Sherburn PIREP

[Whirlybird]

Well, I just got back, and since I have knobby's list, I suppose I'll have to be the one to tell you all about it.

Final head count was as follows, and apologies if I miss anyone:-

LownSlow and Whirlybird from Rush Green (via Sleap to pick up Whirly) in LownSlow's Auster.
Wycombe and Brooklands in a C172 from...Wycombe
DB6 in a gorgeous little Firefly from Church Fenton; hardly worth flying in from there, but I did enjoy admiring the aircraft (even if it doesn't have Whirly wings)
BlokeInAnArcher in a...C172 from Stapleford.
Gerald Robinson in a C172 from Belfast
Circuit Basher in yet another C172 from Kirknewton
Roaterboater in an Enstrom from his own house in...Saddleworth, I think he said.
Jolly Tall, who cycled.
DRJAD, steve, Ninja Bill, and knobbygb (who was the organiser, not me, honest!) who are all based at Sherburn.

Not bad for our first Northern fly-in; Sywell doesn't count as it is NOT in the North, except by London standards. And talking of London, it seems as though they have nasty unreliable weather down there. Not like us in the North and Wales, who had bright sunshine all day, which made flying straight across the Pennines absolutely beautiful. But I shouldn't tease those who missed it too much. I'm really sorry you didn't make it, but those who did seemed to enjoy themselves doing the usual things one does at fly-ins - eating, looking at interesting aircraft, and saying: "Are you a prooner" to any likely looking person. I wore my PPRuNe T-shirt which made it slightly easier, and most people seemed to know instantly who I was...though someone thought I might be Aerbabe! :confused:

LownSlow, thank you for the lift, and I do like the Auster (even if it doesn't have Whirly wings).

Roaterboater, sorry to have missed the offered flight in your Enstrom; if you're ever in the Llangollen/Sleap/Welshpool area...

I have a few photos, but as usual I spent too much time talking, and couldn't get this lot to stand still anyway. But if I can work out how to post them I will.

It was definitely a good fly-in. So when's the next? And where?

[BRL]

Here it is............. (http://www.pprune.org/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=92449)

[Evo]

If we're having another dahn sarf, how about Compton Abbas or Old Sarum? :ok:

[Whirlybird]

I agree with Evo. Shoreham is too big; we'll have the usual problems of finding each other. It also tends to get incredibly crowded on summer weekends; I remember waiting 15 minutes just to get a word in on the radio to ask to taxi!!!!!! Both Old Sarum and Compton Abbas are smaller, less crowded, and absolutely lovely. My vote would be for Compton, which is one of my favourite airfields, on the strength of a very short visit just to get fuel.

BRL, how about a vote on the place first, THEN the date.

[Kolibear]

Encouraged by Sherburn reporting blue skies, eveepe & I did try & make it - honestly :( We left North Weald at about 10:00 but the cloud base was about 1400-1600 ft. We routed due north from Ware and vis. was good, even thought we where flying around towns rather than over them.

Just past Bourn, we met a bank of low cloud and had look for a gap then to descend to about 700' to get under it. Fortunately the Fens are at sea-level and very flat. Once passed it, Fenland was the next waypoint, but the vis had deteriorated so we had a conference and decided to turn round and go home.

The weather in the south east had now improved and we had a pleasant flight visiting our respective houses.

I called Flying for Fun and he reported encountering what was probably the same cloud bank, so he turned back too.

Any idea what the northern limit of the cloud bank was? The form 215 indicated the front lying over Kent, but if the cloud bank was the front - then it was 80 miles north.

So we'll try and do better next time.

[JohnJ]

I was there earlier, and so was MD600. Whirly... if you saw the Gazelle leaving just as you arrived, that was MD600, I was leaving from the other side and when I got back it had all gone quiet again. Next time maybe?

[Genghis the Engineer]

Well having planned to fly up on Friday, stop part way I got asked to fly trials chase on Friday. So, I changed my plans then didn't fly at-all Friday since the Wx was **** down south.

So, plan B, fly up on Saturday morning. Guess what, 300ft- overcast. Went back to bed, got up again, had a leisurely bath with an improving book, looked out of the window about 11am and thought - &*&**^*& me, it's flyable.

