Visibility wasn’t good but it was the cloudbase that was poor – giving scattered at 800’. So I waited and waited. Some fine drizzle sent the visibility to probably 2km and while I was waiting, the scheduled flight from Jersey did a go-around on instruments because they didn’t become visual and MDA. I spotted it going through the overhead through odd breaks in the cloud. Ten minutes or so later it came in.
By now the drizzle had stopped and clouds, though still low, had started to become more ‘hard-edged’ – so I thought, great, it is slowly starting to lift. I had long ago abandoned plans for Upfield Farm and booked out for circuits. The desk checked with the tower who said that low level circuits were all that was on offer and if the base was less than 500’, they would call me back in – no arguments from me!
So I started up and got going. I was ready for departure and got the speil from the tower, saying currently reported as 700’ and 5km visibility but that drizzle wascoming in from the north. I elected to go and off I went. All went well and I turned crosswind and climbed to nearly 800’ before getting very near the cloud. As I turned downwind I realised I couldn’t see the airfield – 5km?? You must be joking! I guess the drizzle came in faster than they thought. I would estimate it was 2km max. Anyway, I knew where I was and was clear of cloud with decent downward visibility. I called downwind to land – no point in circuits in this soup – unless I fancied inadvertent IMC and rusty NDB / DME approaches for real at minimums – no thanks!
On base, I caught sight of a distinctive, large ‘doughnut’ shaped building and knew that was a decent turning point for final on 27. So I did this and at about 1.5 mile final, spotted the PAPI’s on 27 in the murk. I was nicely lined up and good height with nil wind. Though I say it myself, it was my best landing for some time. With no one else about, I was given a backtrack and asked about conditions. I confirmed I broke off the circuits not due to cloudbase, but due to poor visibility in the drizzle.
So I got back and shutdown. I had the plane until 14:00 and could see the drizzle would pass soon, so I thought IO would use the time to give the plane a quick was and rinse on the upper surfaces, which were looking a little grubby following another members trek to Spain.
I went to the airport café for lunch and uh-oh! There was some sort of classic American car rally going on with country and western bands and US rebel flags etc. Not my cup of tea, so I grabbed a bacon baguette and a cup of tea and tried to sit as far away as I could. I was half-expecting to meet up with chap from Flyer Forum so I hung around until 13:00, but no show – he probably wouldn’t find me in the crowd anyway.
The weather was better now, with nice ‘hard-edged’ but low clouds and decent visibility, so I decided on a quick local to blow the cobwebs away. I started up, trundled out and was away from runway 27.
I decided on a quick round trip of the Malverns then back. I managed 1500’ easily and was up around 1800’ eventually with only the very odd, small cloud below me on occasions. Around about Bishops Camp (iron age fort) on the south of the Malverns, I spotted a huge gathering of tents and cars. I later found out this was ‘The Big Chill’ concert near Eastnor Castle. I gave it a wide berth and rounded the Malverns.
So I called up Gloucester at about 14 miles north and they offered a direct right base join for 27 with report at five mile. I established a gentle cruise descent to keep the power up and the engine temperature up (we are running it hard for the next 50 hours as one of the cylinders is new).
Came into an empty circuit heading for the doughnut at the right height as I lowered the gear and pulled flaps on to slow the plane down. Did the ‘Red / Green / Blue’ checks and turned final. Good angle, maybe a bit high, but no problem. Nice approach and hold it over the large displaced threshold. About the right height, start the round-out and flare – hold-off, more yet, more and down. A bit long but not bad. Given another backtrack and taxied back to shut down.
One of the other members is going up later, so I tidy it up and leave it out. I grab photocopies of the log so I can bash them into the spreadsheet than update the proper engine and airframe logs with the hours later.
The plane is running nicely and while it could use a proper clean and polish to get rid of all the fly-splats, it still looks good. The annual is due in mid-September, so I will leave it until after that.
Next up, some more taildragger training at Sibson – look forward to that!
