Brecon Beacons

I had a couple of hours booked on Saturday morning as I was overdue to fly my daughter's boyfried, so off we went. The weather was playing ball. An earlier breeze had settled down to nothing much at all, although it was a little misty.

The plane checked out fine but of course I had to fill up with fuel (I am sure the rest of the group swear they are the only one that ever fill up with fuel as well).

I thought I would do a local to take a look at Wales and the Brecon Beacons. We were given the 'long march of death' to C1 for 09 - Ron thought we were planning on taxying to Brecon! Power checks OK and off we went. The take off was fine in a minimal wind (3-4 kts), but I was surprised to hit a fair bit of chop on climbout until I topped a haze layer at 2500', when it very much smoothed out.



I headed SW for a bit, then west past Ross on Wye towards Abergavenny. We climbed to about 3800', well above the haze layer with a high overcast at, I would guess 15000' - nice and smooth up here, what a great view as we started to see some of the Welsh mountains with their peaks just sticking through the haze layer.

We got to Abergavenny and I decided that it was so nice, that I would wander up the valley to Brecon and check out the Brecon Beacons (much beloved of the SAS special forces, especially their selection process!).



We flew low over Fan-y-Big (Yes, it REALLY is called that - I couldn't make this stuff up!) and scraped over Pen-y-Fan - very exhilarating! I headed NE towards Hay on Wye. About 5 miles past Pen-y-fan, I hit quite a lot of chop, I had managed to get us into a bit of rotor, which surprised me as the wind on the ground was so light - lesson learned! I tightened my shoulder straps (to stop myself getting beaned on the head by a sharp downdraft) and started a climb to climb above it. What a schoolboy error!

Once at Hay, I set course for Credenhill barracks north of Hereford, avoiding the danger area, to pay my respects to the UK's finest! Then onto the Malverns as Rob wanted to use his new camera to get a photo of the beacon as his parents had walked up their onn their visit from Germany late last year.

Time was passing as I approached the end of my booking, so I headed for home via Tewkesbury. I picked up the ATIS and listened out on Glos Approach. It must have been one of those blips as they were as busy as hell, with 'standby's' being given out all over the place and muiltiple aircraft all converging on the Gloucester overhead.

This was made worse by a pompous windbag 'aerial survey' (he seemed very proud of this)chap who decided to refuel at Gloucester. Well of course he didn't get the ATIS first and his radio call on a very busy frequency was full of hugely timewasting 'if you could see you way clear to...' and 'at this moment, currently overhead (what other moment would it be?)' and 'thank you very much indeed sir' and loads of information that no one cared about, like his magnetic heading - oh my God I could go on. Nothing wrong with a bit of civility, but cut the cloth to fit! The frequency was backing up and this windbag obviously loved the sound of his own voice far too much to let anyone get a word in. He continued in this manner pretty much all the way to landing!

I orbited Tewkesbury waiting for the traffic to thin and was given a standby when I called. I spotted the Cotswolds Robin G-BGBA a few hundered feet belowas he also apparently orbited and headed into Gloucester. I lost him in the haze a few minutes before I was cleared to approach. I then started looking hard for G-BA as I could hear that he was also approaching the overhead and I knew I was quicker (even throttled back, I was doing 120kts vs the Robins like 95kts). I felt the hairs on the back of my neck bristle as I decided to drop the nose and do some sharp turns so I could see below me. I was glad I did, as I could now see G-BA in front and below me waggling his wings. He obviously saw me gaining and descending from his bubble canopy, but I couldn't see him because of my low wing and long nose (the aircraft, not mine). I turned and did an orbit for spacing and advised Glos Approach of my actions. It wasn't THAT close, but close enough that had I continued for a minute more, it would have been either very close or he would have been forced to take avoiding action.

I didn't ask for a direct join as they were way too busy and instead followed G-BA in keeping him in my sights at all times while trying to open the gap. I was given left hand circuits for 09 wil minimal wind. I reported crosswind as requested and just turned downwind when 'windbag' was using about three times the word count necessary to say he was at 1500' on his downwind direct join - oh joy, Mr. Pompous 500' above me and itching to descend. He was advised of me and I was by now late downwind. He gave a vague acknowledgement that he could see one aircraft ahead (wonderful! there were TWO aircraft ahead of him, be and G-BA in front of me - I just hoped iot was me he could see!).

