Perranporth in CAVOK

I had planned on a quick local on Sunday, but the weather was so good, I extended my booking slot and decided on a more distant landaway to somewhere I had not been to yet. The plane is still in the running in period for the new cylinder, so we have to fly it at high power settings for ideally legs of an hour or more, this means burning a lot of fuel and flying at 160 – 170kts, so I needed to find somewhere about one hour away at those sort of speeds. I settled on Perranporth. A clifftop ex-WW2 airfield on the north coast of Cornwall.

I turned up at the airfield early at 09:00, as I wanted to be back by 13:00. So I carefully gave the plane a leisurely A-check. As I would be flying by myself, I decided to fly with nearly full tanks, so off to the pumps to add about 90 litres of fuel. I climbed back in the plane and started up when I glanced at the wings – aaarrgh! I had forgotten to put the fuel caps back on as I got distracted by manually rewinding the hose. I would not have taken off without the caps on as I have an item in the checklist for my power checks to visually check for the fuel caps, but nevertheless that was careless. I have now resolved to put the fuel caps on my seat while I next fuel the plane. That way, I will always notice when I sit back down!

Then I realised that I had taxied across and refuelled but I had not ‘booked-out’ with the tower. I called on the radio and asked if he wanted me to taxi to the stand to book out but fortunately he took my details on the radio. OK, that’s two mistakes so far, NO MORE! When I was learning and early post-PPL, when I made a silly mistake, I would dwell on it and get myself flustered, leading to more mistakes and creating a vicious circle, but in recent years, I have been able to break such circles and stop them developing, well that was going to happen here and now.

I carried out the power checks, making sure to keep the engine high power check as short as possible to ensure that the engine did not exceed the maximum 224 degrees set for the running in period – high power plus low (in this case no) airspeed equals high engine temperatures. Power checks were fine and as I taxi forward to the hold, the tower anticipates my next call and kindly offers me an immediate if I am ready. I accept and line up on 27 and apply full power. The plane leaps forward, tail up shortly and keep a very close eye on the distant centreline ready with the pedals to keep her straight. There is virtually no wind. She starts hopping and we are up. I hold the nose low for a very slow climb so that the airspeed builds to aid engine cooling. I continue the cruise climb, looking for 110 – 120kts. Ten degree right noise abatement turn at the end of the runway and I set track for a straight line between Gloucester and Perranporth. This will take me straight through Cardiff category D airspace, so I have to get clearance.

I climb to 5000’ where I am on top of the inversion layer. Although the sky is clear, it is a high pressure type day and so hazy below the inversion layer and not-great lateral visibility. I call Cardiff and they are OK with a zone transit at 5000’. They ask me to fly closer to the Welsh coast to avoid Bristol airspace (Cardiff and Bristol controlled airspace runs pretty much mid-Bristol channel). I am happy to do this as all I have is a lifejacket and at 5000’, if the engine failed it would be touch and go if I could glide to either shore from mid-channel. Cardiff call me and ask me where I intend to cross the English coast, I am confused for a few seconds thinking ‘but I am not flying in from France, what do they mean ‘English coast’ – then it dawns on me, this whole ‘Wales / England’ thing! I didn’t have anywhere picked out so I grab the map and see where the line crosses the coast. He repeats his request and without thinking I revert to military radio procedure and reply ‘Wait – Out’. He responds with a quizzical ‘Brighthouse???’. Then I recall the correct aviation phrase and say the magic word – ‘Standby’. OK, I will cross at Minehead. Shortly after Minehead on the Somerset coast, Cardiff dispense with me. Initially, I maintain a listening watch on London Information, but they are busy and constant chatter is distracting, so I switch to Newquay Approach who are much quieter. I enjoy the relative silence sitting up here at 5000’ above the inversion watching the changing landscape slip by below.

I monitor the engine readings carefully. The engine temperature is steady at between 191 – 194 degrees. RPM is 2520 and manifold pressure is 23.1. So I am at 75% power. Fuel consumption is (for me) an alarming, but expected 37 litres an hour and indicated airspeed is 165 – 170 kts.

First the beige and brown uplands of Exmoor in Somerset, then the green fields of Devon, then the deserted ex-RAF airfield of Davidstow Moor.


North Devon coast from 5000'

I make contact with Newquay and tell them that I intend to route through their overhead at 3000’ en-route to Perranporth. As they only have a normal ATZ, which tops out at 2000’ AAL, it is of course nothing to do with them, but it is sensible to talk to an airfield if you intend to wander above their airspace. I started a slow cruise descent with a slight reduction in engine power, but still at 65 – 70%. The airspeed is still blazing away at 170 kts. I hurtle through the Newquay overhead and look carefully for Perranporth. Damned if I can see it yet. I switch to Perranporth Radio and gather that they are using runway 23 with right hand circuits, but no mention of the wind. Call them for a wind check, it is 260 at 06 kts – the expected effects of a sea breeze. I wonder why they are not using 27, but I am happy with 23 as it isn’t much of a crosswind.


G-GDRV on the ground at Perranporth

I spot the airfield and listen for other traffic in the pattern. I figure that I am OK to join right base for 23 and advise him of my intentions. I now have to pull the power and work hard to get the aircraft to slow down. I do manage it, but predictably leave myself high on final, so I side-slip that off and unwind on short final with a good picture and a good airspeed. I come in to flare, I hear an aircraft behind me calling a go-around (I hope I didn’t cut him up, I thought he was quite a bit further behind me), I hold off, no stall warner yet (bad sign), so I hold off and off and off and it starts to ring (phew!). We touch and stay touched, oh, hey, not bad that one! I trundle to a taxi and have to taxi a fair way to the turnoff of the grass taxiway. The tower are happy for me to park anywhere, so I oblige, park up on the grass and shut down.

I pop the canopy and am greeted by…….silence. Slight onshore breeze and beautiful warm sunshine – wow, what a day! I make my way to the tower, they ask if I need fuel. Need? No probably not, but I could use the weight. They suggest I leave the landing fee until I have refuelled then pay one bill. I head down to the basic but entirely adequate café in the ground floor of the tower. Very friendly guys there and they promptly rustle up the mandatory cup of tea and bacon bap – and yes, they were nice baps!


Simple but moving RAF memorial at Perranporth

I walk around outside and chat to go guy at one of the picnic tables. He lives locally and has just started his flying lessons (looks like a mid-life crisis decision like mine!). I spot a Cessna that has just landed, it must have landed long as I can see it still going a fair speed along the runway past the turnoff for parking. I note that his wings seem to be tilting from side to side and I thought it strange as the wind wasn’t that strong. I don’t think anymore of it and turn away. Then I hear the fire land rover starting up and heading out to the plane. It seems to have stopped near the end of the runway, but that’s it. I ask later in the tower and apparently he had made a hard (and fast) landing and seems to have pulled it off the runway to one side (I think it might have been a student).

There is a nice little RAF memorial by the tower to all of the various squadrons that flew from the airfield in WW2. It really is a lovely, basic but very friendly airfield. A bit flat and exposed here on top of the cliffs at 330’. I fill up on Avgas from the pumps. They are near the tower and in an ex-shipping contained located by some ex-WW2 blast bunkers.

I pay up. The fuel is a pricey £1.94 a litre but the landing fee is something like £12 (I can’t remember other than thinking it was what I expected). I mount up and call for airfield information. The wind has freshened slightly to 270 / 10. As I mount up, I see G-BKCC land and park up, a fellow aircraft from Gloucester, but I don’t have time for a chat. I start up and I am about to say that I will take off from the shorter runway 27 (plenty of room at 750m) when they say they are switching to 27 anyway. On the taxi around, I taxi past what must be a locally based RV7 and get a comradely wave from the owner. Brief power checks complete, I line up and power down 27. We are up quite soon and I am rewarded by flying straight over the cliff (only about 200m past the end of 27) for the land to fall away to the beach below.


Cornish coast

I start a gentle right hand turn and climb and call Newquay. I am passing 4500’ by the time I get to the Newquay overhead and continue the climb back up to 5000’ for the return flight, following the same route as I did coming out. The plane settles down to the same numbers and I am sat again on top of the inversion layer. Minimal wind according to the groundspeed readout on the GPS.


Looking into the sun at the inversion layer

I get a transit of Cardiff after a couple of ‘standby’ – he was pretty busy. At the Severn River crossings Cardiff let me go and I pick up the ATIS for Gloucester and start a very gentle cruise descent. I ask for and am given a direct to final join for runway 04 – the wind is something like 010/02 – minimal. I call at five miles and am given number 2. I slow the plane up now and by the time I am on 2 mile final, I spot the aircraft that I am meant to be No 2 to at the same time as he sees me. He is a twin and must have been flying a wide circuit as it is a toss-up who would be best placed to go to final otherwise. I call for one orbit for spacing and the tower are happy. I start my approach at the end of the orbit. Altitude good, airspeed a bit high. Keep it going. Airspeed still a little high, but hey, I’ve got lot’s of runway to use before I turnoff so I may as well land long. I hold off and bleed the speed off in the flare. Good stall warner and we touch and stay touched. Hmmm… two decent landings in a row, but the I know better than to start getting blasé with the RV6, because it will bite you if you start to get sloppy.

I taxi back to the stand and the sun beats down and without airflow from the vents, we heat up quickly. I am relieved to pop the canopy. As I get ready to put the plane away, a guy pops out from Aeros and asks if this is the plane that went around the world (Manuel has left a large ‘Chasing the Morning Sun’ decal on the fin). I say that the plane has (been around the world) but I haven’t. I explain that Manuel started the group and is still in it. This guy is taking lessons at Aeros and plans to build an RV10. I show him around the plane and point out the ‘nothing special’ nature of the engine and avionics fit (other than of course all the extra tanks and HF radio that were required for the trip). We discuss the merits of the various canopy opening methods and I add my personal preference for a sliding canopy.

