So I drove home, changed and collected my gear, then off to the airfield. Lovely, mine is the only aircraft left in the hangar, so I don’t have to play ‘aircraft shuffle’. I pull it out and give it the normal A-check. Damn! Low on fuel. I make my way back to the terminal to book out – but where? Well, I fancy sitting out somewhere nice for lunch and a long cold drink watching the planes. Hmmm… not much of a flight, but Shobdon or Kemble would be nice. So I decide on the attractions of the AV8 café with the off chance of seeing some of the ex-military jets flying that are common in Kemble.
I check the NOTAMS and see that one of the Kemble runways has been displaced even further, now a crazy 340 metres or so – all because of that stupid access road. I am a bit early so I wait around for Dan. By 13:40 he hasn’t shown, so I may as well fill up with fuel to give him another 10 minutes. Boy, is the airfield busy – I manage to get a call in for taxi to pumps and fill up with AVGAS. I am just unhooking the earth wire when Dan strolls across. I explain the plan to him and he is very happy – such a short flight, but such a nice venue.
There is hardly any wind, so it is runway 27. Power checks complete, we call ‘ready for departure’ and are given clearance for take-off. Taxi onto the runway and immediately power up while still rolling. A glance at the engine readings confirms normal MP and RPM at full power, airspeed is picking up, 65kts, rotate gently and we are unstuck. Right noise abatement turn, dab the brakes and gear up, transit light on, wait, out – gear up. MP and RPM back to 25/25 for a normal climb and we follow a climbing circuit to set track for Kemble. I climb to a modest 2700’ for this short hop.
No sooner had we cleared the ridge, than I call for frequency change and contact Kemble. OK, they are on 08 with left hand circuits. I opt for a standard overhead join. Downwind now, gear down – three greens (always a bonus)! On final and nicely lined up, interesting ‘bow-shape’ to the runway gives the threshold an uphill appearance, must allow for that. Remember the displaced threshold – but only NOTAM’d – no actual markings on the runway – how the hell do I estimate 340 metres from the air? So I hold off nicely and land long. I ask for help with taxi and they ask if I am familiar with the NOTAM on the displaced threshold. I tell them I am (I read them at Gloucester and the printout is in my pocket). They think I landed 50 metres short – hmmm….. I guess they work here and know pretty well where it is, so I apologise profusely and park up on the grass outside the AV8.
Dan pays the landing fee – hmmm…. £14 –oh well! We wander to the AV8 and order a pint of orange juice and a Cajun Chicken baguette for me and a pizza for Dan. This is delivered by a good-looking but fairly humourless eastern European girl / woman, nicely presented though and very satisfying (the meal not the woman!).
We watch the planes come and go, some of which land past where I now suppose the displaced threshold is and some land before it – what you need here guys is paint on the runway! There is a lovely biplane in what looks like Spanish military livery doing circuits on the grass. Dan is amazed by the Europa mono-wheel pottering about. Our patience is rewarded as the fire crew mobilise and lo and behold, the yellow Folland Gnat (Dave Gilmour’s old plane IIRC – you know, the lead guitarist for Pink Floyd) is wheeled out and starts its take off run. We really are in for a treat as the pilot is clearly rehearsing his routine for the Kemble Air Day. For the next twenty minutes we are treated to our own personal air display, with loops, rolls, inverted passes and a high speed low level pass.
We relax on the sun-drenched deck and shoot the breeze, watching the planes come and go. After a couple of hours of this, we decide to head off. But first, Dan sticks his head around the door of ‘Ultimate High’ where I bought him a voucher for half-hour aeros in a Bulldog. He is now so booked up leading up to his return to Canada that he is keen to book the date now and hope for the weather. So he books Thursday 1st June in the morning. I agree to fly him over for that, then afterwards, we can both fly on to Shoreham so I can do my half-hour in the Harvard. Pray again to the weather gods!
We mount up, taxi out and take-off. I hear over the radio that the plane after us is headed for Hawarden. Kemble kindly tell him the weather there – thunderstorms, TCU’s and rain in 4000m visibility – poor chap! Well it is clear here, but with one or two clouds on the horizon with vertical development. The visibility is not great as we head past the ‘bends in the river’ at 3000’ to see if the Malverns are still there. Dan takes control and we bimble about a bit. I pick up Gloucester ATIS and we head back. Gloucester is a bit quieter now and we get a standard overhead join for 27.
Usual stuff really. Downwind checks complete and gear down with three greens. Plane is slower now, so pull on two stages of flap on base and power back to start the descent. Ease the blue VP lever fully forward so the prop is now fully fine – OK, Red-Green-Blue check – RED = mixture lever fully forward (full rich), GREEN = Three green lights on the landing gear, BLUE = VP lever fully forward so prop is fully fine.
Nice approach if a bit high, soon lose that though. No wind to speak of at all. Over the hedge, round out, flare and hold off, try hard not to land, wheels touch, yes, nice one. I am just a bit too fast to make the first turn-off (no point in stomping on the brakes just to save a minute or two taxi time) so I trundle to the end and take the ‘long march of death’ taxiways back to parking. Park up and who do I see, but Mark, one of the other group members obviously wanting the plane. I shut down and we chat. He had the same idea, but I beat him to the booking by 10 minutes! Anyway, there is plenty of fuel and the plane is good to go – apart from numerous fly-splats on the windscreen. Mark cleans this off and disappears quickly into the gathering early evening still – what a great evening for it – no sign of the threatened thunderstorms.
An excellent afternoon for such a short flight. I always somehow feel a ‘fraud’ flying in to Kemble because it is so close. But that’s pretty silly, it is such a nice airfield that not to go there because it is local would be even more stupid.
Roll on lazy summer days and pray for good weather for the weekend after this when we are going on our ‘Europe Trip’ with the Flyer Forum guys.
