I’d arranged to fly in one of the club Warriors from Kemble with Andy today, with the intention of practicing some IMC approaches. Looking at the forecast, it didn’t look like we could make a full day of it – snow was expected to arrive after lunchtime – so the best that we thought we could do was a short “local” flight around the area. Andy wasn’t keen to do this, so I decided to take the opportunity and fit in a morning navex (Navigation Exercise).

Having decided to do this, I carefully plotted the route on SkyDemon and checked the weather and NOTAMs before printing it out. The route would be to the south west, overhead Badminton, then intercept the ILS and fly the localiser towards Filton (not under the hood because I didn’t have a safety pilot), then south west across Bath south of Colerne. I’d route back via Lyneham to Kemble, but was particularly keen to spot Wadworth Farm strip from overhead – I’d not been able to pick it out before.

Remarkably rapid departure

It was relatively easy to get things organised when I arrived. A couple of phone calls got me  authorisation from an instructor and there were no calls to landaway airfields to make. After taking the covers off, most of the frost could easily be wiped off with gloved hands, so that after 15 minutes I was ready to go. After completing the A check, I was pleased to find the engine started pretty much first time. Leaving it to warm up, I ensured my GPS was all setup with the flight plan and the radios were all tuned in.

But delayed while the engine warmed up

Although I’d taken several minutes before taxing, I still found I needed to wait several more minutes at the hold for the oil temperature to rise before I could conduct the power checks. There was a helicopter practising at the end of the runway, and after it departed I was the only traffic in the zone.

Flying toward Filton

Departing to the south west, I quickly identified the usual landmarks of Tetbury and the Fosse Way. I had time to clearly identify the runway at Badminton with a view to landing there sometime. Bristol radar gave me a discrete squawk code “for conspicuity purposes only” and I was pleased that there weren’t any problems with the transponder today. Flying south to the M4, I was able to identify the Filton ILS and flew towards it checking that I wasn’t about to bust Bristol airspace. Filton is closed at weekends (apart from emergency  lifts by the air ambulance) and their ILS path is outside controlled airspace anyway, so I wasn’t conflicting with anyone.

Badminton House with airfield on the right hand side

Without any pressure to track the ILS closely under the hood, I was able to keep a good lookout while watching the needles converge. I broke off the approach at the edge of the Filton ATZ – although it isn’t active at weekends, I suspect there is no reason why I couldn’t continue down to a lower level, but I had done enough. The view of that extremely long and wide runway on approach is quite something.

I kept marking up my Plog as I routed back towards Pucklechuch, and kept below 2000 feet to ensure I didn’t enfringe Bristol airspace. Once overhead Bath Racecourse, the limit rises to 3500 feet and bearing in mind the glide clear rule, I climbed a little higher. Bristol reminded me that Colerne was active today and I confirmed my routing would be to the south.

I got a great view of the city of Bath and was able to pick out many of the landmarks.

Bath City Centre, Avon river and railway station

Wadworth Farm Strip is just outside the south edge of Colerne ATZ, a few miles east of Bath, and I managed to pick it out this time as I passed to the south of it.

Wadworth Farm Strip - Just below the lower orange field, left to right with buildings below

The Grob Tutors from Colerne were active today in the airspace around Lyneham, and were getting a traffic service from Bristol. It seemed that we were the only three aircraft in the area and well covered by the radar service. Visibility was starting to reduce now, so I thought it sensible to return to Kemble as planned.

Making a standard overhead join for 26, I underestimated the southerly wind (it was reported at 7-10 knots on the surface) and overshot the turn onto final, but managed to recover and was lined up by short final leading to a reasonable touchdown.

Deadside descent into Kemble from the north

Back to the pumps for refuelling and then to parking. By the time I’d finished the paperwork less than half an hour later, there were snowflakes falling outside the club room. I think I had just about timed it right. With the snow forecast to be heavy in the coming week, Heathrow cancelling 1/3 of all flights the following day, this would likely be the last private flight for a few weeks.

Hours today: 1:05
Total Hours: 174:25 (PIC 83:20)

I had a day off in lieu due to me because of working the previous weekend, so with an eye on the weather forecast arranged to take it at short notice. With all three of the club PA28 aircraft either being booked or away for servicing, the only choice left to me was the smaller Robin HR200. I’d completed the differences training on it back in June of the previous year, but never taken it on a landaway. It’s cheaper per hour than the PA28, which was also a positive thought. It has the usual six-pack of instruments including a VOR.

Robin control panel

When considering where I might go, the poorer weather slowly creeping in from the West suggested I should go North or East. Connington, Barton or Gamston sprung to mind and I was pleased to find that my current Southerly chart stretches as far north as these places. Deciding against routing through the Manchester low level route on my own (I’d prefer to have at least one more set of eyes to keep a sharp lookout), I plumped for Gamston. The routing was to be to the East side on the way up, and return via the West side of the Birmingham and East Midlands CTAs.

A slow and cold start

It was -9C outside in the morning, and my first problem was that the car wouldn’t start. After putting the charger on and waiting a little while, I managed to coax it into life and set off for the airfield around 9am.

The club was busier today, with a couple of students and instructors organizing themselves. Roger suggested I should see if the Robin would start before doing anything else, because it hadn’t been used for 2 weeks and had been sitting out in the cold all that time. I did this, finding that while the engine would turn, it just wouldn’t fire up. After a call to the owner, and a pause, I tried again and finally got it to start and let it warm up for a few minutes. The trick seemed to be continually pumping the throttle while turning the starter.

After completing the paperwork and the rest of the checks, I returned and found it started again straight away. I taxied round to the pumps for fuel and filled up to the brim – there being no weight and balance problems with a single pilot and full fuel tank.

Who to talk to

With a plog printed out from SkyDemon, I intended to try and not be so reliant on the GPS as I often am. I used the Daventry VOR as one waypoint, so could track inbound and outbound from there and did my best to visually relate what I saw on the ground with the chart.

Clouds from the warm front in the West

One aspect I wasn’t entirely sure of was which radio controllers I should be talking to on the way up. The instructor who authorized my flight had suggested Coventry, but through that Cottesmore may no longer be providing a LARS service. As it happened, I was able to work the different stations from Brize, Coventry, Cottesmore, Waddington (with a direct handoff from Cottesmore). The only real issue I had was with the transponder which several controllers asked me to recycle the squawk code. Visibility was reasonable, with a cloud base of around 3000 feet. With the cold temperatures, I didn’t want to venture into the cloud if I could avoid it.

There were a couple of NOTAMed areas, and parachute drop areas that would have been on a more direct route that I needed to avoid.

Arriving at Gamston

As I approached Gamston, I requested to change to their frequency – the airfield notes say they like you to call up about 10 miles out – but the Waddington controller asked me to stay with them for another couple of miles while she co-ordinated nearby traffic. It’s pretty unusual for ATC to want you to continue with them – I’ve found that several times they can’t wait to get rid of you – so this made a change. Gamston has its own VOR which makes tracking towards it very easy – the Robin does have a VOR but no DME, so I relied on the GPS to confirm the distance to run. It’s right on the edge of the Doncaster CTA and would be easy to infringe the zone if you overshot. Without having looked up the airfield on Google Maps beforehand, I wasn’t exactly sure where or what I was looking for. As I got closer, the runways were clearly visible with large markings.

By that time I had already made contact with their A/G controller and received the airfield information. A standard overhead join for 03 left hand meant I needed to position myself to the west before descending deadside keeping outside the town itself. There was little other traffic about and wind was calm, so this reduced the pressure and I made a reasonable landing to stop just past the turnoff. A quick backtrack and some taxi instructions had me parked up in no time.

Smart Airfield

With my hi-viz jacket on (this is certainly one place you need it), I walked the few yards to the café and tower area. The airfield has an impressive array of large hangars with an even more impressive array of up market twin prop aircraft inside. There was also some helicopter activity and the more usual single prop GA aircraft around too – a steady trickle of traffic continued while I was there.

Gamston Control Tower Building

Entering the brand new and very modern control tower building, I walked up the stairs and chatted to the controllers – I think a new one was being trained that day, and paid the landing fee. They were very helpful about explaining where I should carry out my power checks prior to departure.

