It's been a while

The future?

Just a short blog entry this time to reassure anyone who reads my blog, but doesn't have any other contact with me, that I haven't been abducted by aliens, overthrown in a Middle Eastern uprising or taken out by Navy Seals.

In the last few months, flying has had to take a bit of a back-seat. I'm trying to get fit and run a half marathon (see my other blog HERE) and I've just been a bit too short of cash for most of March and April.

I'm still current though, and I managed to get up on a windy (but otherwise lovely!) May Sunday afternoon. It was just a quick zip around the local area with some general handling, PFL's and Nav work, followed by quite a tidy landing (if I do say so myself!) back at EGBJ...a sort of mini-skills test if you like...just to make sure I keep my eye in.

That's not to say that nothing has been going on though. This Friday I head to NATS corporate HQ for the opening round of tests to see whether they'll have me as a trainee ATCO. I'm very nervous, and desperately swotting up on information about NATS, practicing speed/distance/time calculations and trying to find representative practice tests for the spacial awareness tests...I'll report back how it goes. Wish me luck.

All by myself...

It's not very often that I get to fly completely by myself. I remember when I was topping up my required solo-time towards the end of my PPL, when I couldn't wait to take willing volunteers up and around the skies of sunny Gloucestershire, but nowadays it can feel like a bit of a treat to be completely on my own. I've spent a lot of time over the last few months giving local joy-rides to my family and friends, but this weekend I found myself without a flying companion, the aeroplane booked for an entire afternoon and, for once, a decent weather forecast.


The first task was deciding where to go. There are so many places I want to visit, and after my trip to Gamston with Rich (see last post), my confidence has taken a bit of a bounce, so suddenly they all seem within reach again. Funds, however, are not as easily gained as enthusiasm, so realistically I was limited to a 1-hour flight from Gloucester, including any messing around for take-off and landing. Barring unusual winds, this ruled out the more ambitious destinations of Caernarfon and the Isle of Wight, which I'd been considering whilst sat in my usual bored stupor at work. In the end, I settled on Compton Abbas, but also had a backup plan of Sywell if the forecasts were lying, and the weather was looking better to the north.

Blue Skies Ahead

The morning broke fine and sunny, with with Gloucester reporting FEW025 (few clouds at 2500ft) and 10km visibility, so Compton it was to be. I'd wanted to travel down in this direction for a while, not just because of the destination, but due to being hemmed in by the Bristol and Lyneham CTR's it had been rare for me to fly any further south than the bridges. I planned to route via the Bath gap, remaining outside controlled airspace, but obtaining a traffic service from either Bristol or Lyneham, as I knew it would be busy, with the best weekend flying weather for months.

The 'Big Bends' on the way home - Near Pefect Weather

This was confirmed before I'd even left Gloucester, when a long queue at the hold meant a lengthy wait. ATC were providing their usual excellent service, but when there are 6 aircraft in the circuit, having to wait is just one of those things you have to get used to. Luckily the CC group charges take-off to landing plus 10 minutes, so this doesn't cost me anything extra, but it would be something to think about if you were on a Hobbs meter or brakes to brakes payment scheme. The only slightly disconcerting moment was about 30 seconds of hailstones from a rogue cumulonimbus cloud which had wandered in overhead! I took the time to grab my camera out of my bag, turn it on, take the lens cap off and put it on the passenger seat (strapped in) in case there were any opportune photo moments en-route. I never look through the view finder if I'm flying, I just hold the camera up and click in the vague direction of what I'm looking at anyway, so that I maintain my lookout and awareness, then just delete the useless photos when I get home, in the hope that some will be worth keeping. The beauty of digital cameras!

Bath - Sorry about the reflections

Once we were in the air I was handed over to approach and given a basic service until I wanted to call Lyneham. South of Stonehouse, I overtook a microlight which was about 100ft below my level and heading in the same direction, waved as I went past and waggled my wings to let him know that I'd seen him, then called Lyneham for a traffic service. During the distraction of the RT exchange, a 2-seater aircraft (I think a Grob Tutor, or similar) crossed my path perpendicularly, at quite a similar altitude. It passed above me, and I saw it in enough time that I would've been able to take avoiding action if our levels had coincided, so no real risk of collision was present, but it was a timely reminder to keep a good lookout at all times! Lyneham helpfully informed me of the traffic about 10 seconds after it had gone over my head...

The flight line at Compton Abbas

I got handed to Bristol due to them having incoming traffic, and travelled through the Bath gap without incident - it was very pleasant to see Bath and Longleat from the air. Near The Park gliding strip, I transferred to Compton Abbas, who were having some trouble with interference on their radio gear, reported by other pilots on frequency, so I orbited a couple of times north of the field to make sure that I was sure that I called while it was working correctly. Following a Eurostar in an overhead join, I slowed as much as possible on downwind to give him plenty of space, and made a decent landing on Runway 08. Time for lunch!

DH Dove at Compton Abbas - CofA expired in 2006. Shame

Over a bacon baguette, I got chatting to the crew of the Eurostar which I had followed in. They were from Kemble and keen flyers, intending to route back via the Severn Estuary and up past the Bridges, rather than the direct but more mundane route I had planned. A couple of showers came in, so we got chatting about the various benefits of computer simulators, fuel prices, Lycoming vs. Rotax, Class-A vs. Microlight etc. while we were waiting for them to pass by. I had a wander around, watching the Stearman that was doing experience flights and having a look at the older, interesting aircraft. Before long it was time to head home.

