I just had to post the link to this blog written by a fellow aviator...actually, aviatrix. They had their first experience of tailwheel last weekend and I was honoured to be the instructor they chose to carry out their new challenge. Well written and deserves to be read as it paints such a good picture of that initial onslaught of the senses.
Intro to Tailwheel
Thursday, 10 May 2012
Friday, 27 April 2012
Spring has Sprung
There are days when one is very lucky to enjoy the privilege of flight.
The day you take off, admire the lush English countryside below, transfer your gaze to the horizon and realise it is as crisp as a dew soaked leaf of baby lettuce. Not a cloud to be seen in the sky, you climb a little higher to tickle the soft blue underbelly of heaven.
Levelling off, you relax and drift along, free as a bird floating on the wind.
Then the reason you are up here nudges you and enquires as to 'what next?'
The heavens twirl, the greens and blues intermingle, the sea sparkles like a rough cut diamond. The windscreen is full of sky, cornflower blue sky, until the land appears again filling your senses, every detail picked out through wide open eyes...
...then the whoop of glee fills your headsets, the blood rushes through your veins and you go again, twisting, turning, this way, that way, every sense heightened, every second more pleasurable than the last and that smile returns again. Spring has sprung, let's hope it is here to stay.
The day you take off, admire the lush English countryside below, transfer your gaze to the horizon and realise it is as crisp as a dew soaked leaf of baby lettuce. Not a cloud to be seen in the sky, you climb a little higher to tickle the soft blue underbelly of heaven.
Levelling off, you relax and drift along, free as a bird floating on the wind.
Then the reason you are up here nudges you and enquires as to 'what next?'
The heavens twirl, the greens and blues intermingle, the sea sparkles like a rough cut diamond. The windscreen is full of sky, cornflower blue sky, until the land appears again filling your senses, every detail picked out through wide open eyes...
...then the whoop of glee fills your headsets, the blood rushes through your veins and you go again, twisting, turning, this way, that way, every sense heightened, every second more pleasurable than the last and that smile returns again. Spring has sprung, let's hope it is here to stay.
Back Blogging
With the advent and greater adoption of Facebook and Twitter it is easy to forget that one also has a blog...and in my case a website...to try and keep up to date too. I have resolved to try and keep this blog more active this year and beyond if possible.
The last year has certainly been a busy one. Job hunting continually, some amazing flying (I shall have to find the time to blog about some of those adventures), a holiday in Malta, a wedding, a honeymoon in an exotic place, gaining a Flying Instructor rating as well as a wife, the list goes on and on.
I have also managed to find myself editing, publishing and distributing an aviation newsletter; see Here for more on that.
The commercial job market seems pretty flat for more mature guys like myself, but I keep on trying; have sent over 1500 CVs now, so one day my perseverance will pay off I am sure.
In the meantime I am doing some instruction for Phoenix Flying as well as some instruction and other aerial work with www.aeroalliance.uk.com . I have had some amazing flying experiences including increasing my hours on twin engined aircraft such as the Beechcraft Baron 58, the Seneca and the PA31 Chieftain.
So, resolution to blog more often made, now let's see if I can keep to it!
Until later...
The last year has certainly been a busy one. Job hunting continually, some amazing flying (I shall have to find the time to blog about some of those adventures), a holiday in Malta, a wedding, a honeymoon in an exotic place, gaining a Flying Instructor rating as well as a wife, the list goes on and on.
I have also managed to find myself editing, publishing and distributing an aviation newsletter; see Here for more on that.
The commercial job market seems pretty flat for more mature guys like myself, but I keep on trying; have sent over 1500 CVs now, so one day my perseverance will pay off I am sure.
In the meantime I am doing some instruction for Phoenix Flying as well as some instruction and other aerial work with www.aeroalliance.uk.com . I have had some amazing flying experiences including increasing my hours on twin engined aircraft such as the Beechcraft Baron 58, the Seneca and the PA31 Chieftain.
So, resolution to blog more often made, now let's see if I can keep to it!
Until later...
Sunday, 13 March 2011
It all started with a phone call.
“Unfortunately I am busy, so I thought of you, Andy. Fancy a VFR ferry flight of a Jetstream in a couple of days time?”
After a lot of background investigative work I satisfied myself that I could indeed do the flight legally. It was to be a VFR ferry flight on an overflight permit to enable the aeroplane to be taken from its current base at RAF Cranwell to a maintenance facility at Manston.
So, what was the aeroplane? Why all the excitement?
A British Aerospace Jetstream 31:
Scottish Aviation was nationalised along with other British companies into British Aerospace (now BAE Systems) in 1978.
BAe decided the original Jetstream design was worth further development, and started work on a "Mark 3" Jetstream. As with the earlier 3M version for the USAF, the new version was re-engined with newer Garrett turboprops which offered more power (flat rated to 1,020 shp/760 kW with a thermodynamic limit of 1,100 shp/820 kW) and longer overhaul intervals over the original Turbomeca units. This allowed the aircraft to be offered in an 18-seat option (six rows, 2+1), with an offset aisle, and with a water methanol option for the engine to allow the ability to operate at maximum load from a greater range of airfields, particularly in the continental US and Australia.
The result was the Jetstream 31, which first flew on 28 March 1980, being certificated in the UK on 29 June 1982. The new version proved to be as popular as Handley Page hoped the original model would be, and several hundred 31s were built during the 1980s. In 1985, a further engine upgrade was planned, which flew in 1988 as the Jetstream Super 31, also known as the Jetstream 32. Production continued until 1993, by which time 386 31/32s had been produced.
Four Jetstream 31s were ordered for the Royal Navy in 1985 as radar observer trainers, the Jetstream T.3, but were later used for VIP transport. These were the aeroplanes in question. They had been sold to an aviation spare parts company, who had decided that three of them were worth saving, changing over to civilian specification and reselling. After over ambitious requirements from the CAA to put them on the G (UK) register, it was decided to put them on the less demanding N (US) register.
An overflight permit then had to be issued from the CAA to allow them to be removed from their home at RAF Cranwell and moved to a maintenance faciltiy at Manston who would do the necessary to ensure their transition to the civilian register. This flight had to be conducted under Visual Flight Rules and in Visual Meterological Conditions as part of the granting of that overflight permit.
In addition, the Royal Navy wording and roundel had to be removed prior to flight, but the base colours remained and it was an honour to think I would be playing a (very small) part in the history of one of these aircraft.
It turned out that the owner of the aviation spare parts company lived down the road from me, so my day started out by being whisked to their offices by Aston Martin DB7. After some discussion (in which it was my responsibility as to the go/no go decision!) as to whether we were going to go as the RAF had decided it was too windy to fly today, we set off on the road trip to RAF Cranwell. A pleasurable ride up there in leather clad Range Rover meant we arrived fresh and ready for the flight ahead.
