Kemble

I had a busy weekend coming up, but wanted a flight to keep my hand in with the RV, so I booked it for two hours on Saturday morning. I was planning a local, but then I thought why not do a brief landaway to a very nearby airfield instead, which I could still manage within two elapsed hours – so a monumental endurance flight from Gloucester to Kemble and back it was!

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!

Lydd to Southend and Home

Mindful of the comments on the notes on AIS that Manston was STRICTLY PPR through TG Aviation, I called them first and gained my prior permission. So next stop Manston. TG Aviation did warn me about the crosswind from the north, but didn’t give me any values. I said I would give it a go.

The wind was still a bit fearsome as I started up the RV at Lydd, given as 060/17, which with the runway in use of 02, would make for a fun take-off. There were four RAF trainer Grob aircraft all doing power checks in unison in front of me, so I held off for a bit until they wandered off for take-off.

Power checks complete, Lydd Tower asked if I was OK to depart from the intersection – let’s think, that leave a mere 1000m or so of runway – ummm – yeah, should be able to squeak the RV out in that distance! (But nice of them to ask).

Ran through the wind and my crossed controls in my head, lined up, power up and rolling. Tail up and still OK on the runway, then the plane started to get ‘light’ on it’s feet and I felt it being pushed, countered and corrected, then time to ease off and up we went.

I asked for an orbit of the airfield so I could take a few photos of the airfield from various angles and Lydd were happy to comply. I got my photos, then headed off coastwise in search of Folkestone and the Battle of Britain memorial, on the cliffs just outside Folkestone to the north east.

I said goodbye to Lydd at Folkestone and changed to Manston Approach. I spotted the Battle of Britain memorial very easily.



It is in the form of a large three bladed propellor with a statue of an airman sat on the spinner in the middle, obviously designed to be viewed from the air, and what better way of seeing it! I did a couple of orbits at about 1500’. There didn’t seem to be many people there and I hope I didn’t disturb those who were there – but I am sure every pilot wants to pay his respects in kind. For no particular reason, and I know it sounds cheesy, I waggled my wings in salute to the memorial and headed along the coast to Manston.

I picked up the ATIS and it wasn’t good news. Runway 10 in use and the wind was given as 020/17 – a full 17 kt crosswind! The ATIS is of course recorded and may be up to one hour out of date. But if they gave the same wind, was I going to try for a landing? I thought about this, emboldened by my successful landing at Lydd. Then I thought – no, I won’t risk it, not worth it. I don’t HAVE to and this is supposed to be fun, not palm-sweating.



I called Manston Approach on their new frequency (always worth checking NOTAMs). I explained that I had the ATIS (they are VERY keen on you getting this first apparently) and was inbound to land and that I did have PPR, but wanted a spot windcheck first. He confirmed the bad news and it was unchanged. I said I was kind of hoping for better news and that I wasn’t going to try landing my RV6 taildragger in such a wind – maybe next time. He was fine about this as I asked if I could route along the coast then set course for Southend.

I was asked to report at various VRP’s, including Deal. Due to some scattered cloud, I was down to 2000’. I spotted Manston easily – it’s HUGE! I could probably have landed sideways on the 61m runway with that crosswind! I rounded the headland at Margate then at about Herne Bay, set track direct to Southend and across the Thames estuary.

I noted huge sandbars in the estuary – well if the engine quits, that’s where I’ll head! There was a huge offshore windfarm in the estuary – a sign of the times. About halfway across, I said goodbye to Manston and changed to Southend Radar, picking up the ATIS first.

They asked me to continue and report airfield in sight. I knew where it was of course from the map and the GPS and I could see where it should be, but given that I was approaching at right angles to the only runway, I couldn’t seem to spot it. Then at 5 miles, I definitely got it. It was what I had been looking at. I called visual and was given a downwind join for runway 06 with right-hand circuits, the wind was given as 060/09 – nice, no crosswind!



I turned left to get to the downwind and noted that the circuit took you over the town, with nowhere to go if the engine quit, so I stayed reasonably close. The circuit seemed quiet and I was given number one for final while I was on base. I wasn’t frantic about putting it down on the numbers as it was a fair way to the Taxiway Bravo and the GA parking area. I did a nice landing and controlled the roll out, again with no use of brakes. As expected, I was directed to turn off onto taxiway Bravo and park with the other GA aircraft between some BAE125’s and the tower.

I parked up and shutdown as I was again starting to cook under the bubble canopy in the bright sunshine. I gratefully popped the canopy, yes it was breezy, but nowhere near as bad as Lydd. I donned my high-vis jacket (much beloved of these ‘proper’ airports) as I looked around for the reporting point.



The reporting point was obvious as it had the biggest yellow square and black ‘C’ I have ever seen! This took me into the ‘Executive handling facility’. Very nice it was, with over-stuffed black leather chairs and a uniformed chap just waiting to take my landing fee. At £24.15 for a tiny RV6, I can now understand his enthusiasm – at that rate, it wouldn’t take long to re-float the economy of Zimbabwe! Ouch!

I asked after a café and was directed to turn right into the corridor. This took me into the commercial passenger terminal of the airport as Southend are trying very hard to become a ‘proper’ airport – and by the looks of the crowded passenger terminal, were succeeding!

I treated myself to a Panini and a latte and watched the world go by for a bit. I fancied a few hours at home in daylight, so didn’t linger and made my way back to the plane. The happy chappy in the executive terminal (by now planning his retirement on the strength of my £24.15) buzzed me out of the security doors as I walked back to the plane and gave it a quick check – just the usual, oil, fuel, prop still attached etc.

I climbed in and asked for engine start. I was given this and taxi instructions. As expected, this was along taxiway Charlie to Charlie 1 for 06. I did my power checks then sat there while two in front of me departed, then again for arriving aircraft. I was starting to cook as the sun beat down and I was eventually given clearance. I was up and away as soon as decently possible to get some airflow in the blowers!

I climbed away with a right turn departure which gave me a good opportunity to take some photos of the airfield. I set course for home at Gloucester via LAM and BNN – the dreaded ‘north London low-level route – constrained by Category A London airspace to the south and overhead from 2500’ and to the north by jealously guarded Category D airspace of Luton and Stansted – creating a 10-20nm wide corridor with an absolute altitude constraint of 2500’ and I hate it!

I climbed to 2300’, turned on most of my lights, got my eyes out on stalks and talked to the new Farnboro Radar, who gave me a specific squawk. It seemed quiet enough and I didn’t spot anyone, then came the dreaded call from Farnboro Radar – ‘multiple contacts in your 12 o’clock, no height, manoeuvring ‘. Well I spotted them as they were in the circuit at Stapleford and well below me, so that one was easy.

Then my personal favourite ‘Opposite direction traffic at 12 o’clock, 2 miles’ and either ‘no height information’ (bastard – use your bloody Mode C!) or in one case ‘indicating 2200’ (here’s me at 2300’, so waaaayyyy too close for comfort of worse comes to worse.

The only one I saw was a single engine high wing aircraft that passed to my left about half a mile away. I spotted him when he was at about 11 o’clock and waggled my wings to indicate that I had seen him.

I was then past BNN and coming up on the town of Thame when I knew I was clear of the 2500’ altitude constraint, so I announced my intention to climb to 3300’. I felt a lot better up there I can tell you. I noticed that I had been gripping the stick fairly tightly and wiped some seat from my hands – the opening scene from Top Gun sprang to mind where Goose said ‘take it easy Mav, I don’t like this sh*t’ as he flew a head to head with the enemy MIG’s – can’t think why!

I called Brize and asked for a zone transit so I could avoid various airfields and glider sites strung out across my path like a series of forts in the Maginot line. Brize were very helpful and gave me a transit at 3800’ with various warnings about gliding sites and the like.

I picked up the Gloucester ATIS who were giving minimal wind and runway 09 in use. I said goodbye to Brize and switched to Gloucester on a combined frequency of 128.55. I got a standard overhead join for 09 with three joining from different directions at about the same time – oh joy! I seemed to be ahead, so to make sure I stayed that way, I kept my approach speed up. Sure enough I made it first and was well into the deadside descent, when the next to join just reached the overhead and spotted me, so in the end we were all well spaced.

My circuit was good and I was cleared to land. I tried hard to land long on 09 as the turnoff is right at the end and I didn’t want to make anyone wait of go around behind me. Having said that, it is hard as you have a serious argument with your subconscious on final, with your own internal ‘autopilot’ telling you to land on the numbers, but your conscious mind aiming halfway down the runway with the two having a running battle all the way down on final.

I did land long, but not as long as I would have liked and had a reasonable ‘trundle’ along the active runway to the turnoff. Gloucester gave the aircraft behind me a ‘land after’ which they seemed to accept (I would have). I was just turning off the runway but still shy of the hold when the aircraft behind queried why they hadn’t been cleared to land. Gloucester explained that they had been given a ‘land after’ and that that was clearance if they accepted it – bottom line is that they didn’t seem to understand what a ‘land after’ was – worrying!

