Guys/Gal's - sorry for not posting for a week! I must be crazy today as I was in the office for 0730, and I am writing this as nobody is around (getting paid to prune hehe)
Well done to those who are on the way up the syllabus - cheq, it's weird at first when you change instructor, but you get used to it pretty quick. MyData - well done, it is all character building stuff
I flew last week and done my solo navigation to the south. I planned to depart form EGGP on rw09 to leave the zone via Oulton Park, something which I have only ever done once, dual. On departure, a C152 was ahead as we taxied, and as he was given clearance to take-off, I was allowed to line up and depart once significant distance between us had been made, and as long as I had it in visual (I did have excellent visual as he was a matter of feet in front of me before take-off). I also thought to myself "I can follow him to Oulton Park" but I realised this would be cheating, so stuck to my original intentions and got there spot on (thankfully).
Once out the zone, I climbed and headed west for Poulton, which is a disused airfield south of Chester - this is quite difficult to spot until you are quite close, but I stuck to my heading and got it no problem. I was chuffed at this point, as so far it was going well and it was my worst fear not to be able to find such a good feature, so early in the exercise and close to my "ponderosa" as we call it.
Now the most difficult leg (don't have my plog with me but I think it's about 21 NM) to Sleap - which is incredibly difficult to find, especially form the West side (ask DiscoChocolate
). I put the call in to Shawbury, and instead of coming back with "pass your message" he said something, which for the life of me I couldn't understand. Remembering my air law "If in doubt - shout" I said "say again". I still didn't have a clue what he said, it just sounded like a load of fast mumble, however I did hear the word "position", so I told him where I was (north east abeam Wrexham industrial area) and he then asked me to pass my details. I was given a FIS and told to report overhead Sleap. Later on, I was asked the dreaded question: "what is your position" - luckily, I knew exactly where I was (roughly in between Ellesmere and Whitchurch so there was no problems here. At this point, I think I was on the wrong QNH - then he gave me a QFE and for some phenomenal reason, I think I misread the altimeter, as he asked me several times to report my height and in the end asked me to remain at the height I was at. I realised this after he had old me, and it was only then I had the correct QFE set, however I remained at the set height.
Managed to find Sleap ok, remembering not to confuse it with Shawbury - I think Shawbury appears a bigger area viewed from above and seems a little more built up (also it is positioned to the East of Sleap) Whirly will verify this one
I then turned for Whitchurch, remembering to look for the railway that enters it from the South - this was quite easy, and is not the longest leg in the world. Then it was over to Crewe, where I interrupted a conversation between the controller and another aircraft - I said my apologies and the controller replied "no problem". Felt a bit of an arse really, but hey
I very much doubt this, but if the controller at Shawbury ever reads this, then thanks for your excellent help, and thanks for putting up with me! So I arrived at Crewe in good time (this is very easy to spot, as it has a large white built up area, with a massive motorway bridge - it also has about 6 railways all meeting at a central point). Now another difficult part, finding Chester. I headed west and flew past Oulton Park, and managed to spot where I needed to be. I memorised it from the Poulton leg, where I was south abeam to Chester, so this helped. I found the VRP and got the call in, but was told not to enter controlled airspace, due to it being a mad busy day, and the GA world had literally "took off"
Found a lovely golf course East of the VRP and orbited that for a while. I was a little more relaxed now, as I knew where I was and was just enjoying the view on a gorgeous sunny day. Eventually got clearance, only getting the calls in on the last minute to tower etc, as the airwaves were jammed. Got into circuit mode, lined up for 09 and landed without a glitch.
An excellent trip, one which had been hovering in the back of my mind for some time - with that kind of "good scary" feeling! My next flight is to be my QXC dual, and yesterday I had a 2 hour brief on it, planned the route, radio calls, overhead joins, studied the charts and done a mental walk-through (fly-through?). It looks immense, and I can imagine that at the end of it, I will feel totally worn out. I may even actually book a flight and go through the low level route, and do an overhead join at Blackpool - as these are two things I have never done, so it might be a good idea to be familiar before the dual.
Thanks again people,
Lee