I had G-BA in sight as I turned base and cranked in the flaps. I had gained a bit, but I guessed that G-BA was a student pilot under instruction and if so, the instructor would be aware of the traffic piled up behind him and get the student to land long and vacate the runway reasonably quickly. That is what happened as I called final and was thankfully given a 'continue'. There was enough of a gap for an easy land after and I was pleased that the controller offered this. I accepted and focused on landing.

Speed good, height good. Aim past the numbers as I don't want to hold up Mr Windbag or he will lock the tower frequency during a go-around! Held off and off, stall warner blaring, no flying left as we touched - good one. Keep the speed up and I was given a sensible vacate first right onto another runway rather than taxi to the end. This I did and held short of the 27 intersection to allow for a landing aircraft (as instructed).

I taxied back and shutdown. A very fun and satisfying 1.5 hour local. As I put the plane away, the owner of the lovely RV7 that will attempt the 1939 London - Cape Town record wandered into the hangar to do some work on his plane. I was in a hurry so didn't ask him about 'when', but I would love to know so I can be there to see him off - that is one hell of a record to go for.

A very nice flight as I packed the January group record sheets for my first stab at the group books. Next time, I think I'll try a landaway, maybe to Little Rissington as I haven't been there yet - more 'airfield collecting'!

Local skills practice

I had booked the plane for Sunday for a 'tour' of two WW2 bomber bases in East Anglia that the actor, Jimmy Stewart was based at in WW2. But the weather had other plans. With sever weather warnings and gale force winds forecast for Sunday, I thought discretion was the better part of valour and cancelled the Sunday and booked the spare morning slot on Saturday instead (of course in the event, the storm came through quicker than forecast and Sunday was one of the most lovely flying days of the year - typical UK forecast!!).

The weather was forecast to deteriorate during Saturday, but I figured I might get lucky in the morning. For once I did. There was blue sky with very scattered cumulus at 2500' and light winds at about 200/10.

I promised my neighbour a ride, so we set out for the airfield. He is keen to learn to fly on his return to Canada in the summer and already has a couple of lessons booked in the UK to get him started. I bought him the excellent 'Stick and Rudder' book for him to read first. He was interested in seeing a stall, so I figured I might as well do a local with some general handling refreshers for me, as I only had the plane booked until midday.

So I checked tghe plane out and got it ouit of the hangar. Low on fuel (as usual), so off the the pumps first. I took care while taxiing to keep the stick in the correct position and parked into wind at the pumps, although not a howling wind, it was good practice to carry out the correct taxi techniques.

I topped her up to about 3 hours worth of fuel then set off. We were given E1 for 22. Power checks were good and I lined up after a departing Cessna 172 and started the take off run. Stick slightly forward of neutral and feed in right rudder. Tail coming up, bit more right rudder. Hold her down while speed build, then relax back pressure and up she jumps. I am 'catching' the Cessna ahead, but I continue a right turning climb through the circuit height as we head to the north.

Mark wanted to see stalls in action, so we climb to about 4000' between the Malverns and Bredon Hill. First I start with a few normal turns and steep turns and explain to Mark the primary and secondary effect of controls and co-ordinated use of the rudder. The RV really only needs a dab or rudder to get it into and out of the turn, once in, it seems quite happy on ailerons alone (as with most modern, well co-ordinated aircraft).

We move onto stalls. I carry out and explain the HASELL check and do three clean stalls. Power off, carb heat on and maintain altitude by gradually pulling back and back on the stick. The stall warner starts to blare, then at just under 60kts indicated, the stall starts. I allow it to properly develop. The RV has a more pronounced stall that normal training aircraft, that said, it is not scary or viol;ent, just a little bit more obvious than in say, a Cessna or a PA28. It give plenty of warning, but when it does stall, there is a noticeable drop of the nose and it always dropped the lefty wing. I hold the left wing with right rudder, power to full and stick slightly forward of neutral (with the powerful elevators on the RV, if I pushed the stick fully forward we would probably be in a near vertical dive - overdoing it a tad I suspect!)