We had picked up my captain for the day en-route and I was reassured to find he had been a Royal Navy test pilot in these very aeroplanes and had recently been flying King Air 200’s in Baghdad, so was clearly a competent pilot. He agreed with my decision to continue despite the gusty winds and the weak cold front passing through. The one thing it did mean was that visibility was going to be so much better than the last week or so when the stable high pressure system, with the resulting inversion, had meant horizontal visibility had resulted in a milky murk below about 3500’.
Paperwork done and coffees served in one of Her Majesty’s fine RAF offices, we proceeded to the RAF Operations Room to file a flight plan and to conduct a briefing. My captain was pleased that I had printed off the NOTAMs and the weather for the day whilst munching on my muesli earlier that morning. A brownie point there then. Having had around 20 hours of being trained by ex RAF chaps, I was also familiar with the pre flight briefing; indeed I utilise that format in my instructional sorties. Too many people rush straight into flight and then sort out any anomalies. Far better to do it in the calm of a briefing room. Of course, another extra bonus was filing a flight plan in the style of the RAF. We spoke to SATCO, who agreed our permissions to take off. Our flight was then put up on the huge board in the Ops Room… we were to be the only movement at Cranwell that day!
Winding our way back through the rabbit warren of corridors was just like being transported ever so briefly back in time, it felt almost like being on a movie set. What an opportunity this was to a civilian pilot like myself. We were then escorted through to the hangar. A rather shiny Tucano fast jet and a gaggle of Dominies, which had remained there since their last flight with the RAF on 20th January 2011, victim to Government budget cuts. They are the military equivalent of the commercial HS125 mini airliner. The company we were picking up the Jetstream for had also bid on 6 of these; the seventh had already gone to a museum.
See the web link for more detail: http://www.fast-air.co.uk/raf-dominie-retirement/ as well as many other sites that can be found by googling RAF Dominie.
The hangar guys checked over our paperwork and permit to fly and we were shown to our steed. The walk around was thorough, these aircraft had not flown for two years, though had been subject to extensive ground runs which had all been certified and signed off in the previous week. This one had required one hydraulic hose and the tyres had been replaced as a matter of course.
I was then instructed to sit myself in the right hand seat and familiarise myself with the myriad of buttons, knobs, switches and levers. I think a day would be better to do that than 5 minutes! The thing that struck me most was the height we were sat at above the ground and the airliner view from the windows. I managed a couple of very hasty snaps but knew I had to concentrate and as my captain came onto the flight deck I decided concentration on what was happening was more important. At least I have my memories.
The start procedure for a turbine is rather more involved than a Single Engine Piston. I also found out for real why a checklist environment is a good idea as it goes on for many pages and I would not be over keen on learning that. Each item read out, each item checked by the other pilot. All actions checked.
The right hand engine proved a little reticent in starting, bearing in mind we were using ground power rather than the aircraft batteries, however it was eventually going and we did the post start checks/actions for that side. Our attention was then turned to the left hand engine and we elected to use the aircraft batteries for that which had it coming up to speed far more swiftly.
Everything now running as it should and settling down nicely we carried out all the other checks including icing boots, nav and comms and control deflection. It was important to have radio navigation and communications working as expected as we had no GPS. All was going to happen rather quicker than I was used to and without any GPS as back up. Navigating visually for the first leg to Cambridge, before the CLN (Clacton) VOR became live, as it turns out.
My radio and we were cleared for taxy. Brake check proved they were a little severe, one to remember on the rollout on landing then. Various other checks done on the move and then I requested that we were able to line up on the active runway as we were the only movement anyway. This would mean we were facing into wind and could remove the gust locks which up to this point remained in.
Power checks were meticulous; both of us aware that the worst time that things could go wrong was on the initial take off and climb out. Finally happy I reported ready and we were cleared for take off, wind 20 degrees off the centreline, 26 knots gusting 43 knots.
As the captain increased the power I held the yoke forward (against all light aircraft instincts), checking all essential gauges were showing in the green, that both airspeed indicators were working, no warning lights had illuminated…boy, the pressure on the yoke is something else! Airspeed was quickly at V1 and Rotate, both of which were my responsibility to call as well as initial climb speed. Obviously at the stage just prior to V1 the captain assumed control of the yoke.
The climb rate caught me out and we were soon at 2000’ with me dealing with the radio and aware that navigation was my responsibility. New squawk code set in the transponder and we were passed over to approach, then very swiftly to the local LARS (radar) service, with new altimeter pressure settings. Yup, ok guys, give me a break I need to work out where we are here, captain will be expecting me to know.
Seven minutes after take off we were abeam Peterborough. We were going to fly to Cambridge overhead and then set course for Clacton VOR so we could utilise a needle as back up to the visual navigation. I chuckled as I realised how ridiculously fast everything happens. After the initial ‘take your breath away’ feeling it is huge fun ensuring that you keep in front of the aeroplane. Every few minutes you are onto another radio frequency, so having the next one ready is vital. Squawk code setting in the turbulent air was fun too, a transponder type I had not used before which involved flicking a tiny lever up or down to set the code. Very easy to go past of course!
I gave Cambridge a call at 15 miles to run. Permission to transit through their overhead at A2000’. Good stuff. New heading when we get to the overhead confirmed with the captain. This is starting to come together now. 90 mile leg done in not much over 20 minutes. Next leg 30 miles and then 12 miles past Clacton VOR to ensure we miss the danger areas when we turn south. With a strong tailwind we were absolutely flying (‘scuse the pun), we reckoned 250 knot groundspeed was the minimum from the post flight briefing calculations. For those who hate maths, that is over 4 miles a minute.
It is worth pointing out that our eyes were out on stalks looking for other traffic. Bearing in mind that this is low level VFR flying, we are responsible for not hitting anything else. At the speeds we are travelling, a good lookout is absolutely essential. We are also heading towards a VOR that is a ‘honeypot’ attracting other pilots practising their radio navigation or even using VORs as waypoints in their own visual navigation as we are.
We passed directly overhead the VOR and coasted out over the wind farms in the sea. Pre descent checks completed, pre landing checks completed up to a point. We turned south and tuned into Manston Radar announcing our imminent arrival. The captain slowed the aeroplane down to under flap limiting speed of 164 knots and first stage of flap came out. We were given a right base join for the westerly runway and wind speed was 30 degrees of runway centreline at 20 knots. Not so bad then.
Pre landing checks complete and now visual with the airport, I was kept very busy keeping a lookout for other traffic whilst trying to keep up with what the captain was doing too. Final checks completed and then read out the airspeed to the captain so that he can keep his eyes outside. Coming over the threshold at 120 knots (with the intention of actually landing) is novel for me. It is of course 1.3 times stall speed. As we slowed to 100 knots and flared I was ready to hold the yoke fully forward once the instruction was given, whilst still calling out the speeds until we had slowed to 60 knots.
A back track and vacate via Bravo to Stand 34 had me grateful I had printed all of the plates for the airport and a marshaller was there to welcome us to Manston. Shut down checks complete, chocks inserted, we both grinned at each other.
