Current again

After dropping out of currency before Christmas, I’d been trying to find time to get a currency check in with an Instructor so that I could be up and flying again. Finally managed to grab a brief 1 hour 30 minute slot, and arranged with Mike to do a currency check and combine it with the required one hour flight with an Instructor in preparation for the revalidation of my Class Rating in June.

The weather the day before was decidedly unflyable, and the TAFs didn’t hold out much hope for improvement, so I went to bed expecting to be cancelling the flight in the morning. As it happened, the morning was a little misty, but this mist soon lifted leaving clear blue skies and perfect flying weather. The only downside was that the calm wind conditions meant that unless things changed I wouldn’t also be able to get the new ‘crosswind’ signoff required by Lyneham.

I arrived at the Club in good time as usual, to find the aircraft just taxying in. I thought this would be a good result, meaning I’d have more time than I’d previously thought. However, it turned out that this was the aircraft returning from its first flight of the day (mine was the 3rd!) and the pilot for the 2nd flight was waiting in the club. Fortunately he wasn’t going far, and promised to try to get back in good time for my booking.

Mike arrived and we discussed what we wanted to cover in the flight. I wanted to at least get the currency check done, and ideally 3 landings so that I could ‘reset’ my passenger carrying requirement (to carry passengers I have to have completed 3 take off and landings in the last 90 days). Mike arranged for us to head over to Colerne for some circuits while I booked us out in preparation for the aircraft returning. Once the circuits were out of the way we would then do some general handling to cover the ‘revalidation’ flight requirements.

Luckily the aircraft arrived back a mere 5 minutes late, so we still had the best part of an hour and a half to carry out the 1 hour flight in.

Mike and I headed out to the aircraft as soon as it had parked up, and Mike refuelled it while I carried out a quick transit check. Once this was done, we loaded up and I began preparations for the flight. This was slightly complicated by having to use a new version of the checklist that has been recently issued, so things were a bit slower than usual as a result of this and the fact that I hadn’t flown for over 2 months.

We were soon taxying out towards the runway, and completing the power checks at the usual place (it was unusual to have to remember to allow an Instructor to check their brakes during the taxy checks!). These were completed normally, and we were given clearance out onto the runway.

After a normal takeoff, Mike pointed out that I was climbing with the aircraft slightly out of balance (some right rudder is required when the engine is at full power) so I tidied this up and we headed out to Colerne. As we passed Chippenham I asked for a frequency change, and we started talking to Colerne. They gave us a straight in approach to their runway 25, and I lined us up for this.

They’d asked us to report ‘2 miles’ and Mike had to correct my gross under-estimation of the distance to the field (we were about 5 miles out when I estimated we were 2!). I reported this, and began the descent. After a (rather late) pre-landing checklist, I continued to descend, and it wasn’t until we got down to about 600 feet that Mike piped up ‘Oh, this is going to be flapless is it?’

Whoops. Just goes to show how much you can forget after a relatively brief period without flying!

I cranked in two stages of flap, and got our airspeed stabilised. As we approached the runway we were cleared to land, and I got the final stage of flap in. The first landing was far from great. I allowed the airspeed to decay a bit more than I should, which meant we ran out of energy in the flare and plonked down on the runway rather more heavily than I would have liked.

Carb heat off, flaps away, full power and we were heading down the runway. Mike confirmed with the Controller the type of circuits they wanted (when their circuit is active, Colerne prefer Oval circuits. It was quiet today though, so we stuck with rectangular ones). The first circuit went Ok, but I started the landing checks before calling ‘Downwind’ which Mike picked me up on. Another ‘Oops’.

The second approach and landing were much better, but still not what I would like to think of as my usual standard! We went around for a third attempt, and this time all the elements came together and I made a much more gentle touchdown. Even though I’d initially forgotten how to land, it soon came back luckily!

We informed the Controller that we were clearing to the North, and headed out to clearer airspace for the general handling section. We initially headed North to try to get clear of the bank of cloud above us, but it soon became clear that this stretched further than it initially appeared. As it was I climbed up to just over 3000 feet in preparation for some stalls.

My first HASELL checks in a while were carried out (Height, Airframe, Safety / Security, Engine, Location, Lookout) and we tried a clean stall at idle power. I thought it went Ok, but Mike said I should be a bit more positive in getting the nose down, and also to take care to keep us in balance as we climbed out (again!). Second stall was in approach configuration with 2 stages of flap and ‘descent’ power set (about 1500 RPM). Again, this went Ok, so we turned back to the North for some steep turns.

These were always a bit hit and miss for me, and the first one we did to the left was Ok, but just Ok. Mike had me do another to the right and this went much better. He commented that everyone had a ‘better side’ for these, but I thought that it was just that it was my second one. He told me to have another go to the left, and this one went much better too.

