Compton Abbas

Today I thought I had a slot booked with an instructor, however I had made a mistake, I DO have an instructor slot but not until Wednesday, the slot I booked today was just as a hirer. I decided anyway to go to a short grass strip to get some practice as I had by this time carried out all the planning.

The airfield I selected is Compton Abbas, which I heard was very nice. The weather was mainly overcast today at 4500MSL and few at 2500MSL which was fine as I wanted to cruise at 3500MSL between the layers. The strong winds of the past couple of days had reduced alot and was now around 12knts, this would make the landing more interesting at Compton Abbas as the wind was directly accross the runway.

I depart safe in the knowledge that I can have the aircraft the whole afternoon as strangely it seems it is a slow day at Blackbushe with few bookings.

The flight out to Compton Abbas is uneventfull, other than twice having to cross MATZ's which were both busy today, Farnborough radar were excellent with their traffic advisories. I very nearly flew right past Compton Abbas as it is pretty hard to see from the air as the surrounding terrain is a ridge of hills covered in green fields and woodlands, the airfield is sat at the top of one of these hills. The circuit here is also unusual with two dog legs to avoid overflying some small villiages and hamlets. I join from deadside with only one other aircraft doing touch-n-go's (I later find out it is a Citabria). On final the air is fairly choppy due to the wind rising off the nearby hillsides and I mess around with attitude a bit to try and get the airspeed I want, I also have an outrageous crab angle going on for the crosswind. Now to remember all the lessons on soft and short field landings. The runway is very narrow and runs downhill then uphill again, well has more character than the big dead level asphalt runway I am used to at Blackbushe. As I cross the threshold I bleed off the speed slowly while applying a touch more power to keep flying a bit and touch down very softly with the stall horn blaring.. ok I am down.. argh no I am not.. yes I am.. this runway has a load of bumps so the katana bounces gently along on the mains as I roll to a halt.

I shut down and get out, the view from the airfield is amazing, I will definately have to come back here in the summer. The parked aircraft here include alot of aerobatic types, a Pitts Special, a Vans RV6, a Bulldog.. they all look like fun. The airfield also has a small aviation museum but I decided I needed a drink so went and got a cold coke from the clubhouse. This whole airfield is pretty much GA and a commercial venture is not to be seen, makes a refreshing change. The people are also really friendly, the lady behind the counter chatted to me for awhile, apparently she first learnt how to fly tiger moths at Blackbushe.

The return flight is again mainly uneventfull, with only having to deviate from my flightplan in order to get clearance through one of the MATZ on the way back.

Really enjoyed the flying today and pleased that amazingly I didn't run into any hedges or trees or imbed the wheels into their nice crazy runway. God I love flying!

AA5 Check-out

Weather this morning was fairly crap with cloudbase at around 2000MSL and a strong NW wind of around 16knts gusting 20knts, fairly ideal actually for a duel check in a new aircraft.

Matt was my instructor for today as Antonio is back in Spain for a week, their two teaching styles are different but both are gifted pilots and have enough patience to suffer my less than perfect aircraft handling. We basically have to go and do some airwork from the PPL course such as stalls, steep turns, glides, engine failures then a whole bunch of landings, the differences from the Katana will be briefed as we go.

After carrying out an A check together which is pretty much similiar to the Katana we depart, taxiing the AA5 is considerably easier than the Katana with a larger rudder and bigger pedals. The take off is different also, the AA5 being heavier requires slightly more speed (65knts at rotation) and at first I do not pull back enough on the control column, being used to the much more sensitive Katana. It climbs like a brick into some fairly turbulent air. We continue out to the West and climbing to a nice gap in the clouds. Flying amoungst large cumulus clouds is alot of fun and we have to weave and frequently change direction to remain clear.

The control column is easy to get used to, although I find the controls much heavier than the Katana, with the Katana only slight pressure on the stick is needed to turn and the stick has a much nicer responsive feel to it. Using a control column feels akin to 'driving' an aircraft around the sky. The next problem for me is the rudder, I find it very hard to retrain myself for the larger rudder, I am used to applying a lot of rudder in the Katana when turning and also when climbing and descending in order to keep co-ordinated, the AA5 however requires much less.

At 5000MSL we find a relatively large hole in the clouds so to begin with Matt demonstrates a power-off stall and the recovery. The stall is less benign than in the Katana as the Katana tends to mush with the nose bopping up a down, in the AA5 a wing drop occurs followed by the nose coming down, recovery the same. I carry out a few of these without losing any significant height and using the rudder to level the wings.