Down and safe, I shut down and popped the canopy as quickly as decently possible. The time, now 15:30, so not bad timing.

A good trip, first down to the south coast, then along the Kent coast to Essex, then along north of London headed west back to Gloucester. Took in two ‘new’ airfields for me and chickened out of the planned third – I’ll get Manston one day! Very pleasant flight and enjoyed fooling around by myself.

I’ll see if I can’t get another flight in picking up more ‘new’ airfields before my flying holiday in Texas in mid-October – fingers crossed for my annual medical at the start of October, but I don’t anticipate any problems.

Gloucester to Lydd

I was planning to go to the Flyer Forum fly-in at Wellesborne, but with the day as excellent as it was promised, I switched to try form my much postponed trip to ‘pick up’ a few airfields in SE England that I had always flown past, but never landed at. Basically, I planned to drop down to the south coast and land at Lydd, then on to Manston, scross the Thames estuary to Southend then along the ‘north London low-level route’ back to Gloucester, all in one day.

When I woke early, the worst news possible, FOG! I mean bad stuff. So I cursed and planned to scrub the day. I did a dump run of DIY detritus and noticed on the way back that it was starting to break, so back to pick up my gear and head off to the airfield. Sure enough, it was starting to lift and break, with METARS on the south coast reporting CAVOK.

I checked the plane and filled her up to the gunnels (as I was alone, I was well within W&B). The weather was now pretty good with minimal wind. I was up and away by 10:30. The route? EGBJ DCT GWC DCT SFD DCT EGMD, so straight line to the Goodwood VOR first. Then the next decision – under or over the clouds?



I decided to go on top at about 4400’ – I had to stay below 4500’ as there was a small lump of Category A airspace nearer the south coast and I didn’t want to upset anyone. I could still see the ground through the odd breaks as I spoke to Brize then Farnboro. No one else up here, so I had a quiet run. About 30 miles from the south coast, some of the clouds welled up to well above 5000’, so I had to do a little ’dinking’ around clouds looking for ‘cloud valleys’ to get through. Of course I could always go down through a ‘hole’ but where’s the fun in that? I found my way through and turned to run coastwise as I switched to Shoreham Approach.



The clouds along the coast were a bit more problematic. The damned things were at 3000’. It was clearer out to sea, but as I didn’t pack a life jacket or life raft, I didn’t fancy that, so dropped and started dodging clouds. Approaching SFD VOR, I was down to 2300’ and still scraping my head on clouds.

I picked up the Lydd ATIS. Oh joy! Runway 03 in use, but the wind - -070 / 20kts! Oh crap! Quickm mental arithmetic, wind 50 degrees off, call it 45 degrees, so take 0.7 as the crosswind component, so a crosswind of, err, about 14kts. I would have laughed about that in any of the nosewheel aircraft I used to fly, but it was most certainly not a laughing matter in tailwheel aircraft, and a small and light one at that. This would be the most crosswind I had ever attempted in the RV, but I decided to give it a try and be ready to go around if there was anything I didn’t like.



I called for joining and was given a direct to 02 call at 5 miles. I did and continued to 2 miles, now down to 1500’ and sensibly slowed up. I pulled on the flaps at 1 mile and settled into the 70kt approach speed. Yes, the nose was nicely off to the right to track the extended centreline. I called for a spot wind, same as the ATIS.



I flared on the numbers and kicked it straight at the same time applying opposite aileron and holding both in while pulling back at the same time. Stall warner blaring, hold off, more, not drifting – good! We touch as I continue to pull back to anchor the tailwheel while still holding aileron and dancing on the rudder to keep her straight on the roll out. Nothing dramatic, but I did feel the tail twitch a couple of times and was straight on it with rudder. Really didn’t touch the brakes, just let her roll. She was down to normal taxi speed well in time for me to make the turnoff to the left onto the old disused cross-runway. I parked up near the tower on Charlie apron and ran through the shut down checklist as the temperature in the cockpit soared under the bubble canopy while I sweated. I finished the close down checks and eagerly popped the canopy. Bliss – but hey, what a wind! I shot a glance at the windsock – Holy moley, did I just land in THAT! I had mixed emotions, one was that I was impressed with myself (sorry but it’s true – not trying to be big-headed!) and the other was me asking the question ‘Would I do circuits on a day like this at Gloucester with that crosswind’ and coming back with the answer ‘No way!’.



Lydd calls itself ‘London Ashford’ – who are they kidding. The place was pretty empty. I had a friendly reception as I paid the modest £13.80 landing fee. I made my way to a huge café. A few people there but not many. Had a quick cuppa and a snickers and had a wander around. Nice viewing area outside and friendly invitations to drop into the Lydd Flying Club, which I didn’t have time for.



Good pilot briefing facilities. I noted a golf course within easy walk from the airfield, but from the air it really does seem miles from anywhere. It was certainly windblown as I contemplated a lovely crosswind take-off while finishing my tea.

Next leg - Lydd to Manston.....

No 'around SE England' today!

I had an ‘around SE England’ trip planned for a couple of weeks now. The real aim of the trip is to visit a few airfields I have always flown past on the way to France, but never landed at – I am still chasing my 100 airfields!

The route would be from Gloucester to GWC at Goodwood, the along the south coast to Lydd as my first stop. Then from Lydd to Manston (taking in the RAF memorial along the coast) for the next stop. Then from Manston to Southend, then Southen back to Gloucester via the low level route north of London. This would be a series of quick stops, long enough to pay the landing fee then bash on. Considerations would be the wind as all of the mentioned airports have only one runway, are all coastal and so may suffer from significant crosswinds (not a favourite for taildraggers).

I had planned this for Sunday. I got a call from one of the group member on Saturday night who said that when he checked the plane on Saturday, another group member had shut down a few days ago and left the master switch and engine monitoring display on, so the battery was completely dead! He explained that he borrowed a charger and charged it enough that with hand-swinging he got the plane started and the alternator charging the battery, but he wasn’t sure if the battery was now ruined and whether it would hold the charge. Bottom line was that if the battery readout was less than 12.2v – don’t fly as we need to replace the battery. It transpired that the relatively new group member concerned didn’t use the checklist when shutting down.

I checked the UK Metoffice forecasts first thing on Sunday morning and it didn’t look good. A front was forecast to be in over Gloucester by early afternoon and raining, with significant winds of 240/25. It was already pretty gloomy and although it was perfectly flyable with clouds at about 2500’, by the sound of it, it was going to deteriorate. All of this persuaded me to abandon my long trip and settle for a local with a few circuits in the morning.

I checked the plane out and the battery reading was well above the suggested minimum, so it looks like the battery wasn’t trashed and hopefully won’t need replacing.

Next trick – to get the plane out of the hangar by myself. Wimp I hear you say? Not a bit of it, there was a bloody great big Citation jet in the way with barely enough room to squeeze our tiny aircraft past – even then, our wing would have to pass under the low wing of the Citation which if I got it precisely right, it would do so with about 6 inches of clearance, but if I got it wrong it could easily make contact – well, that simply wasn’t going to happen! I shuffled the plane by hand by myself, continually stopping and checking the left wingtip (could hit the fully open hangar door), the right wingtip (will it pass underneath the Citation’s wing) and the tail assembly (would it hit the back wall or the motor glider also parked nearby.

With two people that know what they are doing, it is delicate but you can do it in one, but with just me?? First attempt wasn’t good, so had to back the plane back into its parking slot and try again. Managed it on the second attempt though – phew!



Fuel required of course, so that done, I completed the power checks and got going. This time I decided to check out Stroud and the bits to the south. Did a few steep turns for the hell of it, then decided to check out the Forest of Dean. From there I could see the hills of Wales, so of course I had to check those out too and headed over to Abergavenny. I was just above the level of the hills and of course with the moderate wind, it was starting to get bumpy. It wasn’t a good idea to fly too deeply into the valleys as I would hit rotor of various strengths, so flew around a couple of the hills to the east of Abergavenny, then headed back to the airfield.



Called for a rejoin for some circuits. We were now on runway 22 and of course when I joined there was a sudden rush for circuits, with three or four aircraft in the circuit. Fortunately, all behaved themselves and spacing was good.

My first T&G was a little bouncy. On the second I flared a bit too high, but on the third and final made a very nice landing just past the numbers. Unfortunately that left me with a moderate taxy to the turnoff with someone else on final, so I tried to keep the speed up and managed to vacate without making the guy behind go around – should have landed longer you idiot!

I managed to put the plane away much more easily as the Citation was just starting to taxy clear as I approached!



A very enjoyable flight just bumbling around by myself.

I emailed the rest of the group advising them that the plane was now free for the rest of the day and that the battery seemed to be holding up.

I have the plane booked for next Saturday for a Flyer Forum fly-in. I have to say if the weather is good, I will try for my trip to a few airfields instead.