The last item we’d briefed was a PFL (practice forced landing). This simulates an engine failure, where we have to pick a suitable field to land in and glide down towards it. Mike pulled the power, and I began to look for a field. He had to remind me to first of all get the correct airspeed set for ‘Best Glide’. Once this was done, I picked a field, and started flying a ‘circuit’ around it. I ended up too close in at the end of the Downwind leg, which meant I would never get the 180 degree turn in (stalling into the ground because of a vain attempt to make an impossible turn is a frequent occurrence in accident reports).

I made the decision to change to a field slightly further away, and began an approach to this. This was better, but I ended up high as we approached it (a regular theme in my training) and we climbed away for another go.

This one went much better, and I was well set up for the chosen field as we got down low. Mike announced he was happy, and we climbed away.

All that was left now was for us to head back to Lyneham. As we departed the wind had picked up to around 8 or 10 knots, so I hoped to be able to land on the ‘wrong’ runway (18) to get the crosswind landing in. Sadly that runway was being used to fly model aircraft, so we were forced to approach for the into wind runway 24.

All was quiet at Lyneham as we joined, and I took us in for another nice landing, gently braking to allow us to make the turn for the 18 loop. We taxyed back to the Club, and headed inside for a debrief.

Mike was generally happy. He reminded me of the couple of things that we’d discussed during the flight, and also mentioned a slight issue with my radio work. It’s accepted that the initial call on a frequency is generally very brief, with the Controller then asking you to pass full details once you are ready. I hadn’t realised, but today I was launching into the full ‘Pass your message’ response in my initial call. This is relatively bad form, as at this point it’s perfectly possible for the Controller to be on the phone, so all you end up doing is clogging up the airwaves twice as you have to repeat everything. I’ve never had any issue with this in the past, so hopefully it was just another thing that had been forgotten in my longer than normal layoff.

Generally a good flight, and a useful reminder as to why the Club has currency rules in the first place. My flying was dramatically worse at the start of the flight due to the amount of time I’d had since the last flight. Hopefully that won’t happen again!

The track

Total flight time today: 1:05
Total flight time to date: 105:45

2009 Summary

After looking back through my logbook, the relevant stats for 2009 (my first full year as a PPL holder) are:

22:20 flying hours

20 flights

8 landaways

5 new airfields visited.

Perhaps not as much as I would like, but you have to factor in the birth of Catrin in February, which means there are often other demands on my time these days!

2010 will hopefully see me train for the IMC rating, and possibly Night Qualification too. Apart from that, the plan is to extend my range, ideally visiting Anglesey (either Valley or Caernarfon on the mainland) and perhaps a trip to the Continent too. Lets see how many of these goals I actually meet!

Flying family? Not this time

Since Catrin was born in February, we’d been waiting until she was big enough for the next stage car seat so that we could get one that would work in an aircraft. We’ve now done this, so today we hoped to take her up for her first flight.

Sadly, the winter weather put paid to that, and I’m now likely to drop out of currency with Lyneham (unless I get to fly in the next few days). Will probably end up taking an enforced break until next year now.

Gloucester, Brize and The Bridges with Mr. Bridges!

It had been a month or so since my last flight, and I was beginning to get a bit antsy about going out of currency. The weather forecast wasn’t great, so Glen and I hatched a plan for a local landaway at Gloucester. We’d make the two legs a bit protracted so that it wasn’t just a 10 minute hop to the North!

Glen flew the outbound leg, and had planned a route via the Severn bridges. This is one of my regular flights with passengers, as it’s a good ‘familiar’ landmark to fly over with people who don’t fly in light aircraft very often.

Glen initially had a little trouble getting the engine started, but some tips from Keith helped out, and we were soon up and running. All checks normal, and we were soon heading out to the runway and lining up. Take off went normally, and Glen headed us out of the zone towards Malmesbury.

He set course for the first leg to the bridges, and after a few minutes I noticed that the heading we were flying didn’t seem quite right. I left Glen to it for a while, before eventually asking “What’s our planned heading?”. Glenn told me, then checked the DI, which was some 3o or 40 degrees to the right of where we should have been. Glen had done the sensible thing and set the heading bug on the DI for the correct course, and then followed the other heading bug!

This was soon corrected, and we headed out over the bridges. Once over the Severn we turned North, heading towards Cinderford to avoid the bird sanctuary towards the top end of the Severn Estuary.

Glen had to keep climbing and descending to avoid the odd clump of clouds, and in general it was a pretty quiet day in the air. We’d been listening in to Filton, before switching to Gloucester as we got closer.

We were given an overhead join, and asked to report two miles from the field. As we approached we were given traffic information, a Firefly approaching the field from the North. We spotted as we neared the overhead, and Glen executed a nice overhead join. We trundled around the circuit, with me keeping an eye out for the Firefly behind us, before Glen got us nicely down on the runway, and slowed down in plenty of time to make the intersection and get off the active runway.