Apron Cafe, Gamston

Returning downstairs to the Apron Café, I had an excellent lunch in what is a very smart and well fitted out facility. The food was upmarket and very well presented – prices ranged from £10 for fish and chips to £15 for a steak, with a range of other choices. It seems quite popular, so I had had to reserve a table when calling the tower for prior permission to land earlier in the day.

Robin with the Control Tower and refuelling truck behind

Returning to the Robin, I checked the fuel and oil. The fuel level isn’t easy to determine – you simply put a long dipstick into the only tank and read off the level. The dipstick level matched my expectation of what should be left after having filling it up to the brim before leaving Kemble, so I was confident that I had enough to return.

Westerly Departure

On departure, I headed off to the South west and routed to the west of East Midlands, receiving a basic service from them. The visibility was poor due to the low sun and murky cloud, so I wasn’t too pleased when the controller asked me to turn my transponder off. He had tried to get this working adequately by having me recycle and change the squawk code several times, and come to the conclusion that the last digit was stuck on “1”. I kept listening out for traffic on the channel and would still have been visible on primary radar.

En route back to Kemble - a thin haze reduces visibility

Tracking further south, I was asked to report my position. Although I could point to it on the chart (and GPS), I hadn’t been expecting this and needed a couple of seconds to think up a good answer. So I just said standby, and shortly after reported it as two miles from a known airfield. I was then asked to leave the frequency and suggested to contact Birmingham or London Info. I guess he was pleased to get rid of me by then!

Low on fuel?

At this point I was looking at the fuel gauge and having some second thoughts about my calculations. It was reading about 1.5 (out of 5) and I had another 30 minutes to go, so I thought that according to that indication there should be enough with still a full hour in reserve. But my calculations knowing that it had been full before departure suggested that this should be an underestimate, so I decided not to stop and refuel. (Validation that I had adequate fuel supplies was borne out later when I refueled after landing)

As I was shortly approaching Halfpenny Green, I elected instead to radio them up and tell them I was crossing their overhead. I messed up this radio call and burbled on for far too long – I should just have asked for “known traffic affecting”. Shortly afterwards, as I reached Worcester, I called into Gloucester and received a Basic Service.

I doubt if there would have been much glider activity at Nymphsfield or Aston Down, but kept to the east of both. With little traffic at Kemble, I was able to join crosswind and make a reasonable approach to land. Again, fuelled up to find there was plenty left after landing and returned to parkup, pack up and finish the paperwork.

This sure beats a day at the desk.

Andy and I had discussed flying again together this weekend, but this time he’d take his family in the Arrow while I would fly to the same destination in the Warrior – a sort of “mini-club-flyout” if you like. I was actually quite keen to fly both legs if possible, to continue to increase my hours towards the 100 PIC that I need to be self-authorising at the club. But it’s always nice to have some company, so I asked around for prospective passengers at a club evening in the pub and tentatively arranged for Mike, a lapsed PPL, to join me as a passenger. Unfortunately, on the day he was delayed and unable to come along but I’m sure will make it another time.

I had proposed Panshanger, which is just north of London near Stevenage, partly because I’d wanted to stretch further into the more difficult airspace around London and partly because the writeups made it sound like a popular, friendly flying club destination. Traffic in that area is compressed by the 2,500 feet limit of the London Class A TMA airspace, in addition to boundaries with Luton, Stansted and Heathrow – so it get’s pretty busy. I thought that by flying during the winter, it might be a bit quieter and there would be less traffic to see and avoid.

It was very foggy in the morning, as forecast. The aircraft I was due to fly was being returned from its annual radio check, but the owner had tried and was unable to land at 8:30 because he couldn’t see the runway. He turned up around 11 and it was all set to go. In the meantime, I helped Andy clear the ice off the Arrow and move it out into the sunshine. With the clubroom being quite busy, I was able to ask Roger for authorisation, call ahead to Panshanger for PPR and was ready to go.

Solo outbound

I hadn’t flown entirely by myself for a little while, and appreciated that although there is extra work, there are also fewer distractions. I was trying out my relatively new SkyDemon GPS – a larger model that I had being using before picked up quite cheaply on eBay. But G-SNUZ has the full set of IFR kit including a working DME, so I later used the VOR/DME to track Bovingdon which cross checked with the GPS. There is also a moving map GPS built into the aircraft, so I had little excuse for getting “unsure of my position”.

After departing Kemble, I talked to Brize and routed just south of Fairford which was closed. They gave me a Basic service and discrete squawk code. Tracking directly towards Benson, I checked with Brize that there was no need for MATZ crossing approval – Brize provide the radar cover for them and confirmed they would co-ordinate as required. The large chimneys of Didcot power station were easily seen, with Benson not far on the other side. Turning when overhead Benson, I waited until past their MATZ before descending quickly from 3,500 feet to around 2,000 to be sure of being under the Class A airspace.

North of London en-route to Panshanger

Tuning and identing the Bovingdon VOR, I was pleased to have remembered to set the DME to “remote” mode so that it slaved to the same frequency. Brize handed me off to Farnborough LARS West, who gave me a new squawk code then passed me onto Farnborough North where I retained it. They warned of “multiple contacts” around the Bovingdon VOR so I kept south of that track and spotted several other aircraft including a couple of microlights. Keeping the radar cover until I was at Hatfield, I then called up Panshanger to find that runway 11 was in use (it had changed since I rang for PPR) and pulled out my printed sheet with their noise abatement pattern.

Arrival at Panshanger

Climbing slightly up to 2000 feet above circuit height for a standard overhead join as instructed, I made sure I was still underneath controlled airspace. I was able to spot the “square wood” and “T shaped wood” on the chart which are good markers for the circuit pattern itself. Turning south, I descended deadside and saw the two other aircraft in the circuit that I had heard on the radio. I thought my circuit pattern was a bit on the wide side – going too far North – but a later check of the GPS log showed it was all inside the ATZ. On base, having completed all my checks, my seatbelt came undone – just had enough time to insert it back into the buckle before turning onto final and setting up for the approach. With virtually no wind and being at the right place, this was a very straightforward and consistent path down final for a gentle touchdown (they do say grass flatters your landings). Taxied off to the clearly marked visitors parking, and shutdown – just hearing Andy call up inbound as I did so.

Plenty of GA aircraft based there

It’s quite a busy and thriving flying club, with a good cafe and plenty of activity all around. They had a special offer on, half-price membership for £12.50 which entitled you to half price landing fees, discounts in the cafe and reduced fuel prices. After a very persuasive sales patter, I was convinced that as long as I return at least once this year it would be profitable, so I coughed up.

Then I walked back to visitors parking and met Andy and his family as they disembarked.

We then enjoyed good food in the cafe – the burger was excellent!

Tasted as good as it looks

Several of the old buildings have been nicely done up, with attractive signage all around the site.

Cafe from outside, with extra seating

History of the airfield

Not much wind today – but you can see the windsock tells a story of some stormy days in the past!

Really calm wind today

Local housing has encroached right up to the edge of the airfield – this picture taken from the visitors parking area, but the taxiway back to the end of the runway is close to the back gardens of many houses.

Local housing encroaches right up to the airfield boundary

Back to Kemble, you can see below the SkyDemon GPS earning its keep

My new 7 inch SkyDemon GPS from eBay in use

With the sun almost directly ahead and plenty of murk and cloud, you needed to keep a sharp lookout for other traffic. I gave a wide berth to one microlight heading towards me, and saw quite a few. I choose to fly higher up, over 4,000 feet at times, to keep away from some of the busier traffic. I had heard Andy on the radio to Brize giving his altitude of 3,500 feet and sure enough saw him cruise past below and to my right, overtaking me as he flew at 130 knots compared to my 95-100.

Setting sun and cloud make the view a bit murky on the return leg

On return to Kemble, there was one other aircraft approaching the overhead from the north east. I spotted him and followed him as we both descended deadside – he took a somewhat wider arc than I would have, meaning I was catching up with him. I slowed down when downwind and extended out, but still found myself on final when he had not yet vacated the runway. In the end I had just enough spacing for Kemble to let me “land at my discretion” on very short final. As I vacated, I could see a student ready to set off on his first solo in a Eurostar, patiently having waited for us both to clear the circuit.

