Author: apilotscompanion

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Flights General Aviation

Lunch time

Note to self:  If we book Charlie out for first thing in the morning allow an extra half hour, and if fuel is needed at the destination airport allow yet more time.

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The drive to the airport on a quiet Sunday morning couldn’t have gone any smoother.  We were there with 1.5 hours to spare as planned – enough time for last minute paperwork, a quick chat with anyone else who happened to be around (in this case, one person), aircraft checks, refuelling and any delays at the holding point.  What we hadn’t banked on was that, at that time of the morning, the hangar hadn’t yet been opened and Charlie was right at the back with four aircraft to be towed out onto the apron before we could get a clear thoroughfare.  It took a surprisingly long time to manoeuvre everything out of the way, especially the plane which insisted on braking every time we tried to turn it more than 10 degrees to right or left.

Wheels up eventually at 10.30, and we were on our way – after an apology to the friends we were due to meet at Shoreham Airport that we’d be half an hour late.  Refuelling when we got there and then trying to get from airside to landside with the Covid one-way system and a ‘hidden’ exit gate added another half an hour, but luckily we were quickly forgiven for our lateness and lunch at The Hummingbird beckoned.

It had been a lovely flight across, especially as we’d had permission to go through controlled air space which allowed us to cross the channel to the Isle of Wight, before turning back towards the South Coast passing Hayling Island, Bognor Regis and Littlehampton before joining the circuit just south of Lancing College.  As a prominent landmark for the airport, we had seen the college chapel from afar, towering over the surrounding South Downs and well-deserving of its title as the largest school chapel in the world. Shoreham Airport itself is also a record-breaker being the oldest airport in the UK and the oldest purpose-built commercial airport in the world still in operation.  Anyone who knows their airports will immediately recognise the distinctive Art Deco terminal building, built in 1936 and designated a Grade II listed building around 50 years later.

The Art Deco terminal building at Shoreham Airport

For such a popular airport, Shoreham – or to give it its official name, Brighton City Airport – was surprisingly low on number of aircraft parked up and there were quite a few empty tables at the airport’s Hummingbird Restaurant too.  With the sun shining and hardly a cloud in the sky, we had expected it to be rammed but we easily managed to nab premium seats overlooking the apron and runway.  The skies hadn’t been too busy either considering it was perfect flying weather and a weekend day.  Then it dawned on us – Euro 2020 and England were playing!

For the first time since flying Charlie, we actually had enough time for a leisurely lunch and a good catch-up before heading back.  We took a more direct route home and were back at the airport well before closing, finishing the day in a reverse of the start, putting Charlie back in the hangar followed by the other four we’d towed out earlier.  I don’t think any of them had moved all day. 

Flying over the Beaulieu River and alongside the Solent, looking over to the Isle of Wight

  

Categories
General Aviation weather

The calm before the storm

Whoever booked Charlie out today has been blessed.  The weather has been absolutely perfect for flying.  What a change from the rest of the week which has been grey, miserable, wet and generally rubbish (putting it politely)!  As for last Sunday, according to all weather forecasts, the devil of all storms was to come on that day, and when had we booked Charlie out?  Sunday of course! 

Restricted bookings had been lifted so we’d booked Charlie for the whole day with the intention of going to Welshpool, but that was before we saw the weather forecast. By the Saturday afternoon, we knew we’d have to change plans.  It didn’t bode well – low cloud, low visibility, heavy rain and gusts averaging 40mph were all on the cards.

Early on the Sunday morning we were up, scanning the day’s weather forecast, the local Meteorological Aerodrome Report (METAR) and the Terminal Aerodrome Forecast (TAF) just in case anything had changed.  Having done that, the choice was between driving to the airport and making a decision when we got there, or cancelling altogether and mooching around the house wondering if we should have gone after all.  After a quick breakfast, we were in the car and on the motorway. 

The weather forecast, once we got to the airport, hadn’t changed much but we realised that as long as we were back on the ground by midday, we’d avoid what was to come.  By 10.30am the wheels were up and we were heading east, in the opposite direction of the weather front.

Cotswold Airport (formerly RAF Kemble)

Our decision to go up was well justified.  We could see for miles, cloud base was high, there was very little wind and the skies were unusually quiet of traffic – the forecast had obviously put a lot of people off.

An hour later we were back on the ground.  We pushed Charlie back into the hangar, finished the paperwork and got in the car to head back home.  Ten minutes later the heavens opened.  The predicted weather had arrived…..

Categories
General Aviation Planning

The best-laid plans…

Having found that time goes by very quickly in the ‘crew room’ prior to a flight, we were determined to get to the airport a lot earlier in future so we’d be ready to go as soon as our time-slot started and have more time at our destination.