“Unfortunately I am busy, so I thought of you, Andy. Fancy a VFR ferry flight of a Jetstream in a couple of days time?”
After a lot of background investigative work I satisfied myself that I could indeed do the flight legally. It was to be a VFR ferry flight on an overflight permit to enable the aeroplane to be taken from its current base at RAF Cranwell to a maintenance facility at Manston.
So, what was the aeroplane? Why all the excitement?
A British Aerospace Jetstream 31:
Scottish Aviation was nationalised along with other British companies into British Aerospace (now BAE Systems) in 1978.
BAe decided the original Jetstream design was worth further development, and started work on a "Mark 3" Jetstream. As with the earlier 3M version for the USAF, the new version was re-engined with newer Garrett turboprops which offered more power (flat rated to 1,020 shp/760 kW with a thermodynamic limit of 1,100 shp/820 kW) and longer overhaul intervals over the original Turbomeca units. This allowed the aircraft to be offered in an 18-seat option (six rows, 2+1), with an offset aisle, and with a water methanol option for the engine to allow the ability to operate at maximum load from a greater range of airfields, particularly in the continental US and Australia.
The result was the Jetstream 31, which first flew on 28 March 1980, being certificated in the UK on 29 June 1982. The new version proved to be as popular as Handley Page hoped the original model would be, and several hundred 31s were built during the 1980s. In 1985, a further engine upgrade was planned, which flew in 1988 as the Jetstream Super 31, also known as the Jetstream 32. Production continued until 1993, by which time 386 31/32s had been produced.
Four Jetstream 31s were ordered for the Royal Navy in 1985 as radar observer trainers, the Jetstream T.3, but were later used for VIP transport. These were the aeroplanes in question. They had been sold to an aviation spare parts company, who had decided that three of them were worth saving, changing over to civilian specification and reselling. After over ambitious requirements from the CAA to put them on the G (UK) register, it was decided to put them on the less demanding N (US) register.
An overflight permit then had to be issued from the CAA to allow them to be removed from their home at RAF Cranwell and moved to a maintenance faciltiy at Manston who would do the necessary to ensure their transition to the civilian register. This flight had to be conducted under Visual Flight Rules and in Visual Meterological Conditions as part of the granting of that overflight permit.
In addition, the Royal Navy wording and roundel had to be removed prior to flight, but the base colours remained and it was an honour to think I would be playing a (very small) part in the history of one of these aircraft.
It turned out that the owner of the aviation spare parts company lived down the road from me, so my day started out by being whisked to their offices by Aston Martin DB7. After some discussion (in which it was my responsibility as to the go/no go decision!) as to whether we were going to go as the RAF had decided it was too windy to fly today, we set off on the road trip to RAF Cranwell. A pleasurable ride up there in leather clad Range Rover meant we arrived fresh and ready for the flight ahead.
We had picked up my captain for the day en-route and I was reassured to find he had been a Royal Navy test pilot in these very aeroplanes and had recently been flying King Air 200’s in Baghdad, so was clearly a competent pilot. He agreed with my decision to continue despite the gusty winds and the weak cold front passing through. The one thing it did mean was that visibility was going to be so much better than the last week or so when the stable high pressure system, with the resulting inversion, had meant horizontal visibility had resulted in a milky murk below about 3500’.
Paperwork done and coffees served in one of Her Majesty’s fine RAF offices, we proceeded to the RAF Operations Room to file a flight plan and to conduct a briefing. My captain was pleased that I had printed off the NOTAMs and the weather for the day whilst munching on my muesli earlier that morning. A brownie point there then. Having had around 20 hours of being trained by ex RAF chaps, I was also familiar with the pre flight briefing; indeed I utilise that format in my instructional sorties. Too many people rush straight into flight and then sort out any anomalies. Far better to do it in the calm of a briefing room. Of course, another extra bonus was filing a flight plan in the style of the RAF. We spoke to SATCO, who agreed our permissions to take off. Our flight was then put up on the huge board in the Ops Room… we were to be the only movement at Cranwell that day!
Winding our way back through the rabbit warren of corridors was just like being transported ever so briefly back in time, it felt almost like being on a movie set. What an opportunity this was to a civilian pilot like myself. We were then escorted through to the hangar. A rather shiny Tucano fast jet and a gaggle of Dominies, which had remained there since their last flight with the RAF on 20th January 2011, victim to Government budget cuts. They are the military equivalent of the commercial HS125 mini airliner. The company we were picking up the Jetstream for had also bid on 6 of these; the seventh had already gone to a museum.
See the web link for more detail: http://www.fast-air.co.uk/raf-dominie-retirement/ as well as many other sites that can be found by googling RAF Dominie.
The hangar guys checked over our paperwork and permit to fly and we were shown to our steed. The walk around was thorough, these aircraft had not flown for two years, though had been subject to extensive ground runs which had all been certified and signed off in the previous week. This one had required one hydraulic hose and the tyres had been replaced as a matter of course.
I was then instructed to sit myself in the right hand seat and familiarise myself with the myriad of buttons, knobs, switches and levers. I think a day would be better to do that than 5 minutes! The thing that struck me most was the height we were sat at above the ground and the airliner view from the windows. I managed a couple of very hasty snaps but knew I had to concentrate and as my captain came onto the flight deck I decided concentration on what was happening was more important. At least I have my memories.
The start procedure for a turbine is rather more involved than a Single Engine Piston. I also found out for real why a checklist environment is a good idea as it goes on for many pages and I would not be over keen on learning that. Each item read out, each item checked by the other pilot. All actions checked.
The right hand engine proved a little reticent in starting, bearing in mind we were using ground power rather than the aircraft batteries, however it was eventually going and we did the post start checks/actions for that side. Our attention was then turned to the left hand engine and we elected to use the aircraft batteries for that which had it coming up to speed far more swiftly.
Everything now running as it should and settling down nicely we carried out all the other checks including icing boots, nav and comms and control deflection. It was important to have radio navigation and communications working as expected as we had no GPS. All was going to happen rather quicker than I was used to and without any GPS as back up. Navigating visually for the first leg to Cambridge, before the CLN (Clacton) VOR became live, as it turns out.
My radio and we were cleared for taxy. Brake check proved they were a little severe, one to remember on the rollout on landing then. Various other checks done on the move and then I requested that we were able to line up on the active runway as we were the only movement anyway. This would mean we were facing into wind and could remove the gust locks which up to this point remained in.
Power checks were meticulous; both of us aware that the worst time that things could go wrong was on the initial take off and climb out. Finally happy I reported ready and we were cleared for take off, wind 20 degrees off the centreline, 26 knots gusting 43 knots.
As the captain increased the power I held the yoke forward (against all light aircraft instincts), checking all essential gauges were showing in the green, that both airspeed indicators were working, no warning lights had illuminated…boy, the pressure on the yoke is something else! Airspeed was quickly at V1 and Rotate, both of which were my responsibility to call as well as initial climb speed. Obviously at the stage just prior to V1 the captain assumed control of the yoke.
