Circumnavigation of the world ?

Hi all, my post is off topic, so is not related to GA this time.

Autumn is approaching and last week I started my adult education classes. I have enrolled for two classes. One is ‘guitar playing for beginners’ and the tips of my fingers on my left hand are rather sore from trying to press down the steel strings against the frets. The other is a watercolour painting class. I did do a beginners class in watercolour a couple of years ago but have not done any painting since then. I am keen to get going again and would like to develop a loose and fast style. I must admit that I want to be able to complete a painting in a couple of hours and a previous attempt at oil painting showed that using oils tended to mean that paintings took weeks rather than hours.
Here is the picture that I painted on my first lesson last week. I made loads of mistakes but enjoyed the experience and will hopefully have learnt something.




On Friday I visited the Southampton Boat Show with an ex work colleague. Having had a good month for weather so far, it broke on the day of our visit. We were lucky enough to have a look around the pontoons at the hundreds of display boats before the rain started. Once the rain got going though it just got heavier and heavier. Despite the rain we enjoyed our look at the exotic hardware available for those with large bank balances. My friend owns a Broom motor cruiser and so was able to provide expert comment on many of the exhibits. Among the boats we went on-board were a lifeboat and a Nordhavn 40. I really liked the Nordhavn as it was a trawler style motor cruiser. In this boat you could circumnavigate the world in reasonable comfort as it is really rugged with a completely enclosed helmsman cockpit. The engine is de-tuned for reliability and the range on full tanks is 2500 miles so enough to cross all the oceans with fuel stops at convenient islands. The boat was not as expensive as many because it is made in Asia. I quite fancy the idea of cruising around the world in one of these boats. Only problem is that Mrs Peewit gets seasick on a millpond. Here is a picture of a Nordhavn.




The lifeboat was very interesting and obviously designed for safety and functionality first, but it looked reasonable comfortable for the crew.

I had intended to take loads of photos but somehow the combination of rain and the distraction of the exhibits made me forget about all those photo opportunities. As the rain got worse we headed for the exhibition areas that were under canvas. My friend Leo was researching inflatables and outboard motors as he needs a tender for his boat. We also had a look at some of the gps based navigation software available. Whilst we were under canvas it sounded as if the rain had now become torrential. At 1pm we decided that it was time for lunch and as Leo was a member of the RYA we headed off to the RYA lounge where we enjoyed a cooked meal in congenial surroundings. After lunch we took another tour around the floating display boats. There were some beautiful boats of up to 90 feet in length for the well heeled. We decided to go on board a tall ship called ‘Tenacious’. This is a wooden hulled ship built specifically with disabled sailors in mind. I actually remembered to take a picture of this one.




Our guided tour around the Tenacious was very interesting and we heard about how the ship was built from Siberian Larch that was glued together with epoxy. The ship was built mainly by volunteers under expert supervision. The idea was to build a ship that could have a crew that was a mixture of able bodied and disabled members. Up to eight wheelchairs could be accommodated and there was provision for blind and deaf crew members as well. We were told that in the USA, they just do not allow disabled crew members on their sailing boats. It was heart-warming to hear how many of the disabled public can have the opportunity to go on these sailing adventures to the Med. and across the Atlantic.

Time for a coffee. We sat near an area where the show organisers had arranged for hundreds of cubic metres of sand to be laid so that children could make sand castles and be entertained by a steel band. The sand and deckchairs were very soggy by now but some children were finding amusement by playing with the buckets.




It was getting late in the day and the rain stopped. We wanted one last look at some of the undercover exhibits before going home. We left at just about 5pm and boarded the ‘Park and Ride’ bus that would take us back to the car. Somebody on the bus said that there were problems on the M3 motorway. We hoped that the problems would have cleared by the time we got off the M27 and onto the M3. The jams were still there and our journey home ended up taking three hours instead of the normal one hour. It had been a good day though and it had re-awakened my long suppressed interest in ocean cruising.

Peewit

EGLK to EGHJ routing

My brief flight to the Isle of Wight took a lot of planning and anticipation on my behalf but I really enjoyed the challenge and the experience.

Here is a picture of the route that I actually flew. The track is in red and the planned direct route is blue. I took off from Blackbushe towards the east and landed later from a westerly direction.