Our next flight was another short one as bookings were still restricted, and this time we’d arranged to go to Popham airfield to meet Will’s parents for a late lunch. The booking was from 1pm so we left home at 10.30am giving us plenty of time for the 45-minute journey to the airport, all the last-minute bits of flight planning and prep, pre-flight inspection and fuelling, whilst still allowing time for distractions and even a cup of tea if things went smoothly. Our plan was for wheels up at around 1.15pm.

Well, you know what they say about the best-laid plans! About fifteen minutes after leaving home, we started to see signs about road closures. Traffic was okay at that point and we knew we could divert. Unfortunately so did every other driver on the planet! Two-and-a-half hours later, we got to the airport, hot, bothered and frustrated that despite all our best efforts, we were no better off. We had wondered en-route whether to cancel the booking altogether but by the time we got through to Will’s parents to explain, they were already at Popham having decided to go nice and early to watch all the comings-and-goings and general bustle of a busy airfield. Fortunately we were able to shift the booking by an hour.

By 2pm, we’d done everything we needed to do and were on our way to get fuel, only to find that just one of the four pumps was working so we had no choice but to join the queue. In the meantime, the wind had changed direction meaning we had to taxi to the furthest runway adding a further 15-20 minutes on top of the delays at the pumps before we were even at the hold.

I can’t remember what time it was when we eventually took off, but suffice to say that by the time we got to Popham we didn’t have time for a drink let alone anything to eat (though apparently the food is very nice there). Ten minutes after saying hello to Will’s parents, we were waving goodbye – we couldn’t even give them a hug due to Covid restrictions.

Looking out over Cotswold Water Park from around 3,000ft

It was pretty gusty coming in to Popham so Charlie was a little all over the place as we started to descend but it was a beautiful landing despite Will’s earlier misgivings about grass runways. The wind was more settled going back and the landing at our base airport was a lot more straight-forward than the last time.

In less time than it had taken for us to drive to the airport that morning, we had left Popham, put Charlie back in the hangar, done the final bits of paperwork and were back at home with a pizza in the oven and a glass of wine in hand.

Categories
Flights General Aviation

The Squiggle

It was no surprise that as soon as Will had his licence signed off, he was on the syndicate’s booking app looking for Charlie’s next available slot.

Just before lockdown lifted it had been agreed to limit the number of hours each syndicate member could book Charlie out for, so this made it relatively easy to find an afternoon that same week.  As it was Will’s first time in years as pilot with a passenger on board (POB in radio-speak), he decided to go somewhere familiar and not too far away so Shobdon it was!  The plan was to arrive at the airport by 1pm, ready to take off around an hour later and then get back by 5pm.  What we hadn’t planned on was the quick hellos, introductions and other distractions from the friendly people in the flying club, the extra time needed for all the checks and the wait at the fuel pumps.

Our intended hour at Shobdon, where we had been looking forward to a cup of tea and cake, turned into a quick turnaround with just enough time for Will to pay his landing fees.  We did get some lovely views over the Black Mountains though and the weather was lovely and calm, albeit with a few dark clouds over the mountains which we had to avoid. 

The Black Mountains
View of the Black Mountains from an altitude of around 5,000ft

Having just come out of lockdown and with perfect flying weather, it was inevitable that our home airport would be busy, but just how much became increasingly obvious as we got nearer to it.  At about 12 miles out, Will decided to do a couple of circuits around a local landmark – not to have a better look, but to wait for a bit of radio silence so that he could report in.  At the 3-mile point when he’d been asked to update, it was almost impossible to get a word in edgeways. It turned out that Covid restrictions had meant that only one person could be in the air-traffic tower at that time and the person whose turn it was, was having to manage both tower and approach. 

With multiple aircraft already in the circuit, non-standard instructions and a sudden change in runway just as we were about to line up, I’m sure any pilot would have been challenged.  Talk about a steep learning curve, Will must have been sweating once we’d landed!  I have to admire the guy in air-traffic too as it must have seemed relentless with everyone trying to get in before the airport closed. 

Track of our flight in to land

I actually didn’t have a clue of the route we’d had to do coming in so looked at the plot on Flight Radar afterwards.  The orange is the Airport Traffic Zone and the blue, which looks like someone’s picked up a crayon and made some random squiggles, is our track coming in from the north-west and landing from the west.

Categories
Uncategorized

Where’s my headset?

Now I’m not one to grumble (though Will might disagree!) and I don’t like to complain, but below is a photo from yesterday’s delivery:

A lovely little diary with loads of useful information, and a space where my new headset should be.

When you place an order on a Saturday lunchtime and pay extra for 24-hour express delivery, the expectation is that you’d get it on time. Even if the website did promise ‘Order by 15.00 for same day dispatch!’, we realised that that probably didn’t apply at weekends so paid for speedy delivery to get it by Tuesday lunchtime. Sure enough, the tracking note told us that our purchase had left the warehouse at around 0945 on Monday.

