2008 reprise

2008 was a very varied year for me aviation-wise.



It started with me buying into a new 1/6th share in an established group for G-GDRV, an RV6 based at Staverton. With a nasty confluence of problems of weather, my availability, instructor availability and aircraft availability, it took me until May to get formal tailwheel difference sign-off.

After that, the weather scotched a couple of planned trips to France. But then I got very lucky with truly horrific summer weather in the UK (the year that there was no summer) in July where as chance would have it, the two weekends that I had booked the plane for cross-channel trips, both turned out to be about the only two decent weekends we had all summer. So I managed a weekend trip with Mark, my Canadian neighbour to Caen with a low level flight along the invasion beaches in early July and a long-promised and oft cancelled trip to Deauville for Honfleur with my wife in late July.

I then did a local with Gavin, a new flying buddy I met at Gloucester and he reciprocated with a trip in his Robin tailwheel based at Oaksey Park on a lovely autumn evening.

My ‘big trip’ for 2008 was a one week holiday to see Dan, my buddy in Canada and then to do a four day flying tour between Canada and the USA. A lot of things could have fouled it up, not least of which being the weather, but it all fell into place and we managed to fly from Ottawa – New York – NY low level city flight – Niagara – Toronto City – Ottawa. It is hard for me to say whether this was the best tour I have ever done or whether it was the trip to Italy in 2006.

I managed one more local flight before damage to the RV6 canopy meant that we took the plane into early annual for running repairs. This lasted from early October until the end of the year.

In desperation, I resorted to full hire from Cotswolds and took the opportunity to get checkrides on types I have not flown before, specifically the Eurostar microlight and a Robin DR400. But even these trips needed several bookings to find sensible weather.

So, like an anorak’d train spotter, these are my ‘achievements’ in 2008:

• In 2008, 39.2 Hours total, 27.9 as P1 and 11.3 as P U/T
• Took and ‘passed’ FAA BFR
• Passed Canadian PPL ‘difference’ written exam to get a Canadian PPL based on my standalone FAA ticket.
• Tailwheel difference training and sign off
• First time flown as P1 in Canada
• First time flown as P1 in the USA
• First Canada / USA border crossing
• First low level city flight (New York)
• Flew 3 new aircraft types and 7 aircraft registrations
• First flight in a microlight
• Landed / taken off from 6 ‘new’ airfields

Well, that’s about it. I look forward to 2009 with trips to continental Europe with the wife and other flying friends and a ‘big trip’ maybe in October around Texas.

Local with visiting family

My sister and her husband have travelled fro New York to meet up with my sisters ‘boys’ who have come from Vienna to spend Christmas with my mother in Cheltenham. With such a gathering, I of course volunteered to give them a joyride around the local area. The snag being that my own aircraft (share in an RV6) is still awaiting its permit, so I decided to get checked out in and hire a Robin DR400 from Cotswolds.

The day dawned OK, with broken / scattered low, thin cumulus cloud (initially 1100’, but rising slowly during the day) and an easterly wind. It turned out to be a high pressure system, with the ATIS at Gloucester reporting 1036. It was also pretty cold.

So we trekked to the airfield and I checked the plane out. I was going to have to do two flights, one for the ‘boys’ (aged 22 and 25!) and one for Linda and her husband. The fuel was good and the weight and balance worked out. With the pressure so high and the temperature so cold, it would also be flattering for aircraft performance.

I loaded the boys up and gave them the required safety brief. It was a bit embarrassing when I couldn’t seem to get the canopy open again, until I realised I had to rotate the handle an extra bit to disengage the latch! I called for taxi, to be told by the tower that I had not booked out! Damn! Forgot that! They had a combined tower and approach, so were busy, but they were good enough to advise me to hold and eventually took my booking out on the radio.



Wit was 04 in use with a wind of 050 / 10. So we taxied out and did the power checks. I tried to talk the boys through what I was doing for their interest. Checks complete, I was given clearance and we were up and away in a remarkably short distance considering we were reasonably heavily laden.

I climbed out to 1500’ with the cloud base only just a bit above that. The boys were keen to get on top of the cloud, so with large openings all around, I circled in a large gap and was easily above them at 3000’. We were around Tewkesbury at the time and had fun picking out the abbey. It can be so calm and peaceful there above the clouds, I wonder why I don’t do it more often.