However Popham-Sherburn-Popham in the time remaining seems a tad optimistic. So I had a one man fly-in to Compton Abbas for a delightful lunch. In the queue at the bar I was spotted by a bearded gent (apologies, didn't get / forgot his name, sorry) who greeted me with "hello Genghis what are you doing here".

So, I formally declare Compton Abbas the new poor weather diversion airfield for Sherburn-in-Elmett and suggest we use that for a follow-up SW fly-in. The new Falcon hangar is worth seeing, as is the now-daily airfield (tethered !) falconry demonstration.

G

[md 600 driver]

john next time we meet we can go for a fly how didyour f/w flying go
did any rotors come later ?
to every one i missed hello


see you soon steve

[Wycombe]

We made it and I'm glad we did.

Waited at Wycombe until 1130'ish before I got us airborne, by which time the cloudbase had lifted to SCT at about 2000'. Ran into some lower stuff, though, on the run up to DTY, which had us down to 1600-1700' on a few occasions (vis was fairly good underneath, though). North of DTY it cleared significantly and was essentially CAVOK by the time we got to GAM (Gamston). Time en-route was approx 1.5 hrs (with a bit of tailwind helping us to achieve near to 120Kt GS most of the time). Not a great landing at Sherburn - flared a bit high and "dropped-on" a bit - thanks for noticing knobby!!, but otherwise happy with the way it went.

A good, social, 3 hours or so was had (in gorgeous warm sunshine) before departure South to Nottingham (for a crew change), thence Wycombe, arriving back (in still good weather) at about 1845L.

A great day, good to meet you all (well done for getting there to Circuit Basher and the guys from BFS) - that's 4 Pprune fly-in's out of 4 now for me and Brooklands :D :D

[Whirlybird]

JohnJ,

I did see the Gazelle, and when I looked again it had gone. Since I have relatives in the area, it sounds like I must do a trip over to Yorkshire...and while I'm there I might just as well have a trial flight in...maybe a Gazelle...or a B47...or some of the other interesting helicopters you've got round there.

[In Altissimus]

Glad we made it, even though the trip up was a bit circuitous - aye, it were grim darn sarf;)

Fortunately I had two other pilots in the plane, one with an IMC, and one CPL - guess who had to fly through the murk though:ugh:

Seriously - I would have turned back if it weren't for their presence, but it ended up for a while with one acting as 'safety pilot', one navigating, and little old me 'driving'. I think we tried a westerly route, gave up on that somewhere near the concrete cows, bimbled around for a while, then took an easterly route up. Once we got past Fenland the skies cleared and it was beautiful.

Good see you those who made it, and I wouldn't blame anyone for not trying from the south. Excellent nosh - the All Day Breakfast was particularly appreciated by my CPL 'passenger'. I went for the safe and soft option: scampi :}

A great trip back, over the Peak District, stopped off at Sywell (open, friendly, busy) to dip the tanks, then safely home.

Looking forward to the next one.

[eveepee]

It was the weather and not my navigating that explains our non- arrival ! Sad but true :{
Sorry to have missed you all (and the sunshine) but thanks to Kolibear I did get to see my house from the air.... no complaints from the neighbours....yet (Perhaps they thought we were part of the Biggin Hill Airshow!):D

[LowNSlow]

A good time was had by all :ok: well except for those who didn't make it. It was a bit goopy when I headed West from Rush Green but I never had to go below 200' :cool: Just kidding, the cloudbase was 1,500' at it's lowest. I don't normally go much above 2,000' anyway, it gives my nosebleeds :ok:

Whirl, I enjoyed flying to Sleap even if it was just to say to London Info " I'm going to Sleap on 122.45" ;) ;) A chap there approached me and said the last time he'd seen my Auster was in 1948! Amazing :D

Sherburn is a lovely airfield and it was good to put more faces to names. My only regret was that I didn't have the all day breakfast cos I was starving when I got home. All in all a good day out, plus it was the first time I'd flown over the Pennines and also the first time I'd experienced Mighty Manchester Radar (they refused to entertain even clipping the South West corner of their zone unlike Luton who are unfailingly helpful)

[Whirlybird]

LownSlow,

I hate to tell you, but Sleap is pronounced "Slape". Spoils most of the puns, I know. :(

Yep, Manchester are a pain; they reckon GA aircraft should be seen and not heard, and only seen at a great distance well outside their zone. Still, it gave me a chance to try and do accurate diversion navigating without drawing lines, something I've felt I should be able to do. I think it worked, didn't it? Well, we got there. And back :ok:

It was a very good day, and I've looked at the photos, and they're not very good, but I will post them...someday.

