View Full Version : Three cheers for Shoreham ATC...
For gently correcting this pilot on my first PPL cross-country when I was about to make a real mess of joining the circuit. Very much appreciated.
On the way there, the rubber center of the yoke and push to talk button fell off into my lap. On the way back, 'transmit' stopped working on my radio (eventually plugged my headphones into the copilot's radio sockets and it started working again) by which time I had taken such a detour to avoid ATZs and orbit trying to fix things that I was out of hours for the airfield. After landing, I unplugged the GPS and the cigarette lighter socket came out of the dashboard with the plug.
Ah, and I just got home and found the aircraft keys in my pocket...
Quite a Friday 13th.
soaringhigh650
13th Apr 2012, 23:57
My aircraft keys are always in my pocket. It is safer the leaving it in the aircraft!
But it's not my aircraft!
Is that glass-half-full or glass-half-empty? I'm not sure.
P6 Driver
14th Apr 2012, 06:38
At least you retained your sense of humour!
It makes a nice change for ATC to be praised.
:D
Nibbler
14th Apr 2012, 09:56
hahaha Mr Fate :eek: gently reminding you of something :)
Student, portable GPS ? What. IS. the. world. coming. too! :rolleyes:
Quality ATC :ok:
Sallyann1234
14th Apr 2012, 12:44
Would you like to share the reg of that aircraft, just in case we are offered a flight in it?
Not a student any more... Except in the sense of still being near the start of the learning curve.
First time I've been out with a GPS. My first thoughts on it were that the screen wasn't large enough to navigate by, but I like the security of being warned if I'm about to infringe airspace. Also, it gives more in the way of road and place names which I found useful when talking to ATC.
I'd rather keep the registration between myself and the organisation who hired it out. As far as I can tell, the rest of the aircraft seems in fairly good condition - the airframe is less crumbly than many, it drinks oil fairly slowly, and aside from the radio all the instruments were operational... which is more than can be said for many flying school aircraft. I think it was an unlucky day, but also that if you hire something from the early 1980s... Caveat rentor. So long as the challenge is the radio not working rather than the tail falling off, I'll be quite content.
It wasn't a bad experience all things told, though I did feel utterly drained by the time I got home.
peterh337
14th Apr 2012, 13:58
Shoreham ATC are excellent.
However, flying today, I hope that all pilots in the circuit carry passports because some were flying the base leg for 02 in French airspace :ugh: I can see why some people fly big circuits but today was pretty amazing.
abgd - well done :ok: but do report the crap radio to the owner of the school. It is only by moaning that anything gets fixed. I had a radio failure in the circuit during my PPL, and immediately bought the Icom radio which still lives in my emergency bag...
ShyTorque
14th Apr 2012, 21:12
A chart drawn on the bank of someone's hanky
Would that be HSBC bank?
Hanky Snotty Bank Chart.... :p
peterh337
14th Apr 2012, 21:52
Real pilots remember the sextant.
Actually a sextant is pretty accurate, if you can keep it really steady and get a good clear horizon. I gather 400m laterally is possible.
Seriously, well done but I am genuinely amazed you found an aircraft that recent in the UK fleet ...
Well, C152s, PA38s... All of that vintage.
I know where you're coming from, but these training aircraft do get used up and perhaps some of the materials used in the cockpit aren't the most durable.
India Four Two
15th Apr 2012, 06:59
Real pilots remember the sextant.
It amazes me that during his trans-Tasman flight, Francis Chichester found Lord Howe and Norfolk Islands, using a sextant in the open cockpit of a Gipsy Moth.
peterh337
15th Apr 2012, 07:09
Dead reckoning is not hard if the wx is good and you have to look for an island in the sea and there is no CAS to bust :)
For example to find Ireland when flying out of NY you need to fly a heading withing about +/- 10 degrees, ish.
India Four Two
15th Apr 2012, 08:51
Come on, Peter. Even I could hit Ireland starting in Newfoundland (weather permitting of course) ;)
When Chichester left Cape Reinga, he was aiming at a 3 mile-wide dot 400 nm away. That's about 1/2 degree wide. If he missed it, he would have ditched and probably died.
And having done that, he did it again, finding Lord Howe Island 480 nm away.
Not to take away from his achievement, if you're at 10,000 feet you can see - visibility permitting - over 100 miles in each direction, which means effectively that you have a considerably larger target.
South sea islanders used to go by sea-birds, working out where the land was by the direction they seemed to be coming from.
Sir George Cayley
15th Apr 2012, 10:48
Hmmm 10,000 ft in an open cockpit Moth.:confused:
SGC
pasir
15th Apr 2012, 10:53
... On similar lines to Chichesters navigational achievements comes to mind Amelia Earhart and Fred Noonan - and their final flight when they
flew over 2400 miles to aim for a small island in the vast Pacific Ocean.
Athough what actually happened towards the end and wreckage of the Lockheed has yet to be found it is generally thought that they were very close to the Island when they finally ran out of fuel.
...
Well, the service ceiling for a tiger is 13,400 feet. But the real point is just the principle that you can see further when you're higher, weather permitting. Even 5000 feet should give visibility of over 70 nm.
peterh337
15th Apr 2012, 12:35
Yes; that has to be the key, because a) in bad vis you cannot use a sextant :) and b) nobody can fly to within 1 degree.