Neither of us had been to Gloucester before, so I had my airfield plan ready to follow the taxy instructions. These basically amounted to ‘keep turning left, then park next to the Cessna’. We weren’t too sure which side of the Cessna to park, so opted for the far side. It was only as Glen got us nicely parked that I noticed that this put us right in front of the exit from the Fire Station! Probably not a good idea! He moved us round to the other side, and we shut down and headed in for lunch.

Had a nice lunch while I planned the trip back. It had been a while since I did a Zone Transit, so I planned to route out to the East, transit the Brize Zone, then track towards the Membury services (and the large mast there) before heading back into Lyneham.

Fox Whiskey on the Ramp at Gloucester

Took a quick shot of Fox Whiskey on the apron before we got ready for the trip back. Glen helped with the route from our parking space to the runway, and we made a normal departure. I was careful to respect the noise abatement procedure (maintain runway heading until passing the big hill on the left) and then headed for the M5 motorway junction to start the Nav.

We were routing towards the Northleach Roundabout, roughly following the A40. About half way there I told Gloucester we were switching to Brize Radar, and they told us to set a specific squawk for Brize, and contact them on the Brize Zone frequency. So much for me getting some Zone Transit practice, it was all co-ordinated for us!

Talking to Brize again certainly brought back some happy memories of my training, and we headed towards Burford. I was definitely on familiar ground here, and I pointed out Little Rissington to Glen, and the garden centre at Burford that makes it quite easy to spot. We routed through the Zone towards Faringdon, meandering a little as I did a bit of sightseeing rather than concentrating on the route!

As we left Brize Zone, I prepared to tell them I was ‘changing on route’ when they called me with a squawk for Lyneham, and told me to contact them! My practice flight had suddenly become a lot less challenging due to some helpful Controllers contacting the next station for me and pre-coordinating everything! Oh well!

Lyheham wanted to know if we were recovering, but I told them we were going via Membury. Was asked to report back when we were recovering, and we headed towards the mast at Membury. Initially this wasn’t immediately visible due to the slightly hazy conditions, but it soon appeared from the gloom. We spotted the small airfield near the services (on a couple of occasions while heading down the M4 I’d seen light aircraft cross the motorway very low, obviously on Final for an airfield) before turning towards Lyneham.

The recovery was coordinated easily as Lyneham appeared to be quite quiet. There was initially some confusion on my part as we got closer, with me mis-identifying Lyneham in the haze (I was probably heading for Chippenham!). The extra set of eyes in the right seat helped put me straight on this (I guess that’s one mistake each on this flight!) and we joined Left Base for 24 as normal.

The approach was all relatively straightfoward, and we touched down with the stall warner blaring nicely, and easily slowed to make the turnoff at the 18 loop. We taxyed back in, refuelled and put the aircraft to bed. Another successful flight, where to next I wonder?

The Route and Track

Total flight time today: 0:50
Total flight time to date: 104:40

At Bembridge, going around (and around, and around)

I’d made contact with Glen via UKGA. He’s another (very young!) pilot flying from Lyneham, and was interested in cost sharing flights to expand his experience and (obviously) keep his costs down. We hatched a plan to go to Bembridge, with me flying the outbound leg and him flying the return.

I planned my usual conservative route, staying well outside Controlled Airspace, and let him come up with his own route for the return leg. The weather looked almost ideal with relatively high cloudbase and almost nil wind.

We met at Lyneham, and filled the aircraft with fuel to avoid having to refuel at Bembridge. I’d completed my plan while waiting for Glen, and carried out the ‘A’ check while letting him warm up a bit after his long ride in on his motorbike!

With auth gained from Mike, we headed out to the aircraft. I took the left seat and hooked up my new phone to act as backup GPS for the flight. It has a built in GPS and is still able to run Memory Map, giving me CAA charts and a line to follow, with the added advantage of allowing me to download track logs to include in these blogs.

All settled, we called for start and taxi clearance and headed out to the 18 loop. We had to sit for a while waiting for the engine to warm up before I could carry out the power checks, and were then given immediate clearance to line up and take off. Once airborne and talking to Zone, turned crosswind and downwind for the leg out of the zone to M4 J15, where I would start the ‘Nav’ proper.

The flight outbound was relatively uneventful, the only minor difficulty being checking in with Farnborough Radar. The frequency was incredibly busy as I tried to make my initial call, but for some reason as soon I was had made contact with them it went virtually silent!

There was little traffic around today, and the Navigation was relatively easy despite the slight haze. We were soon approaching the South coast, so left Farnborough and switched over to Bembridge.

It was immediately obvious that they were getting pretty busy! We were about the third aircraft to call for information, and later one pilot called and was given runway in use, QFE and ‘about 7 other aircraft joining’. His only response was ‘My God!’.