In retrospect, I should have landed long and exitted from the far end of the runway, which would have made a shorter route back to our parking at “lynham corner”. Instead, I took the usual route via the fuel pumps, main apron and tower. Having previously agreed with Andy, I had called up when inbound to ask if the fuel bowser could be brought round to fill us both up after arrival. The driver was already in the cab when I passed, and he took the longer way round down the runway to meet me there. In the end we had three aircraft to fill up, which made it all worth his while and saved us some unnecessary taxi time.

Andy and I helped each other put the covers on and pack up. After the paperwork was completed, we adjourned to AV8 cafe for a coffee. Comparing notes, I found that my slower trip had taken longer than Andy and because there isn’t too much difference in hourly rates, his actually worked out cheaper.

Hours today: 2:15
Total Hours: 169:35 (PIC 78:30)

SNUZ enjoys basking in the sun at Wellesbourne

Wellesbourne for lunch

Andy flew the outbound leg, which he wrote up in detail in his own blog. He flew this mostly under the hood and landed at Wellesbourne, which was not only open but pretty busy. Since Coventry didn’t have any catering open (there is a pub across the road though), this was a good first stop. He then took off and followed the Daventry approach onto the ILS for a landing, with me acting as Safety Pilot and thinking a couple of times that I’d have to take control. He flew the procedure very well and set a high standard to follow.

Wellesbourne Airfield Cafe

Although there were no facilities and it was a Bank Holiday, the staff were very helpful. A marshall showed us where to park, the fuel tender came and filled us up, and the landing fees were paid at the nearby club office. Both fuel and approach/landing fees were very reasonable.

ILS practice at Coventry

It was my turn now, and I called the tower to book a slot for an ILS approach. Initially following the missed approach procedure, there was some misinterpretation of the height I should be flying at – I was a bit on the high side which was rectified. We had a full radar service from Coventry tower who presumably co-ordinate with Birmingham and would have advised us if this had become a problem. Next time, I’ll ensure that I fully grasp the path and heights required. They asked if we wanted to climb up into the hold, but I had earlier elected to repeat the same Daventry VOR path that Andy had done.

The Daventry approach tracks away from the VOR, and we called when established on the correct radial. The DME on the aircraft has a “remote” switch that I hadn’t noticed before (I normally fly another of the club Warriors which doesn’t have this feature). This slaves the DME to the VOR frequency selected on the main NAV communication panel. Additionally, there is a switch to toggle between VOR 1 and VOR 2. Apart from avoiding entering the wrong frequency, it allows quick switchover between two different VORs. This was ideal for this trip because initially we were tracking away from the Daventry VOR (on NAV2) and reporting our position based on distance from it. Later, we were then inbound on the ILS and needed it to be reporting the distance related to that – a quick flick of the switch made it easy.

The turn to capture the ILS was perhaps a bit too quick and I needed to remind myself to maintain a 30 degree intercept course and turn as soon as the needle started to move. It’s surprising how quickly you forget some of the finer points of the IMC training course. Tracking inbound, we heard over the radio of one aircraft being positioning behind us and another landing VFR in front. I was focussing on the ILS needles and tracked these down pretty reasonably, trying not to make any major control inputs and using the AI as the primary instrument. As we approached minima, the tower asked our intentions and I called going around (I checked that this is the correct phrase to use, rather than saying you are making a missed approach).

Some VOR tracking under the hood

We flew over the runway and climbed out, following the right track but I think again probably not at quite the right height. As we departed the zone, Andy suggested we practice some VOR tracking and dreamt up a couple of intercepts and radials to follow. This worked OK until I forgot I should be looking out for the Kemble NDB intercept. It was only when Brize Radar asked what our intentions were that I realised we were heading for the Zone and that Andy was keeping quiet to see if I had noticed!

I’d say my VOR tracking was adequate but my understanding of the proposed route and intercepts wasn’t. Perhaps that’s because it was dreamt up on the move, rather than something I had been involved in planning myself. Note for next time, make sure there is a good plan beforehand and research/practice it on the simulator as well.

Got back just ahead of the weather

We flew the rest of the short leg back to Kemble VFR and as we approached I saw a rather large set of dark clouds not too far off. We had had the best of the weather. I almost made a quick right base approach for runway 26 but thought that we would have enough time before the weather closed in, so instead made a crosswind join allowing us to inspect the runway and windsock before landing. As we put the covers on, the rain started but we finished before we got wet.

Technical Details

Today’s flight was in G-SNUZ, a PA28 Warrior 2, rented from the RAF Lyneham Flying Club, now based at Kemble Airfield, a VFR only airfield in the UK. The aircraft has ADF, 2xVOR, ILS, GPS (with moving map display), DME and dual altimeters. The flight was mostly simulated IMC (under the hood) with VFR for takeoff, approach and landing,  from Coventry to Kemble first making a return ILS approach to Coventry.

Total flight time today: 1:45 (of which 1:00 under the hood)
Total PIC time to date: 76:15
Total flight time to date: 167:20

The major hurdles included:

- Gaining an IMC rating. Undoubtedly the most difficult thing I’ve done in flying so far. Frankly this took far longer and cost much more than I had expected. Being able to start my training at Lyneham, which had all the instrument approaches and facilities one could wish for was of great benefit, but having to do so much follow on training at Oxford was disappointing. I do feel thoroughly trained, and want to ensure my IMC skills are kept current which the move to Kemble has not so far encouraged.

- Completing my Night Qualification. Having started this a year ago at Gloucester in early December 2010, I completed the five hours course in January. It was difficult to fit in, because the airport closes at 6 at weekends (7:30 during the week), requiring me to leave work early and drive up. I was able to use it for a couple of flights from Lyneham, but haven’t been able to do so elsewhere.

- Gaining an FAA Seaplane Rating, which also got me a valid US PPL Licence (based on my UK one). Great fun and good experience, while the seaplane rating is probably something I would never use for real, the US FAA PPL Licence could prove very handy on any future business trips to the US.

- Making my first foreign trip, crossing to Calais for the day.

All this lot meant I satisfied the requirements for an AOPA Silver Wings award.

Raw Statistics

• Total Time: 165:35 PIC 74:30
• This Year: 103:55 PIC 60:10 (of which 2 hours night), Dual: 43:45 (of which 3 hours night)
• 86 flights
• 8 different aircraft
• 22 new airfields
• 1 foreign trip

Next year’s objectives include:

• Continuing to build up my P1 experience to the magic 100 hours which entitles me to self-authorise my flights
• Keeping my IMC skills current by practicing instrument approaches under the hood
• Making several more foreign trips
• Differences training for the club Arrow, which is a complex aircraft with retractrable gear and variable prop
• Possibly learning a GPS approach (there’s a small chance the club Arrow will be fitted with a GPS RNAV next year)
• Showing others what flights in light aircraft are like

I’d met a private pilot with lots of experience and had discussed the possibility of his coming along in the right hand seat. I’ve realised that there’s plenty to learn from other pilots, much of which isn’t in the textbooks or official training, and was hoping to pick up some hints and tips. It was clear from the outset that this wouldn’t be an instructional flight, or even an official mentoring flight and that I would be PIC throughout and fly within my own limits.

With a few days off between Christmas and New Year, we discussed a flight where I might practice a couple of instrument approaches. The weather on Friday wasn’t good enough to fly, so we postponed to Saturday/New Year’s Eve. The initial idea was to fly to Lydd for the Flyer Forum bash there, but the weather again didn’t co-operate – we would have been in hard IMC most of the way there and back.

So instead, we settled on flying from Kemble to Gloucester via Filton so that we could fly down the ILS at Filton (keeping outside the ATZ) and also do the NDB/DME approach at Gloucester. With the cloudbase down to below 2000 feet, it was clear that some of the flight would be in IMC conditions. The flight would be in G-SNUZ, the only fully IFR equipped Warrior in the club fleet.

Preparation

Arriving at Kemble fairly early, around 8:30, I had the aircraft covers off and most of the A-check completed before John turned up. We discussed the options for the day and called Gloucester to schedule the practice approach. I had to ring a couple of instructors to get authorisation – the biggest concern my instructor had was the wind which was forecast to be 15-20 knots plus gusts, but straight down the runway so within limits.

I also had a new 7″ GPS that I was getting to grips with. This runs the SkyDemon software, the same as my earlier 5″ model, but I’d not used it so far.