If you have Google Earth and want to see the track that I flew from Blackbushe to Bembridge and back last Thursday then right click on the following link and choose 'Save Target As' from the menu. Then change the name of the file being saved from prw2.xml to prw2.kml and click on 'Save' to save the file making sure you know where you are saving it to.
Lastly locate the saved prw2.kml file (you can search for it if you cannot find it) and double click it. This will launch Google Earth and fly to my route.

Route link

HELP NEEDED - If you know of a simpler way of doing this please let me know.

If you do not have Google Earth you can download it with this link.

Google Earth link


Peewit

First UK landaway

Note - Will use a later post for the Google Earth link to my route

I’ve got my PPL and the privileges of having it are that I can fly as captain on a single engined aircraft and even take passengers. Despite these privileges I still feel very much in learning mode. Today I am flying from Blackbushe to Bembridge on the Isle of Wight and returning later. I was determined to wait until some good weather was on the horizon before booking an aircraft. This is because despite having some excellent flying weather over the summer period, I did not manage to fly in any of it. It was mainly due to need to book an aircraft and instructor well ahead whilst I was a PPL student. Anyway, now that is history and on Monday, I booked a Cessna 152 for today in the 9:00 to 12:00 slot. My preference was to go later and have lunch on the Isle of Wight but there was no aircraft availability at that time. On Monday, the weather forecast for the Thursday was good with sunny weather and light winds. During the next couple of days that forecast went right through a loop, passing cloudy and wet along the way. It just goes to show how hard it is to book any kind of weather related event in the UK. Anyway by Wednesday evening it was looking likely to be a nice sunny day with a slightly cooler than recent temperature and a bit of a north wind. On my planned trip there seemed to be so many new aspects to it for me that I decided to try to make a list of the things that I needed to do. The only problem is that many things actually evolve on the day, such as the actual weather, diversions requested by ATC, etc. I did my best to compile a basic list of things to do. As I did all my cross country training in the lovely Florida area with its ample sunshine, I had so far not made a landaway flight in the UK, and this would be my first. So what was I unsure about ?
Well here is part of the list :-
1 The best route to avoid too many air traffic problems.
2 The actual procedure for climbing to overhead Blackbushe to gain sufficient altitude to cross the very near Farnborough aerodrome airspace.
3 When I called Farnborough Radar, would they let me straight across their zone or would I have to divert east or west of the area. I had never flown any of these areas before so it would all look new.
4 I had never followed a radial to or from a VOR before (I had only used them to get a position fix) and how would I get on tracking a radial.
5 They had been carrying out an experiment using specific squawk codes for aircraft departing from Blackbushe, was this still in use.
6 Which aircraft would I be flying.
7 Which runway would be in use at Bembridge and would I have to use the special joining procedure if gliders were flying.
The list just goes on, so I’ll stop here before you get too bored.

At last it is Thursday morning and the skies are clear with the promised cooler northerly breeze. Yipppeeee, I am actually going flying to a nice place on a nice sunny day.
I check the weather and the winds forecasts and up-date my navigation planning log. The route I have chosen was suggested by pilots on a forum in response to a question on routes raised a year ago. The route is to climb out of Blackbushe and then request permission to cross the Farnborough ATZ and head towards the Midhust VOR. And once getting there, to turn onto a direct heading to Bembridge. This route avoids the busy Solent area and also ensures that the run across water is not too long. By crossing at 3000 ft it should ensure that you do not get wet if you suffer an engine failure.

I used the Internet to check the Notams, and also looked at a webcam on the Bembridge airfield where once again it was clear blue skies and sunshine.
Here is the webcam address
http://www.eghj.com/webcam/

I was now ready to set off for the airfield. The traffic was better than I had expected and I arrived half an hour early at 8:30am. I sat around in the car for a while waiting for the offices to be opened. I could see the windsock was actively extended in a direction indicating a northerly wind and about the worst angle of crosswind you can get. A little while later I went into the offices and went through the paperwork to take charge of G-CDTX and also managed to check up on the climb overhead procedure. I booked out the aircraft and myself by phone before walking over to the 152 on the apron.