Next are standard steep turns, I carry out a few turns to the right to 60degrees of bank while applying significant back pressure to keep altitude. It turns out than the nose position in reference to the horizon is pretty much the same as the Katana therefore it comes alot easier than expected. Turns to the left are again the same. Matt and myself are fairly satisfied with those so we move on. Matt suddenly tells me I have an engine fire, so I go through the procedure, fuel off and engine secured and dive to VNE until Matt tells me the fire is out, I pull out gentle from the dive to best glide speed of 75knts and pick a suitable field into wind. The field is very close by and we are way to high still so I note the current heading of 180 and decide to do a hi-key maneouver so keep a bank angle of 30 degrees and keeping the field in sight. I roll out and we are lined up pretty much but a touch too high so full flaps and forward slip. It was clear we would make it so we climb away. Immediately after at around 600MSL engine failure again, I secure the aircraft and pick another field, this again goes well so climb away again.

We continue to around 2000MSL, now we are flying over a more built-up area with very few fields suitable for landing so you guessed it, engine failure again. Over to the far left is a suitable field but it is a long way, hmm can we make it, probably not but I go for it anyway. I turn towards the field and in doing so now have a strong tailwind, this makes alot of difference and we glide extremely well. Do all the normal stuff such as restart checks, mayday call, secure everything and before long all looks good, I allow the aircraft to pass the field on the left hand side so I can turn into wind. As soon as I bring it into wind it is like the aircraft suddenly stops gliding and starts descending quicker, of course this is an illusion.. an aircraft climbs or descends no differently with a head or tail wind. We do make it however just.

The next engine failure is not so good, I pick a suitable field out of very little choice, it is in fact three fields adjacent with what looks like small wire fences seperating them.. in the circumstances was still the best place. My mistake this time is to underestimate the wind, I mention that it is not into wind it will be accross the wind with a slight tailwind. The result is we reach the field fine but are way too high, I could circle but doubtfull I had enough height to complete it, therefore failed on that attempt. Matt takes us back roughly to where we were when he started the fan stop and demonstrates the same thing himself, although this time he uses a different approach to the field and was able to put us into wind. Lesson learnt.

Over-all the procedures were fine and in most cases I would have made a successful forced landing so satisfied I didn't screw it up to badly Matt decided we should do some unusual attitude recovery with questions on instruments etc. Closing my eyes I felt the aircraft apparently doing a series of aerobatics under Matt's control, basically he was trying to mess up my senses and succeeded. He told me to open my eyes and I have control. Speed rocketing upwards and wings banked, spiral dive so close the throttle and ease out of the dive whilst leveling the wings gradually. We do a couple of these including nose high. No problems so head back for circuits.

Circuits today are interesting with a strong crosswind and alot of turbulence, the more I fly in these conditions with an instructor the better really. The first landing is a normal landing and on final the wind is gusting around with airspeed fluctuating alot due to wind shear, the landing is not too bad for my first in an AA5. I do a few more touch and go's with different degrees of flap, each one is pretty hard work with the conditions. The circuit is empty apart from us which is ideal for a few glide approaches, so we do a few of those. Again the wind makes this pretty hard to judge as each time is slightly different. Only once do I have to go-around however and the remainder are acceptable although all my landings are not greasers that I regularly do in the Katana. The Katana being lighter however would be a real handfull in these conditions.

We land and Matt is generally pleased so tells me I am checked out and we don't need to do anything else. I therefore can now rent a four seater as well as a Katana so gives me hopefully more options and more availability of aircraft.

In comparing the two I would say the Grumman AA5 is nice to fly, it is easier in the cruise with a much better trim system than the Katana, the visibility is almost as good as the Katana also with a low nose attitude. It is however heavier, feels slower and is less lithe than the Katana, I think perhaps less fun to fly. The school also has Piper Warrior II's but I have decided they feel much to much like driving a bus in comparison to both the AA5 and especially the Katana.

I am hoping to fly again with Antonio next week to go fly some difficult circuits at another airfield with a short grass runway, this is in order to get some real short/soft field landings in rather than just simulated ones. The airfield I have in mind also has a wierd circuit to avoid over-flying some nearby villages.