With paperwork sorted, we headed out to the plane and settled in. I had though that Kemble was closed today – there were few people around and  so I wasn’t expecting the AFIS to be on duty. So my first surprise was when calling Kemble Traffic to self-announce my taxi movements, I got a quick reply saying they were operating as normal. That was good to know anyway, and passed the usual information. I had correctly guessed that runway 26 would be in use, with a fair breeze running straight down it.

Since this was likely to be an IMC flight, I checked the turn/skid indicator, AI and ADF as we made the long taxi down to the hold for power checks. I had pre-tuned the radios and navaids before we left the parking area.

Into the cloud

Departing 26 and making the turn for noise abatement, we entered the cloud shortly after departing the ATZ. Changed to Bristol and got a radar service. The frequency was very quiet apart from commercial traffic.

The plan was to head down towards Bath and intercept the ILS, then fly down that keeping outside of Filton ATZ and from there head up towards Gloucester. The IMC conditions weren’t the same calm still air found on your standard IMC training day with foggles/hood on, and I found it was quite bumpy at times. After identing the ILS, and using the GPS for situational awareness, the localiser came alive and I turned to anticipate and intercept it at around 8 miles on the DME. At this height we should be below glideslope and as we tracked inbound, the needle came down and centred nicely.

As we descended further, I found it got a lot more bumpy and I was making large corrections to try to compensate. I managed to hold the ILS track and slope reasonably well, but as we got closer this became more difficult and I lost it at around 3 miles out while still in IMC. Turning north and climbing away, this was disappointing but quite different from doing it in ideal conditions. In retrospect, I was making corrections which were too large – better not to try and “chase the needles” but instead make a series of smaller and more frequent control inputs.

NDB/DME at Gloucester

About half way to Gloucester, we left Bristol Radar after listening to the Gloucester ATIS (on this aircraft you can listen/monitor two frequencies at the same time), changed to Gloucester who cleared us for the NDB/DME approach procedure for runway 27 (although runway 22 was in use). They asked if I wanted to do a hold, but I thought I’d rather leave that for another day. This was already quite hard work.

Approaching the NDB beacon at 3000 feet, I turned onto the outbound track of 094 bearing in mind the wind was most from the west and now directly behind us. Slowly descended to the platform height according to the plate and tracked the DME outbound to 8 miles. I was focussed on the DI and NDB to make the right track, while John cross-checked on the GPS. I called beacon outbound on the radio and was told to report base turn complete.

After a rate one turn at DME 8, I picked up the NDB again and tracked it inbound, descending slowly (there was a strong headwind) at not more than 500 feet per minute. As we descended, we emerged from the clouds. Not being that familiar with Gloucester, it took me a few seconds to pinpoint the airfield exactly. ATC then directed us to turn onto left base for runway 22 and cleared us to land. I took this a little lower than John would have liked (he is more familiar with the sink that can happen over the buildings on final approach), but the headwind made for a smooth touchdown. I started clearing up the flaps etc. before vacating the runway, which John suggested would be better left until afterwards.

After filling up with fuel, I was pleased to find that they gave me a discount on the landing fee and there was no additional charge for making the NDB approach.

We popped into Cotswold Aero Club for a coffee, where a few members were “chewing the fat”. I saw Manuel Queiroz, whose book I’d got for Christmas and had just finished reading, and told him how much I’d enjoyed it.  He had flown around the world from Gloucester in his single engine permit RV-6, which he still flies from there and departed in it shortly before us on a local trip.

Left turn out and up into IMC

Departing on runway 22 – which I hadn’t used before – the tower reminded me to make a left turn after takeoff for noise abatement. Unfortunately, I got this wrong and turned early (the AIP clearly states turn at 1.2 DME), which the controller politely pointed out to me “for next time”. We could see cloud above the ridge between Gloucester and Kemble, so flew south to see if there was a gap around Dursley.

Entering IMC conditions again, we ensured that we were above MSA (Mean Safety Altitude) and identified the Kemble NDB, using this and the GPS to track towards the airfield. Changing to Kemble Information, we announced our intentions and asked for the local weather information. We were pretty much in IMC all the way from Dursley to Kemble, descending into the circuit and breaking cloud on the downwind leg.

There was a strong wind of 20+ knots, directly down the runway, which meant for a slow ground speed on touchdown – I used only 2 stages of flaps and kept the speed up to cope with the gusts. The runway was wet after earlier rain, but my groundspeed was comparatively slow due to the headwind. After landing and with no other traffic about, we were told we could backtrack and exit the runway near the touchdown end, giving us a shorter taxi back to parking and avoiding taxiing over the wet grass.

Summary

Tody’s flight was quite a different experience from the IMC training and test, largely because at times the weather made conditions much rougher than typically found when practicing on a VFR day with foggles. Although I had done some real IMC in clouds before during my IMC training earlier in the year, I don’t recall the conditions being quite the same. The other major difference is having a GPS to use – during training there wasn’t one, but today we had both the built-in one in the aircraft which has a moving map display, as well as my SkyDemon portable. As found with VFR flight training, there is a real gap between what the training teaches you (using only the older very basic instruments) and the more practical/likely use of GPS alongside them, which is done in the real world by almost everybody after they’ve passed.

I was also trying out my latest SkyDemon portable hardware for the first time today – a new 7 inch model bought from Hong Kong via eBay – and in this aircraft it has to be placed on the right hand side rather than on the left close by where I’ve used the smaller one up to now. Perhaps this wasn’t the best idea – I still need to fix some issues with the font size and the battery life was much worse that I’d expected, meaning it was placed in a different side of the aircraft to what I have been used to. So I haven’t yet sorted out the scan to include it, and also didn’t set it up with the route beforehand (it only had the earlier route to Lydd). I should have used it more even if just by using the direct-to feature.

Debrief

After a debrief over lunch, John explained that more regular IFR pilots would commonly use some additional bits of kit, such as a wing leveler or full autopilot, and even a full glass cockpit which reduces the workload substantially. Some even have autopilots that automatically fly the instrument approach and a “go around” button should you wish to do so.

Flying “hard” IMC for hours with older “steam gauges” which are common on club aircraft like ours is very demanding and tiring. Bearing in mind my low hours (and almost none in IMC apart from training), John thought I handled the IMC conditions quite well but clearly need further practice to be more ahead of the aircraft and to be able to relax when in turbulent conditions (I was gripping the yoke quite hard with both hands at times).

I think this provides a different perspective on the type of aircraft used by those flying IFR conditions more often compared to those flying mostly VFR but being able to go into IMC occasionally if required and/or still being able to get down safely if the weather closes in. So I’d like to practice the instrument approaches at Gloucester again (this would be the most likely airfield I’d use if Kemble was unavailable), and also an ILS at one or two other places. In the meantime, some further practice at home on the PC simulator program RANT, seems to be called for. Ideal for those winter days when its raining outside.

Technical Details

Today’s flight was in G-SNUZ, a PA28 Warrior 2, rented from the RAF Lyneham Flying Club, now based at Kemble Airfield, a VFR only airfield in the UK. The aircraft has ADF, 2xVOR, ILS, GPS (with moving map display), DME and dual altimeters. The flight was almost entirely IFR with VFR for takeoff, approach and landing,  first from Kemble to Gloucester via Filton, returning via Dursley.

Total flight time today: 1:50 (of which 1:20 in IMC)
Total PIC time to date: 74:30
Total flight time to date: 165:35

This note is intended for any UK pilot with a JAR-PPL who already has the IMC rating. They are published only as a guide and with no warranty or guarantee of accuracy or completeness. You are strongly recommended to double check what is written below.

UK IMC Rating

The IMC rating applies only in UK airspace (including Isle of Man and Channel Islands), permitting the holder to fly in cloud, VFR on top and with reduced visibility for Special VFR transits. It does not permit flight in Airways or IFR in Class A airspace. At this time, its future is uncertain although commitments have been made that it will continue in some form after April 2012 when EASA FCL (flight crew licencing) basic regulations come into force. Around 10% of UK PPLs are thought to have this rating today.