We bimble around as I show them normal then steep turns and climbing and descending. We wander over to Cleeve Hill where we walked the previous day and check out another crop of walkers, having descended again below the cloudbase to about 1700’. It is a lovely, sunny day, but very cold with extensive frost all over the hill.

I pick up the ATIS and request a direct join to Gloucester. I am given a left downwind join for 04 as we head back in. The rest is pretty uneventful as I land and taxi back in. I shutdown and we head back to the club. My sister sees the size of their grins as they both decide that they MUST have a plane as well!

Well, I repeat the process with my sister and her husband with the exception that I refuel a bit first – not too much as we can’t take on full fuel with this load.

While I am bumbling around Gretton, I hear another aircraft on frequency abandon plans to go to Bembridge and decide to head for Wellesbourne instead. They are already east of the airfield and headed to Wellesbourne – which would have them crossing where I am. So out of caution, I call Gloucester for am position report on this aircraft and state my own position and altitude and put my landing lights on. The other aircraft sees me some three minutes later (I never see him, but I am looking into sun – that’s my excuse anyway). Can’t be too careful!

They seem to enjoy the flight equally well and I reward myself with what I am afraid I must say was a pretty good landing – not a true ‘greaser’ (those are rare), but definitely one of my better ones.

Well, that’s the last flight for the year, but the good news is that I already have a checkride sorted out for the 4th January in the RV6. So hopefully, I will start 2009 as I mean to go on – with a lot of great flights!

Sign off on the Robin DR400

Although the annual is now complete for the RV6, we still need the LAA 'permit' before anyone can fly it, so that will be early in the new year. In the meantime, I noticed a few months ago that the Robin DR400 had rejoined the Cotswolds fleet, so in my enfroced abstinence from the RV6, I though it would 'have a go' in a type I hadn't flown before.



I booked Phil Mathews for the checkride, the immensely experinced head of the flying club and the CFI. Taciturn and a man of few words, but he will tell you when you have gone wrong and will encourage you to analyse your own errors and tell him what went wrong.

He explained the oddities of the aircraft and I did the walkaround check. Three fuel drains, a non-dippable fuel tank, so rely on the gauges, well obviously cranked wings and fabric covered, etc.

Pulled her outside and clambered in. Run through the checklist and locate all the switches in an unfamiliar layout - a fairly spartan VFR fit, albeit with a nice GPS. She starts readily enough, then the first bit of fun - the braking system. Phil explains that this was lifted directly from the original DR221 series (a taildragger), so no toe brakes, instead and old American car like brake / handbrake, so right hand on the throttle, then when you want to brake, close the throttle and use the same right hand to pull the brake. Oh, an full rudder deflection engaged the brake in that direction for a better turing circle, problem is that it stays engaged until you unlock it with rudder movement away from full lock! Sounds complex to explain, but once shown and once youv'e tried it a copuple of time, it is easy enough.

The weather isn't wonderful, but plenty good enough for a few circuits, which is all Phil think I will need as I am familiar with the Alphas at Cotswolds.

Take off is easy and uneventful, full power, hold her straight and a positive, but not stenuous rotate just past 50kts. She climbs very happily at about 900 fpm with us two big guys on board. She handles much like a PA28, not crisp, but solid. I do notice I need to carefully watch the yaw and stay active on the rudder for a nice balanced turn.

She runs out at 95kys at 2300rpm as I call downwind for a touch and go. We are pushed out wide to about 2 miles by the PA28 in the circuit in front, not his fault as he is forced out wide in turn by the Slingsby in front again. I turn in to base and see that I am going to be close to the PA28, so on final, we slow to 60kts to let the PA28 get further ahead. The tower seems concerned about spacing and gives me a 'go around', but Phil elects to have a word and tells the controller we are now flying very slowly and is very confident there won't be a spacing issue. The controller accepts this and we continue - good practice for slow flying anyway for me.

The first landing is a normal fully flapped landing, just to get me used to the feel of the plane. This goes pretty well as Phil gets me to chop the power quite high in the roundout, but she glide extremely well and settles for a gnetle and flattering touch. Clean up, full power and we are very quickly flying again.

This time we go for a flapless. So 70kts approach, chop the power high and round out. Hold off, and off and off and off and off and off - well, you get the idea, the bloody thing floats halfway down the runway before deigning to touchdown - this thing handles like a bloody glider! Power and we are up quickly, which is just as well as there wasn't much runway left - even at Gloucester!