[knobbygb]

I hate to tell you, but Sleap is pronounced "Slape"
So, the pilots based there are all "Slappers???" :D ;)

Just return from Sherburn (again) - today was the charity event for the kids with cancer and leukemia from St James's in Leeds. The local pilots managed to excel themselves as usual and a total of 58 children were given free local flights - most of them twice. The Barberque and live band were washed out by a thunderstorm, but not until all the kids had been flying. Northern Highflier was also there at the same time as me, doing his bit, and I bumped into Jolly Tall as well.

Tell you what, this being able to put names to faces really is great - roll on the next fly-in!

[Jolly Tall]

Hi Knobby,

It was a very good event, unfortunately we had to leave early so didn't get to experience it all.

I think you and the others did a great job for those children - I hope they enjoyed it. Those in the helicopter closest to the viewing area certainly seeemed happy as they rose into the air.

[I sent you a PM by the way].

[witchdoctor]

Hi all, sounds like I missed a good day out. In the absence of a trusty steed (or rather the funds to procure a trusty steed!), I was really tempted to drive down from Teesside just to have a nosey and try and get to know some folks face to face, but it just seems like such a cop out to drive to a fly-in!:O

I'm all for a potential fly-in at Compton Abbas though - now officially no1 (by a very large mile) in my slowly growing list of private fields. Hopefully I can rob a bank by then and get down to say hi. Must remember to bring Mrs WD though - my life wouldn't be worth living otherwise.;)

Wouldn't mind seeing some piccies though. Be nice to put faces to all these stupid names we have. (Also saves the expense of pprune badge or t-shirt)!

Be seeing you, WD

[Circuit Basher]

Well, we finally made it down from Edinburgh zone, despite hitting a rain shower within 8 miles of launch and having to divert around them. Got EDI ATC somewhat excited when after being cleared to depart to the South, within 5 mins we were tracking NW!! Finished up following the M74 / M6 below around 1200' cloudbase to Carlisle, mostly VMC. Landed in at Carlisle to let the front go past for around 90 mins (and met up with someone who works for the same company as me who has a Europa there - my P2 blagged a lift to the local town with him to buy batteries for the GPS, which had expired within 5 mins of lift off!).

After some indecision, we continued and had improving met all the way down, finally landing in at around 1415 after a fairly crazy period on the RT when Fenton Radar were getting stressed and Sherburn Radio more or less held their hands up in horror and responded with mic clicks to most transmissions! Met Bloke in a 172, reported in to Whirly, then grapped some nosh as we were starving! Swapped war stories with Wycombe, Brookland and Rotorway, then met knobbygb briefly, loaded up and departed for Kirknewton. Fenton Radar were a bit overloaded and we were trying to get a call in to say we were switching to LBA, when all of a sudden we got instructed by Fenton to orbit present position due to being 1nm out of LBA zone!

Generally better weather on the way back until just outside EDI zone, when they sounded like they were about to deny us permission to land due wx. Blagged our way through and got in with more air in the tanks than fuel ;)

Great day, well organised by knobbygb, supervised by Whirly and great to see some faces that I could now put names to. Sorry that the wimps from the Sarf ;) couldn't make it!! Only had chance for a few photties, but here are one or 2 (not all are Pruners, but what the heck!).
QNH1013 Jodel Departing Sherburn (http://groups.msn.com/CircuitBasher/ppruneflyinsherburn7jun03.msnw?action=ShowPhoto&PhotoID=105)
Wycombe + 172 (http://groups.msn.com/CircuitBasher/ppruneflyinsherburn7jun03.msnw?action=ShowPhoto&PhotoID=106)
C172 - Wycombe (http://groups.msn.com/CircuitBasher/ppruneflyinsherburn7jun03.msnw?action=ShowPhoto&PhotoID=93)
C172 - Circuit Basher (http://groups.msn.com/CircuitBasher/ppruneflyinsherburn7jun03.msnw?action=ShowPhoto&PhotoID=94)
Low'n'Slow + Auster (http://groups.msn.com/CircuitBasher/ppruneflyinsherburn7jun03.msnw?action=ShowPhoto&PhotoID=95)
Sherburn From The Air (http://groups.msn.com/CircuitBasher/ppruneflyinsherburn7jun03.msnw?action=ShowPhoto&PhotoID=104)
More Sherburn Piccies (http://groups.msn.com/CircuitBasher/ppruneflyinsherburn7jun03.msnw?Page=1)

