) - with a good light wind thermic forecast. Roger cannot make Saturday but we should be on for Sunday when a high cloudbase is forecast.
Remember for midweek flying to check the NOTAMs!
27 June 2006 - Charlie Richardson
The forecast is looking good for the end of the week and a few people phave indicated an interest in flying on Friday.
24 June 2006 - Charlie Richardson
WeatherJack has just upgraded the south to a 3. For anyone who is interested it is worth getting an early start tomorrow. It may be better earlier on than later. Forecast is for 5mph NE, with wind lighter at 5000' and cloudbase @4500'. Some possibility of higher cloud as well but if it is anything like today then there will be some strong thermic activity.
23 June 2006 - Charlie Richardson
Last Saturdayturned out to be good up to 12.00 and then good after 15.30 with 8/8 cloud cover through the middle of the day. A few nice thermals to cloudbase (@4500') allowed us to play at the end of the afternoon. Sunday was bordering on too strong and no-one turned out.
This weekend looks flyable both days with Sunday having really light winds and Saturday probably being fairly light as well. Sunday looks like slightly the better day although there will be significant cloud on both days accoring to the forecast.
15 June 2006 - Charlie Richardson
Despite the fact that last Sunday was really hot (30 degrees) we still managed to find some thermic activity. Jason and Richard Murphy had some good climbs but decided not to go XC due to another low inversion level. David Drake was there trying out his new Aeros Phantom, but that is another story.
This weekend looks flyable both days with Saturday having really light winds and Sunday probably being fairly light as well.
08 June 2006 - Charlie Richardson
We had a fun day last Saturday, a good number of tows and even some strong thermals to be found. Unfortunately the low inversion (less than 2500') and abundance of sink did not encourage anyone to dive off XC, it also made the tows interesting at times...
This weekend looks flyable both days with my crystal ball suggesting Sunday may be slightly lighter winds.
01 June 2006 - Charlie Richardson
At last - a weekend that will be flyable!!! It currently looks ok for both days with lighter winds (good for Aerotowing) forecast.
26 May 2006 - Charlie Richardson
This bank holiday weekend looks windy but there may be changes so keep an eye on the forecast and call if you are interested.
19 May 2006 - Charlie Richardson
We got out and flew last Sunday, and it actually turned out to be quite pleasant in the afternoon, even if there was very little in the way of thermals.
This weekend looks no good for Saturday and possibly wet but otherwise flyable on Sunday.
12 May 2006 - Charlie Richardson
Last weekend was wet both days.
This weekend looks flyable both days with probable showers on Saturday. Forcasts vary but Sunday looks slightly less likely to be showers, and slightly lighter winds. Please let us know as early as possible which day(s) you want to fly.
05 May 2006 - Charlie Richardson
The tug engine was re-fitted and tested after its service, with 6 good tows eventually being made at the end of last Saturday. The forecast for last Sunday was wet and miserable so no-one bothered getting up and out, resulting in a number of us cursing the light winds and small cu in the morning. It did completely cloud over by 14.30 though.
This weekend looks wet on Sunday with Saturday having much cloud, light winds and possible showers. Not promising but given recent frustrations with weather it is probably flyable on Saturday and who knows - the weatherman may be wrong again.
28 April 2006 - Charlie Richardson
This weekend looks flyable at times each day but forecasts are varying. Saturday currently looks best, - with lighter winds but showers on Sunday and Monday.
The tug engine has just come back from a service and will be fitted on Saturday morning - so things may get going later than normal on Saturday, which may fit in with a decreasing wind forecast in the afternoon.
21 April 2006 - Charlie Richardson
We did get out flying over Easter but the weather did not end up helping us much. High level 8/8 cloud and light winds on Saturday allowed a number of us to get back into practice on Aerotowing, with occasional bits of 0-1 up to lengthen the flights. Sunday was rained out and Monday looked wonderful but proved too windy with winds of 17-20mph and gusting higher.
This weekend looks flyable both days, with light winds and the South East probably the best part of the country.
13 April 2006 - Charlie Richardson
AT LAST THE WEATHER IS LOOKING FLYABLE AND AEROTOWABLE and possibly THERMIC!
Friday may be a bit too gusty and rough, with forecasts showing 10-15 knots at ground level and 15-20 knots at 3000'.
Saturday is looking like the best day for winds with light SSE going to light and variable later and some thermic stuff.
Sunday and Monday winds are looking slightly stronger but flyable.
At the moment we are lining up for Saturday and possibly Sunday and/or Monday. WE WILL BE OUT FLYING AT LEAST ON SATURDAY as we have a crew.
07 April 2006 - Charlie Richardson
Saturday is blown out. Sunday looks iffy, may be too windy and may be low (2000') cloudbase, but the forecasts could prove wrong (that is as strong as my optimism can get at present) Keep an eye on the forecasts.
31 March 2006 - Charlie Richardson
Yet again a poor looking forecast for the weekend. It must get better soon...
23 March 2006 - Charlie Richardson
When will we get a decent spell of weather!
This weekend does not currently look flyable. Too windy, with a slight chance for Saturday.