Kudos, Duxford!

[Pandalet]

I've just had a rather exciting morning, and I thought I'd share what turned out to be an amazingly positive experience...

I'm currently training for my PPL(H), and have around 34 hours. I was on a solo cross-country navex from Panshanger up to Royston and back, in an R22, and everything seemed to be going well. I found the Nuthampstead VOR fine, and then found Royston without trouble... until I turned back south towards Panshanger, only to be confronted with a great big storm front that had moved up behind me, right over my planned track... complete with rain / haze curtain below and anvil above.

It was pretty close, but I originally though I'd be able to dog-leg around. This prospect was quickly dispelled when I started hitting the turbulence. Thinking that setting down and waiting it out might not be a bad idea, I radioed back to base to ask for advice... no answer! I'm not sure whether I was too far out, or the storm was interfering or what, but after two tries, I started looking for other people to talk to.

The next station I tried (Fowlmere) didn't seem to be listening in, as they weren't replying to my calls. Solo, low-hour student in an R22, starting to get bumped around a bit, with a large storm getting closer and closer, I was feeling the first threads of panic creeping in...

Now overhead Fowlmere, I realised I could see another aerodrome not far off; a frantic scan of the chart indicated that it was likely to be Duxford. I made a somewhat wobbly call on their frequency, and, praise be!, someone answered. Just to have someone who sounded like they knew what they were doing talking to me at last was a hundred-fold improvement, but obviously hearing the quaver in my voice, they then talked me in, with helpful info about where to go etc. (I've only ever landed away at one other aerodrome, and it wasn't Duxford), right down to where to park and everything.

I managed to hold myself together long enough to get the ship landed and shut down. Having persuaded my legs to grow up and stop wobbling, I climbed out and realised that there was an audience of folks along the fence who had been watching me come in and all - boy, did I feel small!

Having located the tower, but not sure where to go to report in, and definately starting to get the shaky hands, I was intercepted by a chap in a flying suit, who first reassured me that I had done the right thing (several times), then pointed me to the stairs on the side of the tower and told me who to look for. On getting to the control room, the three gentlemen immediately sat me down with a cup of coffee and many reassurances and smiles.

At this stage, to my complete and utter embaressment, I must have run out of nerves and adrenaline, and burst into tears. I'm blushing bright red as I write this, but they just took it in their stride and did everything they could to make me feel better.

Once I'd pulled myself together, they made sure I'd contacted my flying school and said I could wait as long as I needed to for the weather to blow over, and not to worry about it if I needed to park overnight or anything. They welcomed me into the tower and explained how the various things worked. When the storm had blown over, they got me on my way, with a steer in the right direction, after which I had an uneventful flight back to Panshanger.

So, in summary, to Colin and the tower team, and Steve from the Classic Wing, a massive, heart-felt thank-you! You guys dealt with a semi-hysterical lost student with compassion and warmth, and did all the right things at the right moments. Really, all I can say is WOW! :ok::ok::ok:

[Fun Police]

good on you! better you in tears than wife/parents/husb./kids etc.

[OldRookie]

Nice one. Glad you are still with us.:ok::ok::ok:

[rotorspin]

I rounded the storm today as well via Luton - pretty nasty stuff!!!!!!!
Knowing your limitations and acting on your third sense potentially saved your life today.......welcome to the world of heli's.....you passed your heli test.....common sense.....lots needed at all times.....!!!!!!!
The Safe option is ALWAYS better.....
You will not have lost respect from any good pilot from the thread you have started.
:D

[Letsby Avenue]

Good call and you will remember that decision for the rest of your career. Don't be afraid to land in a farmers field though if it gets you down sooner/safer. Always better to be down here wishing you were up there than up there wishing you were down here...:)

Edited for apostrophe abuse

[22clipper]

Brave admission on a pilot forum Pandalert because there is a group think mentality that flyers are made of sterner stuff. This chimera, that the most resourceful have ice water in their veins, is an unfortunate Hollywood stereotype. I've seen HEMS pilots weep tears of frustration over dead patients, heard military types get emotional when recounting tales of near misses & seen fire fighters get a lump in their throat over the house that burned despite their best efforts.

For my money there is nothing like an encounter with the Met to bring out the primal, visceral feelings in any of us. A good size thunderhead is like the schoolyard bully who likes to pull the wings off flies except that CuNims do it to aircraft instead. Remember, as Letsby said, you can always put a chopper down somewhere if all it gets too much.