Taildragging in breezy conditions

My daughter’s boyfriends parents were visiting from Germany, so of course I volunteered to take them for a quick trip around the locale as they were only staying two days before moving on.

The only time I could get the plane that suited us all was Friday late afternoon.

Of course the weather was determined not to play ball, and although the clouds were plenty high enough and broken, the wind was pretty blustery all day – not good in a light taildragger.

But I set off to the airfield, feeling it was marginal (according to my personal guidelines that is). The wind was changing all the time, but was generally 240 / 15. Given the runway in use of 27, there was some crosswind, but it wasn’t too bad. What wasn’t good was that as showers approached, the wind would change and hit 240 / 20G30 – ouch!

So for me marginal conditions, but I had a good think and decided that nothing ventured nothing gained and that I was not going to be a ‘scaredy squirrel’.

So I briefed my passengers, with the help of their son who translated some of the trickier bits, they did speak reasonable English, but I wanted to make certain they understood completely.

So it was going to be two quick locals, one for each of the parents, before the airfield closed as I didn’t fancy landing on indemnity in such blowy conditions.

As it turned out, it was windy, but I handled it OK. The take-offs were easy enough, just very careful and quick on the pedals to keep the nose straight with into wind aileron. The first landing was a bit of a bounce, but the second landing was much better.

We dodged the showers up there and had a quick look around the locale with two mandatory flypasts of my house (which the wife saw as she was walking the dog).

A good couple of flights and I felt much better for having made the decision to fly in such breezy conditions – no sweat at all in a nosewheel aircraft, but if you haven’t flown a light taildragger in such windy conditions and wonder what all the fuss is about, then either you are a much better pilot than me (entirely possible) or you haven’t tried it in a taildragger yet – give it a go!

Le Touquet

I had to call my last planned trip to Le Touquet off due to really bad weather (very low cloud and strong winds), so I immediately re-booked the plane for the next available Sunday.

The day dawned with forecasts of a very heavy rain front waiting to sweep in, but being held out past Ireland by high pressure – would the high pressure hold for all day Sunday? Up at 0700 and the weather was ideal, clear skies virtually nil wind, so off to pick my daughter up from her apartment then onto the airfield.

I had of course completed all of the formalities the previous day, which consists of dropping the General Aviation Report (customs stuff) and a Flight Plan off at the reception desk at the airfield and they did the rest and emailing a request for customs to L2K.

I checked the plane out in the hangar then wheeled it out with my daughters somewhat inexpert help, but hey, we got there! I gave her a careful and full safety brief, especially about the belts and canopy opening and all the over-water gear and ELT beacon.

The plane was low on fuel to off to the pumps for me. After a jammed hose reel then my keys playing up, one of the fire crew sorted it all out and we were refuelled. We were given a taxi to the holding point for runway 18 – wow – it’s been a good couple of years since I last used this runway at Gloucester. It is the shortest (but still some 800m) and narrowest of the three runways and was closed for quite some time. But we were up and away in short order as I turned left on track for a direct line between Gloucester and the GWC VOR on Goodwood airfield on the south coast by Chichester. This routing neatly avoids all of the controlled airspace if you don’t go above 5000’ (4500’ in one small stretch).

There were scatter and thin cumulus at about 2500’ and I didn’t fancy scuttling under then, so carried on through to 4500’ to sit well on top with plenty of holes in the cloud and clear runs back down again. Brize were busy but helpful as always as I spoke to them once I cleared the Cotswold ridge.

After them I contacted Farnboro Radar who seemed remarkably quiet. But I was already hearing other aircraft also routing to L2K – I chuckled as I explained to my daughter that the world and his wife would probably be headed to L2K on a day like this. There was now a thin stratus layer barely below me which looked solid but thin and was now between me and the cumulus. But I could see further ahead to the coast, so I knew this layer would disappear soon. After about 20 miles it did drop away and by the time I got to the coast, the lower cumulus had gone as well.



We approached the south coast and I changed frequency to Shoreham as according to the NOTAMs they are due to have an airshow with a RAT all the way up to 5000’, with class A airspace starting above that at FL55. In theory, I could route through their overhead above 5000’ but below FL55. I spoke to them and the show hadn’t started, so they were happy for me to fly through their overhead at 4500’ anyway.

I routed along the coast following the VOR’s to LYD where I was careful to avoid the military danger area as I coasted out over Dungeness nuclear power station at 4500’ talking to a ‘not very busy’ London Information.

There was no horizon over the channel as usual, with the dark blue of the sea giving way to a thick grey band which eventually lead to the light blue of the clear skies above. I wasn’t flying on instrument, but I was keeping an eye on the artificial horizon and cross checking with my altitude (in the absence of a clear horizon).

But soon, we could make out the coast of France and I switched from London Information to Lille Approach. They pushed me off the L2K with about 10 miles to run and L2K gave me a straight in (direct to final) approach for runway 14 and to report at 5 miles. I started the descent and noted the wind he was giving others on final as 180 / 12 – aahhhh – a nice sporting crosswind – nothing in a nosewheel aircraft, but this was a light and relatively twitchy taildragger – this could be fun!

At five miles I as now down to 2000’ and was given number 1 at three miles. I had the airspeed under control, if a little fast. I noted the crosswind as I had to fly cocked into the wind to maintain the extended centreline.

Over the number and still a little fast although ground speed quite slow, so yes, quite a strong wind. I kicked the nose straight and compensated with opposite rudder as I concentrated on the flare and hold off. Stall warner sounding but she touched before I wanted and I was rewarded with small bounce – no fun when you are also compensating for a crosswind. I controlled that and held off and touched again and stayed touched. A gust hit the fin and the nose came right a bit to take me off the centreline, but I was back on the rudder and straightened her up again as she rolled out to taxi speed. Not great, but not bad for a crosswind landing.

I taxied in and had a hard look for parking space – with the majority of the ramp being occupied by G registration aircraft (as expected). I found a slot and parked up and as quickly as I could, popped the canopy as it was bright sunshine at L2K and without the airflow through the blowers, you cook very quickly under the bubble canopy of the RV! It had taken me about 1.5 hours from Gloucester to L2K.



We unpacked and set off towards the terminal. Of course no customs, just check in with the helpful staff. Tell them how much fuel you want and walk off and pay when you get back – no hassle at all!

We didn’t bother with bike hire, which with hindsight we should have. I have never been to Etaples on the other side of the river (and an easy walk from the airport), so we decided to go there and check it out. I was kind of hoping for a cute French fishing village, maybe a mini-Honfleur. I was disappointed. It is an OK town, we found to town square, but it was deserted with virtually everything shut (as France tends to be on Sunday). It would be an interesting place on market day. We eventually found one of the eight of so open restaurants with space. They specialised in ‘SLOW’. I have ‘Moule Frite’. The food was fine, but very ssllllloooooooowwwww! I paid up and we agreed on a quick trip to L2K itself. So walked back to the airfield and all the bikes had gone, so we got a taxi. 10 Euros later we were in ‘Centre Ville’.

L2K was bustling with virtually everything open – but then at the height of the French holiday season, not too surprising. I showed my daughter around the main sights and she decided we should walk back to the airport to admire the classy French ‘holiday homes’ for the rich Parisians between the town and the airport.

Back at the airport, I filed the flight plan for the return and paid the bills. They want you to pay separately for the fuel and the landing fees. Landing fee was a modest EUR12 for mu small RV6 and they had put 40 litres of fuel in as requested.

It was very warm now but the wind had died down to a modest 5-6 kts, but still favouring runway 14 – so a fair old taxi in store for me with the canopy buttoned up!



I checked the plane over and clambered in. I was sat there with the canopy buttoned up trying very hard to get a word in edgeways to request taxi clearance while slowly cooking to death! I managed eventually then had to wait in a three plane departure queue – still cooking!

Eventually we got airborne and got some blessed airflow on my face. As I turned on a climbing downwind for the channel and Lydd, my daughter tried to get some photos of the airport from the overhead. I frequent the Flyer Forum portal. They have a section there for airfields and I am amazed that no one has yet posted a decent photo of L2K from the overhead (something I find very useful for pilots who have not been to a particular airfield before). As it turns out, she didn’t really manage a decent photo showing the airfield and environs as she used the zoom – DOH! Does ANYONE have a decent photo of L2K? It seems as difficult as getting a photo of a vampire – hey! I wonder….. naaaah!



I climbed to 5000’ over the channel and reversed the route and the process on the way back. I did just manage to contact London Information, but it was a real feeding frenzy so I gave up and changed to Shoreham prematurely.

Shoreham were quiet, but then they did have the airshow on. I requested a routing through their overhead above 5000’ (the top of their RAT) but below FL55 (the start of controlled airspace above). Of course I could legally do it without even speaking to them, but lets be gentlemen here! They demurred and asked if I could route either 4 miles to the south or north. I opted for south out to sea and kept myself at about 5200’ just in case there was any silliness. As we approached Shoreham we could clearly see smoke tails all over the sky as someone was doing some serious aerobatics.