I put the plane away. It is 13:00 – Cornwall and back by 13:00 with a leisurely stay on the ground – not bad, but I still can’t wait to get this running-in stuff over with so I can get back to my preferred, leisurely ‘economy cruise’ of 125 – 130kts which sips fuel at 21 litres an hour.

Anyway, a really great and relaxing flight, you really can cover a lot of ground at 170kts!

Running in

We had a minor issue with cylinder #4 on our recent annual service. It turned out to be nothing more that carbon build up that prevented the valves working properly, but for our sins, we were given new piston rings etc. which basically means that we must ‘run the cylinder in’ pretty much as thought it was a new engine.

What this means is running the engine for the next 50 hours or so:

- At high power settings for longer periods (75% with a bit of 65%)
- Keeping the CHT’s reasonably cool, below 224 degrees
- With the mixture pretty much fully rich
- Below 5000’ (or we won’t develop the necessary 75% power)
- Using straight 80 oil
- Keeping a careful record of oil consumption
- Being very careful to avoid rapid cooling
- Using gradual power reductions
- Without varying the power hugely over short periods

What this really means is we will be belting along at 2400 rpm and 165 – 170 kts – into the yellow band of airspeed, so smooth air operation only. It also means a fuel consumption of 37 litres an hour as compared to our more normal average of 29 litres an hour. It also means certainly NO circuits as the constant cycle of full power to idle and back again repeatedly over a short period of time is most definitely NOT what the engine needs! It also means careful planning and cruise descents into airfield circuits, which at these sort of speeds and only using slight reductions in power for cruise descents, means starting the descent some 40 nautical miles out – now I know how an airline pilot feels!

As for slowing the plane up from 170kts to the flap limiting speed of some 100 kts while trying not to shock cool the engine – well, it is interesting to say the least. To try to play my part, I am also asking for direct joins where possible, to cut the amount of time I have the engine running close to idle. It can all be done of course, but it is a far cry from my preferred method of flying the RV, which is at ‘economy cruise’ of probably 50% power (2000 rpm and leaned back to 21 litres and hour fuel burn) which gives a stately, but still respectable 125 kts – fine for me and great for touring.

Oh well. I will be doing my part to get the plane past it’s 50 hours, and therefore into normal engine operation before my planned touring in Denmark and Sweden in late-June.

Haverfordwest for lunch

Finally, the plane is out on annual service. We had a bit of a scare as compressions on cylinder four were way down with valve problems, but on review, it turned out to be carbon build up on the valve seating. This was fixed, but the bad news was that we had all new cylinder rings, so we have to go through a ‘running in’ process of tearing around the sky at 75% power for the next fifty or so hours. That means a whopping fuel consumption of about 35 litres an hour and an airspeed into the amber range of 165 – 170 kts. It also means not allowing the CHT’s to go above 224 and not to shock cool, so cruise climbs and very gentle slowing down and descents that we pretty much have to plan from 30 – 40 miles out! A bit of a change from my personally preferred ‘economy cruise’ of around 50% power which gives a modest 125 – 130 kts, but a pleasing leaned-out 20-22 litres per hour fuel burn.

Me and another group member agreed to fly together as we plan to go touring in late June, so sensible if we get used to flying with each other first. The weather on Sunday started gloomy and it had rained the previous night, but by the time I got to the airfield, the promised good weather was arriving from the west and the cloud was already scattered and ‘fair weather cumulus’ that just begged to be flown ‘on top’. We carefully checked the plane out as this was it’s first flight after the test flights associated with the annual. I had vaguely planned to fly to Leicester, but as the best weather was coming in from the west, we hastily re-planned for a flight to Haverfordwest on the western tip of Wales. I was happy to fly the leg out and Neil would fly the leg back. We put some more fuel on board to take it up to MAUW (as we will have to get used to flying like that while touring) as I exchanged pleasantries with a pilot I recognised refuelling his PA46 mini-airliner at the pumps.

Carefully ran through the power checks as I haven’t flown for just over five weeks. There was a bit of congestion at the hold and I kept a very careful eye on the CHT’s which kept nicely below the magic 224 degrees. The log jam cleared quickly and I lined up on 27, the wind was a pleasing 300 / 03. I progressively applied full power and got the tail up. The RV was very quickly hopping along on the two main wheels in the usual distance and I eased her into the air. Keep her down a bit and let the speed build to aid cooling as I was going for a cruise climb. At the end of 27, put in the 10 degrees noise abatement turn and come onto track for the BCN VOR. I kept her climbing to FL50 and put her into level cruise at 75% power. Basically, that means leave it fully rich, pull the throttle only very slightly to about 2450 and check manifold pressure at about 23.5”. The airspeed was a frantic (well for me anyway) 170 kts, albeit with a modest 10-15 kt headwind, so reducing groundspeed a bit. I did notice a tendency to roll slightly to the right (which we were warned about by Manuel), so I compensated with some aileron trim, set considerably further to the left than normal for me (it is usually just off to the right).


The Welsh Hills from FL50 near BCN VOR

I spoke to Cardiff Zone and got a squawk and a basic service and settled into the high-speed cruise above the Welsh Hills at FL50. The weather was glorious, only a slight wind, scattered fair weather cumulus and us barrelling along up to in glorious sunshine with gin-clear lateral visibility. Before I knew it, we were released by Cardiff and headed north of Swansea. I decided not to talk to Swansea and to tune unto Haverfordwest radio on listening watch. I heard some of their calls and they were giving runway 27 with minimal crosswinds. Before I knew it, I was having to think about a gentle cruise descent from 35 miles out! I pulled the power slightly so we were around 65% power and started losing about 2-300 fpm, but still with some blistering speed! To try to be kind to the engine, I was aiming at a direct join onto long final for 27. I called them up and they were happy with this and there didn’t appear to be too much traffic about.

Seven miles to run and airfield in sight. Altitude good, but way too fast. No choice but to pull the power to a much lower setting (but no idle) and bleed the speed off. Eventually, I managed to get it back into flap limiting range and dropped the flaps. By this time I was on one mile final and way too high. So I made the decision to side-slip the height off rather than fart around in the circuit playing around at low power settings. The sideslip worked nicely and I unwound on short final for 27. Still a bit fast, but into the flare and bleed it off in the hold-off. Little bit of and over-correction, but eased her down into the hold off again. Ease back a bit more, stall warner going now, ease back some more, a bit of sink, ease back more. We touch, only a small hop, hold off and touch again and stay touched as there is no more energy left in the wings. OK, not bad for my first after a near six week lay off, though I say it myself.

I taxi in, park up and shut down. We are glad to pop the hatch as it is starting to warm up under the sun. It took us about 45 minutes airtime heading into a modest headwind. What lovely weather, a really warm spring day! On the way to the reporting point, we bump into a gaggle of pilots who are all RV pilots. So we chew the fat for a while. One of the planes is a very nice looking nosewheel RV10 (my idea of an ideal tourer), I now kick myself for not asking to have a look.


A local TV report about a disabled guy having a flight in a Bulldog

We treat ourselves to some lunch and a sit out on the picnic tables watching the planes come and go. Neil plans a more circuitous return route as we would be back in no time at all at those speeds and with a slight tailwind. So we plan to route up to the Aberdovey estuary, then across the Welsh Hills pretty much along the A44 / A470 to Hay on Wye, then direct past Hereford into Gloucester. Neil was flying the return leg and it felt strange to be in the right hand seat.


Aberdovey Estuary

I did get some excellent photos of the Aberdovey estuary. Why can’t the weather be like this all the time? The flight went really well as we kept to power up and went tearing around the turbulence-free Welsh Hills. Just past Hereford, Neil starts the descent as we call up Gloucester. We are offered and accept with pleasure a direct downwind join for 27. Neil handles the power setting carefully and make a very nice landing on 27.


Gloucester from right downwind for runway 27

We put the plane away carefully past the Cessna Citation parked right at the front of the hangar. This involves some careful handling (preferably two person) as the starboard wing of the RV must go underneath the port wing of the Citation, and there isn’t much clearance.

Neil and I wander into the clubhouse at Cotswold Aero Club and as agreed, spread maps out and start some vague planning for a one week trip at the end of June to Denmark and Sweden. We come up with some likely destinations (courtesy of some feedback from some pilot contacts I know over there) and a rough idea of direction. We will meet up a few more times to go flying like this and firm up the plans and hotels etc.

Well a nice flight to start the ‘2011 flying season’ and we have to make many more like it, tearing around at high speed. So we will probably take in some of the slightly more distant airfields I have not been to yet. It will be important to get past the 50 hours running in period before the touring trip I think.

Bristol ATC

My local flying club issued an email invitation on a first come first served basis for anyone wanting to visit the Air Traffic Control tower at Bristol Airport. As I have my personal email plumbed through to my BlackBerry, of course I got the email immediately and accepted at once.

The downside, was that it was 19:30 on a Friday at Bristol Airport, so I may have to fight my way through M4 Friday night rush hour traffic in Bristol. They wanted to keep the people attending to eight maximum and the number of cars going to two, as we would be parking in the NATS secure airside parking. Well, I offered my services as a cost-share taxi and quickly had two passengers that I would pick up from the aero club at Gloucester, then trek the 60-odd miles down the M5 to Bristol Airport, carefully sited the far side of Bristol well away from any main roads.

I picked up my guys at 17:15 as I wanted to allow plenty of time to get through the traffic. Well of course having made such generous contingency allowances, there was no traffic and we sailed through, so we stopped for a prolonged coffee break at some services before hitting the airport at around 19:10.

Lesson #1: If you allow contingency you won’t need it (but of course if you don’t allow contingency, there will be serious delays!)