I was trying to build a mental picture of the other traffic and having some difficulty spotting the other people in the circuit. The main reason I couldn’t see them was that people didn’t appear to be flying Bembridge’s correct ‘noise abatement’ circuit (out over the sea) and instead were flying straight over the local villages. I opted to do the same rather than create my own circuit, and slotted in behind another aircraft joining Downwind from my right.

At this point, things started to get a little manic. I turned Base, then was just making the Final turn and getting ready to call ‘Final’, when another aircraft called Final just before me. He was out to my left, perhaps half a mile further out to sea and slightly lower. I’m pretty sure the rules of the air gave me right of way (I was established in the circuit) but having another aircraft immediately behind me as I went down Final wasn’t ideal, so I made an early decision to go around.

After the go around, I turned crosswind and was preparing to turn downwind when another aircraft appeared on the downwind heading off to my left. Again, I was in the circuit so should have right of way, but discretion seemed the better idea, so I turned behind him and followed him around the circuit.

This circuit went pretty well, but I managed to mess up the approach and ended up a bit high and fast. As I flared it became obvious that I was using up too much runway, so another go around was in order!

So, time for a third attempt. Again, a relatively normal approach, and I trundled down Final as another aircraft landed ahead of me. He seemed to take quite a while to clear the runway after he had landed, and as I was about to touch down he was still a few yards from the opposite end of the runway. I need to read up on the rules of the air again, as I’m not sure whether it would be legal for me to ‘land after’ him (in reality there was plenty of distance between us, but he was still occupying the runway). However, at the time I again decided that discretion was better and went around for a third time.

By now I was starting to get a little flustered, but was determined not to let things get to me. I flew another normal circuit, and was about to turn base when another aircraft announced he was joining on base. Our eyes were on stalks as this was a potentially dangerous situation, but the only other aircraft I could spot was probably 2 or 3 miles further out to sea. He continued to approach the field though, so I announced ‘G-CC extending downwind for aircraft on loooooooong Final’ and followed him. This approach finally culminated in a successful landing, and by now I was definitely considering a pint as reward for my efforts! One good thing was that despite all the issues I’d had, the landing finally turned out to be a pretty good one, and I did my best to clear the runway as quickly as possible.

One of many approaches to Bembridge!

Once parked up, we headed in for some well earned lunch. For the first time in my flying career I really fancied a pint after a flight, and this time I could have one! Sadly Bembridge don’t seem to have a bar. Boo!

My 4 attempts to land!

Got chatting to another pilot in the queue for lunch, who commented on how busy it was that day, and asked if I’d had any problems. I told him I’d had to go around 3 times, and ended up following someone in on ‘about a 7 mile Final’. He looked sheepish, and admitted that was probably him. Turned out he’s a CPL holder who’s used to flying ILS approaches, and was trying to get enough single engine hours in to revalidate his rating (he’d mostly been flying twins).

We sat outside in the gorgeous weather, eating our lunch and chatting over the flight. Once finished, we decided a tour of the Island was in order, and we headed off back to the aircraft, this time with Glen taking the left seat for the trip home.

His route took us much closer to Controlled Airspace, cutting the corner of  the Solent CTA where it only starts at about 2000 feet. Perfectly legal, and something I should probably get a bit more confidence in doing. Currently my routes generally take the ‘long way around’ to make sure I don’t run the risk of infringing Controlled Airspace, but at some point I’m going to have to be brave and plan a route straight through!

After spotting that I’d left the master switch on (luckily there was still plenty of juice in the battery to get the engine started!) Glen took us for an anti-clockwise tour of the Island, and we flew at low level over the sea for most of it. It was a little strange at first being in the right hand seat of a light aircraft with someone else flying, but it wasn’t as bad as I’d initially feared it would be (I’m not the best of passengers, even in a car!).

A good view of The Needles

Glen took us North after the Island tour, and signed on with Farnborough again. We were just in time to hear another aircraft being told to descend immediately, as he was in Controlled Airspace. Whoops!

Glen’s route took us close to Popham, a microlight field with a very unusual approach. You approach the runway with a slight offset to avoid a petrol station near the end of the runway, before making a turn just before touching down to align with the runway. There’s even a white arrow painted in the field to show you which way you’re supposed to fly!

Glen had to alter course a few times to avoid a couple of helicopters that seemed to be bimbling about in no particular direction, and at one point I spotted an aircraft on a similar path to us but well below us. I can’t see it have being anywhere near 500 feet AGL, my best guess was perhaps 100 or 200 feet at most! He flew directly over some buildings at that height, not a particularly clever or considerate thing to do!

We passed the Rivar Hill gliding field, and several small strips (including Clench Common) as we approached Lyneham. Glen contacted Approach, and was initially told to ‘Standby’, before we received our clearance into the Zone. We diverted slightly off track to take a look at Avebury from the air, before heading into the Zone.

Passing Avebury

I managed to confuse myself initially, wondering what that huge airfield in front of us was (it was Lyneham!) as Glen set us up for a Base join for 26. Glen made a nice approach, with a good landing at the end of it. We were a little long for the 18 loop, but Glen brought us to a stop and we backtracked a few yards and headed back to the wash bay.

