SATURDAY 2nd JULY
Arrived at Cumbernauld clutching a sheaf of NOTAMs, weather reports and suchlike.
The five-day surface pressure animation shows a wealth of fronts criss-crossing the country over the next few days - cold, warm and occlusions. This is the sort of situation that makes the weather virtually impossible to predict. Fronts may be displaced in space or time, or be stronger or weaker than predicted. I believe the official meteorological term is "unsettled". Today's forecast is for a warm front moving up from England towards Scotland, and sure enough the sky at Cumbernauld is overcast with just a hint of drizzle. Not an uncommon state of affairs here, it's fair to say !
A quick call to Carlisle confirms that their weather is clear, warm and bright - suggesting that the front has already passed. Knowing that the weather is clear at your destination always helps so I decide to set out, expecting the cloudbase to descend a bit as I head south. This gives me two options - if I can get through my destination will be clear, and if not I can turn back, heading away from the front.
I route east of Glasgow zone and head for the hills. With their tops in cloud a direct route is out of the question so I follow the M74. Scottish Information tell me that a couple of earlier flights from Carlisle attempting to reach Glasgow had turned back because of low cloud. At the moment I've got great visibility below the cloudbase and able to maintain VFR at 1000ft agl so I press on.
Decision time. My own personal minimum for this sort of situation is 500ft agl. Among other things, below that lies pylon and cable territory. Not funny. Today is a good day to make your decisions before you have to. OK. Occasional lower blobs of cloud drop down, and I find myself having to descend to 700 or 800 feet to keep VFR. If I end up getting below 500 ft, then it's farmer's field time. Every couple of miles I pick out a suitable spot - there's a lorry depot with a big concrete parking area, a field next to the Services, a nice-looking farmhouse with a big empty field next to it and no poles or cables... I could land there and maybe get a nice cup of tea. If I do get too low for comfort, I will always have somewhere to go - no blundering around in poor vis looking for a spot.
But 700ft is the lowest it gets. The drizzle gets heavier and I set the windshield heater to blowing warm air. It's very noisy so I can't hear anything, but it keeps the screen clear so I can see where I'm going - I know which I'd rather have ! Then I'm at Gretna and suddenly the sky clears, the sun comes out, and I leave Scotland and the rain behind. I've punched through the tail end of the front, and out into clear air. There's Carlisle ahead, I call the field in sight and land for a rest and another bacon sarnie.
The next leg takes me to Barton. Clear air now so no more cloud-dodging and I can route direct. NOTAMs tell me that Warton is off so I take a service from Blackpool, and an hour later I'm inbound for Barton.
"Barton Information, Helicopter G-XXXX, inbound from Carlisle for fuel, request landing information". They tell me the runway in use and QFE. This is my first visit to Barton and I can see it's a busy little place, with built-up area and motorways all around and a lot of activity on and around the field. I know I'm tucked in under a corner of Manchester airspace, so there's less room for manoeuvre than usual.
Three miles to run and I need a clear plan. "Barton, request more landing information !" They give me a much more detailed description and I route low-level to the North-Western boundary and cross to the fuel bowser. Thanks guys, splendidly helpful. Another slurp of Jet-A1 and a cup of tea for me.
The last leg of the day will take me to Sleap. This will be my first trip through the notorious Manchester low-level corridor. Oh well, the purpose of the trip is to give myself some new challenges. I've heard various stories - Manchester won't want to talk to you, no right-left separation so watch out for people coming the other way, and so on. How would I fare ?