I followed the map instructions and reported at a security barrier near the tower. I walked in and announced myself, who we were here to see and that I was 20 minutes early. The security staff were very uninterested and regarded me with some disdain. They made a cursory glance at two sheets of paper and announced: ‘Nope, you’re not on the list’ and seemed to want to go back to their sports pages of the newspaper. I produced a printout of the email with our contacts name and suggested they get in touch with him.

Lesson #2: No matter how well it has been organised, there will be problems

They asked me to call him instead. When I pointed out that the email did not include his number and perhaps they would know it, they simply said ‘He’s NATS’ as if that explained everything. Well I won’t drag it out, but you get the idea. I managed to get them to call this guy and we were asked to park temporarily outside the security gates until our contact came to the gate in 10 minutes or so.

Lesson #3: Keep your cool and remain polite but assertive (not at all easy for me as anyone that knows me can tell you!)

By this time, the second car had turned up and to save him going through the same rigmarole, I suggested he parked up near me and waited for our contact. Our contact arrived and he ushered the other car into the security barrier so the passengers could be checked for the required ID and the car checked. I waited for some time, then was asked to join them. The problem seemed to be that despite the email from Cotswolds clearly stating what ID was required (photo driving licence with counterpart or valid passport), only one of the three people in the other car had this, and only two in my car did! After some discussion, I agreed to give the only guy in the other car with valid ID a lift back to Bristol to let the two in the other car go home, while the passenger in my car without ID would have to make his way to the terminal and have coffee while three of us had the tour. Sorry, no photos as I didn’t think they would allow any, I will check next time as I have a visit to Swanwick arranged for May.

Lesson #4: RTFE – Read The Flippin Email!

We parked up and signed into the tower with our guide, who was the head of that particular ATC shift of NATS at Bristol Airport Tower. He was an excellent guide and apologised for not being able to allow our colleagues in. We had a very informative slide presentation where he talked us through various things ATC. I was particularly interested that Bristol had a Cat 3 ILS facility on one of the runways. This is the true ‘blind landing’ facility whereby IF both the pilots and the aircraft were also suitably equipped, they could make a fully automated approach and landing in zero cloudbase and zero visibility (i.e. fog). Many airports have Cat 2 capability, which needs something like (figures probably wrong, but illustrates the point) 150’ cloudbase and 400m forward visibility etc. He also explained how the airways system worked vis-à-vis Bristol and how and where their approach control took over from London Information in Swanwick. It was helpful when he explained how they catered for a slot in people like us, asking for VFR transits. He also answered a question I had which was why when flying in the USA, they were very happy for VFR traffic to transit through the overhead at right angles to the active runway at 1500’ when in the UK, we never seemed to do that? He said that wasn’t true and that they would quite happily allow such transits at Bristol at 2000’ if it made sense for the route we wanted. He also explained about aircraft slot times and said that it wasn’t just a slot to take off from the airport, but that they would plan ‘all the way back’ for the riute you needed to make sure that when you took off, that you could fit in with all sectors of your trip without hold (i.e. making sure all of the traffic lights for the route were ready to go to green as you got there), it was not necessarily about congestion at the airport.

After this, we had a trip to the tower itself. Well, they were not at all busy, but there were one or two flights so we could see what was going on. I was surprised to see that they still used paper flight strips that are printed when a plane is within 30 minutes of their airspace. These are placed into a plastic holder, the colour of which denotes whether it is an arrival, departure or in the circuit. They use a very clear screen which displays both primary and secondary radar displays. They can use filters on the primary radar to filter out clutter of radar returns from surrounding hills and radar returns from rain and weather fronts. The aircraft were very easy to see as they had their secondary radar data blocks clearly displayed, showing altitude (FL), Callsign and an indicator to show whether climbing or descending.

In the tower, the radar display was oriented ‘track up’ so that it matched what they saw out of the window (the tower is on the northside, looking south across the main East / West runway, so the display was pretty much ‘south up’ – which threw me for a while as I always use ‘north-up’). We could see the progress of an inbound flight as it came in left downwind for 09 and could make sense of the radio calls etc. Our guide explained how they always updated the master arrivals board and allocated stands etc. as this ‘drove’ pretty much everything at the airport, the arrivals boards, the baggage handlers knowing which flight was getting in next and where to be to unload it, the aircraft marshallers etc.

After the tower, we were taken down one floor to approach / departures. This was a windowless room (as they really didn’t need to look out to see anything as it would all be too far away). They had the same type of display as the tower, but set to a larger scale and oriented north up. There was only one guy in the room, but two stations. They weren’t busy. But our guide talked us through showing us the aircraft inbound from the east that he was talking to and another arriving from the north who would be transferred to Bristol shortly. Sure enough, the strip started to print for the northerly arrival and this was taken, mounted and put in the arrivals rack. They still note everything they say to the arcraft on the flight strip by hand, in case anyone has to take over, there is a complete record of comms with the aircraft (well, that and the recordings that is!).

He explained that aircraft do not ‘have’ to make instrument approaches, they can call visual with the airfield and if traffic allows, make a normal visual approach. Our guide recounted an incident a couple of years ago then a KLM arrival from the east called ‘visual’ and said he could clearly see the airfield off to his right. ATC challenged as said ‘surely you mean to your left’, no he was adamant that he really meant to the right. It dawned on them that despite the pilot’s own map, GPS, radio beacons and a plethora of other navaids, that he had mistaken Bristol Filton to the north for Bristol Lulsgate to the south! I have done something similar where I was convinced that I was lined up for 09 and became so convinced that I disregarded everything that told me otherwise, until ATC calmly suggested that I extended my ‘ahem’ base leg to line up for final on 09 as I was on 04 at the moment! There have been many incidents of commercial jets landing at the wrong airport (Northholt mistaken for Heathrow was a good one, but my personal favourite was a B52 doing a low level beat-up of Blackbushe airfield, skittling planes out of the circuit having mistaken it for Farnborough Air Show) – human factors eh? Gotta love em!

Well it was an excellent trip and we very much enjoyed it. I picked up our non-ID carrying passenger and drove back through the rain via Bristol back to Cheltenham, getting home at 23:10, tired, but well worth it. Next trip is to the UK ATC centre at Swanwick, near Southampton.

Wellesborne Mountford

After two weather cancellations, I finally got to fly today. The weather was not perfect, but do-able. It was one of those murky, high-pressure, very cold, little wind type deals we see in the UK. I planned to fly Rob to Wellesborne Mountford, a very short flight from Gloucestershire, to see the ‘fast-taxi capable’ Vulcan bomber based there.

I checked the weather there on their excellent website as they only have one runway in use at weekends, and I wanted to know what crosswind I would be facing, if any. Turned out to be 030/07, so it would be 36 with a slight crosswind component from the right. I called them for PPR as per the plates, but they seemed to just want my details in advance.

I bumped into a few fellow Flyer Forumites in Cotswold Aero Club, Hogster, Johnm and Timmy P. It is one of those surreal moment when you meet people you have been ‘talking to’ via a bulletin board only – ‘Hello, I am Karg the destroyer of worlds, you must be Mekon emperor of the seventh quadrant!’ – well not quite, at least we have semi-sensible forum names – I am Steve H – original huh? Anyway, I was put to shame as one was going to Calais and the other two were going to Gamston. Here’s me only scuttling along 20 minutes to Wellesborne, oh well, plan the flight and fly the plan!

I checked the plane out and Rob helped me pull it out of the hangar past the Citation jets. I tried the normal startup routine, and again and again and again. It was very cold and had been for the previous few days and no one had flown her for a week, so she was very cold and ratty! I primed and tried again, a splutter then dead. I carefully primed some more. By now I was worried in case I had flooded the engine, but no smell of fuel, so more priming. Eventually she caught and the battery seemed none the worse for the experience. Taxi to the pumps to put some fuel in, called for clearance and we had the ‘long march of death’ around to C1 for 09 – oh well, I needed a little while to get the oil up to temperature anyway!

After power checks I was cleared for take off for the short flight to Wellesborne. I climbed to 2100’ and it started to get very murky, at 2200’ I was almost in poorly defined murky clouds, so I dropped to 2000’ and dinked left to swing north around the Cotswold ridge rather than head straight over it. Yes, it was murky up there, although lateral visibility was OK, they were saying 10km or more on the ATIS, but I can only assume they had not been flying as it seemed a little less than that. In no time at all, I was switching from Gloster to Wellesborne and calling for airfield information (it is only a 20 minute run). As expected, they were giving 36 with left had circuits and the wind was as expected.

I carried out a standard overhead join, slotted into the traffic already in the circuit and swung her onto final. As usual, I left myself a bit high, a bit of sideslip took care of that. A bit fast, but then I do want to land a bit long, so I’ll bleed that off with a longer flare. Over the numbers and rounding out, hold off and off and off and off. We are heavy, but this is taking a while. Little bit of crosswind, dab of rudder to straighten and we touch – and stay touched. A little into wind aileron, dance on the peddles until she is down to taxi speed, yes, there we go. Well false modesty aside, that was about as good a landing as you can do in the RV – very smooth (I was of course to pay for this hubris later!).


G-GDRV parked up at Wellesborne

We parked up and dutifully trotted into the tower to pay. £15 landing fee and a friendly welcome. I asked about getting to the intact Vulcan bomber on the north west perimeter. They said if I had a hi-vis vest, we could walk along the taxiway. It was a good half mile and the wind (such as it was) made the sub-zero temperature feel a lot worse.


The mighty Avro Vulcan

We were happy to be in the lee of the mighty Vulcan. Sure enough, there were many volunteers at the Vulcan. They had one of the engine out for overhaul. They were very friendly and welcomed us in and chatted about the plane. I knew something about Vulcans, but of course not as much as them. I was surprised to learn that the engine did not have after-burners and that this was the later and more powerful Olympus 301 engined version.