Fox Whisky was heading out as we approached, and the Firefly was at the bowser, so we parked off to one side before dragging G-VICC over to be refuelled, and pushed it back to parking to tie down and put the cover back on. These were definitely jobs that are a lot easier with two people than just one!

While we sorted out the paperwork back at the club, we discussed other fields we’d like to visit. Hopefully Glen and I will make more flights together, gradually expanding our boundaries as we both gain more confidence. Keeping the cost down is also a useful side effect!

On the whole, this was a very interesting flight. I was a little surprised by some of the relatively poor circuit discipline at Bembridge, but felt I’d handled it well given the circumstances. As ever, onwards and upwards!

The Routes and Tracks

Total flight time today: 1:25
Total flight time to date: 103:45

Meat-bombers, carveries and the Red Arrows (nearly)

In my quest to continue visiting new places rather than just flying the same flight over and over, I thought I’d try to visit Dunkeswell in Devon. Reviews showed that it had a decent cafe, and the runway layout and length meant it should be fairly easy to find too!

The weather forecast looked perfect for flying, so with an auth from Bob and plan in hand I headed off to Lyneham in plenty of time for an 11:30 departure. Dragged G-VICC over to the pumps to add more fuel (in the hope that I wouldn’t have to refuel her when I returned).

Got myself settled in the cockpit and hooked up the PDA in flight mode. This time however I didn’t load a route, in an aim to stop myself relying on it when in flight. I resolved to try and avoid looking at it wherever possible, and called for start clearance.

Engine started up easily despite it being the first flight of the day, and I was given my taxi clearance. Due to the unusual wind direction we were on 06 today, and I was given “Taxi to 06 via entry 3, cleared to cross 18/36”. I read this back and then headed off for entry 3 (a left turn out of the parking area).

For some reason, I had a bit of brain fade, and convinced myself that entry 3 was actually the one to the right of the parking area that we usually use for runway 24 and the 18 loop, so I did a quick about face and headed for the other entry (which turned out to be entry 4!). The ground controller obviously spotted me and wondered what on earth I was doing, because she called back “G-VICC, your taxi instructions were via entry 3”

Now thoroughly confused, I replied “Standby” and had another look at the airfield diagram in my kneeboard. Now clear that I had it all backwards, I apologised and offered to backtrack to entry 3, but she told me to continue via entry 4 and turn left along the taxyway parallel to 18 / 36.

Suitably embarassed I taxyed right past the control tower, where they were no doubt having a good old laugh, down the extremely long taxyway that leads to the threshold of 06. Once there I carried out the power checks, and called for departure clearance. Final checks complete I announce “Ready for departure”, and was passed over to Tower, who gave me immediate clearance to “Line Up”, followed by “Clear Takeoff” before I had made it past the hold line!

Takeoff was straightforward, and as I passed 500 feet I switched over to the Zone frequency. Had to wait a while before making the initial call due to transit traffic, and headed downwind to leave the Zone to the South West via Melksham.

Once at Melksham I informed the Controller I was leaving the Zone, and made a note of the start time ready to begin the Nav. This leg took me past a number of easily recognisable features (Trowbridge, the Radstock VRP, Wells Mast and Glastonbury) en route to the turn over the Motorway junction at Taunton. The leg went very well, I was never far from track and identified all of my marker points on the way. This was despite having to repeatedly descend and climb again due to the varying height of the cloud base along the way.

I was listening in to Bristol Approach on the way, but didn’t feel the need to talk to them. The skies were pretty clear despite the excellent weather, and there were very few other pilots on frequency. Spotted the Microlight field (and larger disused runways) at Westonzoyland on my way past.

The Microlight field at Westonzoyland

Overhead Taunton I set course for Dunkeswell, and switched over to their frequency. They are an Air Ground service in the truest sense of the word. Other pilots initial calls were being met with the runway in use and altimeter setting, with pilots then being left to make ‘Traffic’ calls announcing their position.

I received no response to my initial call, but had already taken note of the QFE from previous calls. The parachute drop plane was also in the air, and I heard it receiving its clearance to drop. Shortly after it announced that their were skydivers in the air.

I was still looking out for the airfield, and spotted it with several miles to spare. My phone call earlier in the day for PPR had included instructions to join downwind so I made a dogleg to the left to enter the downwind leg directly. The radio indicated another aircraft joining ahead of me, and I spotted it approaching from the right.

I joined Downwind, made my call (including “Contact one ahead”) and continued along the downwind leg, making my downwind checks. I was travelling a little slower than usual to ensure I had plenty of gap to the aircraft ahead. The drop plane joined the circuit behind me, and I followed the aircraft ahead down base and final.