On one occasion, we took 150' to recover, on the other two, only 100'. I think the stalls got Maqrk's attention and hopefully put into context what he had read in 'Stick and Rudder'.

We did some climbs and descents, then I decided to practice a forced landing. Power off, carb heat on. Trade speed for altitude to get to best glide. Decinde where the wind is coming from and find a field. Although I was near a disused airfield, it was out of range, so I selected a large field, but it was very close and I was way too high. So I orbited the field to lose height and tried to time mu turn into final.

Again, I was way high, so flaps on and some heavy sideslip. I got the picture back and was sure I would have made the field when I spotted someone walking their dog in the otherwise deserted field. I wasn't too far away when I put the power back on for the go around and I hope I didn't scare him too much!

I explained to Mark how sideslipping worked and that it was one of the two main methods used for a crosswind landing, but that crabbing and kicking off with the rudder in the flare seemed to be the one most widely taught at the moment.

All too soon, we had been in the air for one hour and were approaching 11:30. The plane was booked by another group member for 12:00, so I headed back to the field so I could get down and switched off in plenty of time.

I grabbed the ATIS and asked for a direct join. I was told to report at 5 miles as we headed back. I set the plane up for airfield approach and did the 'downwind' checks (it is precisely on direct approaches that people forget to do the 'downwind' checks, because of course there is no 'downwind').

I am in luck, the circuit is not crowded and we get a direct to final join behind a Firefly. I can't see him until some directions from ATC, then Mark spots him. We are far enough back as I slow down and deploy flaps.

I get the wind as 200 / 12 and I am comning in on 22 - this accords with the airsock and I briefly explain how I calculate the crosswind component to Mark. Basically 20 degree off runway heading, with 30 degrees you take half the wind, so in this case guess at a 5 kt crosswind component. Nothing to worry about, but be aware of it and ready to counter with left aileron and right rudder if required.

Nicely established on final as the Firefly touches. I hear ATC asking the Firefly to keep speed up and vacate next left. I am quite confident that he will vacate before I am over the hedge, so I expect a late clearance. The tower instead gives me a 'land after' which I am very happy to accept. Sure enough, the Firefly is off as I come over the hedge anyway.

Start the roundout, power off and flare and hold off, and off and off. Stall warner blaring, off more yet and we touch and stay touched. No noticeable crosswind component as I continue to ease the stick back to the full rearward limit of travel (back in the b*ll*cks as my first instructor so graphically described it) to nail the tailwheel on the gound as we taxi to the exit.

We get her back to the stand as a Citation jet calls for taxi just outside my hangar. I cautiously hold well clear of his jet blast as it would ruin my day if her blew us over. Once he is well clear, we venture forward and shutdown and hangar up.

A nice flight with some skills practice. Not what I really wanted to do, but valuable and fun nevertheless. I'll just put my East Anglia trip on ice for another time, maybe in February when I have a free landing voucher for Tibenham?

Mark has his first couple of lessons booked so I suggest we trot over to Transair to buy him a logbook.



An important moment in learning to fly, that first logbook. And yes Mark, here is that photograph, sorry!

I think my flying plans for 2009 are starting to shape up now. I have tentatively pencilled in the second week in October for a one week trip to visit my brother-in-law's brother who live in Texas and is a retired USAF Colonel and an FAA instructor. I plan on hiring a plane there and doing maybe a three / four day flying tour around interesting places in Texas, hopefully with Canada Dan if he can get the time off. I also plan a couple of weekends in France and maybe a bank holiday weekend to Copenhagen if nthe weather plays ball.

Meanwhile, I am now the Treasurer for the G-GDRV group and am in the process of taking over cheque books and bank statementsb etc. It isn't too tough and I have done it before. I guess it was about time I contributed something to the group.

Checkride in the RV6

With the RV6 now finally out of annual (it has taken since the start of October), I was due for a checkride with an instructor according to group rules (they state that you must have a checkride if you haven’t flown in the RV for 30 days).

So I turned up on a very cold Sunday at Cotswold Aero Club for a checkride with the CFI, Phil Mathews. Now, neither Phil nor I are particularly small guys, and I had to check the weight and balance carefully. Mercifully, the aircraft had just the right amount of fuel for us to be within the dual occupancy overall limit (i.e. not a lot, but enough for circuits).

