Lesson 37, Nav + Pleasure Trip

Having not flown in about 12 days I managed to set a new record for myself, the longest time having not flown since I started back in May. I had a couple of hours booked for Saturday as a duel navigation flight and thankfully the weather came good in time.

Antonio told me to plan for a short trip to Petersfield and from there we would divert to an as yet unknown destination. Petersfield is to the South East of Blackbushe and a new direction for me so I wasn't familiar with the landmarks from the air, which led to an embarrasing mistake of pointing at a small town and declaring "there.. there is Peterfield!" said in a triumphant tone. Antonio asked me "..are you sure?" revealing my error for what it was, a mistake. Petersfield was actually the next town along and visible from the right hand window.

From there I was given the freedom to go next where I wanted, visibility was excellent and I could clearly see the Isle of Wight far to the South so I picked that as my choice. We flew accross the Solent which was a new experience, crossing water and looking down on the countless sail boats and shipping in this busy sea lane. The Isle of Wight is beautiful, with undulating terrain and mostly bordered with tall white cliffs, so we flew fairly low around the coast line following the cliffs and then over the port.

We then set off back to Blackbushe, time sure flies. On the way back Antonio said we should divert to Dunsfold airfield so I carried out a standard divertion, worked out the heading and the time, checking minimium safe altitude and airspace restrictions. Then having done that, decided to ignore my calculated heading and fly roughly in the direction my gut told me it was... doh! We got there eventually but was sloppy navigation. From there I was told to just use the map and get us back, no calculating headings. I managed to get us back ok but I was hesitant and not thinking as clearly as I should do.

To tell the truth I was relaxed and just enjoying being in the air again and the rust had definately set in. 2 hours logged today and QXC hopefully now tomorrow if the weather stays good! Whilst back in the office completing the log book I met another student of Antonio's who kindly introduced himself as a reader of my blog, nice to know I have readers! :-)