[Edited 'coz I made a cods of trying to put these in as images and also secondary edit due to misidentification of some images!! ;)]

[QNH 1013]

CB, Thanks for the pics. I think number 1 should be Jodel Start, not Auster Start. Were you one of the chock pullers? If so, many thanks. I've never forgotten to bring my chocks before (and hope to never forget them again). People who can "swing a prop" seem to be getting thin on the ground. First thing I taught Mrs QNH when we started flying the Jodel. She could start it before she could fly it.

[md 600 driver]

where was every body sitting i saw john but nobody else[or who i knew as a ppruner or was it a f/w meeting steve

[Circuit Basher]

QNH1013 - I knew it was a Jodel really - sorry, the camera download was done last night after a long day where I was a tired puppy and I just had Low'n'Slow's Auster on the brain!! I've updated the photty titlein MSN Groups, but need to go home, rename the file I uploaded and then all references to Austers will be gone. Sorry I didn't mention you in the PIREP or acknowledge on the photos it was you. I blame it on premature Alzheimers! ;)

I was only returning to my a/c (the red / white C172 G-BGRO parked to your right) when you were just starting and making a quick dash to catch the throttle before the donk died, so was not available to help you pull through / start. I have hand swung before now in winter when the spamcan battery dies, but wouldn't say I'm experienced / confident about it.

[Wycombe]

That's actually me fiddling with my pilots case next to the aeroplane, not Brooklands.

Nice photo of 'BI as well though, thanks (think that might just be about to beome wallpaper on work PC)

[LowNSlow]

Whirly, Slape is such a disappointment!! Ta for the navigating though :ok:

Circuitbasher, see you got my best side in the photo :D

[FlyingForFun]

Woke up nice and early and checked the weather forecast, which was promising good, flyable weather. But a look out of the window told a different story, that cloud looked very low.

I did consider going up IFR, but the Cessna was booked, so I was stuck with VFR in the Europa. Still, I drove down to the airport and did all those pre-flighty things that we have to do, while waiting for the cloud to lift.

Eventually, decided to give it a go. Gave MikeS an ETA for me to collect him at Coventry, taxied to the runway and took off. At 1500' I started getting into the cloud, and had to level off, but I still thought I'd be ok. But over the course of a few minutes, the cloud pushed me lower and lower, and the ground was getting higher and higher. Before long, I was down to 1200' - I knew I was coming up to the Stokenchurch mast, and decided that turning back would be the better option.

Safely on the ground, I called MikeS, and then spoke to Kolibear and Eveepee. But forgot (or didn't think) to call Coventry ATC, who were expecting me! Luckilly, I'd parked just outside the window of the operations room, so that when they called White Waltham, Vicky, who answered the phone, could tell them that she was pretty sure I was safe since she could see my aircraft out the window!

Anyway, I spent a very pleasant day sitting in the bar at Waltham, chatting to a student pilot who was hoping to do her QXC. Gradually the cloud started to lift, and by early afternoon it was looking very pleasant. Too late for me to make it to Sherburn, because I had to get back for a birthday party that night, but definitely flyable.

It wasn't much longer before my new, excited friend was sent on her QXC, to Sywell and Thruxton. I had to stop reminiscing about my own QXC and various other fun logbook entries, and I also headed up, and to the west, to position the aircraft for another group member who wanted to fly on Sunday and was convinced the weather would be better out west than it was in London. I left the Europa at Garston Farm (a very nice farm-strip near Lyneham, with a nice smooth 800m grass runway, if anyone's interested) and got a lift back by road with the guy who I was positioning the aircraft for. An enjoyable day, even though I didn't make it to Sherburn, and my North of England chart has still never been used in anger.