This time, Phil asks for and is given a full PFL glide approach from the overhead. So we climb to 2000' into the overhead and Phil chops the power. I go into the engine failure routine and set her up for best glide at 75kts and get her nicely trimmed. We seem to be losing about 600fpm, a very decent glide. I carefully position for left base on runway in use 22 and carefully compare the picture with the known wind and altimeter readout to judge my approach. I am high, but I can always lose height, I can't get it back!

Still high, but no flaps and bit close. So I pull on one stage of flaps. 1000' now and probably half a mile in a 10kt wind. Full flap now. Coming in but still high. Bit of a sideslip fopr 10 seconds, still high but watch out for the sink over the factory building on short final, so live with it. Good call as we come in high but OK for close on to the numbers on 22. Round out and flare. Really hold this plane off and try to keep it flying until it gently stalls in the last foot for a good landing. Pleased with that, been ages since I have done one of those.

Phil announces that he is happy and we taxy in. He asks if I want to go up by myself. Sure, why not. So we hold just past the tower as he hops out and I call for taxy again for a local.

Up and away from 22 again in a 10kt wind and I am buffeted a bit on climbout, I guess we are that much lighter. I climbout to about 2200' and head west then north.



It's pretty murky with some very thin and scattered cloud at 1500', but generally, I can fly up to 3000' clear of cloud. Visibility isn't great. I head over towards Tewkesbury and checkout the abbey. Then on to my favourite landmark, Bredon Hill. A few steep turns to get the feel of the plane, then onto buzz my Mother's house in Bishops Cleeve - at a perfectly legal altitude of course. I head back towards Winchcombe and collect the ATIS.

I call for a rejoin and request a direct join for runway 22 as I am pretty much on the a very extended final for the runway in use. I am given this and asked to report at four miles. So I trundle in with a cruise descent at about 100kts.

The approach is uneventful as I carry out my 'downwind' checks. The approach is good and the landing also pretty rair. This really is a solid and forgiving plane.

I taxy in a shutdown. I have recorded 30 minutes of P U/T and 35 minutes of P1 pottering about the neighbourhood. Between the time and the landing fees, I notch up a Cotswolds bill of about GBP180 - ouch!

Well, that's the DR400 checked out on. I have it booked for next weekend for a two hour slot to take my sister and her husband flying around the local area.

G-GDRV inches closer to the end of the annual!

While I was at Staverton on Sunday waiting for my checkride in the Eurostar, I spotted that Manuel was in and working on the RV6, which is still going through it’s now protracted annual with running repairs.

The RV6 has been out of commission, due to a crack in the canopy since early October, so we decided as a group to do the annual and some accumulated ‘fixes’ at the same time (a few smoking rivets and the like).

Now as a group, we are fortunate enough to have a licensed aircraft engineer as a group member who is the person that formed the group originally. So what happens is that he does most of the work (with help when available from other group members) and charges the group a sensible rate which is offset against his own payments due to the group. Of course we also have all of the work signed off at the appropriate stages by an approved LAA inspector.

But what this does mean is that as Manuel is part time, the annual take longer in elapsed time and is still going on to date.

Manuel and another group member were in the hangar on Sunday working on the plane, so I thought I would wander over prior to my checkride and see where we were.



The bottom line is that the crack has nearly been repaired and all work has been completed and signed off, it is ‘just’ a case of putting it all back together (fin, spats, cowling, seats etc. – so non-trivial) and giving the engine a test run and a test flight. So it may be that G-GDRV is available again before the end of the year.

I was under the impression that the group were working on the plane on Thursday, Friday and Saturday, not Sunday. I felt bad that I couldn’t volunteer to help while I was there (not that I am mechanically minded or capable) as I only had a two and a half hour slot negotiated with the wife and she doesn’t like me spontaneously overstaying at the airport (the famous ‘what if you are dead in a field somewhere?’ argument).

While I was there, a chap appeared and started talking to Manuel. It was clear from the conversation that he was the pilot of the lovely RV7 that we currently share a hangar with that is going to be used in 2009 to challenge the long standing Alex Henshaw ‘Mew Gull’ record for a solo return trip to South Africa. I introduced myself and wished him the best of luck. I do hope he publicises the date in advance to I can turn up at the airfield to see him off. This will be a hell of a challenge and he will get very little sleep.