This Pprune post provides some clarification from the CAA regarding the IMC, which was confirmed in this CAA interim statement published February 2012

1. Pilots may continue training for the IMCR for as long as they wish.
2. The IMCR may be added to a JAR-FCL until 30 Jun 2012.
3. The IMCR may be included in a supplementary United Kingdom PPL after 30 Jun 2012.
4. An IMCR may be used on EASA and non-EASA aeroplanes until Apr 2014 (for private purposes).
5. An IMCR may be used on non-EASA aeroplanes indefinitely.
6. The precise method for grandfathering existing IMCR privileges onto EASA part-FCL licences is as yet unknown, as is the cut-off date for such grandfathering.
7. Grandfathered IMC privileges on EASA part-FCL licences may be used on both EASA and non-EASA aeroplanes indefinitely.

Cliff Whittaker, Head of Licensing and Training Policy at the UK CAA, indicated in a presentation in October 2011 that their proposal to EASA may include a new specific “Instrument Rating (Restricted UK)” for the EASA PPL licence, which would grant the same privileges in UK airspace as enjoyed by IMC rated pilots today. He indicated that EASA want to consider the response to their simplified IR proposal first (see below), before making a final decision.

Further confirmation of the intention of the UK CAA is indicated in their response to the new EASA IMC proposals, where they clearly state:

[412] Comment: The UK CAA welcomes the confirmation given in this paragraph that the text of Regulation 1178/2011 should be interpreted as providing for the retention of national licence privileges already obtained by individual pilots.

Justification: As is well known, UK-licensed pilots holding the UK Instrument Meteorological Conditions Rating (IMC Rating) have been very concerned that they should be able to continue to use those privileges. The UK CAA will seek further discussions with the Agency on the terms of this and the nature of the conversion report to be provided.

and

[427] Comment: JAR-FCL 1.017 allowed for national ratings not included in JAR-FCL to be added to JAR-FCL licences and used in the airspace of those countries only, as follows:

JAR–FCL 1.017 Authorisations/Ratings for special purposes Authorisations/Ratings for special purposes associated with a licence (e.g. IMC flying, towing, aerobatics, dropping of parachutists, etc.) may be established by the Authority in accordance with the requirements of that JAA Member State for use solely within that Member State’s airspace. The use of such anauthorisation/rating in another JAA Member State’s airspace requires the prior agreement of the State(s) visited, except where a bilateral agreement exists. Retaining a similar requirement in Part-FCL would satisfy the needs of UK pilots wishing to gain the UK IMC Rating in the future.

There remains rumour and uncertainty over how this will all play out, but many are confident that at the very least “grandfather rights” for existing IMC holders will be retained. You are encouraged to ensure you have a valid and current IMC rating on 30 June 2012 if you can – this will increase your chances of retaining the privileges through “grandfather rights”.

Competency Based Instrument Rating

UK PPLs may also train for a full Instrument Rating, which gives worldwide privileges to fly in Airways, IFR routes and make instrument approaches. Currently this involves an extensive period of ground school training based on a subset of the commercial ATPL training. There are 7 exams to pass, normally done in two or three tranches. There are only two commercial providers of the course – CATS at Luton and GTS at Bournemouth. The exams must be sat at CAA offices in Gatwick on pre-determined dates over a period not exceeding 18 months. Thereafter, the practical course requires a minimum of 40 hours dual instruction at an FTO (which can include time on an approved flight simulator) followed by a practical skills test. FTO training is typically more expensive than at smaller training organisations, and it can also be more difficult to schedule time at weekends.

EASA committee FCL.0008 has been considering what to do about this. In September 2011, they published a Notice of Proposed Amendment NPA 2011-16, which:

a) Creates a new qualification, the Enroute Instrument Rating (EIR). This allows pilots to fly in cloud and in the airways during daytime including filing IFR flight plans. Taking off or landing in poor visibility/cloud is not permitted. Night flights are not included. It is positioned as a stepping stone towards a full Instrument Rating, usable in all EU countries and open to all pilots.

b) Simplifies the mandatory training for the Instrument Rating (IR). Those who want an IR will still have to pass the same stringent practical skills test, but the range of content for the theory exams will be much reduced. Only 10 hours of practical training need be done at an FTO, the remainder can be done at an ATO (by a suitably qualified Instrument Rated Instructor [IRI]) or even be based on IFR experience already gained. Many IMC rated pilots would already have well over 30 hours solo instrument flight time logged.

These proposals should make a full IR much more accessible for European pilots, many of whom had instead travelled to the US and trained for a US FAA IR at lower cost/time.

For those with an IMC already, the EIR probably makes little sense. The 10 hours FTO practical training applies for both the EIR or the IR and the theory knowledge exams are the same for both. The IR is a much more useful rating, so the incremental cost (perhaps a few extra hours at the FTO), would seem to be worthwhile.

For those without an IMC, it will depend on whether this qualification is still open to newcomers in the UK. If not, then the EIR may still be a good stepping stone. If not, then the IMC rating offers a good combination of coping in real IMC and getting back down with an instrument approach – potentially a lifesaver.

Existing IR holders

I can’t see any change or impact for existing IR holders. They will still require to revalidate annually as before.

Timeframe

The exact timeframe for the introduction of the new EIR/IR is unclear, but could be as early as end 2012.

A separate activity is being undertaken to review all theory knowledge for the ATPL and IR, with a timeframe of 2015 before coming into practical use. The competency based IR should be in place before then, using a slimmed down version of today’s IR theory.

Constraints

Those wishing to attain a full commercial ATPL will still need to pass the full set of 14 ground school ATPL exams. As today, there is no credit for the simpler PPL/IR theory. It is not intended for those seeking a longer term commercial career to take the competency based IR, which is targetted at the private pilot.

An IR qualification is of little use on its own. You will also need access to an IFR capable aircraft. Other factors which should increase the demand for an IR would be:

• low cost approvals for GPS approaches into airports
• low cost and simpler approvals to install GPS equipment in aircraft to use those approaches. In some cases, the GPS is already installed, but not approved for use in approaches
• avoiding the need for full ATC (rather than AFIS or A/G) control of all instrument approaches

References

EASA FCL.008 Notice of Proposed Amendment NPA 2011-16 and UK CAA comments on it.

AOPA magazine article on the IMC/IR proposals (October 2011) and AOPA UK webpage on the future of the IMC rating (Jan 2012)

CAA interim statement about the IMC Rating (Feb 2012)

I’ve separately covered the basic (non-IMC) JAR-PPL changes in this article

*Last updated 21 Feb 2012

The forecast for Saturday was very promising, CAVOK and little wind, with a suggestion of light rain to come through sometime during the day. For this late time of year, a surprisingly good conditions which I wanted to make the most of. Not expecting the weather to be so good, I’d not planned ahead, so it was Friday afternoon before the emails and messages were passed around a few flying friends. The outcome was that two club aircraft would fly to Swansea for lunch – Andy would fly his family in the Arrow, while I would take student pilot Sean in a Warrior. Since Andy couldn’t take off until 12, I elected to make it a three legged day and fly via Henstridge with a short stop there.

Quick preparation

This meant an early start. I ran through the usual Skydemon plan than I’d prepared the previous day, but for some reason weather (and so the automatic wind calculations for the plog) weren’t available. I had to resort to the traditional method and checked the weather on the Met Office website. With printouts of both destination airfields, plogs and the routes loaded into the portable GPS, I set off and picked up Sean on the way at 8:30.

My call for authorisation was quickly answered and approved – the instructor Dave suggested that this was becoming our regular Saturday morning call now – and he asked me to look up who had booked up the club aircraft today. I was pleased to report that all four of them were in use  (the other was out for maintenance), which made a big difference from last week. A couple of quick calls for PPR, filled in the tech log and we were ready to go. Since we would be crossing the Bristol channel, I thought it sensible to take the club liferaft and a couple of lifejackets – always better safe than sorry.

Frosty Morning

Although the sun was out, there was a layer of frost on the wings and tail section. Sean helped me scrub it off after we pulled it out off the grass onto the taxiway where the sun could get at it. I was careful not to scrape the paintwork. Without any de-icer (I’m sure the club had some, but couldn’t see it anywhere), this took a fair old while. It was after 10 before we were ready to mount up and start the engine. With the temperature down to just above zero, the engine wasn’t easy to start and took a good while to warm up to temperature. We only saw one other aircraft and a helicopter active before us, but there was more activity as we started taxi-ing and we followed another Kemble school aircraft to the hold for power checks.

