Category: weather

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Flights General Aviation wales weather

Scuppered!

The problem with Wales is that it is full of mountains……

… and with mountains, comes weather!

Welcome news came in the form of the weather forecast, signalling an end to the torrential rain with calmer, high-pressure conditions to come.  It was the opportunity we’d been waiting for to go for a highly-recommended flight to Haverfordwest. 

Sunday came and we duly set off for the airport.  Will had planned the route and completed the out-of-hours indemnity form, a necessity due to the airfield being closed at the weekends (ie without services such as air traffic control).  By 11.45 we were taxiing off down the runway and within minutes, had climbed to 2000ft, passed the local village and able to turn onto our route. 

flooding near the airport
As we set off, we could see the extent of the flooding near to the airport

It wasn’t long before we saw the Welsh mountains appearing in the distance. We also noticed the layer of cloud which seemed to be covering most of Wales.  That wasn’t in the plan!  Keeping to the valleys and diverting to Abergavenny kept us going for a bit longer but as we changed heading to get back en-route, our improbable hopes that the clouds might have dissipated somewhat, were dashed.  Nothing had changed and the cloud was stubbornly not going anywhere. 

low cloud over Wales
Sun breaking through the clouds
Every now and then the sun would break through the cloud, highlighting the mountains and valleys

Ahead of us were the peaks of the Brecon Beacons, mostly hidden behind a screen of white with Pen-y-Fan’s summit (2,900ft) encircled by mist. 

Mountain peak surrounded by cloud
Mist around Pen-y-Fan

We had hoped to fly at an altitude of 4,500ft; the minimum safe altitude to fly over the tops was 3,500ft.  By sticking to the low ground, we’d managed to skirt under the cloud at 2,600ft so it was a definite no-go for the flightpath ahead of us.

Shafts of light breaking through cloud
Keeping under the cloudbase

We had no choice but to turn back, up to Abergavenny again and through the valleys in a reverse of what we’d just done.  We weren’t the only ones – through our headsets we could hear a pilot reporting in that he was aborting his flight to Haverfordwest due to the low cloud base, and returning to Kemble. 

Bird's eye view of a town
Keeping to the low ground

Rather than heading straight back to the airport, we decided to divert towards Ledbury and Great Malvern.  We’d already seen evidence of the flooding, but seeing the burst banks of the River Severn showed more of the devastating effects of Storm Henk. 

Fields underwater from the River Severn
The River Severn with the aftermath of Storm Henk

Back at the hangar we got talking to another couple who’d just returned from a successful trip to Blackbushe.  Had we decided to go east rather than west, we discovered, we’d have had no clouds to contend with and certainly no mountains to fly over.  Despite that, we had a brilliant day, rounded off by bagging the last table in the busy airport restaurant for the best Sunday roast for miles.

Categories
Airports Oxford Routes weather

How The Other Half Flies

View through the window of a jet taking off

The day we’d booked to go out in Charlie seemed no different to those leading up to it; that is, cloudy, windy and rainy (you can tell this took place some time ago!). Whether we’d be able to fly was a decision we could only make that morning, once Will had checked the Meteorological Aerodrome Report (METAR). 

Fortunately, although the weather wasn’t ideal, it was within limits.  Will had already planned a route the evening before so, by mid-morning, we were taxiing down the runway and heading towards Oxford Airport.  This was to be a nostalgia visit for Will as he had completed his commercial pilot training at Oxford Aviation Academy, being one of the first to qualify for the MPL (multi-crew pilot licence).  It was the first time he’d been back since.

View down the runway with dark clouds above
The weather wasn’t ideal!

The plan was to do a touch and go at Oxford, meeting the requirement for the three landings/take-offs within 90 days required by the CAA.  However, we were expecting it to be busy with training fights, if nothing else, with no guarantee that we’d be granted permission. 

The flight took around 30 minutes over Tewkesbury, Evesham and Banbury.  Much to our surprise, there was no traffic at all in the skies around Oxford and the airport itself was really quiet.  After being given instructions to turn left to avoid the danger zone and keeping an eye on some nearby birds of prey, we got the go ahead for the touch and go.  It was only then that the surroundings became totally familiar to Will – after such a long time away the only thing he’d recognised up to that point was the nearby tower of a recycling plant.

Rain falling in the distance
Rain in the distance

After landing, we put on our hi-viz jackets and headed for the GA terminal looking forward to a hot drink and something to eat in their cafe.  Unfortunately, that was not to be. The turnstile to the GA building was locked and when we enquired, a voice over the intercom told us that nothing was open and to make our way to the Business Terminal to pay our landing fees. 