But back to the annual, even once ready, all of the group will have to arrange and undergo checkrides before disappearing into the wild blue yonder as group rules say no P1 unless you have flown the RV6 in the last 30 days. So the usual logistics problem of getting the yourself, the aircraft, a suitable instructor and the weather all in the same place at the same time, all given very short hours of daylight and virtually no ability to take time off during the week – hey ho, I may be doing full rental in parallel for a few more weeks yet!

Making love to a fat woman!

Apologies for the politically incorrect title, but as the old joke goes:

It's like making love to a fat woman - it's a lot of fun, but you're too ashamed to tell anyone!

That's me trying to sum up my first experience of flying a microlight, in this case the Eurostar EV97 from Cotswold Aero Club at Gloucestershire Airport.

I have been having withdrawal symptoms for some time now, ever since the group RV6 went into a protracted annual in mid-October. This is now coming to an end, but I can't wait.

So I decided to try some different types on normal 'full hire' rates. They now have a Eurostar microlight and the Robin DR400 on the fleet, neither of which I have flown. A quick toss of the coin and the Eurostar it was.

This has recently been added to the Cotswolds fleet with the collapse of the Skytime flying club on the other side of the airfield. It is owned by Mike Edwards, who is also an instructor, but when I booked I was allocated Roly as the instructor based partly on our combined weights (me 100 kg and Roly a mere slip of a chap) and Mike's non-availability on Sunday afternoon.



The Eurostar arrived from it's previous sortie and Mike Edwards clambered out to confirm the fuel would be fine for me. Roly turned up and showed me the main points of the walkaround. There are a few very important differences as of course this is Rotax powered and a very spartan VFR fit. Being classed as a microlight, it has a MAUW of a mere 450kg (anywhere else in Europe the exact same plane can fly at a far more sensible 544kg - but oh no! Not in good old CAA-land). Still, I expect this will all be addressed by the new EASA legislation - one lives in hope!

The differences on walkaround can be summed up as:

- For the first flight of a day, open the oil cap and pull the prop through until you hear gurgling and the oil registers on the dipstick
- There is only one fuel drain but it is very tricky to operate and you have to have the flaps down to do it.
- There is no way of dipping the tanks, but the gauges are pretty accurate
- DON'T refill with AVGAS, it takes Mogas stored in the hangar

Other than that, it looks at first sight like any other small two-seater. We clambered in and secured the straps. There is no mixture control and no carb heat, but there is a strangely operated choke for cold starting. Oh, and the throttle is spring loaded so that if the throttle friction is not set, the throttle will pull to fully open - a good thing to remember on startup unless you want the plane to surge forward out of control!

Being a Rotax engine, startup was instant (once I read on the checklist to set the magnetos to ON that is). I set the engine revs to a disconcerting 2000 (the reduction gear drops the prop revs to about half that). Anyone used to conventional Continentals and Lycomings etc. will be quite thrown by the high revving engine note as I realised how much I have been flying using non-visual clues like engine note etc.

I should have got a photo of the panel. It is a very spartan and unapologetic VFR fit - no glass panels here! No GPS (eeek - how will I navigate?), Direction Indicator, Artificial Horizon, VOR, ADF, DME etc. It did have a compass, slip indicator, altimeter, Rate of climb, engine monitoring gauges and a handheld radio secured on the panel, but that was about it - accidental IMC in this would be a brief and terrifying experience! No danger of that today though as the early fog had virtually burned off leaving CAVOK, clear skies and nil wind.

We were cleared for the 'long march of death' to 09 - all the way on the other side of the airfield.

The power checks were very straightforward and we were cleared for a right turnout to the south west on 09. I lined up and applied full power. Even loaded to near the limits, the plane surged forward. I didn't quite have the trim right and had to apply forward pressure to hold the nose down as we accelerated quickly. The airspeed indicator is marked in miles per hour and we VERY quickly reached the magic '50' (a piffling 43 kts!), so I relaxed the forward pressure (note this was not really a 'rotate' at all) and the plane shot skywards, possibly even more energetically than the RV!

I climbed at about 85 mph (74 kts) and the ROC showed about a 1000 fpm climb - again, impressive. We climbed to about 2200' and left the power in until about 100 mph (87 kts) then pulled it back to a relaxed cruise rpm (well, for a Rotax that is) of 4500 rpm. The engine note sounded crazy to me as I am used to the old heavy metal, but I guess this is normal for a Rotax. I trimmed the plane out for level flight. The level flight picture looked low to me, but gave excellent visibility. The trim lever is by the flap lever and is very sensitive.