Past Shoreham, I dropped to 4500’ to avoid a small slug of controlled airspace and talked to Farnboro Radar. We routed near to GWC then set track for Gloucester. It was then that my daughter called ‘PLANE’ and pointed (as I had briefed her to do) at about 1 o’clock. I saw it a few seconds before it flashed under my starboard wing, probably 200’ below. Clearly neither of us had seen the other until the last moment. Had he been coming at the same height, I did would have had time for a fairly violent manoeuvre, but didn’t have to bother.

We pottered on as I switched to Brize as I listed to another aircraft call Brize three times with no response. So I stayed on listening watch and routed over Fairford at 4500’ picking up the Gloucester ATIS. Gloucester gave me a standard overhead join for 22.

As we crested the Cotswold ridge, the fine weather gave way to a near overcast, albeit fairly high cloud. I did a nice overhead join and set her down as nicely as you please on 22 (I can manage it sometime you know!). It was 1800 as I taxied into a very quiet and still airport. We put the plane away and I finished the paperwork and formalities.

A good day out and a chance to try my crosswind landings for real. The weather could not really have been better (for a change). I must get another cross-channel trip in, maybe to the Channel Islands and to Alderney, as I have not been there yet. Or maybe a ‘round London’ trip to pick up some airfields I have always flown past but never landed at yet, like Lydd, Manston and Southend?

German visitor

My daughters boyfriend had his sister visiting from Germany over the weekend and I was assigned for the mandatory local for the said visiting dignitary. I don’t mind a bit, I was looking for an excuse to go flying.

The weekend was perfect flying weather such as we have rarely seen this year in the UK. Sunday was sunny with nil wind and a bit hazy at first, but clearing later. I rocked up early and gave the plane a pre-flight check in the early morning quiet of the airfield around 0815 – quiet, unhurried – bliss!

They turned up as expected about 0845 and I gave Micah a full passenger safety brief, with Rob present as I needed to be sure she understood what I was saying (they are German). This would be her first time in a light aircraft, so I was especially pedantic in my briefing.

Of course I needed to add some fuel, so I agreed to met them at the pumps. I was getting strapped in again, when a helpful instructor pointed out that I had left the fuel tank caps off – ooops! I would have spotted this as part of my start-up checks as I have a specific check for fuel caps at this point, but embarrassing nonetheless. Hopefully, that was my one mandatory gaff per flight!

Power checks complete, we lined up about 0930 and were away. I decided on a circular route, first down to the Severn bridges, then up the Wye valley at Chepstow to the Malverns, then across to Bredon Hill and over my house in Gotherington, along Cleeve Hill and back in to Gloucester.



Micah was fine and I gave her control for a while. She flew well, with a relaxed grip, quite unlike the normal ‘death grip’ of most newbies! I dropped altitude along the Wye valley for fun, then climbed back to 3500’ for a few steep turns outside Ross on Wye, which she enjoyed.



Dropped again for a mandatory low-level pass over my house as I then ran parallel and low-level (although still perfectly legal) to the ridge at Cleeve Hill into a climbing power turn towards Winchcombe to give me time to get the ATIS.

I called for rejoin and got a normal overhead join for 27. I warned Micah about the deadside descent being a bit rapid. We came around to land on 27 with nil wind. I was about 5 kts too fast coming in and was punished with a decent float, even so, I got it stopped easily just past the intersection and mercifully given a backtrack, rather than having to roll to the end, especially in the bright sunshine as it beat down through the bubble canopy and rapidly heated the cockpit, now without the benefit of cooling airflow.

Back in and shutdown and get the canopy up! Phew, that was warm!

Micah enjoyed her flight, but admitted to starting to feel a bit off-colour during the deadside descent. Well, a good warm up for hopefully a day trip to Le Touquet with the wife next Saturday. For a change, we plan to walk to Etaples just over the river rather than Le Touquet.

The joys of a local!

The weather in the UK has been truly horrible in the last few weeks, with the jet stream stubbornly refusing to re-locate to the north of Scotland as it usually does every summer, instead it snakes its way over the middle of England, sweeping in a series of low pressure systems, one after another, with wind, rain and low cloud. That, combined with a business trip to India and a, err, ‘stomach’ bug I acquired over there, have conspired to make flying time for me in July a distant memory.



Having said that, today the cloud had broken and lifted a bit and although still breezy, it looked good enough for me to pop across to the airfield after work for a local. I won’t give a blow by blow account of a local flight, but a few highlights perhaps and the sort of simple pleasures that even a local flight can give:

- The unhurried quiet of the hangar as I made a leisurely walkaround of the plane
- With just me on board, a wonderful take-off with the tail coming up quickly and becoming airborne before I knew it
- Leisurely climb to 3500’ and a wander over to see the grand bends in the River Severn
- Playing with the scattered cloudbase – yep, it was precisely 5300’
- Climbing to 7500’ just for the fun of it and seeing if steep turns still ‘worked’ at that altitude – they did!
- Looking down on the Malverns as though they were in a satellite photograph OK, imagination required here)
- Executing a very nice airfield deadside descent,
- Crossing the upwind numbers at precisely the right place, watching another aircraft take-off underneath me
- Run a decent final, flare over the displaced threshold and touch literally on the number
- Taxi in to a quiet airfield untroubled by radio chatter
- Pull up to the hangar, shut down and just sit there for a few minutes not moving, just drinking it all in
- Put the plane away and shut the hangar doors and just stand outside the hangar, not wanting to leave the apron
- Looking back at the airfield in the quiet of the evening as I drive away



I am certainly no poet, but in all, it was a bit like that first beer over the BBQ after a heavy days work on the house – that AAAHHHHHHHHH feeling. Can’t beat it!

Local in showers

I had the plane booked for Tuesday late afternoon more to keep my hand in than for anything specific in mind. I arranged for my daughter’s boyfriend to go up with me as ‘self-loading ballast’. In the event, he didn’t turn up (probably forgot), so it was just me.

I checked the plane over and looked pensively at the weather. Fair old breeze, a bit gusty, but nothing that would have worried me at all in a nosewheel aircraft. Thunderstorm warnings on the ATIS and certainly some large showers floating about, but fairly clearly defined and you could just about see through them.

I was worried about the crosswind AND only being solo in the plane. In a plane as small and light as the RV, landing solo means more float, slower landing speed and less mass for gusts to have a lot of fun with you and for things to happen more quickly.

I was talking myself out of it and resolved to head back to the hangar and pack up and go home, after all, this is meant to be fun right? Why put the pressure on if I don’t have to? Then I thought about it wasn’t so bad and you know, if you don’t step a little outside your comfort zone (not a huge step, but at least a little) then you are not going to progress and will end up crawling back into a very small comfort zone which will gradually get smaller and smaller.

Hell, it was just like in the fantasy movies with a miniature guardian angel on one shoulder telling you to congratulate yourself on being brave enough NOT to fly, with a devil on the other shoulder chiding me for being a scaredy squirrel – or maybe it was other way around – you get the picture.

OK – we go! What the hell. I booked out and hauled the aircraft out. As I was doing so, Steve Noudjam turned up to meet with Manuel about his lovely record Cape Town and back record challenging RV7. I wished him luck with his record attempt – probably when I was out of earshot he asked Manuel ‘who the hell was that?’.

I taxied out to the pumps and filled the plane a bit as it was down to its last 30 litres. The ATIS was saying the wind was 280/12 – given runway 27, this was fine, but I have to say it looked a bit further out than a mere 10 degrees, so I vowed (as any taildragger pilot would) to pay more attention to the evidence of my eyes than and ‘official pronouncements’.

The airport was pretty quiet as I completed power checks. I was cleared for take-off on runway 27 and duly lined up. Again I carefully check the windsock, looks like the wind is some 20 degrees coming from the right, so mental note to go easier on the right rudder as the power comes on and put a bit of into wind aileron in. Power up and rolling.

As expected, the tail comes up quickly with the wind and reduced weight. Before I know it the plane is hopping about anxious to get airborne, I hold it down for as long as I can then ease back and she is up. Other than checking the rpm when I first apply full power, I don’t look at the panel at all during the short take-off run, I use my ears instead to gauge engine note. This is normal for me on the RV as I am totally focussed on ‘dancing on the pedals’ to keep the plane running straight – ask any taildragger pilot and they will probably say the same thing.



I apply the 10 degrees noise abatement turn at the end of the runway and see where I can go. I originally wanted to head to the west, but there is a nasty shower over Gloucester and the north west towards Malvern looks better. I head up to 2300’. Approach call me to warn of inbound traffic from the north west. I announce that I am climbing to 2800’ (on the assumption that if he is inbound he will probably be at 2000’ on the QFE. I hear the incoming traffic call as having me in sight, he is probably below me, but I cannot see him (I find it harder to spot traffic ‘below the sky’ against the ground).