Oh well,

FFF
--------------

[Circuit Basher]

Wycombe - sorry, I managed to get you and Brooklands all confuzzed, and will sort the piccie filename when I get home tonight (have changed the title in MSN Groups and the link for now).

Low'n'Slow - sorry, just ran along the line of parked a/c thinking "I'd best get some piccies or I won't be able to contribute anything to the PIREP" - didn't have chance to get posed piccies or anything so fancy. Sorry I didn't get the chance to stop and blether (or butt in to Whirly's conversations long enough for a proper chat!), but there's always next time!

CB

[Rallye Driver]

Genghis

I was the bearded gent that accosted you in the bar.

A non flying day for me as I've got Project Propeller at the end of the month up to Elvington, so the cash is a bit tight at the moment.

Spent Saturday pottering down to Kemble to drop off a couple of parachutes for repacking, and as it was a nice day I decided to go down to Compton Abbas for lunch, then a leisurely drive back to London.

Glad some of you made it to Sherburn.

RD

[Brooklands]

Yes, a thoroughly good day out, and nice to be back "home".

As well as waiting for the weather to improve, we also needed the services of an engineer to drain out some fuel, as some kind soul had thoughtfully filled 'BI to the brim , making us 100Lbs overweight :ouch:.

Wycombe did a very good job getting us through the murk on the way up, its just a shame his IMC has lapsed, otherwise we''d have been able to go above it all.

I didn't get to spend a lot of time talking to you all, as my parents, who live near Hull, came over, so I spent some time with them as well.

I think the Gazelle was leaving just as we parked up.

CB - I'm afraid its not me in the picture at all. Wycombe is kneeling on the ground, and the person standing behind the door is the third member of our crew, who isn't a Ppruner (yet!)

As far a those who didn't make it go, I think the weather thing is an excuse, and it was the idea of the dragons that put them off, which is pretty silly really, as they were really very friendly. After all none of us suffered anything worse than minor second degree burns, and they only ate a couple of people, and I'm sure one of those was by accident :)

Looking forward to the next one.

[Whirlybird]

I have the pics...but how do I post them? :confused: :confused: :confused:

[BRL]

Hi Whirly. First off the pictures need to be based somewhere on the internet.

Many, in fact all of the ISP providers provide free web-space, for example BTinternet give you 50Mb of free web-space and that is a lot of photos.

When you have them on some web-space, you then link to where they are when you use the IMG tab when composing a post. You look at the photo in your browser and right click, then click on copy. When you write your post and include the IMG link you then paste what you just copied into the box that comes up. Repeat this until you have done them all. It takes a while but keep at it.

If the thought of getting your free web-space and uploading your pictures there first freaks you out then there must be someone on here who can 'host' them for you. I.E. you e-mail the piccys to them, they put them on their own web-site and you link to them as explained earlier. Simple really..!
You can get free space from MSN but I don't think the links from them work when using msn as a host so avoid doing it that way.

Good luck......

[RomeoTangoFoxtrotMike]

Whirly / BRL

I can provide some space for piccies if needed... :ok:

[Northern Highflyer]

Thanks for the mention Knobby. Whirlybird missed me off the original post. :{

The whole weekend was good fun, made slightly more fun for me by the fact someone reported seeing something fall off my aircraft :eek:

Everything seemed ok so after a low fly over the airfield with quite an audience looking up to check my wheels I managed to get down and meet fellow ppruners.

Don't know how whirly forgot me, I was big enough to see. :ok:

[TheKentishFledgling]

.....are now online, here (http://www.eludlow.flyer.co.uk/sherburn)!

tKF

More than happy to put others on the same page, if you want.

[TheKentishFledgling]

Two of the UFP (unidentified flying prooners) on Whirly's pics idented - three more to go!

tKF

[javelin]

I had intended to get there, but business intervened. The Landlord did manage to get there in my Zlin though !

[Wycombe]

tKF,

That's me standing in front of PLBI on the left, and non-Ppruning (at the moment) crew member Rex to my right.

Ppruner Brooklands was the other with us, not in this photo.

[Whirlybird]

Northern Highflyer,

I'm sorry I left you off the list.:{

And apologies to people I haven't identified in the piccies too.

I have a big hole where other people have a memory.:{