Departing Kemble south west towards Henstridge

With everything checking out as normal, we took off and flew South West. I had made Tetbury a turning point before heading south so that we would be clear of Hullavington. Sean was spotting landmarks and trying to match these to the map. We could clearly make out the power stations on the Severn, the bridges and later the M4. The planned route took us to the West of Colerne and I wanted to see if I could make out Wadswick Farm strip as we passed overhead. We were distracted by Bristol Radar being unable to talk to one of the Grob tutors which we knew was in our vicinity, and saw another pass us by. Although the GPS was on, we tried to use the plog and visual nav to match landmarks on the chart. It was easy to make out Trowbridge and Frome as we passed through.

Clear skies heading south over Somerset

Switching to Henstridge, it seemed they were still very quiet at this time of day. Only one other aircraft to worry about. Without a large nearby town, the airfield isn’t too easy to spot – the GPS helps a lot for that. Their website gave quite a complex noise abatement plan which had many of the local villages highlighted, so you thread your way through the gaps. In retrospect, perhaps I should have done a standard overhead join, but instead elected to stay to the east and make a long final approach. I called final from about 4 miles out, and should have said so (or at least Long Final). Fortunately, there was no other circuit traffic so it was clear to arrive straight in. With little crosswind, it was a fairly straightforward landing.

The runway is in good condition and plenty long enough, but air/ground did warn of loose chippings on the taxiways which I didn’t come across. We parked on the grass to the side and walked into the main buildings.

Free breakfasts

It’s clear that the airfield has seen better days, with portacabin style temporary buildings in use for the cafe and operations area. The landing fee of £9 was very reasonable, and came with a surprise. Despite being 11:30, we were the first visitors to arrive after 10 and so qualified for two free full English breakfasts. I thought we were quite restrained in choosing the small rather than large option, which still included sausage, agg and beans. Teas and coffees are self service with an honesty box, ensuring you get it how you like it. The food came quickly, and we were joined by a group of 16 bikers from Ringwood who were on their annual pre-Christmas rideout.

Cafe at Henstridge, which quickly filled up after we arrived

One of the "small" english breakfasts we got for free

Departing for Swansea

After the walkround check, I ran the power checks on the grass parking area rather than on the taxiway where there might have been loose chippings. With no other traffic around at that time, backtracked and turned left after departure to avoid the village ahead. I tried calling Yeovil just in case they were active, but got no reply. It took a while before we spotted Yeovil airfield and it was no activity we could see. Navigating north west to Street and then headed west just north of Bridgewater. We could easily make out Hinckley Point power station.

A wall of dark cloud ahead

We could see a wall of dark cloud ahead, while across the channel in Cardiff there was clear sunshine. Our planned route was along the north Devon coast, keeping clear of the power station and then as far as Ilfracombe, turning north to coast out and cross directly to Swansea. However, as the dark clouds approached I thought instead I could make it through by passing north of the power station and along the Bristol Channel. Cardiff Radar were very helpful and as I routed north offered help with a transit or other support required. With the cloud becoming worse, I asked for a transit. They asked VFR or IFR, and I elected to remain VFR. The transit was for me to climb to 4000 feet due to other traffic, which after accepting took me into cloud. I said I was now IMC and requested a traffic service which was granted.

First IMC Solo

This was my first solo IMC experience since passing my test three months earlier and I was pleased at being able to switch automatically into the instrument scan. The main difference being the portable GPS which isn’t allowed during official training or the test itself, and helped further with situational awareness. I was a little suprised by how quickly my speed rose, up from 100 knots to around 120, and couldn’t quite figure that out – the attitude indicator showed me level and I was doing my best to maintain a constant height. I think there must have been a strong updraft, which meant I was effectively flying down to maintain height (even though the wings were level). Powering back solved that problem. Temperature was below zero and I was aware that being in cloud at this temperature for any length of time isn’t good, but we could see the wings so would have early warning of any ice buildup. I doubled checked the pitot heat was on.

After a few minutes, Cardiff told me they could see the storm cell finished about 2-3 miles ahead and told me I could maintain course and descend as required. They asked me to report when VMC again, which I did a few minutes later. It was definitely useful to have had the IMC training – although I could have turned around earlier and taken a different route, the short period was quite enough for a first real experience and reinforced how important it is to use the training. ATC were extremely helpful and asked a couple of times if there was any other assistance I needed – I hope I didn’t sound too concerned on the radio.

Two approaches for the price of one

Parachuting was evident at Swansea during the day, but we arrived during a quiet spot. I made a standard overhead join and reported downwind. I was surprised to hear another aircraft being advised to enter the runway and backtrack, just as I was about to turn final. I said I would go around, which I did. Perhaps there is enough time to sequence traffic in that way, but I wasn’t familiar enough to chance it. Second time round, landed on 28 which has a definite upslope and taxied in for fuel. A plane spotter took a photo during final approach and kindly sent it to me for use below.

G-VICC on short final approach into Swansea runway 28

The airport from the airside looks tired and a little run down. A helpful chap came and saw to our refuelling, after which we walked through the Cambrian Flying Club around to the cafe. It seemed a strange route to have to take. The cafe had a reasonable range of food and we met Steve, a student pilot there who I know through the flyer forum. After a very long wait for food, I went to ask and chase it up to find it had been sitting around for a while. Their system didn’t seem to work too well for me, but the food was good when it came.

Swansea Airport from the apron

We met Andy and his family who had flown in direct from Kemble in the Arrow, and chatted over lunch.

The two Lyneham club aircraft on the apron at Swansea

With sunset at around 4pm at this time of year, we couldn’t hang around for too long. As we walked back to the aircraft, we watched another group of parachutists drop into the field nearby. We departed with a great view of the Gower and tracked towards the Brecon VOR, just below 3000 feet.We identified the Brecon VOR visually as we passed overhead, and then tracked outbound en-route to the next VRP, a large reservoir.  Andy took off in the Arrow about 10 minutes after us, and we saw him overtake us just past the beacon. More worryingly, he didn’t see us! We were both talking to Cardiff radar earlier, and when I reported my height, ATC checked that Andy had heard – he had reported flying at 3,500 feet so should pass overhead.

From there, we flew between the two power stations on the Severn Estuary (above the restricted zone around them) and could easily make out the Jumbo aircraft parked up at Kemble. Perhaps I could have just joined downwind for 26, but instead elected to do a full overhead join. We had heard Andy call overhead and was downwind when we started to descend, so he landed only a few minutes ahead of us.

After putting away the aircraft and finishing off the paperwork, we debriefed in the AV8 cafe before returning home.

Technical Details

Today’s flight was in G-VICC, a PA28 Warrior 2, rented from the RAF Lyneham Flying Club, now based at Kemble Airfield, a VFR only airfield in the UK. The aircraft has ADF, 2xVOR, ILS, GPS (no moving map display), but the DME is not operational. The flight was almost entirely VFR with 10 mins IMC conditions,  first from Kemble to Henstridge, then to Swansea and back to Kemble, routing outbound via Trowbridge, Frome then Henstridge. From there to Street, Bridgewater, then north into the Bristol Channel and direct to Swansea.

SkyDemon Plan and SkyDemon GPS were used to plan the route, check NOTAM/weather, print a plog taking account of forecast winds aloft and fly the track. Pilotwizz (a free iPhone App) was used to check the METARS and TAFs on my phone.

Total flight time today: 3:10
Total PIC time to date: 72:40
Total flight time to date: 163:45

Winds aloft were forecast at 30-40 knots but surface winds were a more reasonable 10-15, and straight down the runway too. The weather forecast for the weekend had looked dubious all week, and I’d not expected to be able to do much today. I hadn’t arranged to share a flight with another pilot or passenger. After checking out the forecast and METARs, I replanned a flight to Old Buckenham which I’d hope to fly to a few weeks earlier but had to cancel due to bad weather. After checking the NOTAMs, printing out the plog and loading up we were ready to go.

Only me today

When I got to Kemble, I wasn’t the only one there. Dave, one of the aircraft owners, was busy swapping a dead battery on one of the Warriors. I was the only club pilot with a booking and had my choice of planes – take whichever one you want he said. Dave also kindly authorised my flight and left me to it. The airfield seemed a bit quiet – it was 10am on a Saturday – and only one one other aircraft (a small jet) took off while I was doing my checks. With the paperwork done, I phoned Old Buck just to check they had received my PPR request sent before they opened and ask if there was anything unusual that day. They confirmed they could sell me fuel, so I decided not to top up before I left.