The climb rate caught me out and we were soon at 2000’ with me dealing with the radio and aware that navigation was my responsibility. New squawk code set in the transponder and we were passed over to approach, then very swiftly to the local LARS (radar) service, with new altimeter pressure settings. Yup, ok guys, give me a break I need to work out where we are here, captain will be expecting me to know.
Seven minutes after take off we were abeam Peterborough. We were going to fly to Cambridge overhead and then set course for Clacton VOR so we could utilise a needle as back up to the visual navigation. I chuckled as I realised how ridiculously fast everything happens. After the initial ‘take your breath away’ feeling it is huge fun ensuring that you keep in front of the aeroplane. Every few minutes you are onto another radio frequency, so having the next one ready is vital. Squawk code setting in the turbulent air was fun too, a transponder type I had not used before which involved flicking a tiny lever up or down to set the code. Very easy to go past of course!
I gave Cambridge a call at 15 miles to run. Permission to transit through their overhead at A2000’. Good stuff. New heading when we get to the overhead confirmed with the captain. This is starting to come together now. 90 mile leg done in not much over 20 minutes. Next leg 30 miles and then 12 miles past Clacton VOR to ensure we miss the danger areas when we turn south. With a strong tailwind we were absolutely flying (‘scuse the pun), we reckoned 250 knot groundspeed was the minimum from the post flight briefing calculations. For those who hate maths, that is over 4 miles a minute.
It is worth pointing out that our eyes were out on stalks looking for other traffic. Bearing in mind that this is low level VFR flying, we are responsible for not hitting anything else. At the speeds we are travelling, a good lookout is absolutely essential. We are also heading towards a VOR that is a ‘honeypot’ attracting other pilots practising their radio navigation or even using VORs as waypoints in their own visual navigation as we are.
We passed directly overhead the VOR and coasted out over the wind farms in the sea. Pre descent checks completed, pre landing checks completed up to a point. We turned south and tuned into Manston Radar announcing our imminent arrival. The captain slowed the aeroplane down to under flap limiting speed of 164 knots and first stage of flap came out. We were given a right base join for the westerly runway and wind speed was 30 degrees of runway centreline at 20 knots. Not so bad then.
Pre landing checks complete and now visual with the airport, I was kept very busy keeping a lookout for other traffic whilst trying to keep up with what the captain was doing too. Final checks completed and then read out the airspeed to the captain so that he can keep his eyes outside. Coming over the threshold at 120 knots (with the intention of actually landing) is novel for me. It is of course 1.3 times stall speed. As we slowed to 100 knots and flared I was ready to hold the yoke fully forward once the instruction was given, whilst still calling out the speeds until we had slowed to 60 knots.
A back track and vacate via Bravo to Stand 34 had me grateful I had printed all of the plates for the airport and a marshaller was there to welcome us to Manston. Shut down checks complete, chocks inserted, we both grinned at each other.
Wednesday, 27 October 2010
It is not often you get a call to ask if you would like to pop down to Cannes for dinner and do it in style, transported by PA46 Piper Malibu. Having heard about this turbo charged pressurised aeroplane I was eager to sit up front and sample the delights it had to offer. The very fine Aerotech Flyer, aka Steve, figured it was a good way to act as a pick me up after a recent spell in hospital for me; it would also give me some first hand experience of operating in the airways, somewhere I have never been in a light aircraft other than the training environment. There were just two rules attached to the trip: don’t keel over and don’t learn any bad habits for the upcoming IR test.
The evening before was spent being spoiled by a jolly fine home cooked meal and being introduced to the intricacies of enroute flight planning across Europe. There are many offerings now which reduce the laborious manual flight planning that used to have to be done.
AFPEX is the offering from NATS, but is a little clunky I feel and I have not yet got to grips with it, despite submitting flight plans through it on my instrument course. Always happy to learn, if there are willing volunteers.
Flight Plan Pro is another useful resource and is the one I had paid most attention to prior to this trip.
EuroFPL is the third I have experience of and Steve clearly knows his way around the site. It produces plogs for the trip, along with the forecast winds and groundspeeds, which were remarkably accurate on both the outbound and return legs, to within 2 to 3 knots. Considering this was plogged on the Monday night and we came back on the Wednesday morning even more so. They can also give you NOTAMs and so on. They have started making a small charge for their services but you are still able to submit 10 flight plans a month for free.
The most difficult part of this type of airways flight planning is knowing what is an acceptable route to the Brussels computer and a lot of the pain is taken out of this by the likes of the above sites.
Morning dawned and last minute weather checks were made over a light and healthy breakfast. A short drive later and I was being introduced to the Malibu. Leather clad seats, pressurised cabin and an avionics fit that would make most light GA pilots weep. Not the place for a bored deviant with buttons and switches everywhere.
Closing the doors on the Malibu is not the same as on a training type single. Not a case of slamming the door and maybe moving a lever. It is a delicate operation requiring steps to be lifted (and not dropped or the result of the twisting overstretched hinges would be very expensive) and locked into place, before lowering the top half of the door and securing so that you have two greens showing. This indicates that you are doors closed securely and pressurisation should happen, everything else equal.
It is a tight squeeze into the front seats but oh so worth it. The view out is somewhat letterbox’ish but adequate for the type of flight intended. You would not use this aeroplane for a low level bimble around the local area. The view inside is a huge progression from what I am used to, with dials for everything, a couple of GNS 530’s and an Avidyne display too. It has weather radar and also TCAS, which also feeds onto the 530.
The flight plan had been entered the previous day, but consisted of a series of airways waypoints, those 5 letter named points that the big boys navigate by, designated by blue triangles on charts. I was to become familiar with skipping through the FPL option as we were given routings that jumped two or even three waypoints ahead, sometimes up to 200 miles away. Unheard of in visual navigation, certainly in the UK.
Departure clearance obtained, we lined up for a COWLY 23 departure, climbing to 500’ before turning left onto a heading to intercept a radial from HON before intercepting a radial from DTY at a set distance which would then put us at the correct distance along that radial to be at COWLY. Initially cleared to an altitude, we were swiftly handed over to London Control and were asked to be at level at FL190 by COWLY and to advise if not possible. I had been handed control after the first left hand turn and was thoroughly enjoying seeing the altimeter wind up past FL100 (the highest I have ever flown myself and that was in a C152!).
The Malibu flew beautifully. Like most aeroplanes, once she was trimmed she only required soft and gentle inputs to fly heading and maintain rate of climb. Maintaining 110 knots kept an acceptable rate of 800fpm whilst keeping some cooling available for the engine and any turns we made gave a sense of solidity yet fluidity about the airframe.
Levelling off, the speed was quickly at 140 knots IAS. Dialling in the outside air temperature gave us around 195 knots TAS. The headwind was to turn to a tailwind on the way down to the south coast of France, so we expected some reasonable groundspeeds.