My mount for the morning


I rang Bembridge on my mobile and determined that it was runway 30 in use and that gliders were not active today. I did the visual checks and walk-around on the aircraft that I knew needed to be topped up with fuel. I also got my PC and GPS running as a backup. Having gone through the interior checks and starting the engine, I could see a problem. The Attitude Indicator (AI) was looking really out of sorts. The display was all moving in different directions and it made you feel sick just to look at it. Hmmmm, what to do now. Well maybe it will sort itself out whilst I taxi over to the fuel pumps. Well it didn’t, so while the fuel was going in I ran over to the offices to report the problem. They said to see what happens on restart, and if there is still a problem to bring the aircraft back to the parking area. Once the tanks were full, I restarted and the AI was still no better. Oh well, taxi back then and shut down the engine again. This time one of the instructors came over and tried to fix it by moving the aircraft about but to no avail. I was given a choice, either do not go, or ignore the faulty instrument that was not needed on the planned VFR flight. It was my decision and I wanted to go. Some sticky instrument covers were fitted so that the lurching instrument was not too distracting. I stopped the engine yet again so I could strain off some of the newly filled fuel tanks to ensure there was no contamination. Eventually I was ready to go, albeit an hour behind schedule and with my head already spinning. The warm up checks went normally and I was soon taking off on runway 07 with that significant crosswind. Once airborne I started the climb whilst sticking to the circuit pattern. I soon requested to change frequency to Farnborough Radar and this was approved. After my dialogue with them I had my allocated squawk code and they asked me to fly to the west of their area. Off I went down towards Odiham and after a while they came on the radio and said that I could now make my turn onto a heading for Midhurst. At this point I realised that I had not set up my PC program to lock the centre of the map to my actual position so I had just flown off the page, and could not start fiddling with it now. So much for the backup.
My plan had been to use the VOR instrument to guide me to Midhurst, but I was not certain of which radial I would be on after my diversion. I persisted and was heading in more or less the right direction, but found that referring to my paper chart was what remedied the situation. Once in the vicinity of the Midhust VOR beacon, I turned onto my new heading for Bembridge. At this point Farnborough Radar completed the Flight Information Service (FIS) they had been providing me. I could actually see the Solent and the Isle of Wight in the distance. I followed my planned heading and could see that it would take me over Hayling Island as expected. I climbed from 2,400ft to 3,000ft and set the radio for Bembridge Radio. The view was good, although slightly into the sun, but hey, this is the best flying weather I ever experienced in the UK.

Approaching the South Coast


I can see that large tower at Portsmouth and once I am over Hayling Island there is not long to go. I called Bembridge on the radio and got the runway details and pressure settings. There was a little activity but not much. Once I was halfway across the open water, I request a straight in landing and this was granted. The runway is close to the coastline and I could see it easily. I lost the required altitude and lined up to land. Once again there was a crosswind but not too severe and I must admit that the runway did look small compared to that at Blackbushe. I wafted in over the cliffs and was soon touching down with a healthy amount of rudder to straighten her up just before we touched the runway. Bembridge Radio said “Welcome to Bembridge” and asked me to back taxi down the runway to the concrete taxiway and then to the allocated parking spot on the grass. The whole flight had taken 35 minutes in the air.

The view from the cockpit having landed at Bembridge



The instrument panel with the Attitude Indicator covered up



Tango Xray on the field at Bembridge



The airfield buildings


I got everything shut down and secured and walked over to the airport building to pay the very reasonable £5 landing fee. They are very friendly here. It was now getting on for 11am and on my original schedule I was supposed to be back at Blackbushe by midday. I did however want to walk on the beach at Whitecliff Bay, so I set off in that direction.
On the way I heard aircraft coming very low overhead and on looking back I could see the rather uneven runway just a shortway off. It does look as if you have to fly under the electricity cable and narrowly miss the trees on the left in order to land.

The runway looks odd from this angle


Eventually I got to the cliff edge where it was obvious that there was no easy way down to the beach. I decided to turn left and head along the cliff path to Bembridge.

Whitecliff Bay


It was a very pleasant walk and I passed the Bembridge School that seemed very good for outdoor activities with lots of children in suitable protective gear and helmuts, using an aerial runway. In another part of the school grounds there we some children using Go-karts. It wasn’t like that when I was at school.

Another view of the bay after I had been walking for quite a time


The cliff footpath did seem to go and on so I started thinking that I would need to get a taxi back to the airfield. At one point there was a sign saying that the path was dangerous and near the cliff edge, but in practice it seemed all very safe, with young children and older people traversing it.

A map of the Bembridge area (it shows the track that I flew)


Eventually the path came to the outskirts of Bembridge and a pub called the “Crab and Lobster”.