The surface wind was around 10-12 knots almost straight down the runway when departing 26, which made for a quick climbout and the lack of traffic meant I could turn right after departure and head north west. I routed via Moreton-in-the-Marsh, Daventry VOR, Lakenheath and then skirted south of the Danger Area to Snettisham and into the Old Buck circuit.

140 knots groundspeed in a Warrior

The winds aloft were as strong as predicted and I found my GPS telling me I was doing 140 knots over the ground (with 100 knots airspeed). This made for a really quick flight of about an hour. Brize gave me a basic service for the first bit, but just before Daventry told me to freecall London Information. I did wonder if that would be worthwhile, but they weren’t busy and did keep track of me, assigning their default squawk of 1177. Giving me the pressure setting in millibars, I replied in HectoPascals (the newly introduced terminology, even though they mean the same thing) and the controller apologised, saying that old habits die hard. I could clearly make out Sywell airfield and several others from the chart, but didn’t talk to them.

Enroute between Daventry and Lakenheath

London Info prompted me to call Lakenheath when I was somewhere around Wellingborough, which I did. I wasn’t exactly sure where the coverage areas begin and end. It was strange to hear an American voice from Lakenheath ATC, but they happily gave me a discrete squawk code and confirmed that at my height (3000 feet) there was no need for zone transit or traffic conflicts. The frequency was very quiet with only one or two other aircraft passing through. Apparently they don’t use the term traffic when warning you about other potential aircraft to look out for, instead using the word “target”, but there was so little around that I didn’t hear them say that myself.

Landing in front of the scrapyard

Switching over to Old Buck when I was about 10 miles out, they confirmed they “had my details” and asked me to report when entering the circuit at Snetterton. I descended slowly down to circuit height, and looked out the printout of the noise abatement circuit from their website. It was easy to follow, just keeping left of the main road and north of Attleborough making it quite a wide circuit. With the strong wind again blowing almost straight down the runway, final approach seemed to be in slow motion. What strikes you first is that about half of the original runway has been made into a scrapyard and you fly directly overhead on short final. You wonder if that’s where they put all the planes that mess up their landings, and you just hope you aren’t going to be added to the total.

Although I was close to the centreline, I flared perhaps a bit high resulting in a small bounce before landing. Compensating for the strong wind, I’d only used 2 stages of flaps and kept the speed up by 10 knots more than I would normally. With 800 metres of hard runway, there was plenty of time to sort it out although I did briefly consider going around at one point.

Progressive taxi

Air Ground were very welcoming and quickly recognised I didn’t know where I was going. On the PPR form, I’d indicated I wanted to upload some fuel, so they helpfully directed me to the fuel bowser. I needed to check they meant the old fuel truck parked outside the main buildings. After shutting down, I signed in and paid the £10 landing fee at the clubhouse, then walked across to the flying club who administer the fuel. A helpful chap came out and warned me that because I was the first customer of the day, he would have to do some extra checks. I was in no hurry so we discussed the new lower priced UL91 fuel available elsewhere while he started up the beast and drained off enough AVGAS to check for purity. We manually pulled the aircraft closer and I filled up to the brim which would avoid the need to refuel on my return to Kemble.

The fuel bowser ready to dispense AVGAS

Jimmy’s Cafe

Now for the important part of the trip – lunch! Jimmy is an American who offers a range of dishes with American names. Todays’s special was Sausage Gumbo, apparently not from the far South, but California. A sort of sausage and bean stew on a bed of rice. Not bad for £3.50. A few locals popped in for a pint, and a couple of other aircraft were visiting, but generally it was relatively quiet.

The well appointed Jimmy's Cafe at Old Buckenham

I spoke with the resident photographers, Dave Moth and Ivor Parkington, who both took pictures for the airfield photo gallery. They have several thousand to their credit, capturing almost everything that lands at the airfield and publishing on their Flickr photostream. They’ve included me too - I even moved the aircraft so that Ivor could get a better shot. It made the paint job look quite polished!

After checking there were no special booking out procedures, I was reminded to turn right soon after takeoff to avoid the village ahead. They obviously want to keep their neighbours happy. Checking the METARs and TAFs for Brize gave me confidence that the weather would be OK on my return – the current 10-12 knots surface winds were not forecast to increase much and the direction was OK.

Departing into the wind

Departure was brisk, the wind had picked up since I landed , so I took off quickly and climbed rapidly, heading back to the south of the danger area overhead Snetterton again. With a strong headwind, my GPS reported a groundspeed of around 70 knots and sometimes less – matching what my PLOG told me to expect. My first main leg straight back to Daventry was timed at 57 minutes and took pretty close to that in practice. The advantage of this route was there were few airspace restrictions and no transits required.

As on the way out, I spoke with Lakenheath who gave me a squawk code and warned me that this time they were active with traffic up to 2500 feet. I maintained 3000 feet again to keep out of the way. After getting their pressure setting in millibars (because it was 1000 they didn’t use the term), I then heard the controller talking to one of their own American aircraft, a KC10, giving them the pressure setting in inches. I’d now heard three different terms used in the course of the same day: Hectopascals, millibars and inches.

What’s ATC speak for go away?

After departing their MATZ area there was a sudden and rapid spurt of words to get rid of me – Charlie Charlie, squawk 7000, frequency change approved. I asked if that was for me. After a minute or two, they confirmed it was – I’m guessing this happened just at a change of shift. Our military radar doesn’t seem to be very tightly integrated with the civilian system for VFR flights.

The flatlands of East Anglia

So it was back to London Information, where I shared the airwaves with pilots crossing the coast to France or in the remoter parts of Wales. But it was very quiet – there must have been almost 30 minutes of silence – and at times I did wonder if my radio was still working. I dropped back down to about 2000 feet, partly to obey the quadrantial rule and partly because I expected the headwind to be slightly less when closer to the ground. Kept the regular FREDA checks, switched tanks, looked out for traffic, tracked the Daventry VOR inbound and tried to match what I saw out the window with what was on the chart.

At Shennington I saw some gliders in action, including a winch launch, so deviated to the south to keep well clear. A dark cloud bank ahead made me return to my original track soon after and there was some turbulence as I flew through it.

Sun in my eyes

Switched back to Brize, who again gave me a Basic service and squawk until I was south of Northleach Roundabout. At that point I was finding it difficult to see directly ahead because of the low sun. Switching to Kemble, I was pleased to hear there wasn’t much traffic about and was suggested that a right base join for 26 would be available. With left hand circuits in use for 26, that would be the one pattern I hadn’t flown there before, as well as expediting my arrival. But without good visibility, I decided instead to make a direct crosswind join and use the standard pattern.

Surface wind was reported as 27 knots 210 degrees before quickly being corrected as 21 knots at 270 degrees – quite a difference between a major crosswind and almost straight down the runway. As with my earlier landing that day, final seemed to take forever even at 10 knots extra. Although I wasn’t quite centred on the runway, touchdown this time was one of the gentlest I’ve ever done. A quick glance at the GPS during the flare showed a groundspeed of 38 knots and the stall warner hadn’t gone off.

Signing off

Without needing to refuel, it was taxi straight back to parking, tidy up, covers on and paperwork. There had been nobody else from the club flying that afternoon so the clubhouse was deserted. There had been a fly-in at Kemble, I think from Fairoaks, and it was good to see several aircraft departing just before sunset when the airfield officially closes. With the benefit of lights at their home airfield, they can extend the day and enjoy some night flying on their return leg.

The outbound leg had taken about an hour airborne time (total 1:20) but the return leg took more like 1:40 airborne (total 2:00), which just shows what a strong wind can do to the range of a small aircraft.

Another 30 minutes PIC time and I think I have done enough to qualify for the AOPA Silver Wings award. Whether I manage that this year or not depends partly on the weather, but I certainly can’t complain about the lack of flying trips in the last few weeks. Club rules now give me 43 days currency, so I’d still be OK to fly in mid-January without needing a further currency check.