One of the working Olympus 301 engines being serviced

We had a wander around and had a close up of one of the partially stripped engines. It is a real treat to see a real, running engine being overhauled, not some dead, lifeless hulk that has been dissected in a museum somewhere. I was surprised at how small it seemed.


Lovely clean turbine blades

I was grateful for the tour and offered a donation to a lady in one of the portakabins. She immediately offered us a trip into the crew compartment. That too was a treat. I was amazed at how cramped it was and what a truly lousy view the pilots had. It was the usual chaos of black panels and switches and dials scattered around seemingly at random – no digital stuff here, oh no! I thought the two London Underground tube train flexible hanging handles in the ceiling of the crew compartment said it all – period British pragmatism, hey if they work, stick them in there!


Possibly the most cluttered and worst designed panel ever

We made our way back, now quite cold, to the ‘new’ café. Well, it looks very much like to old café to me! Having said that, it is perfectly fine. There are normally a lot of locals that turn up with families for a fried breakfast and to watch the planes, which I think is an excellent thing. There is a great deck looking onto the airfield with tables etc., but no takers on a cold day like this. It would be a nice spot in the summer though.


The 'new' cafe - different from the 'old' cafe....err....how?

We didn’t hang around and soon mounted up for the return trip. The plane started first time as we taxied for the hold for 36. The tower again confirmed the noise abatement procedures as I lined up, applied power and started hopping eagerly along 36 (the plane was moving down the runway too!). Up we went and I turned onto 030 and glimpsed the green roofed building we were aiming for. Nicely on track. At 1200’ I turned left onto direct track back to Gloucester. I could still only manage 2100’, but that was fine.

Picked up the ATIS and called for rejoin. Got the expected standard overhead for 09 although the wind was a mild 030/05. I wasn’t sure why they hadn’t switched to runway 04, but I was OK with that wind. The circuit was quiet with only one other in as I called final. OK, a bit high and a bit fast. Slipped some of it off, but still a bit fast. Over the threshold aiming to land long, flared, a bit high though, felt her down, no real stall warner, we touched and I guess I knew what was going to happen. Now after my last landing which was really good, you would have thought the plane would say ‘Y’know Steve, that last one you did was really good, so I’ll let you off this one’ – but no. The RV has no such memory. I was punished with a bounce. As we were heading back up it is amazing how quickly you think. By the time we got to the top of the bounce and were about to come down a second time, I weighed up the pro’s and cons and thought that yes, I could control this mext one and land, but it would be messy and anyway, what is the hurry, so I pushed in the power and the engine and aircraft responded beautifully into a go around, as if to say to me ‘good decision, coz I was going to kick your ass if you tried anything else!’.

This was the first go around I have done for a few years, so probably long overdue anyway. I explained to Rob who was (or at least seemed to be) unconcerned. The second approach was better and my second landing was almost as good as the one at Wellesborne, certainly the plane seemed happy with it. What was it my PPL instructor used to say? ‘A good landing comes from a good approach’ – how true.

Taxied in and shut down. Rob help me put the plane away and we got it precisely into it’s tight slot first time with very few instructions.

Well all in all, poor weather but a really nice flight. It would be nice if the heater could be a little more efficient though. Loved seeing the Vulcan, well worth it for that alone.

Goddam weather!

For the second time in as many weeks, I tried for even a measly local or even circuits, but no dice!

The first Saturday, I called off a local due to high and gusty winds. Just not worth chancing it in a taildragger.

Last weekend was cold and certainly a very ‘high pressure murk’, but I figured I could at least managed some circuits. I got to the airfield and the weather was considerably worse than where I live, with an indeterminate cloud base (it was that murky), probably 3k visibility and light drizzle / rain. That and the temperature on the ground was only just above freezing, even 2000’ altitude (if you could get it without going IMC which was doubtful) the temperature would be sub-zero, add to that visible moisture and you have all the recipe for airframe icing. So I alreadt made the call to myself that I was not flying, even

I decided to at least call into the local flying club to console myself with a coffee before heading back home. As if to confirm my appraisal, I heard the CFI come into the next room after having been out with a student. He was talking to someone in the next room and said ‘take a look at the icing on the plane (he just flew in on)’.

No contest, I am out of here, even for circuits. On my way out, I passed another pilot cheerfully coming in with full kit. I asked in jest if he was flying anywhere. He looked surprised and said ‘Yes, why not?’. I just replied ‘I hope you like icing’ and walked on. I know different people have different attitudes to risk, but icing? That is one thing I would NOT mess with! While I know he has a lightweight instrument rating, I also know his aircraft does not have any de-icing equipment. I am sure he came to the right decision.

So I shall be trying for a third time for quick flight next weekend. Such are the joys of flying in the UK in the winter!

AVGAS and Lyconosaurus

I’m not a whiner, BUT!

In the UK, the price of normal petrol / gasoline has risen swiftly and inexorably like a flood tide from an eye-watering £0.85 pence a litre (yes, litre not gallon!) as recently as January 2009 to an unbelievable £1.30 now (January 2011) and a predicted £1.50 a litre by this summer. All of this is incredibly bad news for anyone that drives a car or rides a motorbike, but these prices seem like a bargain when comparing them to AVGAS fuel prices for light aircraft.


UK Gasoline Prices - per litre

Light aircraft can use a variety of different fuels, depending on the engine(s) being used.

AVGAS

The vast majority of light aircraft are still powered by legacy air-cooled petrol engine made mainly by either Lycoming or Continental (there are a few smaller suppliers). These are amazing beasts in this day and age and the technology used amazes non-aviation aware people, especially those who know a bit about cars. They are literally built using 1930’s technology that has remained completely unchanged to the present day. The engine in my own aircraft is typical. It is a Lycoming 0-320 that delivers a peak of 160 horse power.

The ‘320’ signifies the ‘swept volume’ of the four gigantic cylinders as expressed in cubic inches. Yes, you got that right, four cylinders and a swept volume of 320 cubic inches. For those more familiar with engine capacity expressed in litres, that’s 5.2 litres. Yes, a four cylinder 5.2 LITRE engine that delivers a whopping 160 horse power (not!)! Each cylinder normally has a mere two spark plugs per cylinder with the spark being created by two sets of magnetos – yes, magnetos! One set of mags drive one of the plugs in each cylinder and the second drives the second etc. Actually not such a silly arrangement as it means that if the battery dies, the engine doesn’t care and carries on as happy as Larry. If one set of mags fails, there is a second which continues to run the engine, albeit usually at a slightly lower power level.

What these engine deliver is a very slow revving engine that directly drives the propeller rpm (let’s ignore VP props for now), normally in the cruise of between 2000 – 2400 rpm with a maximum of 2600 rpm. If it turned a normal prop any faster, the tips of the propeller would break the sound barrier and make an incredible noise but more importantly create a lot of supersonic and transonic turbulence which would seriously impact the lift or ‘bite’ of the propeller and therefore it’s ability to pull / push the plane along. An engine revving at these speeds means that you don’t need the added mechanical complexity (the more stuff you have the more points of failure there are) and as important the added weight of an rpm reduction gearbox.

As it is old (for that, read ‘ancient’) technology, these engines must use a high octane leaded gasoline, also called AVGAS. This is 100 octane (also referred to as 100LL for ‘low lead’ to keep the green campaigners happy). This is the sort of fuel that we used to see at the pumps for cars before unleaded fuel became all the rage, albeit for a much higher octane. Now the problem with this is that apart from the miniscule demands of the classic and vintage car market, there is no other commercial demand for high octane leaded fuel than to fuel these antique engines used mainly by private flyers for light aircraft (OK, and of course heavy WW2 warbirds that are still flying). So the market for AVGAS is tiny and producing it is an irritation for oil companies, so by the law of supply and demand, availability of AVGAS in Europe is not good (many French GA airfields run out every summer) and it is very expensive. We have just been hit with a huge hike and pump prices at my airfield are now £1.74 a litre. Given that we get through 25 – 30 litres an hour flying that hurts a lot! The smart money is on AVGAS in the UK being more than £2.00 a litre by the summer.


UK AVGAS Prices - PER LITRE!

By way of comparison with the vibrant US General Aviation industry, they too will tell you that they are staggering around under the burden of an AVGAS price of an eye-watering $5.00 a US Gallon. Now in case you aren’t good at doing conversions that is an exorbitant £0.83 a litre – wait a minute….. £0.83 pence a litre, ARE YOU KIDDING! That’s under half the UK price!!!! Small wonder there is little appetite in the US engine running on MOGAS or AVTUR!

MOGAS

This is just a clever-dicky name for the petrol / gasoline you put into your car. Now I know that it is really hard for a motorist to think that £1.30 for a litre of 95 octane unleaded is a bargain, but imagine if you had a car-type engine in your light aircraft. The fuel burn would be considerably less for about the same horse power (usually 15-20 litres an hour vs 25-30 litres an hour using AVGAS engines) and of course the price per litre would be one-third cheaper litre for litre and a whopping half to two-third cheaper when you also take into account the lower fuel burn for the same power!

The downside? Well, you basically have a modern car engine revving at 4500 rpm for peak efficiency, so you need a reduction gearbox and of course car engines don’t use magnetos, so you are tied to a battery, the battery dies, your engine stops – not nice if you are in the air at the time. Having said that, the engine itself is much smaller and lighter, reduction gearboxes are very reliable as are modern batteries, and you can carry two anyway. The other advantage is that they are water-cooled. So while that adds further addition weight, it means that you really don’t have to worry about engine over-heating at high power setting and low airspeeds (in the climb after take-off) or possible shock-cooling associated with low power settings and normal or high airspeeds (in the descent).