The Crab and Lobster at Bembridge


I was somewhat concerned about being away too long so as it was now 11:40 (and food started at 12:00) I had a glass of orange squash and some crisps. I enjoyed these at a table overlooking the Solent and the next door Coastguards Station.

The Coastguard Station



Looking across the Solent


I then called for a taxi back to the airfield. After a mobile call to Blackbushe to provide a new ETA and the news that the AI was still duff, I booked out and once again returned to the aircraft. This time I got the PC setup properly after completing all the important aircraft checks. I had a bit of confusion about how one should get back to the runway, resulting in me be asked to come back after heading up the concrete taxiway. It turns out that you use a special grass taxiway which I had not spotted as there was an Islander (the aircraft) parked at the entrance to it. Once this was sorted and I had completed my warm up checks, I took off and turned to the right onto a North East heading whilst climbing as quickly as possible. I knew that now I was over the coastline and already at 1000ft, if I had an engine failure, I could always land back at Bembridge. I carried on climbing till 3000ft and levelled out. As I approached the English coastline, the views were absolutely fantastic but I did not feel that I had enough spare free capacity to find my camera and take photos. These images are just locked in my mind. As I crossed the coastline I said bye to Bembridge Radio and just admired the view. I was heading back to the Midhurst VOR and had carried out the water crossing using just my planned heading and that fact that I could see Hayling Island very clearly in front of me. I now tried to make a better job of using the VOR as a means of heading in the correct direction and did better this time. With the northerly wind, progress was slower. At one point I saw a gliders wings flash about two miles ahead and above me. I decided to take evasive action. I surprised that just moments later he was a lot closer and off to my right. You can only really see their wings when they catch in the sunlight and it did give me a bit of a scare. I was expecting to be more or less close to the Midhurst VOR at 13:00 and I was in the right place. I turned onto my new heading and called Farnborough Radar. They gave me height instructions and in effect let me fly directly over the western end of their airfield. So I was soon approaching the M3 and got permission to change to Blackbushe Information. Landing was on runway 07 and there was still the crosswind. I crossed the field and descended on the deadside to the circuit height of 800ft and after turning downwind, was soon back on the ground at 13:15. The flying time on the return leg had been 42 minutes.
I taxied to the parking area and got everything shutdown. The AI had not improved but a replacement had been organised. I completed all the paperwork.
I had thoroughly enjoyed my flight on a beautiful sunny day. The trick will be to reduce the brain workload or at least move some of the new challenges to the back of my brains a bit, as I get used to them.

Hope this has not been too boring but it is the sort of thing I would have liked to have read. Sad really, but I am enjoying myself.

Just in case this flying stuff does not keep me too busy, I have just enrolled for water colour painting, and guitar playing classes. I think that getting music out of a guitar could be my biggest ever challenge.

Regards

Peewit

My domain

I never did get to the "Flying for Fun" event at Kemble. Basically this was because the weather was bad and as I was dog sitting, I felt unable to leave the dog for more than six hours. That would have meant four hours driving and only two hours at a damp Kemble, so I scrapped the idea.

I am planning to fly from Blackbushe to Bembridge on the Isle of Wight. This weekend there is an air race around the Isle of Wight. I’m going to wait for the race to be over and some good weather so that I can go for a walk on the beach once I land at Bembridge.

In the meantime I actually cut my grass in my back garden because at last it had started to recover from the long dry spell. Not that we had much rain, so it must have been down to that day when the garage got flooded a couple of weeks ago. After I had cut the grass I was amazed how it transforms the look of the garden. No longer does it look scruffy and unkempt. Add to that a bit of late summer warmth, the birds feeding on the peanuts and it suddenly feels like a nice place to be. I did a bit of hoeing to clear the weeds from the borders and found the bradal that I had lost last year when replacing the fencing (during a rainstorm). It was even more pleasant when I got a beer and a pack of salted crisps. I took a couple of photos to capture the moment.


It would have been nice if the sun had been out, but you can't have everything.


There are still bare patches in the lawn but it will recover in time.


Great tits around the peanuts, and my anti-squirrel device.

The weather looks like wet and windy for the next few days so it might be a while before I get to the IOW.

Peewit

This is what I have been waiting for

Yes, this is what all the fuss was about. On the same day that the postman was delivering A level results to anxious students, he also delivered my Private Pilot Licence.
It is the sort of milk chocolate brown (that’s the polite description) colour that I had been expecting.
In this picture you can see the PPL(A), my knee board with the log for my last flight and my Log Book.



