The day dawned with forecasts of a very heavy rain front waiting to sweep in, but being held out past Ireland by high pressure – would the high pressure hold for all day Sunday? Up at 0700 and the weather was ideal, clear skies virtually nil wind, so off to pick my daughter up from her apartment then onto the airfield.
I had of course completed all of the formalities the previous day, which consists of dropping the General Aviation Report (customs stuff) and a Flight Plan off at the reception desk at the airfield and they did the rest and emailing a request for customs to L2K.
I checked the plane out in the hangar then wheeled it out with my daughters somewhat inexpert help, but hey, we got there! I gave her a careful and full safety brief, especially about the belts and canopy opening and all the over-water gear and ELT beacon.
The plane was low on fuel to off to the pumps for me. After a jammed hose reel then my keys playing up, one of the fire crew sorted it all out and we were refuelled. We were given a taxi to the holding point for runway 18 – wow – it’s been a good couple of years since I last used this runway at Gloucester. It is the shortest (but still some 800m) and narrowest of the three runways and was closed for quite some time. But we were up and away in short order as I turned left on track for a direct line between Gloucester and the GWC VOR on Goodwood airfield on the south coast by Chichester. This routing neatly avoids all of the controlled airspace if you don’t go above 5000’ (4500’ in one small stretch).
There were scatter and thin cumulus at about 2500’ and I didn’t fancy scuttling under then, so carried on through to 4500’ to sit well on top with plenty of holes in the cloud and clear runs back down again. Brize were busy but helpful as always as I spoke to them once I cleared the Cotswold ridge.
After them I contacted Farnboro Radar who seemed remarkably quiet. But I was already hearing other aircraft also routing to L2K – I chuckled as I explained to my daughter that the world and his wife would probably be headed to L2K on a day like this. There was now a thin stratus layer barely below me which looked solid but thin and was now between me and the cumulus. But I could see further ahead to the coast, so I knew this layer would disappear soon. After about 20 miles it did drop away and by the time I got to the coast, the lower cumulus had gone as well.
We approached the south coast and I changed frequency to Shoreham as according to the NOTAMs they are due to have an airshow with a RAT all the way up to 5000’, with class A airspace starting above that at FL55. In theory, I could route through their overhead above 5000’ but below FL55. I spoke to them and the show hadn’t started, so they were happy for me to fly through their overhead at 4500’ anyway.
I routed along the coast following the VOR’s to LYD where I was careful to avoid the military danger area as I coasted out over Dungeness nuclear power station at 4500’ talking to a ‘not very busy’ London Information.
There was no horizon over the channel as usual, with the dark blue of the sea giving way to a thick grey band which eventually lead to the light blue of the clear skies above. I wasn’t flying on instrument, but I was keeping an eye on the artificial horizon and cross checking with my altitude (in the absence of a clear horizon).
But soon, we could make out the coast of France and I switched from London Information to Lille Approach. They pushed me off the L2K with about 10 miles to run and L2K gave me a straight in (direct to final) approach for runway 14 and to report at 5 miles. I started the descent and noted the wind he was giving others on final as 180 / 12 – aahhhh – a nice sporting crosswind – nothing in a nosewheel aircraft, but this was a light and relatively twitchy taildragger – this could be fun!
At five miles I as now down to 2000’ and was given number 1 at three miles. I had the airspeed under control, if a little fast. I noted the crosswind as I had to fly cocked into the wind to maintain the extended centreline.
Over the number and still a little fast although ground speed quite slow, so yes, quite a strong wind. I kicked the nose straight and compensated with opposite rudder as I concentrated on the flare and hold off. Stall warner sounding but she touched before I wanted and I was rewarded with small bounce – no fun when you are also compensating for a crosswind. I controlled that and held off and touched again and stayed touched. A gust hit the fin and the nose came right a bit to take me off the centreline, but I was back on the rudder and straightened her up again as she rolled out to taxi speed. Not great, but not bad for a crosswind landing.
I taxied in and had a hard look for parking space – with the majority of the ramp being occupied by G registration aircraft (as expected). I found a slot and parked up and as quickly as I could, popped the canopy as it was bright sunshine at L2K and without the airflow through the blowers, you cook very quickly under the bubble canopy of the RV! It had taken me about 1.5 hours from Gloucester to L2K.