Parking was at the far end of the runway in use, and I waited what seemed like an age for the aircraft ahead to clear the runway. Once he was clear I made a good landing, despite being bumped around a fair bit on short final. I did my best to keep my speed up along the runway to clear it in time for the drop plane to land behind me.

I turned off to the right, aiming to park alongside a Cessna that was already parked with its occupants preparing to leave. I misjudged my turn slightly, and ended up a bit closer to the other aircraft than I had intended. At one point I feared I might have to close down and manhandle the aircraft into place, but a bit of differential braking got me into the space at a bit of an angle.

G-VICC parked up

Headed in to the club to pay the landing fee (a very reasonable £10), having a brief chat to the guy manning the desk before heading into the cafe to get some lunch. The place was heaving! The Carvery was obviously a bit of a draw to both pilots and locals alike, but I only really wanted a sandwich so didn’t need to queue up along with everyone else. Sadly they weren’t doing hot sandwiches today, so I had to forgo the ‘Sausage and Bacon’ for a ‘Chicken and Mayonnaise’.

Sat outside (it was slightly chilly due to the breeze, despite being fairly sunny) and sorted out the plan for the return leg while I waited for my lunch to be delivered. Lunch duly arrived, and once I’d eaten it I watched the comings and goings on the busy field, including a pretty bi-plane and the jump plane taking off full and landing with just a single occupant! I could also see gliders heading off from the nearby field at North Hill.

I watched some of the departing traffic to determine the route back to the threshold of the runway in use, double checking it in my flight guide so that I knew where I would be going once I headed off myself. The route involved taxying along the crosswind runway, before holding at an intersection for the main runway. Then a short backtrack to the threshold before the off.

Ready to go, I gave G-VICC a quick check over, only to have one of the cowling fasteners fall out as I opened it. It appeared that instead of a washer behind it, there was just some sticking tape that had obviously now ceased to do its job. Luckily I found the fastener, and could secure the cowling correctly, but I made a mental note to let the aircraft owner know about the missing washer on my return.

Engine started easily, and I called for airfield information. Again, Air / Ground was doing its job, just giving me the runway in use and the QNH. Announced I was taxying along the ‘North Taxyway’ (a name I made up) and the other runway to the hold for 05. Another aircraft announced that he was taxying to hold 05, so obviously that’s the correct procedure for future reference!

Power checks completed near the hold, I waited for an aircraft turning Base, allowing him to land before announcing I was backtracking. The aircraft behind followed me down the runway, and as I reached the far end I turned tail and immediately began my takeoff run. A normal takeoff followed, and I departed virtually straight out for the run up to Taunton.

Disused airfield at Culmhead

Found Taunton easily, and set course for Melksham. Listened in again to Bristol but declined to call. Not long into the leg I heard the Red Arrows contacting Bristol, announcing that they were slightly South of Lyneham and heading for Filton.

I considered contacting Bristol so they knew where I was and what I was doing, but decided against it, and did my best to spot the Arrows. Their route took them to Filton, then via Bath to Bournemouth. They were eventually warned that they might be about to infringe the Danger Areas on Salisbury Plain, so I had failed completely to spot them!

This was a slight distraction on the leg however, and I wasn’t 100% sure of my position. I soon spotted the mast at Wells though, which got my nicely orientated. The track log shows that I was never far from my planned route though, so that’s good in that respect.

As I neared Trowbridge, I switched to Lyneham Approach for my rejoin. Had to delay my initial call due to a foreign aircraft making its own approach to Lyneham. Once I got my initial call in, I was given a squawk before (unusually) being told to “Remain Clear of Lyneham Controlled Airspace”.

This was the first time I had been told this when returning, and it came relatively late so I had to make a quick turn a few miles short of entering the Zone. I turned back and made an orbit, then once I hadn’t received clearance to enter I decided to head back towards Trowbridge so that I had a good position fix for when I was cleared in. I didn’t make it though, so headed back towards the Zone. The delay appeared to be caused by the other aircraft having problems hearing Lyneham’s transmissions (I could hear them without any issue) and regularly having to be corrected when reading back headings and levels.

The Controller asked me to report the field in site, but approaching from this direction the airfield is obscured behind a hill. I was getting quite close (and made a slight jink to the left to try to spot it) before being able to make out the long main runway in the distance.

Was handed over to the Tower Controller in time to hear the foreign aircraft clear the runway, and I was given immediate clearance to land as soon as I joined the circuit! Made a right base join, followed by a good approach and a very nice landing. The landing was a little long, but given that I would have to taxy virtually the entire length of the runway, that was probably a good thing on the whole!

Made the turn at the 18 loop as instructed, and headed back to parking. Closed down and checked the fuel, and it was almost exactly where it would need to be if I were refuelling after the flight, so that saved me a job at least!

The route (blue) and track (red)

This was a really enjoyable flight on the whole. I’d forced myself to use ‘traditional’ navigation methods again by not using a route loaded into the GPS, and this had gone pretty well. I’d added a new airfield to my log book, and (almost) shared the skies with the Red Arrows again!