OK, it did take the CAA 24 days to get the licence to me after I had personally delivered all the documentation to them at Gatwick. However I have got it now and can begin to forget the hassle of the last few weeks.

Tomorrow, I am planning to go (drive) to the Flying for Fun event at Kemble. If I see some interesting aircraft, I will photograph them and put the pictures in my next post.

A happy Peewit

Peewit versus the weather

The weather won

Today being Sunday I went to visit my mum in the morning and in the afternoon I went to see my mother in law who has just come out of hospital. At about 4pm it was time to return home and it started raining. As I drove the short journey home the rain was getting worse and I started to encounter flooding. The nearer I got to Bisley the deeper the floods were. I just about made it home and was worried about my driveway. I already knew that after heavy rain that the surface water washed down my sloping drive and if it did not drain fast enough it would go into the garages.
I quickly parked the car and dashed indoors and got my welly boots and an umbrella. I emerged outside and set up a syphon using a hosepipe. The water was almost at the level where it would flood the garage. The rain just got harder. I grabbed a large broom and tried to sweep the torrent in the roadway into the drain. I was loosing the battle and the rain kept intensifying. I was thinking, if only I had got back a bit earlier, if only Mrs Peewit wasn’t lying on a beach in Barbados and could give me a hand. Just as the flood was getting worse and I was getting soaked whilst wielding my broom, a car pulled into the road and parked nearby. The occupant got out of his car and walked over to a bedraggled Peewit and whilst he was standing their holding a bottle of wine in one hand he had the gall to ask me where number 5 was. So much for helping the needy.
My garages were now 2 inches deep in water and I decided to start bailing out water in the driveway by filling a large 2.5 gallon bucket from a smaller one used as a scoop. I was still struggling to do all this whilst holding the umbrella. I took each large full bucket into a low point in the back garden and poured it out. I must have done this over a hundred times over the next hour and at one point the water was no longer gushing into the garages. However the weather decided it was not going to be beaten and just rained even harder. I had lost the battle and after an hour and a half of unequal struggle I gave up. The garage was already flooded and there was nothing I could do to improve the situation. I went into the house, removed all my soaking wet clothing and had a hot shower. Having put clean, dry clothing on the rain eased off. Eventually my syphon drained off the flood around the garage. After another half an hour the rain started again and as soon as the flood started to build up I went and got the syphon working again. This seemed to be the trigger for an even more torrential downpour. I was annoyed having just seen a weather forecaster on the tv talking about the showers dying out. This definitely not a shower and it was not dying out. This time the flood was even worse and a level of about 4 inches above the garage floor was achieved. Because the garage floor slopes slightly, once the water has gone in it does not come out again but just remains as an enormous puddle. My job for tomorrow will be to sort the mess out.
I had been complaining about my garden being too dry but now my garage interior is too wet. I bet the hosepipe ban is still in place in the morning.

A weary Peewit

See my last flight route with Google Earth

If you have Google Earth and want to see the track that I flew from Blackbushe to Devizes and back last Thursday then right click on the following link and choose 'Save Target As' from the menu. Then change the name of the file being saved from prw.xml to prw.kml and click on 'Save' to save the file making sure you know where you are saving it to.
Lastly locate the saved prw.kml file (you can search for it if you cannot find it) and double click it. This will launch Google Earth and fly to my route.

Here is the link

Peewit

Dropped in the claggy by BA and the CAA

In my last post I mentioned that my wife was due to fly from Heathrow to Manchester in the morning. Well at 9:30pm that evening BA cancelled the flight due to the security problems caused by the terrorist threat. Plan B was for us to get up at 4am and for me to drive her to Manchester Airport so that she could catch her onward flight. At 04:30 we set off and I dropped her off at Terminal 2 departures at 7:45. As I had also got my dog in the car I made a couple of stops at service stations on the way back. We got home at 12:15 having done the 420 mile round trip in seven and three quarters hours.