We passed WOD with the autopilot engaged as I would gain far more from this trip by concentrating on radio work and how IFR Nav works on a long trip, than by putting in undue effort to maintain height and heading for 3 hours straight and level. I happened to glance at the VFR GPS 496 on my lap as we passed Midhurst and gained photographic evidence as we passed directly overhead my house nearly 4 miles up and at 200mph. Nothing seen as we were in cloud at the time, but simple things….
It took me a while to tune into the French accent, but was rapidly adapting to being cleared two or three waypoints ahead as we coasted in and travelled south through France, past Paris until we broke cloud just south of Lyon to see the Alps off to our left and the Massif Central off to our right. It was not long until I was requesting descent when available due to the tailwind and we switched to the Nice controller passing FL120, descending FL110.
Further descent given to FL90 and we were gazing at the sparkling blue Mediterranean in the bay of St Tropez whilst looking for the Airbus holding 1000’ below us. They do look big as they turn towards you and appear out front at a stones throw away. As the Airbus left FL80 to be radar vectored onto the Nice ILS, hardly necessary in today’s weather as we could see the runway from our vantage point, so we were descended and vectored wide out above the ocean.
An eventual expedite descent to A2000’ saw us at 250 knots groundspeed. To me it looked awfully fast as I anticipated the level off nervously. I needn’t have worried. The Malibu behaved as it should. Power retarded enough to slow down, but not enough to shock cool the engine, we were soon at a sensible 120 knots and headed for a visual approach over Cannes Bay for downwind join for the southerly runway. Down to 1100’ and aware of the crosswind, Steve took over for a base turn onto a final approach.
I love the arrival at Cannes. This was my second visit, the first being in my beloved group Cessna 152 some 4 and a half years beforehand. It is a grand looking tower, with business jets dominating the apron you use for taking on fuel. Hills to one side, the town of Cannes on another and the bay to the south. Looking north the land rises to the mountains that become the Alps.
Having met the owner of the fine aeroplane, we squeezed the 3 of us into his Audi TT and Steve and I were dropped off to our resting place for the night.
A quick refresh and we had most of the afternoon to ourselves so elected to wander along the craggy clifftop before pausing for a beer and a coffee at a beach bar in a sandy cove.
Suitably refreshed it was back along the cliffs to stand and stare at the numerous boats that fill the several marinas to capacity. Some like more power at the back of their boats than others!
More beer, more coffee, more gazing at the view across the bay, before taking up a path along the river edge. The path got narrower and almost petered out at one point before bringing us out into another large inland marina, surrounded by affluent looking apartments, topped with magnificent penthouses.
Follow our noses took priority from this point and we eventually arrived back at the very street that our hotel was in, all done without the aid of fancy GPS units and charts, just out inbuilt compass to guide the way.
Suitably impressed we plumped for dinner on the seafront. October and dining outside do not compute when you have travelled for only 3 hours from the British coast. Very pleasant it was too, once the flies had decided they had pestered enough for one evening.
After a welcome night of rest, it was up and out to enjoy a relaxed café au lait in the opulence of the terminal at Cannes Mandelieu Airport. We had been lucky to get a taxi as there was a large conference on in town and most were busy ferrying the executives around. Yet the airport was more or less deserted, in common with most French airports I have been to I have to say.
The owner of the Malibu was flying the leg back home to Coventry which allowed me the luxury of admiring the view most of the way back.
There are not many airports that have such a memorable view on take off. Climbing to FL210 took around 25 minutes by which time we were being treated to the most amazing views. The weather had really cooperated. Unlimited visibility allowed me to look backwards and see the French south coast whilst also getting a good view of the Matterhorn and the Alpine scenery surrounding it. There really are some impressive views to be savoured on a day like this one.
As we passed the Matterhorn, so the view was taken up by the presence of Mont Blanc on one side.
The other side was spectacular mountain scenery followed by a wonderfully chart like view of Grenoble.
Chambery came into view, then Lyon. I watched amused as an airliner crawled along like an ant many thousands of feet below intercepting the ILS.
We entered cloud before I had the opportunity to see Paris from the air. At one stage, in a break between layers, I was able to watch a Lear Jet streak across left to right across our nose, confirmed by Paris and TCAS as 1000’ below. I watched him climb rapidly once ATC had the required separation from us for him. At those speeds it doesn’t take long!
In the usual French fashion we were handed to London prior to us coasting out above the English Channel. Good to know it is not only VFR flights they get rid off as quickly as possible.
The cloud cleared as we approached Biggin Hill and I was like a teenage spotter. Commercial traffic neatly lined up on approach to Gatwick, departing traffic climbing away. Looking out the other window neatly lined up inbounds to Heathrow along with a multitude of others climbing away to far away places. A backdrop of CBs and some requests for deviations due weather added to the occasion.
The Thames stretched out lazily beneath us. London City Airport, Biggin Hill, Redhill, Gatwick all visible from this vantage point. The Thames Barrier, the O2 Dome, Buckingham Palace, the multitude of bridges, all laid out to sit and gawp at like an overawed school kid again.
Then a turn to the north west with the tailwind making for some impressive groundspeeds again and a good view of cloud streets.
A deviation of 20 degrees to keep us out of the worst of the developing CBs and a descent given which was gratefully received. Again at maximum speed, trying to combine a rapid descent to allow us to fly as straight in an approach as possible, whilst maintaining cylinder head temperatures and avoiding shock cooling. It wasn’t helping not having those airbrakes. We passed through the edge of one of the CBs and the whole world turned to ice as the windscreen iced over in the blink of an eye. It cleared as quickly once we vacated the cloud a few seconds later. Humbled by the power of Mother Nature as ever.
It is a fast approach when you are dumped out of the airways and the “airspace where there be dragons” whilst battling height loss and engine cooling and working out your approach. No procedural holds here, just radar vectors for the ILS. We were visual below 2000’ after threading our way between the lower level cumulus and a lovely landing later the trip was over…
…well, almost…
Supping a cuppa back at Steve’s house he quipped that it was a shame we were wasting such a beautiful day by not flying. Had I ever been flying in the Maule? Erm, nope!
Five minutes up the road we were pulling out the Maule from the hangar. Steve demonstrated a textbook take off and handed me control with the instruction to head east. So we did. We headed for a reservoir and Steve commented that we may drop into his favourite strip. Indeed he would love to buy the property but like most of us simply does not have that sort of cash floating around in his bank account.
Pittsford is a picturesque strip on the southern edge of the reservoir. It is challenging, with a pronounced hump at the point that one would like to land. It also acts as a slightly premature launch deck on departure. Beautiful setting; absolutely stunning.
Back at Dav International I was given the order to grab the aeroplane by the scruff of the neck or she would get away from me. So I did. I seem to attract a crosswind at this strip, but the Maule handles it well. It has oodles of power if you do need to go round….and I did on the first attempt.
I got out of the aeroplane grinning like an idiot. Two extremes of flying in just over 24 hours. What enormous fun.