The Severn Estuary on the way back

After the showers, the weather for the trip back was just about perfect. I said my thankyou's to Compton Abbas and switched back to Bristol for a traffic service, and routed back towards the gap. The views of Bath, and the Somerset/Dorset countryside were fantastic, even seeing Colerne from the air (from outside the ATZ) was a bit of a treat, having hooned around there several times in my car. As I approached Bath I heard the Eurostar call up as well - it sounded like they were just approaching the Severn and continuing as planned.

Citation Resting in the sun at Gloucester

I called up Gloucester as the sun was starting to sink in the sky, with great views out over the Severn Estuary and Forest of Dean. Strangely, they knew where I was without me telling them, and gave me a standard overhead join for runway 22 into a much quieter circuit than when I had left. I flared a little high on the landing, but it was within tolerance, and taxi'd in, shut down and secured the aircraft in the hangar. It was about 45 minutes until sunset and some of the club aircraft and instructors were taxiing out to squeeze one last flight of the day...and the conditions were so good that I wished I was going with them. Instead I had a wander around and took some pictures of the aircraft resting on the aprons. It was nice to get back out and flying on my own again...now I'm saving for a couple of weeks to go a little further afield.

Cessna Citation X at Gloucester in the twilight

PS. Bristol ATC Visit

The view from the tower at Bristol

Through Cotswold Aero Club, I had the opportunity to visit the tower at Bristol last week. It was a great experience, being able to see what happens 'on the other side of the mic', and confidence inspiring to remember that the people who are talking to you are actually real, and not just a voice in your headset. We were given a handy talk about the various ATC functions, and shown around the facilities, watching the ATCO's doing their work, including seeing them bringing an Easyjet A320 in from the tower (a great view).


I was so taken by the experience that I've actually put in a prospective application to NATS, to see if they'll have me as a trainee ATCO. I'd thought about it before, immediately after leaving university, but engineering roles were easy to come by and give you the added advantage of choosing where you live and work. It'd be a career change, but Engineering is not my passion and it could potentially provide an operational role in the industry that has gotten thoroughly under my skin in the last couple of years. We'll see what comes of it.

Winter Update

It's been a tough winter, weather-wise. On the odd occasion that it hasn't been snowing, the mist and fog has killed off the slightest chance of getting airborne throughout most of November and December. I flew in the first weekend of November, and the availability of the aircraft and the weather didn't line up again until the second weekend of December, by which time I only felt current (and confident) enough to make a local flight. Still, I had a whole week off at Christmas, and sometime in that week the conditions have to be flyable...don't they?

At first it didn't seem like it. The snow came down, and the mist descended. I booked, and had to cancel, flights on the 29th, 30th and 31st of December. And that, was that, for flying in 2010.

Look - No hands!

I'd offered to take up my 9-year old nephew, Oakley, up for a ride as a Christmas present, but had explained that it would be weather dependant, and that he had to be patient, and that it probably wouldn't be before the end of his Christmas school holiday. But, on the 3rd of January, the last day of the holiday, the snow melted, the visibility finally cleared up enough, and I was able to make the call that today was the day we'd be going up. Oakley's a really good kid, but my brother, Ben (Oakley's dad), was to come along to supervise, in case Oakley got motion sickness.

Oakley with CC after his first flight

In the end it was a perfect day for a first flight. 10k visibility, 5000ft cloud base, and absolutely no turbulence. Oakley was a little nervous at first, but once we were up he loved it, commenting that the trains looked like caterpillars, and that the villages looked so small you could jump out and squash them (we didn't point out that they get bigger as you go down!). He had a go at flying, (closely supervised, obviously) and decided that it was easy. A very fun and successful flight.

Birmingham International

The weather wasn't conducive to VFR flight again until the 23rd January, and even then it wasn't great - only good enough for a quick run to Halfpenny Green for a coffee and back.

But on the 29th, things were much better. Rich, another member of the CC group, and I had planned to fly to fly to White Waltham, but a forecast poor cloud base across the Cotswolds and Buckinghamshire meant a new idea was required. We settled on a long flight to Gamston, near Sheffield. I would fly there and Rich would fly back, with the non-flyer handling the radios and assisting with navigation. This would be the longest distance I'd flown in one hop at over 100 nautical miles, and we would be trying to fly direct.

Birmingham International Terminal

I took off from Gloucester and headed North, into pretty murky conditions, and unable to get much above 1800ft before running into the cloud. This improved north of Evesham, and we were able to get 2000ft before it was time to call Birmingham for a transit of their controlled zone, which we were granted (after a gentle reminder that we were waiting when we were told to 'standby', then forgotten about). We routed just south of Birmingham airport, at around 1800ft, and could see all of the approach and runway lights in the still murky conditions.

East Midlands Airport

Once clear of the Birmingham zone, it was immediately time to call East Midlands Airport for our second transit of the route. EMA was pretty busy, and I was grateful of having another pilot alongside to help with radio. We were granted a transit through the zone, and once north of Nottingham the weather really improved. By the time we arrived at Gamston it was under blue skies and light winds - it was lucky that I greased the landing because there really was no excuse not to!

After a great lunch at the Gamston restaurant, we loaded up again and departed, with Rich flying and me handling the radios. It was my turn to negotiate clearances with East Midlands and Birmingham, which were helpful and provided us with the routes we needed, although East Midlands did need to vector us around to avoid an airliner which was executing a missed approach. On arrival back t Gloucester we were given a downwind join into quite a busy circuit, and after a landing on runway 04 we taxi'd back and shut down.

CC resting in the sun at Gamston - Very different Weather
to 'down south'

It was a great way to spend a day, and sharing the flying (and cost!) meant that my range is double when flying with someone else. There's been talk of a trip to the channel islands soon, which sounds fantastic. After a frustrating couple of months of bad weather, this trip has really reignited my passion in flying.