Technical Details

Today’s flight was in G-VICC, a PA28 Warrior 2, rented from the RAF Lyneham Flying Club, now based at Kemble Airfield, a VFR only airfield in the UK. The aircraft has ADF, 2xVOR, ILS, GPS (no moving map display), but the DME is not operational. The flight was VFR,  direct from Kemble to Old Buckenham and back, routing outbound via Moreton-in-the-Marsh, Daventry VOR, (passing south of Sywell/Northampton and north of Cambridge), Lakenheath, Thetford, Snetterton, Old Buckenham; return leg was simply reversed. SkyDemon Plan and SkyDemon GPS were used to plan the route, check NOTAM/weather, print a plog taking account of forecast winds aloft and fly the track. Pilotwizz (a free iPhone App) was used to check the METARS and TAFs on my phone.

Total flight time today: 3:20
Total PIC time to date: 69:30
Total flight time to date: 160:35

Strong winds this weekend, especially over the north parts of Britain, didn’t sound promising. However, the south of England was clear with good visibility and the stronger winds from WNW didn’t mean too much of a crosswind. I’d arranged to take an old friend up for a flight with his young lad, who has always been keen on airplanes. It was very much a surprise for him, and only when he arrived at the airfield did he realise we were going flying. It was great to see the excitement in his face.

Quick preparation

Having obtained authorisation for my flight the evening before (club rules require me to have permission from an instructor before I can go anyway), and pre-planned the route/NOTAMS/weather at home before I left, I turned up just as G-VICC was being taxied back into its parking spot by the previous pilot. Confirming there were no issues with the plane, and completing the paperwork, I was ready to walk out to the aircraft just as my friends turned up. A quick transit check and we were ready to board, probably one of the quickest departures I’ve made. My friend Tim did check whether the amount of camera gear he planned to take along wouldn’t overload the aircraft – he did have a fair few lenses to switch between – but still much less than the extra passenger that we could have accommodated – fuel was on tabs, so there were no weight and balance limitations.

Although it seemed quite windy on the ground, there were several aircraft flying and the previous pilot confirmed it was very good visibility once airborne. Some 15 knots plus gusts, but within 30 degrees of the runway, meant some concentration required but nothing that should unduly worry the passengers. We boarded and I ran through the checks including briefing the passengers – no talking when the radio is talking and don’t touch any of the controls! (I have to say that passenger behaviour was impeccable throughout).

Taking off with a stronger wind was pretty quick and we climbed out before turning south-west and departing the zone. I changed to Bristol for a basic service and tracked over Tetbury and down the A46 towards the M4 junction. We had a great view of Colerne and then Bath where I circled over my house, pointing out the main features of Bath while both passengers took plenty of photos. Heading south on to Frome, we then spotted a glider at The Park which we kept well clear of. We could see for miles and I easily picked out Compton Abbas airfield from the distance.

Arrival at Compton Abbas

As I called in, they asked if I had PPR – I confessed not (I had looked at their website earlier and thought that PPR wasn’t required). I almost always call up any airfield I plan to visit in advance, but for perhaps the first time I didn’t do this today because I know the place and have been there several times. This forum thread lists several airfields that don’t require PPR by telephone. I had looked at their website, NOTAMs and webcam earlier in the day to check everything looked OK. I was then given a short briefing that because the airfield grass was fairly damp, I should use only gentle braking and make wide turns when on the ground. Being a grass airfield, heavy rain makes a big difference to operations.

I made a full overhead join with the noise abatement chartlet on my lap. The stronger WNW wind, perhaps 15 knots plus gusts, meant there was a little sinking on short final, but the actual touchdown was flattered by being on grass and my passengers were quite happy about it. I asked to taxi directly to the fuel pumps and was pleased to find there wasn’t a queue. The airfield was quite busy for a day so late in the season – the sunshine had brought many people out. There seemed to be a constant stream of visitors, owners and club aircraft movements this afternoon and the restaurant/cafe was pretty full.

The procedure for fuelling up there was new to me, but straightforward. The price was about 10p per litre cheaper than at Kemble, and my landing fee was only £6 because I’m a member. I asked about the bowser marked 91UL (a new, lower cost/lower octane aircraft fuel recently launched in the UK), and was told this would probably be on sale next week – this should help keep costs down too. After fuelling and paying up, I parked the aircraft while my friend helped a pilot move his aircraft out of the hangar.

Compton Abbas parking area

Hazy departure

After a quick tea and cake, we were back in the saddle and walked out ready to depart. Compton Abbas is a delight to take visitors, with it being so active and having such great views on sunny autumn days like today. Tim commented that the idea of just flying somewhere and stopping for a coffee must be great fun – it is a great privilege to be able to do this. After walking back out to the aircraft, I saw Keith, my very first PPL instructor, arrive in his Tomahawk share (also based at Kemble) – he was giving some induction training to a new share member.

Departing the zone we could see a haze all around. I climbed up to about 3,500 feet to see if it might be better there but it wasn’t. Bristol gave me a basic service (but kept me on a 7000 sqwawk) and asked me to report abeam Bath. We kept a good lookout and spotted a glider at The Park and another aircraft much lower below us. I descended back down to around 2500 feet to see if the visibility improved, which it did. I think Tim got some great photographs.

Transit from Bath to Filton

As we approached Bath, I realised we were a little ahead of schedule and had enough time to fly over to the Severn Bridges before then going back to Kemble. My passengers were keen to do so, having lived near Filton in the distant past. Sunset was just after 4pm today, and we had taken off just before 3 but made good time. I asked for a transit to cut the corner from Bath to Filton not above 3,000 feet – the airspace is a bit cramped just to the north of Bath and although it can be done at lower altitude, I’d prefer to have the scope to go higher if need be. My mistake was not to have called out my position, which was just South of Bath, in my transit request. The controller gave me a specific sqwawk code which quickly allowed him to confirm my location, and after a short delay agreed to my request.

This took the pressure off keeping clear of controlled airspace as we flew just to the west of Bath Racecourse, with both Severn Bridges in view in the distance and Filton/Cribbs Causeway in between. Bristol advised me about a passenger jet taking off and maneouvring to the west, which we saw shortly after. I tuned in the ILS to Filton frequency, ident it and saw it advise me correctly that I was too high on the glideslope and offtrack (to the South) as we flew towards it. We had a traffic advisory about another PA28 crossing overhead Filton which we spotted, and I reported visual. As we drew closer to the Bridges, we were advised to be now clear of controlled airspace, told to sqwawk 7000 and advise changing frequency.

Great views in the setting sun

We got a great view of the Bridges and then did a few steep turns (which Tim’s son quite enjoyed) as we worked our way back to Kemble. I got the R/T phraseology slightly wrong when I told (rather than requested) a change of frequency back to Kemble – this was approved. Kemble wasn’t too busy this late in the day – there were a couple of aircraft on frequency – so I elected to join downwind (avoiding the local villages) which made the approach straightforward. As we came in on final for runway 26, the wind was advised to be around 15 knots WNW. The airfield notes (in the AIP) warn that with strong winds from this direction there can be turbulence on short final, which there was. There was a definite “sink” which required a good dose of extra power at one point and I only used 2 stages of flaps rather than 3, keeping the speed up. Another soft touchdown, but not so short that I could turn off at the first intersection and directly taxi back without going the long way round.

We arrived to see another of the club aircraft being packed away. Three pairs of hands made putting the covers back on quick work.Paperwork done, we enjoyed a coffee in the AV8 cafe as the sun set and the last few aircraft closed down. I was also able to meet up with my instructor friend and his share pilot/student again, where we discussed what was happening with The Flying School Kemble which had closed its doors a few weeks earlier.

Technical Details

Today’s flight was in G-VICC, a PA28 Warrior 2, rented from the RAF Lyneham Flying Club, now based at Kemble Airfield, a VFR only airfield in the UK. The aircraft has ADF, 2xVOR, ILS, GPS (no moving map display), but the DME is not operational. The flight was VFR,  direct from Kemble to Compton Abbas and back, routing outbound via M4/J18, Bath and Frome; return leg was extended by transitting directly from Bath via Filton to Severn Bridges and then direct back to Kemble. SkyDemon Plan and SkyDemon GPS were used to plan the route, check NOTAM/weather, print a plog taking account of forecast winds aloft and fly the track.

Total flight time today: 1:45
Total PIC time to date: 66:10
Total flight time to date: 157:15