The evening before was spent being spoiled by a jolly fine home cooked meal and being introduced to the intricacies of enroute flight planning across Europe. There are many offerings now which reduce the laborious manual flight planning that used to have to be done.
AFPEX is the offering from NATS, but is a little clunky I feel and I have not yet got to grips with it, despite submitting flight plans through it on my instrument course. Always happy to learn, if there are willing volunteers.
Flight Plan Pro is another useful resource and is the one I had paid most attention to prior to this trip.
EuroFPL is the third I have experience of and Steve clearly knows his way around the site. It produces plogs for the trip, along with the forecast winds and groundspeeds, which were remarkably accurate on both the outbound and return legs, to within 2 to 3 knots. Considering this was plogged on the Monday night and we came back on the Wednesday morning even more so. They can also give you NOTAMs and so on. They have started making a small charge for their services but you are still able to submit 10 flight plans a month for free.
The most difficult part of this type of airways flight planning is knowing what is an acceptable route to the Brussels computer and a lot of the pain is taken out of this by the likes of the above sites.
Morning dawned and last minute weather checks were made over a light and healthy breakfast. A short drive later and I was being introduced to the Malibu. Leather clad seats, pressurised cabin and an avionics fit that would make most light GA pilots weep. Not the place for a bored deviant with buttons and switches everywhere.
Closing the doors on the Malibu is not the same as on a training type single. Not a case of slamming the door and maybe moving a lever. It is a delicate operation requiring steps to be lifted (and not dropped or the result of the twisting overstretched hinges would be very expensive) and locked into place, before lowering the top half of the door and securing so that you have two greens showing. This indicates that you are doors closed securely and pressurisation should happen, everything else equal.
It is a tight squeeze into the front seats but oh so worth it. The view out is somewhat letterbox’ish but adequate for the type of flight intended. You would not use this aeroplane for a low level bimble around the local area. The view inside is a huge progression from what I am used to, with dials for everything, a couple of GNS 530’s and an Avidyne display too. It has weather radar and also TCAS, which also feeds onto the 530.
The flight plan had been entered the previous day, but consisted of a series of airways waypoints, those 5 letter named points that the big boys navigate by, designated by blue triangles on charts. I was to become familiar with skipping through the FPL option as we were given routings that jumped two or even three waypoints ahead, sometimes up to 200 miles away. Unheard of in visual navigation, certainly in the UK.
Departure clearance obtained, we lined up for a COWLY 23 departure, climbing to 500’ before turning left onto a heading to intercept a radial from HON before intercepting a radial from DTY at a set distance which would then put us at the correct distance along that radial to be at COWLY. Initially cleared to an altitude, we were swiftly handed over to London Control and were asked to be at level at FL190 by COWLY and to advise if not possible. I had been handed control after the first left hand turn and was thoroughly enjoying seeing the altimeter wind up past FL100 (the highest I have ever flown myself and that was in a C152!).
The Malibu flew beautifully. Like most aeroplanes, once she was trimmed she only required soft and gentle inputs to fly heading and maintain rate of climb. Maintaining 110 knots kept an acceptable rate of 800fpm whilst keeping some cooling available for the engine and any turns we made gave a sense of solidity yet fluidity about the airframe.
Levelling off, the speed was quickly at 140 knots IAS. Dialling in the outside air temperature gave us around 195 knots TAS. The headwind was to turn to a tailwind on the way down to the south coast of France, so we expected some reasonable groundspeeds.
We passed WOD with the autopilot engaged as I would gain far more from this trip by concentrating on radio work and how IFR Nav works on a long trip, than by putting in undue effort to maintain height and heading for 3 hours straight and level. I happened to glance at the VFR GPS 496 on my lap as we passed Midhurst and gained photographic evidence as we passed directly overhead my house nearly 4 miles up and at 200mph. Nothing seen as we were in cloud at the time, but simple things….
It took me a while to tune into the French accent, but was rapidly adapting to being cleared two or three waypoints ahead as we coasted in and travelled south through France, past Paris until we broke cloud just south of Lyon to see the Alps off to our left and the Massif Central off to our right. It was not long until I was requesting descent when available due to the tailwind and we switched to the Nice controller passing FL120, descending FL110.
Further descent given to FL90 and we were gazing at the sparkling blue Mediterranean in the bay of St Tropez whilst looking for the Airbus holding 1000’ below us. They do look big as they turn towards you and appear out front at a stones throw away. As the Airbus left FL80 to be radar vectored onto the Nice ILS, hardly necessary in today’s weather as we could see the runway from our vantage point, so we were descended and vectored wide out above the ocean.
An eventual expedite descent to A2000’ saw us at 250 knots groundspeed. To me it looked awfully fast as I anticipated the level off nervously. I needn’t have worried. The Malibu behaved as it should. Power retarded enough to slow down, but not enough to shock cool the engine, we were soon at a sensible 120 knots and headed for a visual approach over Cannes Bay for downwind join for the southerly runway. Down to 1100’ and aware of the crosswind, Steve took over for a base turn onto a final approach.
I love the arrival at Cannes. This was my second visit, the first being in my beloved group Cessna 152 some 4 and a half years beforehand. It is a grand looking tower, with business jets dominating the apron you use for taking on fuel. Hills to one side, the town of Cannes on another and the bay to the south. Looking north the land rises to the mountains that become the Alps.
Having met the owner of the fine aeroplane, we squeezed the 3 of us into his Audi TT and Steve and I were dropped off to our resting place for the night.
A quick refresh and we had most of the afternoon to ourselves so elected to wander along the craggy clifftop before pausing for a beer and a coffee at a beach bar in a sandy cove.
Suitably refreshed it was back along the cliffs to stand and stare at the numerous boats that fill the several marinas to capacity. Some like more power at the back of their boats than others!
More beer, more coffee, more gazing at the view across the bay, before taking up a path along the river edge. The path got narrower and almost petered out at one point before bringing us out into another large inland marina, surrounded by affluent looking apartments, topped with magnificent penthouses.
Follow our noses took priority from this point and we eventually arrived back at the very street that our hotel was in, all done without the aid of fancy GPS units and charts, just out inbuilt compass to guide the way.
Suitably impressed we plumped for dinner on the seafront. October and dining outside do not compute when you have travelled for only 3 hours from the British coast. Very pleasant it was too, once the flies had decided they had pestered enough for one evening.
After a welcome night of rest, it was up and out to enjoy a relaxed café au lait in the opulence of the terminal at Cannes Mandelieu Airport. We had been lucky to get a taxi as there was a large conference on in town and most were busy ferrying the executives around. Yet the airport was more or less deserted, in common with most French airports I have been to I have to say.
The owner of the Malibu was flying the leg back home to Coventry which allowed me the luxury of admiring the view most of the way back.