I had been expecting my PPL licence to be delivered that day, but when I got home it was clear that no delivery had been attempted.
If you recall, I personally took all my documents to the CAA office on the 24th July. However the person who copied my passport did not certify it (mistake 1). When I found out two weeks later, I rang the CAA and explained the problem and a lady said she would sort it out and that it would be sent out within a couple of days. So when I rang them this time it was to query what had happened. It seems that nothing had been done (mistake 2). I asked the person on the phone when it would be sorted out. He said they would have to find out who was on the rota at the time when I made my visit, but he seemed not to care very much and would not give any timescales for resolving the problem other than a vague as soon as possible. If I had to describe the service desk staff at this office, the only word that comes to mind is ‘incompetent’.
To try to get back control of this situation, I sent them the original of my birth certificate. I do hope they can expedite matters now.

Yes, Friday 11th August was a long day for me.


Peewit

“Pleasure flight” ???

Today was the day for my planned pleasure flight. If you read my previous post you will know that this was postponed from last week due to bad weather.
I had been hoping to have the ‘pooh brown number’ (my new PPL licence) for this flight. I had taken all my training documents in person to the CAA on 24th July. Last Saturday the expected recorded delivery package arrived from the CAA. Whilst it had my logbook in it, there was no licence and instead a letter saying that the copy of my passport had not been certified. This was quite annoying as the purpose of my visit in person to the CAA was to avoid this sort of problem. I had taken my passport with me and it was the CAA staff that copied it. I waited until Monday and rang the CAA to explain. The lady I spoke to apologised and said that the licence would be sent out today or tomorrow (Tuesday). Well it is now Thursday and it has still not arrived !!!!!!!!

This morning when I got up the sky was a beautiful blue and completely cloudless. My flight was booked for 10:30am. I checked the weather and there was quite a brisk 25 knot north westerley breeze at 2,500 feet and cloud was due to pile in together with rain showers. It still looked good enough to go although I would have to reduce my planned cruise altitude to 2500 from 3000 ft. I worked out that my ground speed towards Devizes would be a slow 73 knots and a leg time of 38 minutes. When I returned with the wind off my tail my ground speed would be 114 knots and the leg time was just 24 minutes.

Today was the day that the security problems at all UK airports kicked off. Great because my wife is due to fly from Heathrow to Manchester tomorrow and then from Manchester to Barbados. Much repacking of bags and cabin items was necessary and if the worst happens, I will drive her to Manchester Airport, a 7 hour round trip with a 4am start.

I set off for Blackbushe at 10am and the sky was already overcast. The A322 was slow where it joins the M3 but I made it to Blackbushe in time. My aircraft today was G-BLWV and I checked the tech log that indicated that there was plenty of fuel on board. Next I had to check the Notams as there could be new airspace restrictions with the elevated flight security situation. My flight was through uncontrolled airspace and there were no new problems on my planned route. After booking out, I checked out the aircraft and could feel the strong breeze blowing the aircraft about. Luckily the breeze was only at a slight angle off runway 25.
I had brought my ultraportable laptop with me and a bluetooth GPS unit. I was going to run this as a backup to my nav. log planning. I got it started up on the passenger seat and it showed the aircraft position on the edge of the airfield. I was using Memory Map software and it would give me a moving map display with the aircraft at the centre of the map display. I had already plotted my planned route on it, together with some avoid areas.
After the aircraft check, I started the engine, called up Blackbushe Information on the radio and got the taxi information. At 11:10 I started taxiing and after the warm up checks, I took off on runway 25 to depart to the west. Whilst climbing away from the airfield, Blackbushe Information gave me permission to call Farnborough Radar. As soon as I got to 2000 ft I gave them a call and they gave me a Squawk code, etc. I continued climbing to 2500 feet and then levelled out. The moving map display was working well and I could see that I was to the right of my intended track and so altered my heading slightly. Obviously the wind at this height was not quite as forecast. It was slow progress with a significant headwind but eventually I reached a turning point where I was going to dogleg around a glider launch site at Rivar Hill. Here they cable launch gliders and the cables can go upto 3,800 feet. I completed the dogleg and was soon overhead Pewsey with only a short time to run to Devizes. I was asked to change to Lyneham Radar on the radio and I did this. The weather was not great and I flew through some showers. Here is a picture over the aircraft nose as I approached Devizes.


TIP If you click on an image your browser will display a larger vesion of the picture.

I had chosen to fly to Devizes as I used to live there thirty years ago. I expect it has not changed much and the 6x (a Wadworth beer) is just as good at The Bear in the market square.
Here are some more pictures.



I was trying to spot the house that I lived in but could not quite pick it out.