Future plans

At the moment a number of plans are formulating for my future now I have a license. The first one is investing in an aircraft, I have been looking at the options for group ownership and due to some very kind groups have been able to look at several aircraft recently. One in particular was very tempting, a fairly new Piper PA28 Warrior II with full IFR and airways fit, moving map Garmin GPS and a comfortable interior. In flight it was much more stable than I am used to but felt a little ponderous. The visibility also was much less than I am used to, but otherwise I could see the benefit of flying the aircraft as a tourer.

The next option came about in a strange way, I saw a small handwritten advert pinned to a noticeboard, advertising a citabria for sale so I called the number and was told he was selling on behalf of an Irish guy who wanted to buy one of his super cubs. This lead to a conversation on super cubs and he invited me down to take a look in their farm strip hangar.

I found the place and went in to a fairly non-descript hangar to be greeted by the sight of around 16 super cubs in various conditions, some missing wings and some complete. Nearly all had Isreali airforce markings. Basically they were recently bought from the Isreali airforce as a lot and are being fully refurbished. It was immediately apparent that much care was being taken over this process and the quality of the finished articles is simply superb. The selling price of each one is around the $85,000.00 mark (in USD because currently the work is being carried out under the FAA rather than the more costly CAA), with the exchange rate being favorable this gives me an option to invest in a vintage aeroplane which will still cruise at 110knts and land in the smallest places. Flying a taildragger also very much appeals. I have been offered a test flight in one at the earliest opportunity which I intend to follow up.

The next aim of mine certainly for this year is to get the IMC rating, I am considering doing this in the USA as the cost is almost a quarter of the cost here, even throwing in the cost of the flights still is far more attractive.

Flyingwise, I plan to cross the channel this year and do some flying in Europe, particularly the idea of flying down to Italy via the Alps seems like fun.

First passenger flight

I had a two hour slot reserved yesterday morning intending to be my first passenger flight, my dad having agreed to come along for a ride. My intention was to take a scenic route and fly down to the coast and the Isle of Wight. The problems began the night before, weather reports were showing broad weather fronts moving accross the UK from the South West with CB's and thunder storms, and a reported wind of 240/20G40. I therefore ruled out flight in my mind and phoned my dad to let him know it wasn't possible.

Come the morning I called Blackbushe to cancel the booking and to my surprise learnt that flying was going on and the weather was not as bad as reported, the wind whilst strong was pretty much straight down the runway. Therefore late change of plan. I called my dad and he was game, I warned him the conditions will be a bit rough but nothing to be concerned about. I checked the METARS and TAFS along with the NOTAMS and all in all although the weather looked generally poor VFR flight was definately possible, I would just have to avoid clouds. Due to my lack of preperation first thing (in mistakenly ruling out flying) we arrived late.. almost an hour late. That gave us just 1 hour to have a fly around, therefore I decided to go to familiar territory where I did the majority of my training.

The preflight proved annoying, the fuel was almost empty requiring further delay to fill up, secondly the borrowed club headset was broken requiring a trip back to the office to pick up another one, more delay. After briefing my dad on what we were going to be doing we departed. My take off was reasonably good, although once in the air I experienced alot of turbulence and wind shear passing over the trees at the end of runway 25, this whilst not alarming made me make a mental note that returning later was likely to be the same so to be prepared.




Visibility was fairly good, although not as good as I hoped and certainly not over to the West where I had intended to head, I obtained flight information service from Farnborough Radar and went North towards what looked like a large break in the front. The journey out was at around 2500-3000AMSL variable due to avoiding the odd cloud and proved to be a bumpy ride. This did not worry my dad either as he is an experienced flyer (although not a pilot). We headed over to Reading area to take a few pictures of a sailing club where he owns a boat, a clear patch of blue sky showed through a large hole in the clouds and I decided to head through the front keeping the option of turning back should this start getting worrying. We passed by a large black CB pouring rain which was basically from ground level till at least 10000ft.





We broke free of the line of the weather front and entered into beautiful blue skies with the sun shining down, the air become smooth and I was able to climb to 4000ft. Another weather front was approaching from the West but was still at least 40nm away giving us time to safely stay in this area. At this point I received a relayed call from Farnborough Radar, requesting that I return back to Blackbushe because the weather had deteroriated significantly, I acknowledged the call and paused for thought. The weather front we had just passed through was now overhead Blackbushe and therefore on the ground I suspect they imagined I was out flying in the grasps of the large nimbus clouds or would be unable to come back in to land. From the air to me the situation was more straight forward, at no time did we enter IMC or risk entry into IMC conditions, we were flying in excellent conditions between the two fronts, I had a full tank of avgas and several divertion options in my immediate locality. I was however mindfull that their request could not be ignored so I reported that I was returning to Blackbushe. Intrestingly I heard other Blackbushe based aircraft then report they were also returning. The direct route back would place me into the heart of the CB, therefore I decided to fly to the South a distance in order to stay VMC and give the weather front time to push further to the east and away from Blackbushe.