There are not many airports that have such a memorable view on take off. Climbing to FL210 took around 25 minutes by which time we were being treated to the most amazing views. The weather had really cooperated. Unlimited visibility allowed me to look backwards and see the French south coast whilst also getting a good view of the Matterhorn and the Alpine scenery surrounding it. There really are some impressive views to be savoured on a day like this one.
As we passed the Matterhorn, so the view was taken up by the presence of Mont Blanc on one side.
The other side was spectacular mountain scenery followed by a wonderfully chart like view of Grenoble.
Chambery came into view, then Lyon. I watched amused as an airliner crawled along like an ant many thousands of feet below intercepting the ILS.
We entered cloud before I had the opportunity to see Paris from the air. At one stage, in a break between layers, I was able to watch a Lear Jet streak across left to right across our nose, confirmed by Paris and TCAS as 1000’ below. I watched him climb rapidly once ATC had the required separation from us for him. At those speeds it doesn’t take long!
In the usual French fashion we were handed to London prior to us coasting out above the English Channel. Good to know it is not only VFR flights they get rid off as quickly as possible.
The cloud cleared as we approached Biggin Hill and I was like a teenage spotter. Commercial traffic neatly lined up on approach to Gatwick, departing traffic climbing away. Looking out the other window neatly lined up inbounds to Heathrow along with a multitude of others climbing away to far away places. A backdrop of CBs and some requests for deviations due weather added to the occasion.
The Thames stretched out lazily beneath us. London City Airport, Biggin Hill, Redhill, Gatwick all visible from this vantage point. The Thames Barrier, the O2 Dome, Buckingham Palace, the multitude of bridges, all laid out to sit and gawp at like an overawed school kid again.
Then a turn to the north west with the tailwind making for some impressive groundspeeds again and a good view of cloud streets.
A deviation of 20 degrees to keep us out of the worst of the developing CBs and a descent given which was gratefully received. Again at maximum speed, trying to combine a rapid descent to allow us to fly as straight in an approach as possible, whilst maintaining cylinder head temperatures and avoiding shock cooling. It wasn’t helping not having those airbrakes. We passed through the edge of one of the CBs and the whole world turned to ice as the windscreen iced over in the blink of an eye. It cleared as quickly once we vacated the cloud a few seconds later. Humbled by the power of Mother Nature as ever.
It is a fast approach when you are dumped out of the airways and the “airspace where there be dragons” whilst battling height loss and engine cooling and working out your approach. No procedural holds here, just radar vectors for the ILS. We were visual below 2000’ after threading our way between the lower level cumulus and a lovely landing later the trip was over…
…well, almost…
Supping a cuppa back at Steve’s house he quipped that it was a shame we were wasting such a beautiful day by not flying. Had I ever been flying in the Maule? Erm, nope!
Five minutes up the road we were pulling out the Maule from the hangar. Steve demonstrated a textbook take off and handed me control with the instruction to head east. So we did. We headed for a reservoir and Steve commented that we may drop into his favourite strip. Indeed he would love to buy the property but like most of us simply does not have that sort of cash floating around in his bank account.
Pittsford is a picturesque strip on the southern edge of the reservoir. It is challenging, with a pronounced hump at the point that one would like to land. It also acts as a slightly premature launch deck on departure. Beautiful setting; absolutely stunning.
Back at Dav International I was given the order to grab the aeroplane by the scruff of the neck or she would get away from me. So I did. I seem to attract a crosswind at this strip, but the Maule handles it well. It has oodles of power if you do need to go round….and I did on the first attempt.
I got out of the aeroplane grinning like an idiot. Two extremes of flying in just over 24 hours. What enormous fun.
Sunday, 26 September 2010
Fabboceptor
It is not often one gets to drive something a little different.
It is not often these days that one gets to mix it with other petrolheads in similar machinery.
So an invite to share the driving of a 1970 Jensen Interceptor could not be refused.
A trip by train from home to a North London address found me wafting down the A40 in sumptuous comfort and amusing myself with the varying meaty burbling sounds emitted by the 335bhp of the 6 litre engine in front of me. We drove in loose formation with a Lotus Europa belonging to the same gentleman to a spot near Stokenchurch Mast, before enjoying a fine lunch with 22 attendees driving vehicles as different as a Daimler V8-250 (Insp Morse style), a variety of Porsches, an Alfa Romeo and a rather more modern Mazda MX5.
It is amazing how easily one can be transported back 40 years.
Sunday, 29 November 2009
Plastic, Bloomer, Chilli & Cappuccino
Damp, damp, damp. The usual weather conditions when Bloomer and I plan to go flying. So as the sun rose and I could actually see it, my heart lightened a little, along with the sky in the east. Yes there were lots of those fluffy cumuli hurrying across the windswept sky, but the sun was shining in the cornflower blue between them.
Cup of tea in hand, I called the number for ATC at East Midlands Airport and booked a training slot for later that day. A SRA and then radar vectors for the ILS should give my pilot some work to do and it will be good to see it from the right hand seat. One can learn a lot by sitting there and taking it all in without the pressure of flying headings and holding height inside turbulent clouds. I was to go along as safety pilot/general nag/radio person if required. It is no great secret that I have been missing my flying immensely of late; today was going to be a good ‘un.
Our mount for the afternoon and early evening was going to be a Diamond DA40. Yes, one of those modern aeroplanes, made of, dare I say it, plastic! I had flown in one previously though only a short trip from my home airfield of Shoreham, along the coast to Littlehampton and back. With modern avionics and comms this was going to be a learning experience for us both, especially me with my love for older aeroplanes, open cockpits and inverted flight when avionics don’t really count for much.
In addition, the DA40 is also fed by AVTUR, otherwise known as diesel, unlike the normal mounts one sees in aviation that guzzle AVGAS (high octane petrol). There is one lever operation with, zut alors, electronics and a computer chip controlling the likes of mixture, propeller pitch and RPM. The pilot pushes the lever forward and stops when he gets to the relevant power setting, the electrickery sorts the rest. Far less fun than playing with three separate levers, surely.
The avionics included twin Garmin 430 Nav/Comm units along with the separate controls for squelch and volume amongst other things. Like a couple of confused sniffer dogs, we finally got the balance correct about 20 minutes from the end of the return trip!!
Finally we had loaded the route into the GPS. Power checks consisted of holding in a test button and keeping it held until the checks were complete as lights flashed and the engine and propeller played mechanical tunes with each other.
Cleared for take off we launched ourselves…..well ok, after a fairly lengthy take off run we were airborne and heading off down Mig Alley, that stretch located between London and Gatwick zones that constricts the traffic into a funnel. I snapped a couple of pictures of the M25 whilst the captain for today compared his trusty Garmin 96 against his chart, having had a bad experience or two with 430’s apparently. These are BRNAV approved so should be ok I reckoned. As we feature crawled our way around the south west corner of Heathrow zone we said goodbye to the Bagshot mast and when we got to Henley we started a climb. I say we started a climb…..twiddling with a knob or two meant we managed to get the electronic wizardry in the form of an autopilot to climb us gently up to 3000’, nicely into the base of the clouds.