The good news is that there are such engines available in the GA world, they are called ‘Rotax’ engines. The downside is that they are relatively small engines aiming at the very light aircraft end of the market. The largets such engine is the Rotax 914 which can only pump out 115 horse power – so no good for our RV6 which really does need 160 horses. But then they are a measly 1.2 litre engine. Why or why can’t Rotax develop a similar 1.6 or even 2.0 litre engine, God knows there are plenty driving cars around!

Many people (including me) are looking at MOGAS Rotax type engine and the new VLA or ‘Light Sport’ type aircraft now emerging as a longer term and economically viable alternative to AVGAS Lyconosuarus engines.

AVTUR

This is the fuel used worldwide to power the jet and turbine engines you find in commercial aircraft all the way from a modest King Air to the awesome Airbus A380. It is basically a ‘diesel’ type fuel, also very similar / identical to kerosene / paraffin etc. The majority of military jet aircraft also use a kerosene type fuel, either JP5 or JP8. The major difference is that the military fuel types are more fire resistant that regular AVTUR (and unlike what you see in the movies, AVTUR is much less flammable than AVGAS or MOGAS).

GA AVTUR engines are basically nowhere in the USA, and after all, it is the USA who are still the main driver for the General Aviation industry. However, there are a few AVTUR engines around, makers like Thielert, Wilksch etc. Unfortunately, Thielert started with a converted 1.8 litre Mercedes diesel engine which only managed a measly 120hp. They were not a very well managed company and went into administration (from which they are now emerging). But quite a few people were ‘bitten’ by paying for expensive conversions to existing aircraft or buying expensive new Austrian Diamond aircraft (who had a ties up with Thielert) only to find parts impossible and warranties no-existant. But one bad experience should not surely sink what must be the true way forward for light piston engines? Any commercial airfield will have AVTUR and by worldwide convention, AVTUR is sold around the world tax and duty free and runs out at around £0.60 per litre.

Having said that, the UK have cottoned onto that and now have a tax on AVTUR if you use it for non-commercial flying. A tax of £0.54 a litre is mentioned, taking the price up to, but still short of MOGAS prices.

However, the fuel burn is very modest (about the same as a Rotax) and the fuel itself is less flammable. It is very widely available at virtually every airport. This has to be the future, certainly in Europe and it probably won’t be long before the US wake up and have to see that too, how much longer will oil companies continue to produce this hobby fuel of AVGAS?

So bottom line? I can’t wait to see the back of AVGAS and will be looking to switch ideally to an AVTUR single engine piston – now all I need is an established, reliable and proven AVTUR piston engine manufacturer!

Welsh Hills

First flight of the new year was early for me, on Sunday the 2nd. The weather was OK, overcast, but thin and high enough, probably 5000’nil wind and cold, probably around freezing.

I checked the plane out and pulled it carefully out of the hangar past the Citation jet, which was far enough back that I didn’t have to try to get under part of it’s wing. I decided to put a squirt of fuel in to be kind to the next person to fly as I was solo and so pretty light. At the pumps I bumped into another Flyer Forum member who I had ‘spoken’ to on the forum but not yet met – good to see you Hogster!



Power checks complete, I let the engine drone on to get the oil temperature up to the magic 40 degrees before I called ready for departure. It has been about 35 days since I last flew and I went through the motions and readouts I expected for both take-off and landing in my head, then I lined up. Power smoothly on and hold it straight down the runway. Tail up as the speed builds and hold her down as she hops about impatient for her natural element. I let her climb away after a gratifyingly short ground run. At the end of the runway, I put in the 10 degree right noise abatement turn and climb straight ahead as I plan to check out the Welsh Hill and Pen-y-Fan in the distance to the west.

I climb to 4500’ and level out. Top of climb checks and lean the engine to my preferred ‘economy cruise’ of around 2050 rpm and 20 litres an hour which gives 120 – 125kts. I navigate carefully between the two prohibited zones at Credenhill and Madley, near Hereford (both of which are SAS training areas that they are understandably protective of) using both GPS and the prominent ground feature of the disused airfield at Madley.



The Welsh Hills are still somewhat snow-covered, unlike the rest of the countryside where it melted a few days ago. It looks like the snow (or deep frost) is carefully following the 1500’ contour line. I close in on Hay on Wye and head towards the peak of Pen-y-Fan (much beloved of Paratroopers and SAS wannabes). It looks beautiful in the heavy frosting and I am amazed at the number of hikers up on the hills today. I have a quick look for G-TOMS, a PA38 that made a forced landing near Pen-y-Fan a couple of weeks ago, but cannot spot it, although I am sure it is still there (and is I understand, a real ‘attraction’ for hill walkers and mountain-bikers). I play around the outside of the peak in this nil wind condition, confident that I won’t pick up any nasty gusts. For the hell of it, I throw in a few steep turns then waggle my wings at the hikers and head back towards Gloucester. While I was over Pen-y-Fan, I had switched onto 121.5 just in case. I heard London Centre calling for a plane that was squawking 7700 near Winchester. He clearly wasn’t on frequency despite a few calls by London Centre. I wonder what happened there?



I call Gloster Approach with 20 miles to run for a direct join and they give me direct to 09, which I am pretty much in a straight line final for anyway. I hear another forumite on frequency as he flies from Shoreham to Shobdon. I call again as requested at 5 miles and I am given clear to land. I do my pre-landing checks and get the airspeed under control by pulling the throttle to idle and holding altitude for what seems like ages as the plane slowly loses speed to allow me to pull on some flaps. Some power back in as I get the speed back to 80 kts. At 1 mile final, I bleed it back to 70 kts and hold it there. Good approach, good airspeed. I go through the landing in my head and try to land long so as not to tie the runway up while I trundle to the end. Over the hedge and get ready…. flare…..NOW. I hold off remembering that I am light so it will take a while for the stall warner to blare. I touch very lightly before I want to and hop slightly (not a bounce, just a gentle hop), I curse a bit then as she settles again, I make a determined effort to hold off and make the stall warner holler. I succeed and when we touch again, there is no more flying left in the wing and she settles nicely. Despite all of this, I still have a fair way to taxi to A2.

Back to the hangar and I put the plane away just in time to see a note on the hangar from another group member saying that he is in the clubhouse and I can leave the plane out – DOH! Too late! Never mind, good practice. I complete the paperwork and update the other group member on the plane (not much to say). I sort out the end of month / start of month paperwork as I need to sort out the December accounts (I run the books and billings for the group).

A lovely flight to start 2011 – thoroughly enjoyed that! For 2011 I am vaguely planning on a tour of Denmark and Sweden in the summer – fingers crossed!

Local on a cold day

I had booked to fly on Saturday, but the weather was very cold, a bit breezy and murky visibility. I was still up for a trip to the airfield, but as I was scraping the ice off the car, it started to snow so that was it, way too many risk factors, so scrap that. Sunday was a beautiful, if very cold day. No wind and a little cold mist, but likely to disappear as the day wore on. I checked the booking system and to my surprise, there were no booking for the plane today, so I took two hours until lunchtime and headed off for the 20 minute drive to the airfield.

I was out to the hangar and carried out the A-check in freezing conditions, literally -4 degrees, it would remain sub-zero all day. By the end of the check, my fingers had ceased to work, but I carried on and opened the hangar doors and carefully edged the plane out past the Cessna Citation jet parked where it makes the move the most difficult. It took me five attempts to get it past the jet so that the wingtip cleared the hangar door frame on one side and cleared under the wing of the jet on the other. So it was back into the clubhouse for a coffee and book out and give my fingers time to come back to life!

I climbed in and buttoned up. Fortunately, although it was so cold, the canopy didn’t mist up with my breath. The engine eventually caught at the fourth attempt and much priming. The ATIS was giving runway 09, the one furthest away. Having said that, probably not a bad idea as the taxi around would give the oil enough time to come up to the 40 degrees minimum we need for take off.

At the hold for C1 at 09 where I turned for my run up checks, I noticed two deeply gouged furrows in the turf to the right of the runway that went on for many metres and wondered what had made them, surely not an aircraft? The power checks were fine but the oil had still not come up to temperature. I pulled up to the hold and watched the oil temperature count off until it was right, then called ready for departure. The tower asked if I was ready for an immediate departure. I replied with a crisp ‘affirm’ and was given immediate clearance while another aircraft turned final.

Malvern Ridge from 4000' on a cold but very clear day - and no - none of these photographs are in any way photoshopped or 'improved', it really was that clear!


I was hopping along the runway in very short order, the aircraft performance even more sparking given the relatively light fuel load, only me on board and the very cold and therefore dense air. I climbed and made a left turnout heading for the Malverns. I levelled out at just over 4000’ and marvelled at the near unlimited visibility up here. Once I was past 2500’ I was out of the low murk, almost like getting n top of an inversion layer, once on top the vis was awesome. I could easily see the Welsh Hill in the distance with a dusting of snow on them.

Bredon Hill on a lovely cold day


Basically, I just poodled about, cranked in a few steep turns for the hell of it and took several photographs, trying for various different effects. I also discovered that the heater is pretty ineffective, to the point that I tried switching it off thinking it might be warmer without the draft, I was wrong, but only just - the heating effect was marginal. I think my farts were heating the air inside the plane every bit as effectively! The Malverns looked lovely close up, then I set course to Bredon Hill and the Cotswolds around Winchcombe. I picked up the ATIS and headed back to Bredon Hill for my run back to the airport. I had heard a few aircraft calling for joining at Gloucester and formed a mental picture in my mind of where they were and roughly when they would arrive at the airport and delayed my call so that I would not add to a sudden knot of aircraft all arriving at once.