Timing wasn’t an issue. By 9am on the Tuesday (yesterday), the order had been delivered ….. or part of it had, and that was the problem. The postie had handed us a suspiciously small parcel and on opening it, we saw straight away that the headset was missing. Only three of the four items we’d ordered had arrived. The delivery note gave no clue as to why because none of the items listed had been ticked and there were no messages.

So when Will rang to find out where the missing item was, to be told by someone who either didn’t care or was well used to such calls, that ‘we forgot to pack it’, he was almost speechless. The order was for just under £1000 of which the headset made up a significant amount. Where was quality control? Surely they would have looked down the list and thought “Hmm, that box doesn’t look like it’s big enough for a headset”, or “Ooh, four things on the list, three things in the box. Let’s see what’s missing”. It’s not as if it could have been hidden away, nestled discretely underneath everything else.

Will rarely does wrath down the phone, so luckily for the person on the other end, they couldn’t sense the steam coming out of his ears!

Having been promised that it would be sent straight away, all we could do was wait for it to turn up.

And here it is! Delivered this morning.

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On a much cheerier note, after an hour or so up with an instructor and a short solo flight, Will is now signed off and has his currency renewed. Onwards and Upwards!!

Categories
Radio Terminology

Radio Times

Question: What do a parrot and a walk through a bog
have in common?

Answer: They both make noises which are common radio terms in aviation.

In plane English (see what I did there!):

Squawk is a four-digit code given to the pilot by air traffic control (ATC). This establishes the aircraft on the air traffic controller’s radar screen and turns the random blip to an identified aircraft.

Once the pilot has been given the squawk code, he enters it into the plane’s transponder (a short of radio transmitter) which then emits the code to the world. Transponders have different ‘modes’ and can provide other useful information such as location and altitude.

Squelch is a function designed to minimise unnecessary radio noise. If you’ve ever heard the hiss and crackle of a transistor radio which isn’t quite tuned into the station you’re trying to listen to, this is what you’d get without squelch.

Ideally, squelch should be turned up just enough so that the background noise disappears and the station comes through nice and clear; too much squelch and you risk tuning-out the station you’re trying to listen to, too little squelch and you’ll have that constant hissing and crackling in the background. If the signal is weak, squelch will need to be minimised in an effort to get as much of the signal as possible.

“Hey guys, while we’re still on the ground can we listen to Heart FM instead please?”
Categories
Planning

Where next?

We’ve been enviously watching the comings and goings of Charlie on Flight Radar over the past few weeks, but we’ve been in Tier 3 and that’s not likely to change so we’re not going anywhere. That’s the consequence of living in a different area to the airport.

However, there’s nothing like planning for the future and when the 59th edition of the Pooley’s UK Flight Guide arrived fresh off the press, we were like kids pouring over the toy section of the Argos catalogue, mentally ticking off where we’d like to go first.

Pooley's Guide binder and book

With nearly 1000 aerodromes available ranging from huge international airports to tiny air strips, it seems there’s nowhere in the UK out of bounds.

Yes, we can meet up with friends, no matter where in the UK they live
Yes, we can take mum to her cousins’ without spending hours in the car
Yes, we can see all those wonderful sights on our “would love to visit” list

But hold on a minute!

A casual read of some of the pages in the guide started to set off alarm bells and so I took a closer look. As I turned over the pages, certain comments leapt out as if they were written in red ink and highlighted in neon yellow: “Danger areas nearby”, “Powerlines on approach”, “To avoid overflying … [with suggested instructions]”, “Steeply rising ground”, “Undulating runway”, “Railway line on short final”, “Possibility of [insert relevant word here] crossing the runway”, and so on. On top of that, Will has said he’d rather not land on grass and I’m sure he’s not too keen on competing with a load of commercial traffic either.

Bearing all of this in mind and with information provided by the guide, I decided to compile a list of criteria for our next few flights. Here it is:

  1. The page describing the airfield must not include any sections with the heading “Cautions” or “Warnings“
  2. The section for each airfield headed “Remarks” must not contain the word “risk”, or any sentences starting with “A public road crosses …” or “Look out for …”
  3. The airfield map must not feature any buildings labelled “passenger terminal” or “cargo”
  4. The runway must be level, smooth and made of asphalt
  5. There must be no possibility of meeting up with flocks of Greylag Geese or any other type of bird. The same goes for gliders, parachutists and hot-air balloons
  6. Animals of any kind, pedestrians, cyclists or general road traffic must not be allowed anywhere near the runway
  7. Because I always like to break with coffee and at least a snack, if not a full-blown lunch, there must be a cafe or restaurant on-site or within walking distance (unless we’re going on to somewhere else)
  8. Fuel must be available as Charlie is only small and can’t carry a huge amount. Otherwise there must be somewhere to fill up en-route which meets the above criteria

So where does that leave us?

