I asked my daughter’s boyfriend if he wanted to be ‘self-loading freight’ and he did. This would be his first trip with me that wasn’t a local (shame on me!).
I turned up early and checked the plane out. Low on fuel again, so a trip to the pumps would be in order. I man-handled it single handed out of the hangar and parked it up outside. One of the Citation jets was parked outside and blocking my way out, but they don’t leave them out for long so I figured he would be away soon.
After a trip to the ablutions, the jet still wasn’t moving, so a quick trip to the pumps before my passenger turned up was looking doubtful. I was parked a suitable distance away and to one side from the likely jet blast, but I wanted to be by my plane just in case. The pilot of the jet turned up and indicated he would be gone in five minutes. I waited while he went through his pre-flight checks just to make sure that as he turned at the end of the Cotswold ramp, that his jet blast didn’t bounce the RV around. I needn’t have worried, as although the jet blast was making the skin of the hangar door ripple like paper and making me smell like a baggage handler at Heathrow, it had no effect on the RV.
Rob turned up on time as usual (well, he is German!), grabbed my hi-vis vest and wandered over to the pumps where I would meet him. I dropped 30 litres into each side by which time a queue was starting to form at the pumps. I was at the front and the plane behind me was still fuelling, so I figured I had time to jump in, start up and taxi clear before the guy behind me was ready to do likewise. I was about one minute away from startup when the chap behind turned up at my 10 o’clock and indicated that he could pull me forward. Rather than pop the canopy and have a shouted conversation, I decided to accept his help and indicated for him to hold there, I cut the master switch, checked the magneto’s then indicate to him the all clear – he could touch the prop as it wasn’t ‘live’.
Once clear, I started up and taxied the enormous distance to A2 (15 metres) and completed power checks. We lined up and I was away for a left turnout from runway 27. We climbed to altitude quickly as I was crossing the ridge and calling for a frequency change to Kemble Information – although a short trip, it would be a busy one as you barely have time to climb to altitude before you are thinking of calling Kemble for airfield information.
I changed frequency and called Kemble. Runway 26 was in use in calm wind conditions. I spotted Kemble and started to position myself for a standard overhead join. Yep, there’s the main runway and the disused second runway at the appropriate angle. Yep, on the deadside already with about 3 miles to run, but I would plan to orbit the overhead to descend on the deadside. Hmmmm….. something odd about it…… Where are the big jets being scrapped? Where are the numerous blister hangars? Can’t see the runway numbers, they used to be very big, white and clear. Can’t see the dark black ‘high friction’ centre section on the main runway. Looks like gliders down there – GLIDERS! Arrgghhhh!!!! Idiot!!!! That’s bloody Aston Down! Well at least I hadn’t actually reached the overhead, so I could ‘pretend’ to anyone watching on the ground that I was merely taking a look. What a schoolboy error – but I consoled myself with the true story that some CAA inspectors had actually landed there thinking it was Kemble!
Of course I then spotted Kemble and routed for an overhead join there. I cut inside Kemble village on base / final (as per noise abatement) and settled on a very nice final. There was a plane just landed in front and one not far behind. It was clear from where the guy in front landed that he wasn’t going to make the turnoff before I landed so I called a ‘go around’.
Next approach was much clearer and I resolved to try not to land on the numbers to avoid a long trundle to the turnoff. I landed long, but of course not long enough, so I still had a fair old trundle to the turnoff.
I taxied onto the grass tower apron and was instructed to park beside the ‘tailwind’. OK, I know a few aircraft, but I didn’t know what a ‘tailwind’ was. So I called ‘unfamiliar with tailwind’. The guy in to tower helpfully said ‘it’s the black and green jobbie by the fence’. What a good description, but if he added ‘…..and it looks like a tent’ the description would have been perfect!
I shut down as we scrambled out. First call, pay the landing fee. So I wandered over to the tower and went into the door first left and asked to pay the fee (I always used to pay it here). They pointed out that this was the Ultimate High and that I should pay the fee upstairs – oh yeah, that would explain the logos everywhere! Doing well so far today!
As I was paying the fee upstairs, the guy on duty had a call from the Battle of Britain Memorial Flight – could they do a flyby of Kemble in 10 minutes or so? I mouthed to him to ‘SAY YES!’, which he did. Great, lets pay the fee and standby outside the AV* for the flypast.
We grabbed a latte and slice of cake from the still very nice and posh AV8, although they still seemed to have plumbing problems in the toilets (but then they always have had).
Well, we waited and waited and waited for the BBMF. The Ultimate High treated us to so aerobatics and a couple of ‘run and break’ joins. A BAE125 four-engined high-wing commuter jet joined and landed. No sign of the BBMF, so we wandered over to see some of the jets on static display, a Canberra, Buccaneer and some flying Hunters outside Delta Jets.
Still no BBMF and I was running out of time, so back to the plane and mount up. We had the long trundle to A1 for 26 where there was now a queue and loads of planes wanting to land. I completed power checks and noticed a Robin in front of me in the queue, but on one side still doing checks. I was ready for departure and he clearly wasn’t, so I taxied in front to the hold. Then he called ‘Ready for departure (cheeky as he wasn’t even near the hold)’, so I motioned to him to go around behind me to pull up to the hold in front of me and to my right while I pulled out of his way. My courtesy was acknowledged by a stoney stare as he moved imperiously off – well, it takes all sorts I guess!
Kemble Info lined us both up one behind the other on the runway as we took off in stream – very efficiently handled I thought.
I set track for Gloucester and changed frequency quickly to pick up the ATIS. The flight back was brief and busy. Standard overhead join for 27, then Gloucester seemed to get something stuck on their radio as it seemed to be on constant transmit, but with the controller sounding like he was talking from the other side of the room. I continued to give normal calls and the problem sorted itself out.
I was behind a Cessna and tried hard not to gain on him, but he made it hard by flying such a wide circuit – another ‘bomber’ circuit! I managed to keep a decent distance such that he was clear of the runway by the time I was on short final and cleared to land.
I was keen to be stopped by the intersection so as not to inconvenience the person behind me. Got the speed under control and flared and held off and off and off, then we touched. Nice one. Let it run then a dab of brakes and we were stopped in nil wind by the intersection, pleased with that!
To be fair, the Cessna wasn’t from a local school as I had thought, as he clearly didn’t know where to go and needed progressive taxi instructions. I know what it is like at a strange airfield, so I eased well back from him and felt a wave of sympathy.
We eventually parked up and shut down.
Well, that made for an interesting and busy trip, good fun though! An airfield recognition exercise, a go around, radio problems with the tower, a learner driver in front stopping all the time – very eventful!