Although my airspeed is some 130kts, I note with interest that the GPS is giving my groundspeed as 100kts, so a 30kt headwind up here.



Around Malvern, the clouds are quite scattered and just for the hell of it, I climb to 5500’ to get above most of them just to have a look at the cloudscape. I hear another aircraft inbound to Gloucester from the north for the instrument procedure, so he will also be high. I decide to delay my turn to Bredon Hill until I hear him call again at 10 miles, and therefore past me. While waiting, I do a few steep turns and just manage to resist the childish urges to say ‘wheeeeee’ out loud!



On the way over to Bredon Hill, I spot Defford disused airfield and from that, pick out Croft Farm. I descend to below the cloudbase to do a couple of orbits of my village, then pick up the ATIS and call for a rejoin. I am given direct to right base for 27 as I head on in. I approach at 2000’ on the QFE, then drop to 1000’ just as I approach right base. What I forget is that I am a lot faster going into right base than normal, so have to take the power off and let the slippery RV bleed speed back to the rather low flap limiting speed. By the time I do this and pull flaps on, I am way high, so I continue with the power off until the picture comes in properly on final.

They are giving 280/08, but again, the windsock look more like 290 or maybe 300. I do have to keep the nose to the right to keep the extended runway centreline, so I mentally prepare for a crosswind landing, get ready on the left rudder and right aileron. I also remember that I am only one-up, so much lighter than usual, so get ready for extended float.

Over the threshold, picture good and power now off. Round out and hold off. I hold off and off, but no stall warner. Crosswind does not seem to be a factor as nose is straight, but right wing wants to lift a bit, so a bit of into wind aileron and opposite rudder to compensate. Still holding off, would be nice to hear the stall warner, then it chirps a bit, then a bit more, then it is continuous – wow, it really makes a big difference being one up. We touch, lift again maybe a few inches then touch again – happy with that! We are stopped well before the intersection, but Gloucester kindly give me a backtrack anyway as they really are not busty at all.

Taxi in and shutdown. Aaaahhh! No one around and all the hangars shut up, so I can’t borrow the other RV’s towbar (yes, I do have their permission), so I am going to have to man-handle the RV by the prop backwards into a crowded hangar! But wait – help is at hand. The Cotswold hangar is opening and someone is getting a plane out, time for me to sneak in a borrow the towbar. I get the plane in easily and introduce myself to my saviour. He is a member of the other RV group and asks what the weather and winds are like. I tell him that they are fine and no problem either on take off or landing and that it is very quiet and peaceful up there tonight.

A very nice flight and I am glad that I pushed myself into doing it. I am quite sure there are many tailwheel pilots out there that may scoff at my timidity, well good for them, but I don’t claim to be a barnstorming, fearless aviation legend. Far from it, I am very much a ‘Captain Sensible’ and for me, this was pushing the envelope a little bit.

OK, now I must check the calendars and booking sheets for a free weekend and book the plane for a cross channel jaunt.

Project Propellor 2009

Project Propellor is an annual event that is organised to bring veteran RAF aircrew together for a reunion. What is special about it is that the veterans are conveyed to the reunion by private pilots volunteering their time and aircraft to fly the veterans I n and back.

I have volunteered for this for three out of the last four years, but to date have not once managed to fly veterans in. The date chosen seems to be cursed with poor weather. The first year, it was only at Kemble (just over the ridge from Gloucester), but thick cloud sat on or below the ridge until 14:00 when it lifted enough for me to squeeze through – unfortunately, by then the veteran concerned had given up and gone home. On the last occasion at Bruntingthorpe, the weather was again very poor with a very low cloudbase and all I could managed was a low-level local, never getting above 1000’ and considerably lower cloudbase towards the north east.

This year the weather had been great leading up to Saturday so I was hopeful. It was again being held at Bruntingthorpe, a mere 35-40 minutes flying time to the north east. Saturday dawned and I threw the curtains back and ……….FOG! You have got to be kidding! Where I lived the visibility was about 200m first thing in the morning and it was plenty thick. I set off to the airfield more in hope than expectation.

At the airfield it wasn’t quite as bad, but was still less than 800m visibility and no cloudbase as such. I prepped the plane and loaded with the required amount of fuel and parked the plane up. There was not a breath of wind and it was warm and humid. The fog was starting to lift and form into low cloud and the visibility was improving. Maybe 1km now with 600’ cloudbase. It was worth hanging around to see if it would become flyable.

I spotted my veteran talking to others in the main terminal building and introduced myself. He is an ex-pilot in the RAF who got ‘stuck’ in training command in WW2 flying Avro Ansons on navigation training exercises from Northern Ireland. We chatted as we waited for the weather to improve. There were a few other pilots and veterans in the same position at Gloucester as we reviewed our respective personal minimas and strategies for Bruntingthorpe, who themselves were reporting an unofficial 500’ ceiling and 2k visibility (they are at 500’ elevation).

My slot time would have meant a 10:30 departure, but I thought there would be plenty of slots available, so vowed to ‘see what it was like for an 11:00 departure’. As it happened, by 10:50, the weather at Gloucester was now broken, thin cloud with rather nice sunshine, probably 1300’ cloudbase and 7km visibility. We checked with Bruntingthorpe again who were giving 3km and 800’ cloudbase and that was it, it is worth a try!

I saddled up while giving John a careful safety brief, especially the harness and canopy opening. We buttoned up as late as I could and taxied out to 27 for power checks (it can get very hot under the Perspex bubble canopy on the ground in weather like this). Power checks complete, we lined up and took off. I climbed to 1300’ and set course to DTY. Nearing my home village en-route, Gloucester called and warned me of many aircraft holding around Wellesborne at 500’ trying to get to Bruntingthorpe. I considered my options and with some good sized gaps in the thin cloud, decided to power up and go ‘VMC on top’. I was above the cloud by 2000’, but carried on to 3000’ to get a good view downwards. Still perfectly legal as there were sensible sized ‘holes’ in the cloud, so I was always in sight of the surface.

I continued to DTY and noticed one of two spots of significant vertical development where the cumulus was already starting to ‘tower’, but fortunately, these were off my route. I got a ‘basic service’ from Coventry and on hearing that I was ‘on top’ another aircraft called me for an update on conditions ‘on-top’, which I was happy to give him.

I was hoping that I could sit up there in the sunshine and cruise all the way to Bruntingthorpe and let down through a gap there, but once I got to DTY, the view north looked like a solid undercast, so scrap Plan A!

Plan B was to drop through a hole I spotted just north of DTY and try a ‘scud-run’ in. I transferred to Bruntingthorpe Radio who were frantically busy (good sign as others had clearly made it) and giving runway 24 in use and giving me the QFE. I set to this as I was VERY interested in ground clearance and was below the cloud and about 800’ above the ground, scraping my head against the cloudbase. I turned on every light I had, especially landing and taxi lights so others could see me. I set course using Ded Reckoning for Bruntingthorpe (it wasn’t in my GPS). Eventually I spotted a large airfield and another aircraft appearing out of the murk. I avoided him and studied the airfield. Big enough, but where is that huge 3000m runway that we couldn’t use? I dawned on me that I had found Husbands Bosworth glider airfield about 2 miles to the east – ooops! I set course for Bruntingthorpe. I didn’t so much see the airfield first as start to spot aircraft appearing all over the place around me!

By this stage, the radio calls were interesting as the place was frantically busy. A particularly unusual (though undoubtedly necessary) radio call from the ground went something like ‘RIGHT – SHUT UP EVERYONE! Now, who is that on short final?’

By the time I spotted the airfield, we were coming in on left base for 24 (we would use the 800m x 23m taxiway that ran parallel to the huge runway which was being used all day for motor sport). I tucked in behind a plane and turned final. Both the grass runway and the hard taxiway were being used for runways, but as they were next to each other, we were not doing simultaneous landings. The guy in front opted for the hard runway, then I saw that they were backtracking aircraft up the runway to parking. I knew I was too close to the guy in front to give him time to do that, so called a ‘go-around’.

I tucked in behind someone else and came around again. Again, same thing, so I went around again. Third time lucky? On final, I was close to a Cessna. He opted for the grass as I let him get a bit further ahead so I could land on the hard. I managed it this time around. I cam in a bit fast given the last minute ‘dive’ once I had cleared the trees. No matter, I just held off and off and off. She touched, hopped a bit and touched nicely a second time and stayed down. I backtracked and followed the marshalls into parking.



Well, we had made it as had (it later transpired) some 65 out of an expected 105. A large number given the poor conditions.