Damp damp damp. The airframe was taking a good wash as Bloomer became more familiar with the avionics and played with the autopilot. This was my first time operating an autopilot, I have never really seen a use for them as I prefer to hand fly even in cloud; but then I also like flying NDB holds and approaches, so that may explain why I had never been tempted. I have walked away from this trip convinced of their use, particularly when flying single pilot. Monitoring it and the instruments takes far less effort and allows you to check approach charts and write things down, take instructions form ATC without forgetting them halfway through due brain overload and relax a little. Both of us made sure we knew exactly where the circuit breaker was though in case it decided to do its own thing without our permission.
As we passed DTY VOR I managed to get the ATIS from East Mids and it was not weather to worry me as safety pilot, looking out. We should break cloud at 1200’ which would allow me plenty of time to get my bearings and ensure my captain was where he should be. It would also give me time to admire the view whilst the left hand seat sweated to as low as he was able to go.
Skipping in and out of the cloud tops is always fun. It is a bit like playing hide and seek with the sky. Playtime wasn’t going to last long though as the cloud tops rose and we were immersed in the grey nothingness that is the middle of a cloud. The grey has different shades, sometimes very light grey, sometimes bordering on black, but grey nothingness all the same.
Now in touch with East Mids I took the radio and Bloomer concentrated on the flying. Hand flying again by this time I might add! I am far too much a slave driver to allow the autopilot to do the work!! Entering the zone we were put under Radar Control and given headings to steer and advised that we were number three to a BMI Baby and a Ryan Air. Not having done a real SRA (Surveillance Radar Approach) I was very interested in watching this one. I have had instructors sit in the right hand seat and talk me down to the ground (literally in one brave souls case!), but doing it for real is always better. I did notice some light ice build up on the leading edge and was almost at the point of saying something when the build up seemed to stop and a change in heading indicated we were soon going to be given a descent though at one point we both lost situational awareness a little, with several alterations in heading to put us in behind the 737-800 out of his wake turbulence (do 430’s operate north up at all?), but it was momentary and we were soon on base and being instructed to descend to 2000’. The ice thankfully melted very quickly then, but another first for me today.
Then came the tones of the controller as concentration in the cockpit increased. Turn right heading 280. Turn left heading 275, left of centerline but regaining nicely. Left heading 265. Left heading 260, on centerline, your height should now be 1700’. Right heading 265. On centreline, your height should be 1200’, check decision height.
And so on. At 660’ we leveled off and at the appropriate place commenced the missed approach. This had been confirmed to us earlier, but the controller had kept a couple of commercial jets on the ground for us, so he changed to a different set of instructions to get us out of the take off path as soon as possible.
Back at 3000’, change of controller to a young lady. She must have sounded rather attractive as I struggled with our call sign every time after that until we were passed to tower! As I kept a watchful eye on Bloomer and we intercepted the localizer, we were passed to Tower.
Damp damp damp; that was the runway condition apparently. We should be OK, the runway is rather long here! Cleared to land I kept Bloomer focused on his instruments until minima, despite me having a lovely view of the light show laid out in front of me like a Christmas tree. A reasonable landing later and we were given progressive taxi instructions passed the easyJet, the BMI Baby, the Ryan Air and the DHL jets. As we arrived at the flying club there was a follow me van doing its best to blind us both with its amber flashing lights, our eyes straining in the dark to see the marshaller. We then had to sit for two minutes before turning off to allow the turbo to cool and were greeted by the marshaller. It was that Chilli Monster bloke who put us into the follow me vehicle and took us for a whistle stop tour of the airport and ATC. Thanks for the cappuccino, not sure how I managed to turn down the sweet sticky cake, must be the thought of my medical renewal next week.
We met the radar guys and girls and then went to admire the view from the glass topped tower. Oh what a view! Just in time to see the Thomson flight take another eager bunch of holidaymakers to Barbados – oh to get away from the greyness and damp of the last few weeks in the UK. I could have stayed up here all night, but we did have to get back before Biggin closed, so regretfully walked down all 249 steps….ok, I lied, we caught the lift, and were whisked back to our steed. I really must say a huge thank you to all the ATC at East Mids, a fantastic bunch, very warm and friendly. Keep it up guys, GA needs people like you. Also to Chilli who was a splendid host for the whirlwind tour. We’ll make a day of it next time.
Soon we were airborne and heading back south, having checked the weather and expecting a damp arrival back at base, but we should beat the worst of the weather. In cloud at 1200’ we were cleared to 3000’ and as we climbed through 2800’ we were met with the most wonderful sight. We were flying along just above the cloud tops, in between layers, but with enough light from the moon hidden above the next layer to give the scene a ghostly, though remotely romantic view. The odd star shone through the upper layer, far off aircraft moved silently through the inky black sky. It is at times like this I wonder if there really is a god, the beauty, the sheer ability of scenes like this to take my breath away, the way the view around me has no way of being put into words effectively.
Far in the distance we could see that the sky cleared. As we got closer, ever closer I can only relate it to being similar to the following. Imagine flying just off the surface of a river, lumpy, fast flowing water, white capped. Ahead of you is a gigantic drop, thousands of feet and the water will cascade over yet you will continue flying at the same level as the top of the huge waterfall. This was what it was like. We reached the edge of the cloud bank and suddenly we were not 200’ above the cloud but 3000’ above an inky blackness punctuated only by the sparkling of lights a long way below us. Oh, and Leicester off to the right.
I love night flying. Banishing thoughts of engine failure and trying to pick out somewhere to attempt a landing in the darkness below is not easy. It is, however, worth pushing it to the back of your mind, remaining alert to the possibility but enjoying the unique vista flying at night provides. Add some cloud to that, lit by the stars and the moon and the experience becomes a magical one, one that has the capability of transporting you to another world. Autopilot on, we just soaked up the view for a while.
By now approaching the busy zones around the north east of London I amused myself watching the downwind traffic for Stansted. Coming at them at right angles must have a controller worrying at times, even when we are wearing a squawk. Turning to parallel the downwind we watch the traffic land to our left and then concentrate our efforts on threading our way down towards the northern section of the M25. London was rapidly disappearing in the rain that was now pouring down outside and all efforts were now focused on navigating our way back to base. Crossing the river we called Biggin and were given a left base join for Runway 21, call at 5 miles. A couple of minutes later a report of a rapidly lowering cloudbase and visibility and an offer of the ILS if it was required. UK controllers really are the best in the world. A thank you from us and keeping that option open we did get back without the need for the ILS. A somewhat unconventional final approach and I have to say a lovely soft landing from he who was flying.
Told to vacate via the crossing runway we struggled to find it in the lashing rain that was now giving the plastic aeroplane a good wash. The runway and taxiway lighting at Biggin is not as good as some other places. Either that or they were teasing us with the rheostat turned down low.
The drive home was definitely challenging, the roads rather more than damp damp damp.
Subscribe to:
Comments (Atom)