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!
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!
posted by Chris @ Monday, February 27, 2006
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