Bruntingthorpe is an interesting place, full of ‘cold war’ machines, including a Victor tanker aircraft that can still do fast taxi runs (including becoming briefly airborne by accident in May 2009). John went off to find colleagues as I spotted some Flyer Forumites and said hello as we all compulsively watched and gave a critique of every landing (like pilots do!). One was a very impressive ‘triple bouncer’, from a PA28, another was a real ‘smackdown’ by a twin and yet another was a ‘I like to use ALL of the runway’ long-ish landing. I wandered around the old aircraft, including going inside the particularly ugly ‘Super Guppy’ that is based there. For me the star of the show was a dilapidated but still astonishing ex-Luftwaffe F104 Starfighter. The wings are tiny and the leading edges can only be described as ‘sharp’!





The Spitfire display due at 12:55 was cancelled due to the poor weather and by 14:00 a lot of people had started to depart. I started to rain and I sheltered under the wing of the Victor for a while. The weather had sort-of improved, probably a bit higher cloudbase (maybe 1200’) but the forward visibility was poor. I decided to check the plane. While over there, Adrian asked if I wanted to have a look at his spanking new Cirrus SR22 while he checked it over. I sat in and tried it on for size while the glass cockpit booted up – WOW, what a view! Artificial terrain, side-stick, soft leather – GA for the 21st century!



John spotted me and asked me what I wanted to do. I said if he was done, we could wander off. WE got back to the plane, checked her out and mounted up. I joined the queue for departures, which was nearly as bad as when I landed. I got away behind a PA28 heading in the same direction. I levelled out at 1300’ and headed towards DTY contacting Coventry. It was clear that I was catching up quickly on the PA8, so I put a further 100’ on and overtook in the prescribed manner, waggling my wings to let him know I was there.

Sure enough, pretty much overhead DTY, the weather changed abruptly into clear skies with scattered thin cumulus, better than when I left it three hours ago and still in the same place (but then there was no wind at all). I climbed to just over 3000’ and levelled out there.

I handed over to John to fly for a bit and warned him at the sensitivity of the controls. He handled it like a pro and when he did lose or gain height (it is VERY sensitive in pitch) he quickly got it back.



I was so busy chatting to John that I didn’t spot that we were headed towards one of the glider sites directly on track. First I knew about it is that there we a glider spiralling in a thermal and another off to one side. I took control and did my best to steer well clear. Once clear, I handed back to John while I got the ATIS for Gloucester.

I recalled from the NOTAMs that there was some sort of glider competition from Bidford. Well off my track, but the gliders themselves would be around here. Sure enough, I started to spot them. I called Gloucester Approach and they warned me about ‘many gliders on the Cotswold ridge to the North East’ – precisely where I would cross. I took control and dropped altitude, coming across the ridge in the Gretton / Gotherington valley at low level – if they were this low, they were in trouble and landing! Sure enough, I started to spot them well above me. Once clear, I climbed again to 2000’ QFE for the standard overhead join for 27 at Gloucester.

The circuit was uneventful followed by a good landing. Unfortunately I didn’t quite make the early turnoff from 27 and certainly didn’t want to over-work the brakes, so I had to roll to the end and endure a baking hot ‘long march of death’ around the taxiway back to parking. I was very happy to get the canopy open at Cotswolds with the sweat now stinging my eyes!

John clearly enjoyed the day and I was pleased to be able to get him there given the poor weather conditions. He insisted on paying for his share of the fuel, but I insisted more strongly that he was going to do no such thing! We settled on him inviting me and my wife over to dinner one evening.

A good trip to another ‘new airfield’ for me. The plane is flying well, although now it is or course coming up for a 50 hour check, so more downtime. I really must book it for a weekend shortly for a cross-channel foray.

Back in the air!

In mid-April, one of the group members had a groundloop or two in the plane. We were lucky and the damage was limited to one slightly bent undercarriage leg with damage to the spat and tyre. It could have been much worse, as judging by the pattern of damage to the spat, the tail must have lifted considerably and it was lucky that we didn’t get a prop strike with all the attendant consequences that would have entailed! After much to-ing and fro-ing (the main culprit for the delay being good old HMRC holding on to deliveries from the US), the plane was finally back in the air in early June, some two months later.

This of course combined with a one week business trip to India, such that the earliest I could sensibly fly the plane was the week commencing 22nd June. I booked the plane for Tuesday 23rd and the weather even seemed to be playing ball. I left early from work and had to put the aircon in the car up to nearly full blast as the sun was out to play and it was hot under the glass – alarm bells were already ringing as I imagined myself under the bubble canopy of the RV6 with the sun beating down!!! I don’t think it is a great idea to go flying after a hectic day at work as my head is buzzing about loads of things, but I make a huge effort to relax and blot these thoughts out. It’s at time like this I wish I was the ‘Karate Kid’ and could focus the way the old Japanese guy taught him!

I gave the plane a careful A-Check and apart from a non-functional strobe (which I noted in the tech log), it seemed OK, oh and of course not enough fuel, even for a few circuits. I hauled the plane out by myself (not easy manoeuvring a taildragger by the prop past other closely hangared aircraft) and spotted my instructor striding across from his previous lesson. It is group rules that we need to do a check-flight if we have not flown the group aircraft for more than 30 days and although I was entirely compliant with legal currency rules and confident of flying the RV6 personally, one must of course abide by group rules as well, so it was up with an instructor for me.

Phil is a very experienced and laconic instructor of few words, but when he does say something, you had better listen. He went to book out while I taxied over to add a bit of fuel – enough for circuits anyway. Phil joined me there and hopped in. I am not a small guy (6’ 2” and 210 lbs) but Phil is larger (girth-wise anyway), all of which made for an interesting fit in the RV as I would have to grab for his thigh every time I wanted to use the flaps!

Well, I dropped the canopy as late in the start-up checks as I could and started to taxi. Of course Phil spotted that one of the fuel caps looked a bit ‘proud’, so a quick conversation with the Tower and they were happy for us to attend to this at the hold as there was nothing behind us. The runway in use was 09, so it was the ‘long march of death’ to the furthest holding point as the sun beat down through the bubble canopy. Yes, I got hot and yes, the sweat started to trickle into my eyes! At the holding point, Phil hopped out as I luxuriated in the cool of an open canopy and mopped my fevered brow! Phil got back in and the fuel cap was indeed a bit lower. Power checks complete, we lined up and held on 09 until we spotted a helicopter loitering near the end of the runway. Once visual, we were cleared for take-off. I fed in full power, started getting nimble on the pedals and quickly checked the rpm (normal for full power) and airspeed (some indication, so pitot is clear). The take-off was uneventful as the tail came up and as usual, I had to work to hold her down as she hopped and skipped desperate to get airborne. A little chirp on the stall warner and I eased forward a little, then she climbed away nicely.

I spotted that we were sharing the circuit with a PA28 from one of the schools, although he was well into base as we approached downwind, so no problem you would have thought. I held 1000’ QFE nicely (the RV is VERY sensitive in pitch and any poor trim or inattention will have you 200’ out of your target altitude in a few seconds). By the time I was base, I was visual with the PA28 who now seemed to be on about 1.5 mile final – what has he been doing? I really do hold the speed of the RV down in the circuit. Anyway, concentrate on my bit. Power back, speed bleeds slowly back to the flap limiting speed, take both stages one notch at a time and get established on 80kts on base. Altitude coming down, turn final. PA28 now just landed, so I continue and concentrate on bringing the speed back to 70kts and getting the picture right. The tower clears me to land before I can call final (not much point until the PA28 takes off again). I acknowledge and am cleared for a T&G and concentrate on my approach, let’s make the first one a good one. I come in over the threshold with good speed and height and chop the power, round out and flare. I flare possibly a little high, so ease forward a bit. Stall warner sounding as I ratchet it back, and back and we touch and stay touched. Not a greaser, but not hard either, so a good ‘starter for ten’.

Power up and around we go again. I spot the PA28 now on downwind as I am well into the crosswind, so I delay the downwind turn to follow him on a wider circuit that I would normally do and wider than indicated by the airfield. Phil gives me the sound advice to drop a stage of flaps. I chop the power and wait for the speed to bleed back to the flap limiting speed (which takes some time) and drop a stage, then hold the speed at 80 kts to try to give the PA28 some space. He seems to go on and on and on before turning base. He has got to be on the edge of the ATZ by now. I sort myself out on base. By now he is on a 2 mile final and I am going as slow as I care to. I turn onto final behind him and try to concentrate on flying my own plane. Approach and speed looks good. Both Phil and I watch this guy now on very short final as he carries out a series of alarming turns or PIO’s that look very close to the ground. I don’t think this is a glide approach as his approach angle was way too low to be doing it without power. He executes what looks to me like a very alarming landing and even the laconic Phil comments ‘That’s unusual’.



