I thought I would ask my neighbour, Martin if he wanted to come with me and he accepted with alacrity. I hadn’t been to Welshpool for a while so decided to go there for the obligatory £100 bacon sandwich.
Martin is keen to learn to fly and may well take a number of lessons in this country. So I showed him how to….errrr…. follow me through on taxy and take-off. He did OK given it was his first time. He underestimated the amount of right boot required to hold the plane straight on the take-off run and didn’t pull back far enough on rotate and yes, the climb was a bit erratic, but he got there. I think he enjoyed it anyway!
The flight was silky smooth as we climbed and levelled out at FL35. On the way, I let Martin try a couple of level turns to either side and nearly covered the instruments to stop him focussing on those rather than flying visually.
I listened to Shobdon Radio but didn’t call for FIS as they were pretty frantic. I called Welshpool from 25 miles out and got a surprisingly strong reply. As I neared the airfield, I still couldn’t see it, although I was approaching the runway from right angles.
Even at 4 miles, still no joy – so after telling them my intentions, for the first time ever, I climbed and orbited in the general area to try to spot the field. Towards the end of the first wide orbit, it dawned on me that the valley I had first looked in didn’t correspond with the map (however hard I tried!) but the valley I was over now did! Needless to say, I quickly spotted the airfield and called visual adding that I was joining left downwind at 1500’ QFE for runway 22 – adding a self-deprecating ‘it would help if I looked in the right valley!’.
Despite me knowing that it was a 1500’ circuit and that I should extend, I still turned base too soon and left myself pretty high – so I cranked everything on and side-slipped. This worked by about very short final and a bit of a bump (not too bad though) announced my arrival.
This was Martin’s first time in Wales and we celebrated in style – with a bacon bap and a cup of tea. We just sat outside and breathed the clean air and watched the planes come and go – people ask me why I fly to such short landaways – I usually reply ‘because I can!’. But it is also for moments like those, but how can you put it into words? They just look at you as if you’ve flipped and wander off giving you sideways glances!
After about an hour, we saddle up and move out. I decide to check out a reservoir north west of Welshpool. I find this easily and tell Martin that I am going to do a ‘low level’ run down the reservoir to check he is happy. I fly past the reservoir carefully checking the entry and exit points as well as any high obstructions, then drop the power and descend into the valley feeding the reservoir. The speed climbs but I am careful to keep it well clear of VNE. I spot a couple of boats out on the water (blast!), so I level out at 600’ QFE as we ‘run’ down the reservoir, then climb out at the downstream end to set course for Gloucester.
Again the air is silky smooth as the sun starts to get low (due to the clock change). We quickly spot several hot-air balloons – on a late afternoon like this, it is hardly surprising. I resist the childish urge to fly close to them to ‘have a look’, although there is a string of them over the Malvern Hills seeming to bar my way!
I contact Gloucester who are very busy, not least with a few people trying out the trial GPS RNAV IFR approach (good for them!). I don’t press for a direct approach as they are so busy, in fact I barely manage to get my ‘three mile to run’ call in at all!
I switch to Gloucester Tower and they are even busier – not helped by a numpty who clearly has simply changed frequency and gone straight into transmit without listening out, while Gloucester Tower were in mid-sentence – who are these people?
I do a standard overhead join for 04 left hand and spot another aircraft ahead of me doing the same thing – so I slot in behind him and keep him in sight around the circuit. I try to get my calls in as instructed, but I am sure I was ‘transmitted over’. I manage to get a call in on base and can clearly see one in front turning final. I hear a transmission making a different aircraft number two, while I am looking (I am sure he is behind me anyway) ATC ask me to do a right turn onto final. I query this as it is a left-hand circuit, they confirm a right turn onto final, so I comply – I assume they are trying to space me out in the circuit. Turn complete I call 1 mile final.
They really are busy as they slot a landing then a biplane departure in ahead of me while I close in to short final. The runway is clear and I am given late clearance to land. I decide to land longer than usual so I can get to the end of the runway quicker to try to help out the busy circuit – the landing is pretty smooth (though I say it myself) and I taxy to the pumps to fill up to be kind to the next group member.
As we taxy in to stand and close down, I spot the Yak out on the apron and starting up in a cloud of smoke. I don’t believe it! This is the ultimate ‘hangar queen’ in the same hangar as our – I have NEVER seen it moved or out – it always sits in exactly the same position with a thick coat of dust at the back of the hangar. Clearly no one else has either, as people wander out of the school hangars to watch. I hope this guy has had the mechanics give it a good going over – I swear it hasn’t flown for over a year! We watch as it taxys out and wait to see it take-off, which it does without incident. I don’t know much about this type of aircraft, but given that it hasn’t flown for so long, if I were flying it, I would be constantly watching for decent sized fields!
It’s been a good day as we pack up and I update the aircraft log.
Next up is IFR refreshers leading up to my revalidation in January. I have a trip scheduled to see Dan in Canada over the new year and hope to squeeze an accompanied flight in from one of the field in Ottawa, weather permitting.