After a couple of overhead circuits, I turned for home. I took a picture of the White Horse on the hillside just outside the town. It is quite small in the photo and you can see one of the rare places where the sun was breaking through the cloud.


After my flight I took a photo from my laptop screen that shows the route that I flew when overhead Devizes.


My return flight was much quicker and after changing back to Farnborough Radar, it was not long before I could see the airfield. I got permission to change the radio frequency to Blackbushe Information. I joined overhead from the deadside at 800ft and was soon cleared to land on runway 25. I touched down at 12:30 and was applying the brakes and shutting down at 12:33.
It was not quite the pleasure flight that I had intended but I did enjoy it. My next challenge is to try to get to fly at the same time as we are having good weather. It is proving more difficult than I expected to do this, even though it is August.

Let’s hope I get my ‘pooh brown number’ soon and that BA are back to normal in the morning.

Peewit

Sorry Caroline

Well you know I said to look at my blog at the weekend because there would be something interesting on it. I was planning to fly solo to Devizes and back on Thursday 3rd August, but didn’t.

You would have thought that booking an aircraft for a slot in the first week of August would be a sensible thing to do. After all it is the first week of the school summer holidays and the weather has been very good lately. I did my route planning and even prepared my laptop pc with some software so that it would provide a moving map display of where I was with the help of a bluetooth GPS unit. However when Thursday morning arrived it was raining and the cloud was low and covered the entire sky. So even if I could not fly to Devizes, I would be able to do circuits. No, even this was unlikely because the wind was from the north (at the worst possible angle across the runway) and was gusting above the maximum allowed for crosswind landings in a C152.
At 9:45 I rang up the air-school and cancelled my slot and booked another for a week’s time. Surely I cannot have a weather problem twice in a row in August ?

Although there has been a heatwave in England recently, I have never actually been flying whilst the weather is at its best. Maybe there is a warning here, so do not book the day off next Thursday or plan an evening BBQ.

Accrington Stanley FC have their first match back in the football league tomorrow.

From Your dad - Peewit

Today's journey to the centre of the universe

Well, the CAA HQ at Gatwick to be truthful.

It was one of those things I had been looking forward to. A trip in my rather aged 911 (964 C2) to the CAA licensing department on a sunny day to hand over my application and paperwork for my Private Pilots Licence.
On the drive there it was certainly sunny but the M25 was in a bad way with roadworks, accidents and everbody's grandad driving a Yaris in the overtaking lane.

I got there eventually and there was no time deadline.

In case you ever need to go to Aviation House, this is what it looks like with my porker in the car park.


My paperwork was checked over and all ok. The whole process only took 15 minutes. Just got to wait for two weeks now for the licence to be delivered.

On my journey home, I again spent most of my time behind either a white van, lorry or yet another Yaris driving at 40 mph in the overtaking lane. An accident on the M25 meant that I diverted off at junction 10 and went across country to get home. I had still enjoyed my morning trip as I was in no particular hurry.

It seems strange not having to carry out regular home study sessions as I have been doing for the last year. I shall actually put all my study material neatly on the bookshelf rather it than lying on the study floor or being buried in my flight bag.

Must get my next flight booked up while this sunny weather lasts.

Peewit

Farnborough Air Show

Today I visited the periphery of the Farnborough Air Show. I was there from 13:00 to 17:30, a total of four and a half hours of viewing pleasure. I took a lot of photos on my compact camera however it is not very good at this kind of work and what is more, the Blogger website degrades the quality even more. Here are a few of my shots.

Before we start here is a picture of my dog on Gorey beach in Jersey. We spent a week on holiday there and got back last Wednesday.



I had an easy drive to where I parked the car, but a 25 min walk to where I would watch. On my walk the airshow started and here is a picture of the Airbus A380



I arrived at my intended watching spot and just had to take my seat amongst the gorse bushes.



Having got comfortable, the A380 landed and was vacating the runway.



A Spifire taking off. It is a shame you cannot hear what it sounded like.


Here is the Lancaster bomber.



Guess who ?



Yep, the Red Arrows



The Red Arrows give an excellent display and use coloured smoke.


The end of the display quickly came and on my walk to the car I looked back and took this picture. The walk took longer than my car journey home.


Tomorrow I am driving to the CAA offices at Gatwick to handover my paperwork and application form for my PPL.

Regards

Peewit