Anyway, my turn as I am cleared for T&G just as I almost on top of the threshold while the PA28 has just got wheels up at the other end. Chops power, hold off and off, touch and stay touched. Again, not pillow soft, but not hard either. Power up and away. I look up to see the PA28 still climbing out. Phil speaks to the Tower on the radio and gets permission to ‘overtake’. Phil takes over (spoilsport!) and pulls the plane well inside of the PA28 (not difficult!) and hands back when we are at 1000’ and very close in to the runway on late downwind. No bother, this will be fun. Again, I sort the flaps out and come in for a high final. I start to try for a sideslip, but Phil says not to worry, it will come off. So power off as I do a glide approach. It does indeed come off as I round-out and flare. This time I don’t hold off as long as I should before we touch and I am instantly punished by a minor bounce. OK, no worries, keep her straight down the runway and hold her off again, this time we touch nicely and stay touched ‘two for the price of one’ observes Phil, ‘just trying to get my monies worth’ I reply. Off we go again and Phil is happy and says I can do this one to land if I want. Well, I’m hot so why not.

Because we have overtaken, I have room in the circuit and fly a normal (i.e. tighter than 2 nm) circuit. I come in to land and I am on a sensible final when Phil points out that we have caught back up to our friendly PA28 again as he is only just taking off from a T&G! I land long as the exit is at the end of the runway, but not long enough as we still have a considerable taxi. It was probably the best landing of the day, a nice one to finish on.

OK, now ready for some flying. I am pleased with my performance given the ‘stress factors’ of being wound up from work, slowly baking under the bubble canopy and having to be careful not to mow down someone in front of me in the circuit. Although I hadn’t flown for two and a half months, I really did feel back at home immediately, a bit rusty of course, but not as much as I expected. I will of course give myself some refreshers now on steep turns (yeehaa!), stalls (whooooaaaa!) and PFL’s (booh-ring!).

Now for Project Propellor this weekend and I must then book the plane for a cross-channel day or weekend shortly.

G-GDRV still out of commission

Back from holiday now only to find that G-GDRV is still out of commission. The leg has been shipped and repaired in the USA. Apparently they have shipped it back but it is now stuck in customs. The shipper will only speak to the US firm that repared the leg to tell them where it is and we can't seem to get in touch with the US firm.

Bottom line is that it seems unlikely that G-GDRV aill be back in the air until early-June.

Meantime, here she is still on jacks in the hangar. Withdrawal symptoms or what!!!

Bad things come in threes?

Let’s hope that bad things really don’t come in threes!

Recently, I taxied into a sign at an airfield and dented the underside of the port wing. This meant repairs costing some £200 and the plane being out of action for about three weeks.

The plane was up and about again around the middle of March, which allowed the group to get flying again (including my own ‘trip’ to East Anglia and a very pleasant evening bimble locally).

I did not have the plane booked at all over the easter break as I thought it only fair to give the other group members a look in over the weekend and bank holiday break. The weather was generally excellent – warm, sunny with scattered cloud and very light, if any wind.

One of our other group members who is relatively new to the group is doing tailwheel training and was hoping to be signed off for difference training by his instructor very soon. So I was surprised when I received a group-wide email saying that the plane had ground-looped with the instructor on board while doing circuits at Enstone. Apparently, it was a low speed groundloop at the end of the roll-out from a landing.

This resulted in bad damage to one of the spats, disconnected and damaged tailwheel and the left main leg being bent back slightly.

I do feel sorry for the member concerned as must have been quite a shock. I am sure we will understand the circumstances later.

Subsequent inspection has indicated that the left leg is indeed bent – some 2 inches backward – and probably needs to be replaced. A new spat is required, so we may use this as an excuse to replace both spats with a newer type with more ground clearance more suited to grass strip operations. The tailwheel and linkage is also damaged.

In any event, it looks like we will be ordering and fitting a few new parts from that nice Mr Vans in the USA. So it looks like the plane will be out of action for a good few weeks. Let’s hope that’s the last of the bad news for 2009!

Evening bimble

Now that the clocks have gone forward one hour, it is a lot lighter in the evenings, so it makes those pleasant, quiet evening flights after work during the week a possibility.

With this in mind I booked a Wednesday evening for a relaxing ‘local’. I hoped to get away early, but of course no such luck. It wasn’t too bad though, I was at the airfield just before 17:00. I wandered out to the plane just in time to see another group member finishing up moving the plane back in the hangar – to be fair, he had waited with the plane out on the ramp until well past my booking start time of 16:15 and had assumed that I was a ‘no show’.

As luck would have it, it was our group member who is also an aircraft engineer and had recently installed our new Mode S transponder (this is now mandatory for all VFR flights in many European countries). He ran through how it all worked, which saved me a fair bit of reading up.

[RANT MODE ON] Just how pointless are Mode S transponders for VFR flights? Suffice to say that now there is a large area of the Netherlands that has imposed a ban on the use of Mode S transponders for VFR flights as far from ‘improving safety’ (as we were of course told by the bureaucrats) it produces so much ‘clutter’ that the controllers now cannot see ‘the wood for the trees’. Apparently, many pilots and controllers told the authorities that this is precisely what would happen, but were told that they were wrong etc.! So now some £2000 poorer, our group have been forced to buy a bit of kit that frankly will do nothing for us, in fact it will probably end up being a step backwards! Only governments and civil servants can do this! [RANT MODE OFF]

The plane had sufficient fuel and had already had a thorough check for the day, so I gave it a quick once over (walk around for obvious damage, physically check the fuel and oil levels), booked out and hopped in.

There had been a fair bit of wind during the day, and it was still a breeze at about 220/13kts at ground level. Nothing for a nosewheel aircraft, but worth knowing about for a tailwheel, particularly as regards likely runways and crosswinds. Fortunately, Gloucester have a runway 22, so no real crosswind, maybe even a nice headwind to flatter my landings with an agreeably short ground roll! Also, as the evening draws in, the winds tend to settle a bit anyway.

So I was soon rolling and airborne from 22. I was by myself tonight with a relatively light fuel load. So I was rewarded with amazing aircraft performance and 2000 fpm climb rates – wooo hoooo!



I bumbled out to the north west and paid my respects to the Malverns. I was up around 5000’ with very scattered and thin cumulus at about the same level. The visibility was great and the land below looked like a crisp and sharp aerial photo. It wasn’t too bumpy, just a few around the Malverns, so I tightened my shoulder straps so I wouldn’t smack my head against the canopy (not a good idea when you are flying solo).

It was quiet and peaceful, with only a handful of planes on the Gloucester Approach frequency. As usual, I bumbled over to Winchcombe, but this time descended to 2000’, the flew along in front of Cleeve Hill and the ridge of the Cotswolds just for the sheer joy of it.



A mandatory orbit or two of my home village, then back to Bredon Hill to get the ATIS and call for a rejoin.

Just heading back to Gloucester, I spotted a high wing jet some 2000 feet above me (where I had just been before I descended). It was either and HS125 or a C17 going into Fairford or Brize.

Given 22 right hand with a standard overhead join. I reported as usual at 2 miles and was told to switch to the tower frequency. I called the tower and unexpectedly got a ‘pass your message’ – I responded hesitantly that I was now closer than 2 miles and joining overhead for 22. He asked if I had been passed across from the Approach frequency as the penny dropped at his end. I confirmed and got the usual report downwind. Bit of a comms failure in the tower there methinks – to be fair, I have never personally heard this happen before at Gloucester, so I guess they were distracted.

As I flew crosswind, I spotted a Cessna outside and ahead of me at the same height. I wasn’t sure if he was going to depart the circuit or turn downwind. I was just about to turn downwind, when I saw him turning in a downwind direction, albeit further out. So I assumed he WAS in the circuit. Knowing that it was probably one of the local flying school Cessnas, rather than ‘have a race’ on the downwind leg and maybe unsettle the other pilot, I asked for an orbit for spacing (now aren’t I nice?). I did this and got suitably behind him and continued the circuit.

The wind had calmed a bit, but was about 230/09kts as I lined up on final for 22. I reminded myself that I was a lot lighter than normal, so drop the approach speed a bit and get ready for more float than normal.

I managed most of this and landed with a small ’spitfire hop’ (that’s my excuse anyway).

Then the final hurdle. I pulled up at the hangar with the hangar next door locked (so I couldn’t borrow their towbar) and our hangar with the jets parked up and no one else around. So I had to man-handle the tailwheel RV6 into a tight hangar space, single handed without a tow bar. In the event, I managed it pretty well – whether by luck or judgement I am not sure!

A great flight on a very pleasant evening. Well, another 0.9 hours logged and now up to nearly 450 hours total time. A nice bit of ‘quality time’ all by myself. I’ll do more of these, offering places to people at work that expressed an interest in going up with me.

James Stewart memorial flight

For some time now, I have been hoping to take in a couple of airfields I haven’t been to before in Norfolk. Part of this is also around my interest in military history, in this case both were bomber bases for the US Army Air Corps in WW2, AND both were the bases that a certain Hollywood ‘great’, James Stewart, flew from during the war.