Now, the Business Terminal at Oxford is for the rich and famous, the great and the good – not for the likes of pilots with a 16th share in an aged PA-28.  We were quickly ushered from the hallowed VIP area into the crew room, out of the way of the family who were just about to head out to their chartered jet.  A few minutes later, with a fantastic airside view through the crew room’s floor to ceiling windows, we were able to see the jet (a Cessna 560XL Citation XLS) take off for its flight to Geneva.  A few minutes later a Bentley, accompanied by an airport support vehicle, arrived at the steps of a Bombardier Global 6000.  An elderly man got out of the car and climbed up the steps to be greeted by a uniformed flight attendant.  A few minutes later, this beautiful jet with just the one passenger on board, took off for the South of France.

Jet heading towards the runway
View through the crew room window of the private jet heading towards the runway

Having sighed over the amazing experience it must be to fly in such luxury, we came back down to earth and managed to get a coffee after asking at the check in desk.  The staff there were polite and helpful to us but I had the distinct impression that someone in the GA terminal was due for a stern talking to once we left.  By the time I got back from asking about the coffee, Will was in deep conversation with one of the jet engineers who’d arrived in the crew room waiting for a plane to come in.

We didn’t leave it too late before heading back.  The weather hadn’t got any worse, but neither was there any sign of improvement.  It was an interesting experience with sights of rainbows alongside the plane, fierce rain which came and went within seconds, and one particularly turbulent patch where it felt as if we were going over one of those hump-back bridges where your stomach is left a few feet below the rest of your body.

View from the plane of a rainbow alongside
Flying alongside a rainbow

Having bumps in the air never makes sense to me.  I can feel another weather/air pressure-related conversation coming on!

Categories
Flights General Aviation Henstridge Routes Somerset weather

Being on schedule + Short flight = Longer lunch

According to the forecast a day or so before our planned flight, the weather, yet again, seemed to be conspiring against us. However, we woke up to a lovely sunny day which seemed to improve the further south you got. Luckily we’d planned to go south!

It seemed daft to drive an hour north for a 30 minute flight south as it would have taken about the same time if we’d just got in the car and headed straight there from home. But of course, the whole point was the flight itself; meeting Will’s parents for lunch was the added bonus. And unlike our last attempt, we actually got there in plenty of time and had a good couple of hours with them before heading back.

Since our flight to Popham, Will’s parents had moved house so the flight this time was to Henstridge Airfield in Somerset. Visibility en-route was perfect with a cloud base of 4,700 ft, and our route skirted Bristol Airport before going over the former RAF Hullavington (now a technology campus for Dyson UK) and past Chavenage House (otherwise known as Poldark’s home of ‘Trenwith’).

When we reached Henstridge, Will decided to take the opportunity for a touch-and-go. That was a first for me. We were then second in the queue for the landing and ended up going about 10 miles wide over Compton Abbas to follow the first plane in.

Henstridge Airfield is privately owned so of course, up to a point, they can make their own rules, but I found the list of rules regarding Covid precautions a little strict when most places were becoming more relaxed.

Again due to Covid restrictions, the cafe was limited to hot drinks from a self-service machine and some ready-plated cakes for sale. Fortunately we’d booked lunch at a local pub otherwise I would have been really disappointed.

The museum was closed too, although we were excited to hear a warning over the radio to “look out for the Tiger Moth to the right of the runway.” The Tiger Moth had attracted a small crowd and we were lucky enough to see it take off and do a few circuits.

Lunch was at The Virginia Ash, just 5 minutes drive from the airfield. It was our waitress’s first day there but she made a cracking job of it and we had a lovely couple of hours enjoying our Sunday Roast and putting the world to rights. It would have been nice to have had a glass of wine to go with it but that, of course, had to wait until we got home.

It had started to drizzle when we came out of the pub so we decided to head straight back to the airfield and set off for home. As we were saying our goodbyes, the guy in charge came out and advised us that the weather was coming in and that we should go – we weren’t sure if he just wanted to get rid of us so he could go home, but decided to give him the benefit of the doubt that he was being helpful!

Not exactly sure where this is, but it’s around Melksham Without and Pie Corner (great names!). Somewhere in Wiltshire anyway.

As we headed north, the weather deteriorated and we had to fly back at a lower altitude, at some points looking for holes in the clouds which we could fly through.

By the time we pulled up at home, it was dark, it was rainy and it was definitely not flying weather. The Henstridge man had been spot-on!

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…..