Looking south towards Gloucestershire on a very cold, clear day


I called and as usual was set for a standard overhead join for 09 and to report at three miles. I ran in to Gloucester and did my approach checks and descended to 2000’ on the QFE. At three miles I was told to report downwind. I dropped from 2000’ to 1000’ on the deadside descent and crossed the upwind numbers at 1000’ as normal. By the time I got my call in, it was late downwind and I could see the traffic I was following had just turned a long-ish final as I turned base. I was a bit high, so power off and let the airspeed bleed back to flap limiting speed, then crank on both stages of flap. I turned final with the traffic in front now on short-ish final. I was still high, so side-slipped some of that off. When I unwound from the side-slip, I called final, noting that the training aircraft in front was about to land pretty much on the numbers and would therefore not technically be clear at the far end of the runway by the time I wanted to touch down myself. I was relieved when the tower gave me a ‘land-after’ which I was happy to accept.

I rounded out probably a bit high, but no matter, I ‘felt’ the aircraft down to a sensible hold-off height and started to hold off. I don’t recall hearing the stall warner (although it was working fine on the pre-flight check), but then I knew I was light and the air was thick, so probably I was still flying, so I held off more. The wheels touched very lightly before I wanted them to, so held off some more. Before I knew it, I was down and on the wheels (wow, that was gentle!), and pulling the stick progressively all the way back to make sure the tailwheel was anchored onto the runway. Not that I needed to worry too much as there wasn’t the slightest breath of wind, but it is all good handling.

I didn’t think I landed that short, but it was a fair old trundle to the end of the runway for the exit at A2 and I was hoping that I wasn’t holding anyone up behind me.

I taxied in and shut down. As I jumped out to get the towbar, Steve Noudjiam trundled up in his world record breaking RV7 and gave me some sign language. I thought he was asking me to leave my plane where it was as he was behind me in the hangar. Strange, I thought he vacated that hangar a month ago. I wasn’t sure so indicated that I didn’t understand. He popped the canopy and said he was in the hangar for another month and it was OK, he would put my plane away after his as he wanted to run his engine for while as it hadn’t been used for over a month.

I was fine with that. I wandered into the hangar and did the paper work and shut the plane down properly. By the time I had finished flapping around and was headed back to the clubhouse, I heard Steve chop the power to his RV7, so I walked back as two of us putting the planes away past the Citation still making it tough was a good idea.

No sooner had we put his away and nearly put mine away, then the new member of our group appeared wanting to take the plane out. No problem, so we wheeled it out for him. When I booked, I was the only booking that day, but apparently he had seen my booking and thought he would take a slot right after me – good thinking, the engine is nice and warm and the A-check is done – why hadn’t I thought of that?

I stopped in the clubhouse for a coffee and a warm up. In conversation with a few people there, I discovered the secret of the deep ruts near runway 09. It turns out that they were made by G-EWHT, the ‘nice’ Cotswold Robin that I have flown aerobatics in. It turns out that it made a ‘heavy’ night landing off the runway, then banged up over the runway lip onto the runway and the pilot taxied it back in. By ‘heavy’, because the plane is aerobatic, it is equipped with a ‘G’ meter, the meter read -3 and +9! Given that it is maximum rated to +6, that was one hell of a heavy landing. I was surprised the wheels and legs were still on and not through the wings. However, all is not well as apparently there was creasing to the aircraft skin and it turns out that there is twisting to a couple of the ribs and the firewall. I wasn’t so much a heavy landing as a crash where the wheels and legs stayed on!

What a shame. The plane is due for an insurance company inspection on Monday but it wasn’t looking promising, get ready for an insurance write off of the nicest plane in the Cotswold fleet.

On the way home, I was thinking about the various aircraft I have flown and realised that five of the aircraft that I had now flown had been involved in various accident, two of them (if this one is) having to be written off. I hasten to add that I was present at only one of the accidents, where I was in the right hand seat as the non-handling pilot – so as Bart Simpson would say ‘It wasn’t me – you can’t prove it!’.

Brecon beacons

I am just on my winter flying schedule now, mainly locals to keep my hand in with the odd nearby landaway if the weather looks really good. Well the weather was really lousy in the week leading up to Saturday, high winds and rain, but Saturday was virtually perfect, slight wind (straight down the runway), virtually clear and sunny sky and unlimited visibility.

I decided on a local, but to fly around the nearby Welsh Hill and Brecon Beacons just for the hell of it, especially as the wind was light, so there shouldn’t be much chop or rotor on the leeside of the hills. We took off from runway 22 with the wind 230 / 07. Climbed to 4500’ and headed west.

Herefordshire from 4000' on a lovely day


I threaded my way carefully through the two prohibited zones that the SAS use. I tightened my harness just in case of turbulence and headed down the Wye valley to Hay-on-Wye and into Wales proper. I was down to about 3500’ by now and dodging the odd small cumulus cloud, or maybe going through it. We cut across and carried on the Brecon and moved into the hills to the south of Brecon for a low level plan along the highlands and crests. There were loads of mountain bikers enjoying themselves on the rough tracks. I was really enjoying myself, just poling around low-ish level doing nothing in particular and enjoying the view.

Brecon beacons


We did this for a few minutes, then headed out and back towards base via Abergavenny. I picked up the ATIS and listened in to Gloucester who now seemed pretty busy. I called for rejoin and was asked to report at three miles. As I was about to call 3 miles, I heard two others also call at three miles, albeit joining from different directions. Instead I called and told Gloucester where I was and that I would do an orbit or two to let the others get well ahead and space myself out a bit.

Orbits complete, I joined for a standard overhead join. The circuit was busy alright as we passed overhead on the crosswind a plane taking off underneath us. There was no contention as I kept it very tight to the upwind end of the runway. I called downwind and could see two ahead, one ahead of me downwind and another well outside, possibly on a downwind, but one that was outside the zone, so could be another ‘bomber circuit’. The guy outside called orbiting at the end of the downwind for spacing, so I slotted in as number two behind the guy in front who was now on base. I turned base and tried to slow down a bit so I was properly spaced to the guy in front.

I managed it, although I didn’t get a ‘land after’ until I was pretty much over the hedge, but at least the tower did warn me to expect a late clearance. I flared slightly high, but no matter as the plane eased down, stall warner now blaring. I held her off and off until she finally gave up flying and settled into a nice, fully stalled landing. I kept the speed up to vacate as normal, but I think the guy behind me had gotten too close and had to go around.

Taxiing in there was a lovely Stearman warming the engine – wow, he was going to be cold today in that open cockpit! A very pleasant flight on a lovely flying day – can’t beat it!

Lovely Stearman at Gloucester

Halfpenny Green

I booked the plane for Saturday morning, hoping for good weather and vaguely planning a brief landaway. The days leading up to Saturday were far from promising, with high winds, low cloud and occasional rain, but Saturday turned out almost perfect, light wind, clear skies with maybe a few very scattered flat cumulus clouds starting to form.

I met up with Rob (my daughter’s boyfriend) at the airport and I had already checked the plane out. He helped me pull it out of the hangar and I started up and taxied over to the pumps as there was barely enough fuel for a couple of circuits, with one tank virtually dry. I called for taxi clearance after I had put some 70 litres in and was told that I hadn’t booked out – ah! I thought it was all going a bit too smoothly, UI had forgotten. The guy in ATC relented as he wasn’t too busy and took my details over the radio. I taxied to the hold for 22 and did the power checks carefully, as the previous pilot had reported engine rough running while on the right tank, from the description, almost certainly carb icing, but can’t be too careful. The engine and tank were fine.

Line up, power up, dance on the peddles to keep her straight down the runway, tail up and keep her down. She starts to skip, hold her down a bit more, still only looking down the runway and judging the airspeed by sight and the engine by sound. I daren’t take my eyes off the end of the runway for a second for fear of the plane starting to weathercock in that moment – I think most taildragger pilots would say the same thing, maybe I should ask them? Anyway, we are easily up and climbing to the right heading north as I have decided to pop into Wolverhampton / Halfpenny Green airport, as I haven’t been there since I was training in 2001.

We climb to 4500’ and I let Rob have a play with the controls. He isn’t bad at all, but betrays that he is a ‘Flight Simulator Pilot’ by the way he only ever looks at the instruments and does not fly by visual reference. I give him the usual patter about how to fly visually. It is only a short run to Wolverhampton and I take care to avoid flying anywhere near the Birmingham control zone. I call up Wolverhampton and see that they are operating on runway 16. I ask about the wind and they say it is 150/08 – OK fine, just different from Gloucester who were giving 200/08. By the time I spot the airfield, we are virtually on top of it and still at 4000’. So I opt for a standard overhead join which goes pretty well. They are very quiet and there is only one other aircraft moving down there. On base I hear someone calling ready for departure and on final I see him lining up. No bother as In continue my approach. I get the expected ‘lad at your discretion’ (this is an INFO tower, not a controlled airport). The guy on the end of the runway starts moving, so I continue. He is well clear and airborne as I come in for the landing. Approach has been good, bit fast, but I hold off well. The stall warner is screaming, hold off some more and when we touch it is barely a touch and we stay down and solid and roll slowly to the end of the runway (as that is the quickest taxi to parking). Well that was about as close to a ‘greaser’ as you can probably get in an RV6 (certainly as close as I ever get!).

Rob and G-GDRV at Halfpenny Green Airport


The INFO guys are very helpful and talk me around the route to parking, not that I needed it, but a nice touch, but then they weren’t busy. We park up on hard standing by the tower and shut down. It is a beautiful day as I head to the tower to pay the landing fee, while Rob explores the delights of the café, in the tower building, but one floor below. The guys in the tower are very friendly and seem keen to encourage return visits. I explain that I haven’t been here for eight years or so and quickly explain that it is only because it is so close to Gloucester that it is a bit embarrassing, a bit like a trip to Kemble, a mere ten minutes away – some intrepid aviator! They mention my plane and say that Manuel had it based at Wolverhampton while he was preparing it for his round-the-world flight.