The weather during the week had been appalling, strong winds and rain showers, but oddly it was always forecast to be calm and clear on Sunday. I awoke with my usual healthy degree of scepticism with UK weather forecasts, but in this case they got it right. OK, not quite clear skies, but scattered fluffy cumulus and best of all from a taildragging point of view, virtually nil wind!

I met up at the airfield with a fellow pilot (and on this occasion, self-loading ballast), Gavin, who has just returned to flying after three months off with a snapped Achilles tendon (nasty).

I had the route planned for weeks and had already checked the NOTAMs during the week, so we were good to go. The plan was to fly from Gloucester via DTY VOR then track towards Norwich airport, neatly slotting between Lakenheath and Marham MATZ’s to land first at Old Buckenham, then onto Tibenham a few miles away then back. All at FL40 if possible. I had planned the route some time ago and had all the changes of frequency marked, circuit directions, the lot. I called as requested for PPR and was told that there was intensive parachute activity at Old Buck and to call some ten miles from their ATZ.

The weight and balance with two of us bigger guys in did not make for happy reading, with room for a meagre, but entirely sufficient 70 litres, so we stuck 30 litres in at the pumps and took off on 27 at about 11:00.

My plan called for FL40, but it was either 3500’ odd or FL60 above the thick but broken cumulus. I opted for FL60 and called for a ‘basic service’ from Coventry. I was soon forced up to FL65. From earlier trips, I recalled a vague notion that there was controlled airspace around DTY at maybe FL55. A check on the map and it looked like we would easily miss it.



I still had a nagging doubt when Coventry called me and said if I continued on track at the current FL for another 5 miles, I would be in controlled airspace. Without hesitation, I confirmed a circling descent back to below the clouds at 3500’. Once established there, a close look at the map showed that I was right AND wrong (i.e. therefore wrong!). The bit I had spotted dropping into BHX would have been fine, but there was a small area of controlled airspace at FL55 right by the VOR. Lesson learned – plan the flight and fly the plan – always go through your long planned route on the day of the flight to refresh yourself on min / max altitudes etc. Some people now question ATSOCAS and debate the value of a ‘basic service’ – well, it certainly helped me on this occasion!

Abeam Northampton, I bade farewell to the helpful but relatively quiet Coventry and switched to a listening watch onto Lakenheath MATZ. Gavin and I were astonished at the apparently huge new ‘hard’ runway at Sywell / Northampton. I knew they had a planning application in, but I didn’t know they had built it now – wow!

We bumbled along at 3300’ odd keeping a sharp lookout for traffic. We saw some, usually below us and certainly no conflict. We were going to thread the gap between Lakenheath and Marham MATZ on a direct track to Norwich until some 15 miles to run, then turn SE to Old Buck.



As it turned out, I decided to orbit Shipdam at 3000’ whiole I called Old Buck for airfield information and the latest on para-dropping. They were OK for me to approach and suggested a downwind right join for 25. We started towards Old Buck, mindful that an overhead join was not allowed (one of the few occasions where I WOULD like an overhead join is at a new airfield!).

We both squinted and instinctively leaned forward to reduce the visual distance by about one foot (like you do!) to try to spot the airfield. It was probably lurking in the shadow of a cloud on an otherwise sunny day. I spotted where it must be and saw large buildings, but no runway. Then we spotted the Jodel that called a few minutes before us as I decided to slot in behind and follow him on the assumption that he knew where he was going! He certainly did as we spotted long sheds aligned with the correct runway heading, which on closer examination were obviously built on part of what must have been the HUGE original runway.



I was a bit too close to the Jodel so called that I was setting up for an orbit on final. That complete we resumed approach. The displaced threshold for 25 is VERY rough and we avoided that for a decent landing. The guy on the radio gave us very helpful taxi instructions to park on the very smooth and neatly mown grass.

We parked up and paid the landing fee, a very reasonable £10 IIRC. The café is basic but clean and with very prompt and friendly service. We took the bacon roll and tea outside to the picnic tables arranged on the grass overlooking the runway (very much like Compton Abbas, and Old Buck definitely reminded me of Compton somehow). It was such a perfect day and such a friendly and generally pleasant airfield, we both remarked that this was flying as it should be – friendly, unfussy and relaxed.

There was a lot of WW2 memorabilia and photos around, including of course James Stewart, who we the Executive Officer here for the Liberator group based here.



Their fuel bowser developed a few problems so I couldn’t refuel as planned. I did want to refuel here as the Flyer Forum fuel survey indicates that it has very reasonably priced fuel. Instead we mounted up somewhat reluctantly, having obtained PPR from Tibenham for the short hop some 5 nm away to Tibenham.

We departed on 25 and did a climbing right turn out of the ATZ to climb to some 2000’ to spot Tibenham. This we did easily as it has three huge black tarmac runways in the classic triangle arrangement. I called on the radio and got some information, basically to say they were using runway 33 for gliding. I approached and got myself oriented with the runways. There were cars and (as it turned out) a glider control cabin on runway 08/26, so clearly that was out, so I slotted in for runway 33 right hand downwind. I spotted a glider on final and was warned about this by the Radio. I continued until final and saw that the glider had come to a halt on the runway by the intersection with 08/26 and wasn’t moving. Then it dawned on me that of course gliders didn’t normally taxi off themselves, but needed man-handling – DOH! So I did a go around. At the same time, I heard another aircraft declare final and land on 03. Tibenham Radio suggested I did a right turn onto downwind for 03 and landed there instead. The windsock was barely moving so that is what I went for.

Man, the runways are HUGE! A decent landing had me down on 03 and the very helpful Radio operator gave me suggested taxi routing to hold by the gliding control cabin while they recovered the glider on 33. Once clear, I carried on and parked up outside the brick building near the clubhouse that turned out to be the AVGAS store.

We shut down and clambered out. There was some sort of MG rally going on as we inspected the poignant war memorial to the 445th US AAC Bombardment Group who flew Liberators from here in WW2 (again, along with the famous actor, James Stewart).



They were again very friendly and helpful in and outside the clubhouse. The glider towing pilot helped us to put 40 litres in the tanks (at a pretty expensive rate I have to say) and I settled up in the clubhouse.

This was only a flying visit as I said to another group member that I would try to get back by 16:00.

We mounted up and cleared the area, heading north to Shipdam then set a direct track to DTY at about 3400’.

We had a listening watch on Lakenheath as we sat happy as sandpipers at 3300’ below some very scattered and thin fair-weather cumulus. The trip back was uneventful, apart from an encounter with a glider not far from a gliding field (yes, that did alert me to keep a particular look out). I suspect we both saw each other as I skirted around him and he continued doing tight orbits, obviously trying for lift in a thermal.

Gloucester were still on a single combined frequency, so busy, but not frantically so. We got a standard overhead join for 27. Going crosswind, we spotted a PA28 in the circuit outside us to our left, so kept a close eye on him. We turned downwind in the usual place and he just kept going. I thought maybe he was departing the circuit. I called downwind only to then see him also turning ‘downwind’ waaaayyyyy outside us – I mean as bomber circuits go, this was mega! He HAD to have been outside the ATZ on the ‘downwind’ leg!

I turned base and called final. There was minimal wind. I made the mistake of coming in a little too fast this time. Well the RV will punish you for this with a very long floooooooaaaaaat! And so it did! I sat there feeling (and probably looking) like a numpty until the RV had humiliated me sufficiently with the tower and assembled onlookers and decided to sound the stall warner and deign to land. Bit of a bounce, nothing dramatic, then down. In the event, I didn’t go far past the intersection with runway 18 and was given a backtrack to vacate.

A great days flying in wonderful weather. I managed to take in two airfields I had not been to before and give myself a decent refresher on navigation and touring. Ready now for a spot of France with maybe some more UK-based ‘airfield collecting’.

Sudden Dread Syndrome

OK, I made the condition up, but it neatly summarises what I felt on my last flight and feel very occasionally when flying. I just wonder if it happens to others?

Last time it happened was on a commercial flight from Venice back to the UK. We had climbed to, oh I guess 25,000' on a very clear day and I looked down out of the window and had a sudden wave of what I can only describe as 'fear and dread' sweep over me. No panic, sweating or uncontrollable twitching like in the films, just a certainty that the plane was going to blow up or otherwise fall apart, eject me into the air and leave me falling to my death without a parachute - weird or what? It didn't last long, but it did unsettle me and I had to look away.

Now I confess that I am fundamentally scared of heights (or altitude if I have the QNH set), which is mainly why I took up flying - yeah I know, dumb or what. But I have since discovered that many pilots are scared of heights.

Well I didn't think anymore of it until it swept over me again at 8000' in the RV6 over the Malverns. Not as bad as before, but a fleeting irrational fear about being at 8000'. I got over it and descended below the clouds to 3500' odd and felt much better - which is really stupid because a fall from 3500' will kill you just as sure as a fall from 8000' - not that I was going to fall anyway!

I just wonder whether others also feel this on occasion? Hmmmm.... maybe I should get 'professional help' after all!