[SASless]

Panda says it right!

The folks at Duxford are all splendid people. Duxford seems to be a place where things like this should happen....with all the history that surrounds that airfield.

A bit of adrenaline is good for you Panda....cleans the soot out of the pipes!

I would like to have a Dollar for every time I found myself slopping coffee over the cup due to my hands and knees shaking after I escaped from some pickle I found myself in.

One of these days you will be listening to some young whipper snapper tell a similar story....and you will in a position to remind him he is following the path a lot of other pilots have trod.:ok:

[Say again s l o w l y]

A correct decision made there, well done.

Don't worry about being honest with your emotions, we've all had times where we've been sh*t scared in the air. The key is to understand why and try and make sure you don't find yourself in the same situation again.

The nice thing about a helicopter is that if the weather turns really rubbish, you can put down anywhere, just watch out for all the gotcha's such as wires and dodgy ground, but as a low time student it was prudent to try somewhere that would give you some support, though if Derek at Fowlmere reads this, I'm sure he'd have had no problem with you landing there.

ILAFT!

[MightyGem]

Good decisions there Pandelet! And hey, as for the spectators at Duxford; as far as they were concerned, you were a HELICOPTER PILOT, and probably made their day by landing in front of them! :D

[Heliport]

Kudos, Duxford - but also kudos to you for making the right decision.

Thanks for telling us about it.
Weather is a major factor in fatal accident stats, and pressing on instead of landing accounts for some of those. Maybe a life will be saved by someone reading about, and following, your good example. :ok:



Heliport

Just out of curiosity - were you charged a landing fee?

[Pandalet]

Just out of curiosity - were you charged a landing fee?

Heh, I was worrying about that while walking to the tower - in a fit of good planning, I'd left my handbag behind, and thus had no way of paying. I had visions of having to persuade a pissed-off control person that I'd send them a cheque or something! But no, one of the first things they said was don't worry about the landing fee, 'cos you don't pay for weather diversions.

On a related note, I highly recommend Duxford as a great place to go to see some very cool aircraft - the Tigermoths and Dragon Rapide(?) were popping in and out, and there were plenty of other warbirds around to ooh and aah over. I'll definately be paying a proper visit once I've got my license!

[Heliport]

Thanks. And good for Duxford. :ok:

Many airfields signed up to a scheme to promote flight safety by not charging landing fees for weather diversions, but I've read tales on PPRuNe of some not honouring it.

I agree, Duxford is well worth a visit.


H.

[thecontroller]

i stopped into duxford a couple of times in an r22. very friendly and accommodating bunch

[Brilliant Stuff]

Congratulations!! That would be a Grade A* for your cross country exercise in my book!

That is the beauty of helicopters, you can land immediately if you don't like what lies ahead. Unless you are over water of course.

Now the rest of your PPL will seem like a doddle. Make sure you enjoy it.

Don't forget you can talk to Luton approach anytime, they are very helpful despite what the rumours say.

[206 jock]

Pandalet, well done, you did exactly the right thing and though it was obviously stressful, you did what you needed to do.

One thing I have to ask: what did your instructor say when you got back to Pans? My guess it was one out of 'well done, see you next Wednesday', or 'Look I'm really sorry, I shouldn't have sent you on a solo navex in that weather'. Coz if it was the former, he wants a kick up the jacksie.

My machine is based very near Royston, and having had a look at the weather forecasts for Luton yesterday, I decided (600 hours, turbine and night rating) that the rewards would have been outweighed by the fag of flying while it's potentially glaggy: and the forecasts were full of PROB40's and TSRA's. An instructor worth his salt should have seen the same ones I did: yesterday was not a day for your instructor to send you flying. IMHO, obviously.

[tomstheword]

But as Brilliant Stuff said "the beauty of helicopters, you can land immediately".

If you find yourself in a similar situation again, you dont have to wait for an airfield you can land anywhere. I was always worried about landing on peoples farms because I didnt have their permission. Now I dont even think about it.

No body minds. The most worried a farmer got was when they saw me shutdown on their place because of fog and cloud ahead they came racing over to me on a bike to protest as they thought I was looking for a new transmission line route. The relief on their faces when I told them it was the fog.