The airport café is basic but very nice. Good choice of food as I opt for the mandatory toasted bacon sandwich and coffee (I have never quite got the hang of tea, despite living in the UK most of my life). Rob pays for the meals as he has a burger and fries brunch. We chat away watching the very odd aircraft come and go, it is pretty quiet here.

I know that I only have the plane booked until midday but I don’t know if anyone has booked it after me. But as a good group member, I won’t push it and assume I can simply roll up late, so I call time as we saddle up for the return trip. We trundle around the taxiway behind a Cabair PA28 (presumably on a training flight), so I give him lots of space in case he stops suddenly or does something unexpected. I complete my power checks sat behind the PA28 and call ‘ready for departure in turn’. I could taxi past the PA28 on part of the taxiway that looks a lot less used, but I am not stressed about it. The instructor in the PA28 twigs and radios that he will pull forward so I can get past – how nice!

I line up, apply power and I am away on runway 16. I modest right turn puts us on track for Gloucester and well clear of Birmingham zone. Up to 4500’ again as we trundle over the Malverns for a quick look. I get the ATIS and call Gloucester for a rejoin. There are a couple of aircraft calling for a join at the same time and I note in particular a PA28 joining the overhead from the opposite direction a little closer than me. I call as instructed at three miles and hear the PA28 call three miles a few seconds before me. OK, I don’t like this and tell / offer APP that I will do one orbit at three miles to let the PA28 get well into the overhead before we potentially jostle for position. Orbit complete, I join and call for deadside descent, which I am given. Gloucester do seem to like to police the circuit and they ask where I am when I am in the crosswind. I can see the other aircraft and we seem to be pretty well sorted out. I call downwind and complete the pre-landing checks. On base Rob notices the PA28 so far out that at first I assume he isn’t in the circuit. It dawns on me that he is and I take my base wide to try to get behind him. I do get behind but I am closer than I would like. It turns out he is doing a T&G, so it will probably be OK. TWR tell me to expect a late clearance as I bring the speed back as much as I dare.

Worcestershire from 4500' on a beautiful flying day!


On very short final I am cleared to land. I flare and set up for the hold off with the power off. Looking good, stall warner starts with a chirrup, but we touch very gently before I would like. We hop slightly, more chirruping and we touch again, but a bit harder – OK this is a bounce now. In probably no more than three seconds I weigh up my options as I don’t like this, it feels like one where the bounces will get bigger and bigger. So do I carry on and try to control the bounces, apply power and go around or apply a shot of power and try the hold off again. I opt for the third option and smooth out the bounce and re-flare (this is what I did at Avignon fighting a nasty gusting crosswind) as I have plenty of runway on 22 and it is not problem to turn off at the end anyway. This works pretty well and my ‘second landing’ from the same approach works well. Oh well, good practice I guess.

We taxi in and shutdown only a few minutes past midday on a perfect flying day. Do we wheel it back into the hangar and put the plane back to bed. As it turns out later, no one else had it booked, which I found surprising on such a great day. I really should have checked this and I wouldn’t have minded a detour to fly around the Welsh Hills on the way back and see if we could spot the SAS troopers sweating their cods off on Pen-y-Fan, but maybe another day.

Bump and grind

In the group, we have a ‘group currency rule’ which states that you need to go for a checkride if you have not flown the RV6 for 30 days. I can see the sense in this if you have little or low hour experience in the RV6 as handling and particularly landing and take-off skills can deteriorate quite quickly when flying this very, very sensitive little plane, but I also think (from personal experience) that as you get a few hours under your belt (say at least 50), that this time period could easily and safely be stretched to 45 or even 60 days. This is something that I will raise at the next group meeting, as it is amazingly easy to just slip outside 30 days, especially if the plane is in the middle of a service and with most of us being weekend only flyers and the sort of weather we normally get at a weekend. All of that is by-the-by, but interesting to air in a blog like this and see what others have by the way of ‘group rules’ that are well over and above EASA rules.

I have also read a discussion thread on Flyer Forum recently with pilots wailing about the massive cost increases they have suffered recently with the C of A Part M nonsense recently put in place by EASA – annuals for C of A aircraft of £5000 upwards do not seem at all uncommon. Holy cr*p Batman! Boy, am I ever glad that I am in a ‘permit’ group where we have a group member who is an aircraft engineer and other group member regularly help to do the maintenance (yes, I must roll my sleeves up at some stage too). We charge ‘ourselves’ £12 per hour for our own maintenance, so the members that do the maintenance are paid by the group and so reduce the cost of their own flying. Unfortunately (but in my view quite rightly) this payment regime doesn’t apply to the time and mileage I spend every month looking after the group accounts! Perhaps one day after my youngest ‘child’ has finished university, I may buy my own aircraft outright. When I do, I know for certain that it will be a PFA ‘permit’ type and that I will be learning how to do my own maintenance real fast!

What with a recent holiday in Newfoundland, weather and life in general getting in the way, I was well outside of the groups 30 day rule. So I put my name down with the CFI at Cotswolds for some circuits in the RV. Phil Mathews isn’t a small chap, but then neither am I, so I had to make sure that we were light on fuel to stay on the right side of the weight and balance envelope (mainly weight!). Having said that, I do far prefer the handling of the RV with a decent bit of weight on board, it really does handle quite differently when flying solo with a light fuel load.

So we set off to do the mandatory ‘three good ones’ – three decent landings that is. I am quite happy with general handling and I don’t feel the personal need, nor do I have the legal requirement for my ‘one hour of instruction’ as I have the best part of two years until my revalidation. I did however make the point of getting to the airfield early to carry out a leisurely check of the plane and sit quietly in the plane by myself running through where everything was, muttering to myself and touching each control or switch in turn. I must have made an entertaining sight to the students in Aeros next door looking out of their full length windows at this fruitcake sat in a ‘toy plane’ doing a ‘Rainman’ impersonation!

I rounded Phil up, booked out and we took it in turns to get in and strap into the RV. You don’t so much get in the RV6, as ‘put it on’! It is very snug for two and fairly inelegant to get into. You have to climb up onto the wing (avoiding putting you foot on the flaps which should be down anyway to make sure this can’t happen), step over the lip without grabbing the canopy (which is hinged to lift up from the front), put both feet on the seat, then slip both feet off the seat forward into the footwell, while stopping yourself collapsing by putting both hands behind you, one to grab the lip and the other the back of the seat to ease your weight down onto the seat. Then put on and thread together the five point harness, then invite the other person in the plane to have their turn. Pulling on flaps with both Phil and I in the RV is a real test of friendship, as I have to try to avoid elbowing Phil in the face and work the flap lever up past his and my bulging thighs, complete with wallets / keys unwisely left in trouser pockets.

The weather was lovely and clear as a bell, with some cloud, but with a light and variable wind. Sometime it was 030/07 and a few minutes later 360/06. Gloucester were giving runway 04, but as we approached the hold for 36, Phil checked the windsock and requested we use 36 as the wind was pretty much now straight down 36. Well this started a trend and Gloucester switched to 36. Power checks complete, I lined up, carefully and slowly applied power and held the nose straight with footwork, looking at the end of the runway to pick up and wobbles early. Tail up and hold her down. I never have the time or courage to glance at the airspeed, thus taking my eyes off the picture, as by the time I have done that, the plane could easily veer off the centreline, so I feel for flying speed by visual clues and the feel of ‘floatiness’ of the plane. As it turned out, I got it right on all occasions on this particular outing, I was pleased with my take-offs.

The use of runway 18/36 is pretty rare at Gloucester. This is the shortest, narrowest and least used of all the runways – don’t get me wrong, it is plenty long and wide enough, it’s just different from the other two runways that’s all. So it was nice for a change to be on runway 36. The circuits are right hand with a noise abatement to turn either before or after Staverton Village as there is an avid noise complainer who lives there and sits out in the backyard with a pair of binos writing down the registrations of offending aircraft and filing bulk complaints several times a year (no I am not kidding – despite the fact that the airfield has been here since the late 1920’s and the Staverton resident has probably only lived in Staverton for 10 years or so!).

The downwind leg is easy as you route outside and parallel to the M5 motorway, then turn base and head straight towards Chosen Hill until you turn onto final. On my first circuit, I got distracted in the base turn and ended up 200’ above circuit height (did I mention that the RV is VERY sensitive in pitch!). I was therefore too high on final, so had to sideslip this off for a better picture. Even so and with full flaps, I was too fats on my approach. The wind was great, straight down the runway, but I crossed the threshold knowing I was too fast and knowing I was in store for a long hold off to bleed the speed off – you simply cannot touch the RV with excess energy or you will be punished severely with a bounce. Well, I did hold it off properly and we touched and stayed touched, albeit further down the runway than I would like. Carb heat off, flaps down, power up and away again, still plenty of runway.

Next circuit better, but still got 100’ extra height and still another sideslip to lose it. This time speed control was much better, but actually on short final starting to get a bit too low, so some more power in to get it back to 70kts indicated. Just on the numbers and flare and hold off, nowhere near as long this time and we touch shortly afterwards and stay down.

