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.
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