We unpacked and set off towards the terminal. Of course no customs, just check in with the helpful staff. Tell them how much fuel you want and walk off and pay when you get back – no hassle at all!
We didn’t bother with bike hire, which with hindsight we should have. I have never been to Etaples on the other side of the river (and an easy walk from the airport), so we decided to go there and check it out. I was kind of hoping for a cute French fishing village, maybe a mini-Honfleur. I was disappointed. It is an OK town, we found to town square, but it was deserted with virtually everything shut (as France tends to be on Sunday). It would be an interesting place on market day. We eventually found one of the eight of so open restaurants with space. They specialised in ‘SLOW’. I have ‘Moule Frite’. The food was fine, but very ssllllloooooooowwwww! I paid up and we agreed on a quick trip to L2K itself. So walked back to the airfield and all the bikes had gone, so we got a taxi. 10 Euros later we were in ‘Centre Ville’.
L2K was bustling with virtually everything open – but then at the height of the French holiday season, not too surprising. I showed my daughter around the main sights and she decided we should walk back to the airport to admire the classy French ‘holiday homes’ for the rich Parisians between the town and the airport.
Back at the airport, I filed the flight plan for the return and paid the bills. They want you to pay separately for the fuel and the landing fees. Landing fee was a modest EUR12 for mu small RV6 and they had put 40 litres of fuel in as requested.
It was very warm now but the wind had died down to a modest 5-6 kts, but still favouring runway 14 – so a fair old taxi in store for me with the canopy buttoned up!
I checked the plane over and clambered in. I was sat there with the canopy buttoned up trying very hard to get a word in edgeways to request taxi clearance while slowly cooking to death! I managed eventually then had to wait in a three plane departure queue – still cooking!
Eventually we got airborne and got some blessed airflow on my face. As I turned on a climbing downwind for the channel and Lydd, my daughter tried to get some photos of the airport from the overhead. I frequent the Flyer Forum portal. They have a section there for airfields and I am amazed that no one has yet posted a decent photo of L2K from the overhead (something I find very useful for pilots who have not been to a particular airfield before). As it turns out, she didn’t really manage a decent photo showing the airfield and environs as she used the zoom – DOH! Does ANYONE have a decent photo of L2K? It seems as difficult as getting a photo of a vampire – hey! I wonder….. naaaah!
I climbed to 5000’ over the channel and reversed the route and the process on the way back. I did just manage to contact London Information, but it was a real feeding frenzy so I gave up and changed to Shoreham prematurely.
Shoreham were quiet, but then they did have the airshow on. I requested a routing through their overhead above 5000’ (the top of their RAT) but below FL55 (the start of controlled airspace above). Of course I could legally do it without even speaking to them, but lets be gentlemen here! They demurred and asked if I could route either 4 miles to the south or north. I opted for south out to sea and kept myself at about 5200’ just in case there was any silliness. As we approached Shoreham we could clearly see smoke tails all over the sky as someone was doing some serious aerobatics.
Past Shoreham, I dropped to 4500’ to avoid a small slug of controlled airspace and talked to Farnboro Radar. We routed near to GWC then set track for Gloucester. It was then that my daughter called ‘PLANE’ and pointed (as I had briefed her to do) at about 1 o’clock. I saw it a few seconds before it flashed under my starboard wing, probably 200’ below. Clearly neither of us had seen the other until the last moment. Had he been coming at the same height, I did would have had time for a fairly violent manoeuvre, but didn’t have to bother.
We pottered on as I switched to Brize as I listed to another aircraft call Brize three times with no response. So I stayed on listening watch and routed over Fairford at 4500’ picking up the Gloucester ATIS. Gloucester gave me a standard overhead join for 22.
As we crested the Cotswold ridge, the fine weather gave way to a near overcast, albeit fairly high cloud. I did a nice overhead join and set her down as nicely as you please on 22 (I can manage it sometime you know!). It was 1800 as I taxied into a very quiet and still airport. We put the plane away and I finished the paperwork and formalities.
A good day out and a chance to try my crosswind landings for real. The weather could not really have been better (for a change). I must get another cross-channel trip in, maybe to the Channel Islands and to Alderney, as I have not been there yet. Or maybe a ‘round London’ trip to pick up some airfields I have always flown past but never landed at yet, like Lydd, Manston and Southend?
