My last flight was a bit of a sight-seeing flight around Southern England. I actually flew a route from Thruxton North to the other side of the M4, west to Swindon, South to Avebury and West Kennett and South back to Thruxton.
Here's a few things I learned that might help you if you are flying
1) Experienced navigators are good to help with the map reading. We both knew where we were going, but as we were specifically looking for items on the ground (white horses carved into hillsides to be exact) it was useful to have a navigator. The lesson learned is that people who can navigate in a car need to learn that we cover more ground a lot quicker when flying at 115 knots (I was in a Warrior III which goes slightly faster than I'm used to). We actually overflew one white horse two or three times because we weren't looking in the right place below us.
2) ATC are wonderful people. Bearing in mind that this was a Friday, I flew into RAF Lyneham CTA. I contacted them well in advance, told them my approximate routing and asked for permission to cut across their zone. Knowing the area as I do I was aware that there was a large amount of military air traffic in the region and fully expected to be told 'Stay out of controlled airspace at all times", but to my surprise I was given a clearance not ABOVE 1500 feet (!) to overfly central Swindon and enter the controlled airspace. When I questioned the altitude (expecting to have been told not BELOW 1500 feet) I was informed that there was IFR traffic on approach and I would need to stay below them. Excellent! I cut across the controlled airspace, overflew the stone circles at Avebury (see picture) and headed towards the long barrow at West Kennet. ATC asked me if I was then routing direct to Thruxton and I asked if I could circle Avebury again. They said 'Sure, no problem'. Excellent service - especially when he was also looking after Hercules and HS 125's heading into and out of RAF Lyneham at the same time.
3) The weather needn't stop you having fun: but it can affect your plans. When I left home for Thurxton it was sunny and clear. The METAR called for clear skies up to 7500 feet and then scattered above that. I did a check flight and a couple of circuits to get currency for taking passengers and by the time I had finished, the weather had closed in. I was looking at a flight to the North and I could see that the slant range was not good heading that way. Back at the flying club I discussed things with the instructor and we decided that - as long as I could turn round whenever the weather turned - I would probably be OK. The truth of the matter was that the clouds never caused a problem other than preventing more than about 5 miles of forward visibility (Check out the Avebury photo to see the actual visibility). We were clear of cloud at all points, we were in site of the ground at all points and we were never seriously looking at a diversion. However it did rain during the flight and I was always conscious of the fact that as long as the weather was moving in from the West I would have to keep routing East to stay clear. Originally we were looking at flying south west around the danger zones outside Boscombe Down to get a look at Stonehenge, but this ended up out of the question. Although this is now something to do on another day!
In summary - not a bad days flying after being away from aviation since October last year, but the weather might have been better.
(Picture courtesy of Jo Long)
Here's a few things I learned that might help you if you are flying
1) Experienced navigators are good to help with the map reading. We both knew where we were going, but as we were specifically looking for items on the ground (white horses carved into hillsides to be exact) it was useful to have a navigator. The lesson learned is that people who can navigate in a car need to learn that we cover more ground a lot quicker when flying at 115 knots (I was in a Warrior III which goes slightly faster than I'm used to). We actually overflew one white horse two or three times because we weren't looking in the right place below us.
2) ATC are wonderful people. Bearing in mind that this was a Friday, I flew into RAF Lyneham CTA. I contacted them well in advance, told them my approximate routing and asked for permission to cut across their zone. Knowing the area as I do I was aware that there was a large amount of military air traffic in the region and fully expected to be told 'Stay out of controlled airspace at all times", but to my surprise I was given a clearance not ABOVE 1500 feet (!) to overfly central Swindon and enter the controlled airspace. When I questioned the altitude (expecting to have been told not BELOW 1500 feet) I was informed that there was IFR traffic on approach and I would need to stay below them. Excellent! I cut across the controlled airspace, overflew the stone circles at Avebury (see picture) and headed towards the long barrow at West Kennet. ATC asked me if I was then routing direct to Thruxton and I asked if I could circle Avebury again. They said 'Sure, no problem'. Excellent service - especially when he was also looking after Hercules and HS 125's heading into and out of RAF Lyneham at the same time.
3) The weather needn't stop you having fun: but it can affect your plans. When I left home for Thurxton it was sunny and clear. The METAR called for clear skies up to 7500 feet and then scattered above that. I did a check flight and a couple of circuits to get currency for taking passengers and by the time I had finished, the weather had closed in. I was looking at a flight to the North and I could see that the slant range was not good heading that way. Back at the flying club I discussed things with the instructor and we decided that - as long as I could turn round whenever the weather turned - I would probably be OK. The truth of the matter was that the clouds never caused a problem other than preventing more than about 5 miles of forward visibility (Check out the Avebury photo to see the actual visibility). We were clear of cloud at all points, we were in site of the ground at all points and we were never seriously looking at a diversion. However it did rain during the flight and I was always conscious of the fact that as long as the weather was moving in from the West I would have to keep routing East to stay clear. Originally we were looking at flying south west around the danger zones outside Boscombe Down to get a look at Stonehenge, but this ended up out of the question. Although this is now something to do on another day!
In summary - not a bad days flying after being away from aviation since October last year, but the weather might have been better.
(Picture courtesy of Jo Long)