Another T&G for the third circuit. Phil says that he is happy if I am and that we can land off this one if I want. I decide to tempt fate and land from this. Circuit height much better this time around and no need for sideslip to lose excess height. Approach is the best of the three and I vow to make this a good one without trying too hard. Having said that, it is now clear from the windsock that the wind has changed and is now 030/08, so Gloucester change to runway 04 while I am on final for 36. I know that Phil is probably looking at me wondering what I am going to do. If I was by myself I would have requested a go-around and reposition for 04 – no point in a crosswind landing in a taildragger if you don’t have to do one. But on the other hand, I thought it would be good practice and what better time that when I have an instructor with me. I tell Phil that I will continue with a crosswind landing. It turns out to be a good one and I don’t have to do too much in the way of crosswind handling, either that or I am doing it without thinking too much about it. Not showing off, just stating a fact. The landing isn’t over until the plane is shutdown in the hangar and I carefully bring it to a taxi speed by letting it roll, I find I rarely use the brakes on the landing roll. Carefully bring it around keeping the stick in the correct position while taxiing. Shut down and complete the paperwork and put the plane away.

I take a few moment in the quiet of the hangar to think through the session and internalise my flying. I am happy with it and do not feel particularly rusty despite not flying the RV for 75 days with my last flight (in a hired C172) being 50 days ago. I feel a quiet sense of satisfaction and a feeling of ‘damn – it’s great to be back in the air’. I must book the RV for a landaway somewhere in the next fortnight. I won’t be doing any touring over the winter or spring, so I am now into locals and simple landaways to keep my hours up while thinking about what I am going to try for in 2011.

Thoughts for 2011

I like to do at least one major flying trip / tour / event a year and I am already thinking forward to 2011 and what I can do. I can spare one week and sufficient funds to cover the costs.

One of my early musings was a possible solo trip on a mini-flyout to Iceland (solo in that I would be solo in the RV6, but would fly at the same time as perhaps a couple of other intrepid aviators). This is possible without an instrument rating, but you would have to fly at below FL55 and of course take a huge number of safety precautions. It would certainly be a challenge, not so much in terms of the actual flying, just the risks associated with what happens if the engine stops. But of course flying there would need very good VFR weather both to get there and back. I think I have now ruled this trip out on the basis that I can only spare one week and I don’t want to spend it sat at Lewis or Wick airport waiting for the weather forecast to be right. If I was a gentleman of leisure and had the time to wait for the right weather, then I might just go for it, but not now.

There are of course large parts of France that I have not explored either by aircraft or any other means of conveyance. This might be good for a semi-planned freewheel trip and this type of trip is a possibility, but I have been to a number of places in France and I want to fly to places and more especially countries I haven’t been to yet.

Another option that I really do fancy is to do the AOPA Aerobatics certificate training at Ultimate High in Kemble. It would cost a fair bit and takes one week, but it would probably work out the same as a one week touring trip. I do enjoy aerobatics (I have about 11 hours on aerobatic training) and it would give me the opportunity to fly another aircraft type, the Extra 300 (deep pockets required and I have flown one already), the Bulldog or the Chipmunk. I fancy the Chipmunk as it is a taildragger and I have heard so many people speak so highly of it. This is one of the front-runner’s. It would of course be particularly easy for me as I only live in Cheltenham, so Kemble is just down the road near Cirencester.

The other front-runner is a trip, maybe in company with other aircraft if I can find anyone similarly interested, to Denmark and maybe Sweden, up through Belgium, Netherlands and northern Germany. Plan a couple of locations and be flexible to cope with the weather. I do fancy Denmark and Sweden, purely because I haven’t been there before and I think it would be fund to fly around there.

Decisions, decisions, decisions!!

Annual medical chore!

I had my annual JAA / EASA (or whatever it now is) aviation medical the other day. I was also due for my two-yearly FAA examination, but by no coincidence, the AME I use is licenced for both authorities, so I get one medical examination and two certificates, of course he makes an extra administration charge for the paperwork, but that’s fine by me. The examination was the usual non-event, for which I am very pleased and grateful. Due to my age (54 / 55) I also have an annual ECG. We also played the usual ‘running gag’ with my eye test – ‘So, taking your glasses off, tell me what letters you can read on the chart’ – ‘what chart?’ – ‘Yes, very good, heard that one before, now what letters can you read on the chart’ – ‘no, seriously, I can’t see what I would call an eye-test chart, let alone any lettering’ – ‘AH! I see, err, well that’s OK as you can see well enough with glasses’ (so why try to test me without glasses??).

The cost was a total of £175 for both the JAA and FAA certificates. The Doctor was wrestling more with the on-line input that each authority now require and for his trouble and my investment, I got two pretty basic, locally printed certificates.

What I don’t get at all is why each licensing authority (JAA, Transport Canada, FAA etc.) all have their own and quite different medical requirements, validity periods, forms etc. Why the hell can’t there be a single medical standard accepted by all authorities (I gave up ranting about a single licencing authority that would apply worldwide a long time ago – it is so obvious we should simply adopt the FAA approach!)? But then I guess that would involve civil servants working together, and we couldn’t have that could we, hell, what would we do without all this national job creation after all!

Gander, Newfoundland

I suppose like most pilots, when going on holiday, I always try to sneak in a flight. Well my holiday in Newfoundland was no different. I assumed there would be a flying school at St John’s, but no. Fortunately, we also planned several days in Gros Morne National Park, so Gander was also a possibility. Well there is a substantial flying school there, Gander Flight Training, who seem to do mainly contract type training for commercial pilots, but were very happy to accommodate my request for a quick local.

I do have a full Canadian licence and medical, but of course they aren’t just going to toss the keys over without at least a checkride, and we didn’t have time for that, so I settled for a flight with an instructor, where I would fly P U/T and log the time etc.

We found the place after a bit of looking around as it wasn’t brilliantly signposted. It was a Sunday and nearly deserted, but we found the side entrance and managed to find someone that could help. I did ‘book’ all of this well in advance and confirmed it with a telephone call with a couple of weeks to go.

An instructor appeared who it turned out had considerably less time flying than I did and looked about 22, but to be fair, he had done a lot of things I haven’t so no problem. I was happy to ask him to do the radio work as it gave him something to do so he would leave the flying to me. We checked out a ‘flying school condition’ Cessna 172 and climbed in with my buddy, Dan in the back on photographic duty.

C-FFUD, the Cessna 172


Gander had HUGE runways but was very, very quiet so we were cleared as soon as we wanted for take off on runway 13. I powered up and we trundled along until the rotate speed and were soon airborne. I did notice that the airspeed indicator was annoyingly one of those with statute miles per hour on the outer scale and knots on the near useless inner scale, which of course can be a real ‘gotcha’ if you are not conscious of it.

Take off from runway 13 at Gander


I set course for Glovertown where Dan’s in-laws lived to show off a bit flying around their house. It was on a bearing of about 150, so only a slight change from the runway heading. There is very little in the way of man-made features in Newfoundland and navigation was a very simple matter of following the only real road in the area (the Trans-Canada Highway).

Flying IFR - 'I Follow Roads' - the Trans Canada Highway, the only place to go if the engine quits!


Towns are small and very few and far between, so no chance of mistaking towns!

The town of Gambo, near Glovertown


We came up on Glovertown and my cautious instructor would not let me descend below 1300’ (personally, I would have gone for the legal 1000’ minimum). We pulled a few tight turns over the in-laws house while Dan happily snapped away. After this, we decided to navigate to the small and very quaint fishing town of Salvage that we had seen on the ground the previous day. This too was scenic as we made a low orbit.

Small fishing town of Salvage


I was surprised to find that we have already spent an hour out flying, so we set course back for Gander homing in on the VOR and ignoring the Trans-Canada Highway. You really don’t have any choice of where to land if the engine fails, it is either the trees or some water, there is no cleared land and certainly no fields – I think I would go for a ditching close to shore myself!

Gander hove into view in the distance and as the wind was only of minimal advantage to runway 13, my instructor suggested we went for a small tailwind on 31. Sure, fine by me. So I came in direct to final for 31 with a 3 kt tailwind.

Gander heading for runway 31


I noticed I was a bit high and rather than spook the instructor, I commented on this and said if it was my Cessna, that I would sideslip this off. He seemed happy with this (there are a few fairy tales about side-slipping in a Cessna). So I wound on the sideslip and we sank at 1000 fpm for a while until I was happy with the picture, then unwound for a normal short final approach.

A bit of side-slip to burn off the excess altitude!


I chopped the power but noticed that the idle on the engine on this particular plane was pretty high, at about 1000 rpm, so instead we floated for longer than I expected as I held off and off for a smooth, but longer than planned landing. I commented on the idle speed and he confirmed my view (thanks for the warning bud, but maybe he was trying to cut me down to size a bit – who knows).

Gander Airport


A switch to ground to get taxi instructions (this is a big international airport, although very, very quiet) and we trundled back to GFT. Shut down and back to pay the bill. I logged some 1.3 hours at a not altogether pleasant cost of $CAN 280. But it is a really good way to get a perspective on the beautiful Newfoundland landscape.

Local on a lovely evening!

Went for a local on the 8th after work, just to keep my hand in. It was a lovely evening, perfect for flying in an otherwise terrible month of weather we have been having since late July - very changeable with just about everything thrown in!

Booked out and Manuel helped me out with the plane. About 54 litres of fuel on board, plenty for a local, but I had to bear in mind I would be very light as it was just me as well, so get ready for a good long hold off (oeeerrr missus!).

River Severn downstream of Gloucester


In the end, I didn't go far, just a bimble around the 'bends in the river' on the River Severn, then back through the Gloucester overhead at 2500' so I could get a decent photo.

Gloucestershire Airport from 2500'


Then on to Bishops Cleeve to pick up the ATIS and call for a rejoin. There was pretty much nil wind, so I was given a direct to final on runway 22. Brought it in with a nice approach and held off well with a bit of a hop, then settled her down on the runway.

The peace and quiet on the warm summer evening after shutting her down was priceless. If only I could just leave her out, like that, lock the canopy and walk away with a loving backward glance. But of course I had to haul her back into the hangar and do the paperwork.

Hmmmm.... now where are those classified ads in Flyer?