Total flight time today: 2:00
Total flight time to date: 102:20

Anyone got half a penny?

After the disappointment of not flying yesterday, I was determined to fly today, and the weather proved almost perfect for flying. I wanted to try to expand my horizons a little, so picked Halfpenny Green as a potential target for today’s flight. The only spanner in the works was a gliding competition based at Aston Down, ruling out my ‘normal’ route out to the North. In the end I decided to take the coward’s way out and head out to the Old Severn Bridge, before heading North to Wolverhampton.

Arrived early at the club to complete the plan, after having picked up an authorisation on the way in from Matt. Plan complete I then just had to wait for the aircraft to return. Dave returned just before my slot time of 12, and refuelled the aircraft. While he was doing this I got the latest ATIS, booked out and was ready to be under way (after the usual ‘transit’ pre flight check) by 12:15 or so. Had a slight delay as I realised I was sharing the cockpit with a wasp. Figured it was best to get rid of him before taking to the air (and anyway, I had only booked out with 1 POB!).

Called for start clearance as usual, got the engine started relatively easily and taxyed out to the hold. Power checks completed Ok, announce ‘ready for departure’, switched to Tower and was immediately given clearance to line up and take off.

On the way out of the Zone while talking to the Approach Controller I heard Fox Whisky on the way back in, but never saw him. He was approaching from the North, but that could have been almost anywhere really, so it wasn’t too much of a drama. On reaching Malmesbury, set course for the Old Severn Bridge, and settled down for the flight.

I’d made a conscious decision today to set the screen of my PDA to dim itself automatically after a few minutes of idle time, in an attempt to stop me ‘cheating’ and using it as a crutch for the Nav. Although spotting the Old Severn Bridges was easy given today’s fantastic visibility, this also worked well on my trip to the North from there.

I monitored Filton and Gloucester on the way up, but didn’t really feel the need to speak to them. Spotted a number of aircraft around the Filton and Severn Bridge area, but none was a collision risk. Had a look out for Ledbury Airfield as I passed to the West of it, and managed to make out the farm strip as I passed (often quite a feat!). Finally used Kidderminster to make a course correction just to the South of it, and a look at the GPS track shows that this couldn’t really have gone better!

Switched over to the Halfpenny Green frequency as I approached, and made a minor error on initial contact calling him ‘Halfpenny Green Radio’ rather than ‘Halfpenny Green Information’ (I knew he was a FISO, but for some reason that information got lost between brain and mouth!). This was soon corrected, and I started looking for the airfield.

It should have been easy to spot, having three large runways, but initially I had some trouble finding it. The reason for this was soon apparent, I was looking too far ahead! With the airfield sighted, I joined overhead as another aircraft was on final. A decent deadside descent and circuit culminated in a relatively good landing, and I turned off onto the grass taxyway. After a bit of negotiation with the FISO I made my way to parking, and watched the Police helicopter taking off before I headed in to the Cafe for a well earned Bacon Sandwich!

The Police Helicopter preparing to depart

Did my best to spread the aviation gospel to a young lad of about 5 or 6 I got talking to in the Cafe, and sorted out the route for the way back. Initially I had planned to start the Nav at Kinver (and set up the PDA to reflect this) but changed my mind and planned direct from Halfpenny Green down to the Old Bridge. In hindsight perhaps this was a mistake, as the Nav back was never really on track.

Got a quick shot of the aircraft lined up in the parking area, before making a standard departure, setting course from the downwind leg.

G-VICC in the parking area

Ended up significantly right of course, before spotting the Tower to the West of Ledbury Airfield. This was a fairly obvious landmark, so I used this to make a course correction and got nicely back on track. Got a quick shot of what I think was Cinderford, where a poker playing friend lives.

Cinderford, home of Tom?

The Bridges were now an easy landmark to follow, so turned over them before continuing to Lyneham. Here I was following the GPS more than I would liked (a quick glance every couple of minutes to make course corrections) and the GPS track shows me significantly right of course.

Initially had some trouble raising Lyneham Approach, and then found it a little difficult to understand the Controller (apparently a common complaint with civilian aircraft talking to military Controllers, but something I generally have no trouble with). There was another light aircraft ahead of me in the circuit as I joined, but he was well established on Final while I was making my approach for a Right Base join.

Join went normally, perhaps a little further out than necessary that meant I had to use a fair amount of power on Final to avoid getting too low. Had a bit of a floaty touchdown, but with some slightly firm braking easily managed to make the turn off for the 18 loop. Taxyed back to the Flying Club, and Dave (the aircraft’s owner) was already out and refuelling before I had packed up my kit! Saved me a job I guess!