After flying some distance towards Basingstoke, I received another call from ATC asking me to confirm I was heading back to Blackbushe. I replied that I was but taking an indirect route via Basingstoke in order to avoid the nasty cloud. Perhaps I should have made my intentions clear on my first radio call, point noted.

Overhead Basingstoke I had to descend as we were now entering the back of the weather front at 2000AMSL the air was once again choppy and forward visibility at best 8nm. I made another decision, I would continue but only a short distance and would divert if I didn't feel comfortable with this situation. After five minutes of this I was down to 1200AMSL with the clouds just over the canopy.. this is text book 'bad situation' with a lowering cloudbase and worsening visibility however the runway lights at Blackbushe appeared ahead. I reported I had Blackbushe in sight and requested frequency change. The Blackbushe frequency was alive with the sounds of a fairly shaken pilot in a PA28, he was saying that the circuit was extremely turbulent and he needed all the runway to get down. This worried me slightly I have to admit, the PA28 is a considerably heavier and more stable aircraft than the Katana we were flying and by the sound of this pilots voice he was more than a little shaken. Next decision of the day... I took the decision once again to depart if this was beyond my comfort level. After-all I knew better weather was now to the West and I had plenty of options to land elsewhere if needed.



As I entered the deadside I was already down to circuit height of 800QFE with the canopy just below the clouds, I crossed the runway and joined downwind which whilst bumpy was not alarming. In actual fact the weather would not have allowed us to continue any further North or East, glancing to the West I could already see the clear blue sky we were flying in earlier moving in towards the airfield. Turning final I anticipated alot of turbulence and wind shear, therefore decided to use only one stage of flap and keep the speed high. Sure enough bit of a crazy approach but the wind was straight down the runway and I have certainly experienced far worse with 25knt crosswinds flying with Antonio. (Picture taken on downwind).

The landing was a good one much to my satisfaction, I had half expected to embarass myself in front of my first passenger. We parked up and shut down, only for a guy to appear at my left window. He explained he couldn't speak English but indicated that he was there to wash aircraft and gestured towards the gates. I understood so started up and requested to taxi to the gates, which I was granted, on the way I was advised to look out for the citation jet which was starting up at Gate 1 and that I should hold. I turned onto the taxiway and saw the aforementioned jet so stopped thinking that the jet would take another taxiway (the usual route) to runway 25. After a minute or so he began turning towards us and it was then clear he was going to squeeze past us on the left.. sigh.. I should have given him more room. I suspect a few comments by the Captain and FO would have been directed my way from their cockpit as we all strained to watch our wingtips as he passed. Once he was clear I taxied over to the gate to further gestures from the foreign guy.

All in all a short flight, just 45 minutes airborne but was strangely fun. My dad mentioned he enjoyed the flight very much despite the short time and the adverse conditions we both then went and grabbed some lunch in the airfield bistro. He is looking forward to the next flight and hopefully we will get the chance to do it again soon and for a longer period.

This flight was also a good test of my decision making, it also makes me appreciate the amount of flying during training where conditions were poor. I think without having experience of strong crosswinds and marginal conditions today would have been well beyond my comfort level, as it was I tried to make early decisions and was always mentally ahead of the conditions.

I have a 4 hour slot booked in for early next week with Mathew, another instructor, in order to get checked out for the club Grumman AA5's. This process may take more than 4 hours to cover everything but at least it will get me most of the way there.

A somewhat late post

Doh! where do I start.. I have not posted for some time (September eek!), this was largely due to work and life which has occupied far more time than anticipated. Also I guess an element of laziness crept in, the longer I didn't post the harder it became to get back in to posting.

Oh well, I will try to bring my diary up to date in a fashion and make more effort to keep this blog going in future.

First thing is first, alot has happened since September. I did manage to achieve the PPL after a long delay due to health and work which all combined to mean I didn't get to take the test until December. The test itself was strange and is worthy of a post on it's own which at some point I will revisit.