We cleared the airfield environs as Roly got me doing normal turns to get the feel for the plane. It needed a little rudder to get into and come out of the turn and just a bit of pressure to stay in a balanced turn. Without the benefit of an A/I, I would guess I was putting in 45 degree turns.



The up to 3000' to practice slow flight and stalls. Roly got me flying near and then on the 'back side of the drag curve' at 50 mph (a silly 44 kts)! The he asked me to do co-ordinated level turns at this speed. I carefully coaxed it into a co-ordinated turn with careful use of aileron and rudder and managed to maintain height. It didn't so much turn as feel like it was rotating on the vertical!

Then a few stalls. First clean. Roly insisted I held it into a full stall, which I did. There was plenty of warning and the early stages of the stall were simply mushy controls, but as I continued to abuse it, wings started to drop, which I held with rudder. Recovery was simlicity itself, a bit of power and nose down and it was flying again instantly.

The plane is very light and has very little in the way of inertia. This was amply illustrated when I pulled the throttle closed, as there is point in the engine rpm where it positively feels as though someone has thrown an air-brake out!

We spotted and avoided a Cessna and helicopter and as it was busy around the Severn, headed a bit over towards the Malverns.

More stalls with first one then the full stages of flap were even slower and more innocuous, including the simulated 'base to final turn'. Roly explained about the lack of inertia and that the plane had to be positively flown all the way to the hold-off playing with power. We practiced 500 fpm descents holding first 70 then 60 mph as practice approaches.

Then we headed back to Gloucester. I called them and was given a standard overhead join for 27 with right hand circuits. On the approach, Roly spotted an aircraft headed for us at the same level, but just off to our right. A turn to the left put us out of harms way (the normal turn to the right would have put us right across their nose, so not a good idea. The other plane carried on without any sign of recognition, I swear they didn't see us.

We continued approach as I put in a cruise descent. The overhead join went well and the Eurostar can put in a sprightly rate of descent when you want it to. I came across the upwind numbers at the required 1000' and shot the first circuit.

The circuit was quiet. I did my downwind checks, BUMPFFICHLL, but there was so little that applied to this plane it seemed pretty pointless (Brakes: No handbrakes, Undercarriage: Fixed, Mixture: No mixture, Pump: No pump etc.). I left myself a bit high on final and passed the latter part of the approach essentially in a glide descent with an approach speed of 65 mph. I cut the power once in the flare and held off and off. We touched, nice and smoothly. I dropped the flaps, applied full power and I swear in the count of three we were up and flying again.

we quickly gained 1000', then on the downwind leg, the tower gave me a 180 degree left turn to put me on downwind for runway 09 - they had changed runway direction on me in mid-circuit. Given that there was hardly a breath of wind, I did wonder why, but hey, this is ATC and I do what I'm told.

The second landing was again fine, but again, I left myself a bit high with a steep descent. The third and final landing we aimed for the intersection with runway 22, about 2/3rds of the way down 09 and for a 55 mph approach for a short field landing. Well, I was a tiny bit faster than that, but stopped in an amazingly short distance in a nil wind situation. Wow!

Back to Cotswolds and into the lockbox where the Mogas is stored. Between Roly and I we figured out the hand pump and found it to be amazingly efficient as it made short work of a 20 litre jerrycan.

Well, what do I think of it?

It was great fun. It is a very light plane with very little inertia and it responds far quicker than I am used to to power changes. It handles very nicely and is very crisp in roll, sprprisingly so for such small ailerons (again, a very light aircraft). Rate of climb is very sprightly. Landing is fine and easy, but I suspect again because of its light weight that crosswinds might be interesting.

I probably burned a mere 12 litres of Mogas (at 89 pence a litre) in the hour I was flying - a pittance. The high rpm whine of the Rotax will take some getting used to, but that is hardly a major consideration.

Give the Eurostar another 100 kg MAUW and you will have a perfectly practical short-strip tourer on your hands.

I once described flying the Piper Cub as similar to driving a bombed out old mini with no doors around a muddy field. I would describe the Eurostar as driving a go kart - huge fun.

I like it, I like it a lot!