The Route and Track

On the whole a pretty successful flight. It was good to get a bit more confidence back in my Nav skills without using the GPS as a crutch (at least on the outbound leg!). Looking back on the tracks, I wonder if I had the DI misaligned for the majority of the return leg? I was doing FREDA checks periodically, but perhaps I missed it? However, I did pass a fairly major milestone, logging my 100th hour as a pilot!

Total flight time today: 2:25
Total flight time to date: 100:20

Frustrating weather forecast

Was due to take Ben flying today with his son, but the TAF for the morning promised strong, gusty winds and the presence of CBs. I cancelled on the basis of this, and spent most of the day looking at relatively clear skies. The wind was pretty strong though, so on balance it was probably a wise decision. Try again tomorrow!

Taunton bound

Due to a combination of weather cancellations and some minor ailments that meant I wasn’t fit to fly, I was getting close to the end of my currency period. As a result, a plan for a ‘quick’ mid-week evening jaunt was hatched. Always keen to venture out to pastures new, I plotted a ‘local’ flight that took me out to Taunton. Was a little concerned that I wouldn’t be able to get this all in before sunset (I don’t have a night qualification yet) I re-planned to only go as far as Glastonbury.

Arrived in good time at the club, and the previous flight was back in plenty of time, so all looked good for a ‘blocks off’ time of 19:00, hopefully giving me plenty of time for the flight. However, that wasn’t to be. Just as I was ready for the off and preparing to call for start clearance, the view out the front changed to this:

C130 Being Pushed Back Into Hangar

(Apologies for the quality of photos in this entry, I only had my mobile phone with me!)

I figured it would be rude to try to sneak under him, so made sure I was completely ready to go as and when my path was clear. This put me about 10 or 15 minutes behind my original schedule. Called for start clearance, and the engine fired up easily. Taxyed to the hold for 24, power checks all Ok, and we were away!

The weather on the ground looked perfect for flying, but in actual fact once I got in the air things weren’t quite as good as they had first appeared. Visibility into sun wasn’t brilliant, and the front that was forecast to move in from the West was clearly visible out over the Severn Estuary. I was heading in that direction though, so that meant I could at least turn tail and outrun the weather should that become necessary.

Weather Front Approaching

The sky was quiet as usual for a mid-week evening. A helicopter was clearing Lyneham’s zone just as I came on to the Zone frequency, and I spotted one other aircraft pass by my left wing in the distance as I was flying. I was listening out on Bristol Radar’s frequency, and they seemed relatively quiet too. There were two inbound aircraft (one of which I spotted) and one outbound.

The flight proceeded normally, and I soon reached Glastonbury. A quick check of the watch showed that I had plenty of time to get back before sunset, so I planned a quick ‘divert’ out to Taunton, some 15 or so miles away. As usual I was flying with the GPS on my PDA showing the CAA 1/2 mill chart for the area, so if all else failed I would be able to determine my position using that. However, despite the haze Taunton soon became visible once I pinpointed its location using the bends in the rivers below, as well as the M5 and a couple of railway lines.

As I approached Taunton I spotted a couple of hot air balloons low down to my left. I didn’t want to fly over them, so I turned slightly earlier than I had originally planned, and headed back towards Glastonbury again. I kept the balloons in sight for as long as I could, then concentrated on finding Glastonbury and resuming my route.

Balloon (it's there, look closely!)

The last leg to Frome was relatively easy, as I was now heading out of the sun and this helped with the visibility. Overhead Frome I contacted Lyneham again for joining, and was given clearance into the Zone.

Once I had the field in sight, I switched over to Tower, just in time to hear another aircraft on a long final. As I positioned for my downwind join I offered to orbit, but was told to continue, that I was ‘Number 2’. As the other aircraft touched down, I informed the Tower Controller that I would need about 4 minutes of spacing, and she replied ‘Oh, ok then, take up a right hand orbit’. Oh well, I tried!

After a couple of orbits a Helicopter arrived on frequency, so that meant more orbits as I waited for it to land. I wasn’t too clear on how much spacing I would need to leave after the Helicopter, so I opted to play safe and leave the 4 minutes that I would normally leave for a Heavy aircraft. I was in no rush, so better to be safe than sorry!

So after a number of orbits I continued my approach, and on reporting Final (actually Base) was immediately given clearance to land. The approach continued normally, and despite getting myself slightly lower than I normally would, it all went to plan. My first landing in four weeks or so was a nice gentle affair, perhaps slightly fast as there was no stall warner. Still, not bad after a bit of a layoff!

Taxyed back to the club, and received a nice ‘Thanks for your help earlier’ from the Controller as I shut down. Refuelled, put the aircraft to bed, and headed home pleased with another enjoyable flight. Must try hard not to leave it so long next time though!

The Route and Track

Total flight time today: 1:30
Total flight time to date: 97:55

Ok, so sometimes TAFs are right!

A bit more predictable weather this time. Low cloud, poor vis and showers all day said the TAF, and so it turned out. Oh well!