Taking all of the above points into consideration, I think we have a choice of about zero airfields to choose from, or perhaps two really obscure ones if I look hard enough. <sigh> Guess I’m going to have to revisit the list and think again!

Categories
Radio

Under Pressure

It all started when I looked out of the study window and commented on the clouds scudding across the sky (what a great word – scudding!) I saw that look on Will’s face which told me that: a) we were about to embark on a weather-related discussion; and b) he was tearing his hair out staring at the computer screen and this was a welcome excuse to focus on something a lot more enjoyable than work.

From the weather outside, the obvious conversation would have been about clouds, precipitation or gusting wind but it wasn’t. It was about air pressure and how it’s used as a measure to indicate the altitude of the aircraft. When taking off and passing through different zones, the air pressure is given over the radio so that the altimeter can be corrected to the local setting. Set it wrong, and you could end up higher or lower than you, and air traffic control, think you are (gulp!)

There are two settings used for light aircraft, abbreviated to QNH (altitude above sea level) and QFE (height above ground level). Later that day – as I often come back hours later to mull these things over – I realised that I’d have to find some way of remembering which was which. I subsequently found that my guess of “Nautical Height” was correct. The other is “Field Elevation” (not “From Earth”!) I couldn’t think of anything relevant for Q, but then discovered that it’s a throwback to radiotelegraphy when three letter codes were developed, all starting with Q, to save time and avoid confusion. It’s certainly quicker to say QFE than something like “This is what you need to set on the subscale of your altimeter so that the instrument would indicate its height above the reference elevation being used”  (the reference elevation being used generally meaning the airfield), or QNH rather than “This is what you should set on the subscale of your altimeter so that the instrument would indicate its elevation if your aircraft were on the ground at this station”

Will started to explain that commercial airlines and other aircraft that fly at those sort of levels, use a different setting but when he saw the faint look of bewilderment on my face, he realised that that would have to wait for another day.

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My illustration to remind me what isobars tell us and the effects of air pressure
A bit of fun while trying to remember the effects of air pressure and what isobars tell us
Categories
Uncategorized

A Fond Farewell

A few days ago, I caught Will sobbing in the corner. Okay I exaggerate, but he did look somewhat downcast. The cause of the gloom which surrounded him was my fault. I’d forwarded him an email from Heathrow Airport and it included a tribute to the Queen of the Skies featuring the last of the British Airways’ 747s to make their way to Kemble. “I haven’t even been on one” he (almost) wailed.

I gently reminded him of the previous two aircraft types we’d waved goodbye to; that we had fond memories of them even though he hadn’t been on those either.

It didn’t help. Turns out that Concorde and the Avro Vulcan had never made it onto the Viable Holiday Destination Travel Options list, so they didn’t count.

Will was a little happier to find out that one of the Jumbos will be preserved as a museum at Cotswold Airport, so a visit has already gone into the virtual diary ready for the announcement that it’s open to the public.

Perhaps in the future we’ll have to plan our holidays not by the destination, but by the means of getting there. That way, we’ll have a good chance of having flown in whatever aircraft next passes its ‘best before’ date.

Featured image: British Airways

Categories
General Aviation

Charlie’s Lost Weight

Will turned to me the other day with a big smile on his face. “Charlie can take four people now”, he announced. Well, obviously not right now as no-one’s going anywhere until at least 2 December; but apparently, at some point in the future, four of us can go on a flight without risking the plane being too heavy to get off the ground.

“How can that be?” I wondered. It was only a few days ago that we were sheepishly explaining to friends that if the four of us wanted to go on a trip out, one of us would have to get the train.

I was informed that the reason for this sudden change, was that Charlie had just been weighed and had lost approx 55lb since his last weigh-in at the end of 2016.

I wasn’t convinced. I mean how did that happen?

  • What bits have fallen off without anyone noticing?
  • What item of vital equipment has someone decided we can do without?
  • Is Charlie now like Trigger’s broom, with so many bits replaced that there’s none of the original left? After all, materials are more lightweight now.

Thankfully, I’ve found out it’s none of those things. Most, if not all of the weight loss is due to the seats having been re-upholstered in leather. Posh, I know!

That then begged the question, what on earth was the previous upholstery made of? What coverings would weigh the same as leather, plus all that extra for four tiny seats? Carpet over a thin layer of concrete perhaps? Thick woollen tweed encrusted with lead?

The result is though, that taking into account the fuel plus essential luggage (essential being emergency kit rather than a full make-up bag), we can now have a total body weight of up to approx 46 stone. Happy days!

Cake anyone?

Victoria Sponge with a cream and jam filling
Honestly, it tasted better than it looked!