We booked out and hauled the plane out of the hangar. I primed it carefully, but it was very cold and didn’t start first time. More priming and she fired and caught. We taxied out and ran the power checks at the hold for 27. Hmmmm….. the digital engine monitor showed the correct 1800 rpm, then when I switched either mag off, it jumped around hugely from 1350 to 1650 and pretty much any number in between. The engine note was fine and sounded like a consistent, minimal drop on both sides. I did this a couple of times and Phil agreed, the engine sounded fine, just not the gauges (oh how I hate digital number readouts for rpm – a rare occasion when analogue gauges are far better). Then I remembered the email from Manuel saying that the rpm readout was incorrect on mag drops, it was fine for carb heat check as both mags were on.

So in the vernacular of the AAIB, Phil and I ‘elected’ to continue the flight! It was pretty quiet at the airfield and I was given a quick clearance for take off on 27. I lined up and applied power. Looking carefully ahead and feeding in right rudder as the power came on to hold her on the centreline, the tail came up. I held her down to flying speed, then relaxed forward pressure and up she came eager as always.

I obviously came onto the right 10 degrees noise abatement turn too early as Phil corrected me that I had to be at the end of the runway before starting the turn or I might infringe the active helicopter circuit (I thought I was, but there you go – more care next time).

Up we went with the usual crisp rate of climb and I was at circuit height as I turned crosswind. So power back and turn. I wasn’t too happy with my handling on the first circuit as I climbed to 1200’ QFE before sorting myself out – not impressive height-keeping on my part!

I called downwind and did the checks. I had time to admire the scenery. It was so cold and there was so much frost everywhere that the landscape below looked like one of those artificially coloured black and white photos from the old days, everything had so much colour bleached out of it! Shame I didn’t have time for a photo!

The first landing was OK, not fantastic as I did a slight ‘Spitfire hop’ as I touched too soon, the stall warner was blaring, but it wasn’t yet ready to quit flying. It is amazing how quickly one slips back into bad habits flying nosewheel aircraft as I would of course have ‘got away with that’ in a nosewheel aircraft. Well, at least I anchored the stick back into my b*ll*cks and got the tailwheel firmly on the ground before powering up again. I did feed in right rudder, but found myself onto the left of the centreline – hmmmm… not a great T&G – I’ll do better next time.

Next time was better, but still not perfect, just a very slight hop, nothing to speak of. Take off better, but still not great.

Third T&G was fine and the take off much better. On climb out at about 500’, Phil calmly pulled the throttle and announced ‘let’s have a bit of an engine failure shall we?’

‘Yes – rude not to’ I replied. I quickly pushed the nose over, set up for glide and pointed at a decent field just to the left of my line and said ‘THERE!’. I was high, so I pulled on flaps and started to lose height. Then I noticed power lines in the field, but fortunately running directly in line with my landing run, so I could easily land alongside them. We continued until it was clear that I should be able to make it if I sideslipped off some height as I was starting to do, when Phil called for me to continue, but to fly straight ahead to 1000’, then turn and carry on climbing to 1500’ to the downwind for 27. This was going to be a glide PFL from the downwind.

I reached the desired height and location and Phil pulled the power. I applied carb heat andtrimmed for best glide. I was judging the approach and turned a ‘racecourse’ style downwind to final turn. I had deliverately left myself high, but somewhat too successfully! I was wwaaayyyyy high!. I pulled on all flaps and started a somewhat ‘wimpy’ sideslip. I changed the sideslip direction and got the next slip about right as we headed down. I was still high, but not too bad. I straightened out over the displaced threshold, a bit high and fast and brough her down into the flare. And held off, and off and off, and off, and off – errr! We touched very nicely (the best landing of the day) about half way down the long 27 runway. OK, poor heightkeeping, but we made it and it was a decent landing.

Phil was happy but suggested I did some PFL’s myself to nail the height better. With hindsight, I think what I did was to automatically account for a headwind that simply wasn’t present at all – it was dead flat calm.

Well, mission accomplished. A nice checkride and I now feel ready for some locals and landaways in the RV6.