QXC....maybe!
Here's my blog posting about last Sunday's QXC. If fellow stude's learn from it, it'll be worth the embarrassment!
If I has to pick a day for the QXC I'd have picked today. A Sunday afternoon which meant a relaxing morning to plan out the route before a leisurely drive to the Club. No wind, blue skies, 40 km visability and a choice of a couple of aircraft topped it off. Someone was looking after me. Having checked out the weather on 'Avbrief' and found it to be perfect, my planning was easy. Calm conditions meant few calculations for the headings. I had really been looking forward to this, it's what being a pilot is all about, getting away and having fun. This venture would take me almost 200 miles and include landings at Carlisle, Teesside and back at Newcastle.
Marian met me at around 1.30pm and went through the paperwork, checked my planning and the weather and gave me the A4 sized sheet on which would go the signatures and comments from the ATC at both Carlisle and Teesside. These signatures would determine a pass or a fail. The sheet would then go to John Corlett our Chief Flying Instructor and he would then either sign it off as a success....or not.
I chose 'Juliet Victor' because of the comfort value over 'Whiskey Kilo' and after the usual checks and a fuel top up, I was off. Runway 07 and a left turn towards the West, calling the ATC with regular position fixes and leaving the control zone. All went well as they passed me to Carlisle Approach and I told them I'd like to overfly and go to Silloth on the coast before heading back inland for a landing at Carlisle. Not a problem, the nice ATC man on the radio was helpful and asked me to report at Haltwhistle, Brampton, field in sight, Carlisle City and then again at Silloth. I could almost see the sea from Carlisle and flew parallel to the Solway Firth to Silloth. Turning at Silloth I was asked to report before Calisle again, which I did. The approach would be left hand for runway 25 and surprisingly I could see the runway before Carlisle was reached. Power was reduced as the circuit height is 1000 feet and I joined as instructed, calling downwind and base. With little flying around the Cumbrian skies, 'JV' turned onto 'finals' and landed nicely. Taxy instructions followed and the aircraft was parked at '2 Golf'.
Following the closedown, it was nice to stretch my legs on the short walk to the reception area. I'd already asked the ATC if I could go for his autograph and so I made my way to the little blue door below the tower. Small, narrow windy staircase led me up to the circular control room and the form was kindly filled in with a 'good' for both the landing and airmanship. Great stuff but next would come a longer leg to Teesside. I booked out in the tower and made my way back to the parked chariot. Checks were made of the oil, fuel and brake fluid etc before I started the engine and asked for taxi instructions. Again it was a virtual straight out and runway 25 helped me airborne again. A FREDA check was done almost immediately as last time from Carlisle, I headed in a different direction from the one I wanted due to the Direction indicator being many degrees 'out' from the compass. This time I was away cleanly and made for my turning point at Hexham. With good visability the plane climbed to 3000 feet nicely and Hexham could be seen from 20 km away. Carlisle passed me to Newcastle radar and contact was made. Just before Hexham ATC asked me to decend to 2500 feet or below to avoid jets approaching from the south. This was done quickly in a nicely controlled way and I reported, "Turning at Hexham for Teesside".
This was great fun and I settled on to a south easterly heading and passed the Derwent Reservoir, glistening in the late afternoon sunshine. Ahead was Tow Law, Consett and Bishop Auckland. To my left I could see Durham and it's wonderful cathederal, further on was the North Sea. I passed Tow Law and Newcastle asked me to contact Teesside Approach. The frequency was already entered so, with a push of the button I could hear conversation from Teesside 20 miles ahead. At Crook, I made contact and was told to squawk 7034 and was told that it would be a left hand base for runway 05 which I repeated back. In the distance I could make out Newton Aycliffe and its many factories, beyond was Darlington.
Reducing power close to Newton Aycliffe I prepared for the landing by starting my landing checks. The airway was busy, very busy and it was at Darlington I reported in to be told that I had, "Entered controlled airspace without permission!". Bloody hell, I had managed to go in to their zone before reporting where I was. My mistake, I should have stayed outside until I had managed to contact the approach. A lesson learned, could be painfully too as this may possibly have failed me in my cross country. Once I was in their zone it was too late to do anything about it. John Corlett will review this once he returns from his holiday. Still, I was passed to the tower and made a good circuit and landing.
Again I asked for permission to go up to the tower for an autograph which was given. A nice lady met me at the door and kindly escorted me upstairs to the control centre. The ATC man asked if it had been me who entered the zone and I said that it was. He said that I must be careful when approaching any ATZ and ask early for joining instruction. I agreed and thanked him for his advice. The landing was marked as good and a comment about the 'zone busting' was inked on the sheet too. Bugger. Ah well, it wasn't going to distract me from the rest of my QXC and I was determined to enjoy my ride home.
Before departing the landing fee was paid at the information desk and I made my way back towards the aircraft via the passport control where I was searched and asked for my passport. The only thing I was carrying back that I hadn't arrived with was a Mars Bar! Checks were done and I headed for the area where I would do the power checks. No issues meant that I got away swiftly and I headed home. The return flight was uneventful but I was determined to pass above my house on the way to the airport. Not surprisingly, I made a very early call for joining instructions to Newcastle ATC. With the runway quiet, I was given a right base for runway 07. A full flap landing was a good one despite an approach which was too high and needed a side slip to get down from 700 to 500 feet on the base turn. With it being a short base, I had slightly misjudged the turn. The landing was fine and a short backtrack was needed to get back to the Club's apron.
Marian met me on arrival and I explained about the zone infringement at Teesside. Not much anyone can do now, I'll just have to wait for JC to make a judgement and go from there. To be honest, if I had to do it all again, it would be a pleasure as I enjoyed it so much. Once I pass my PPL it will be things like today which will appeal to me. Despite it being part of the course, it was a bloody wonderful experience.
p.s. thinking about it now. I thought the message I received from my first call was clearance. The conversation went something like this after being passed to Teesside from Newcastle radar;
"Teesside approach, good afternoon, G-XXXX west of Crook at 3000 feet, request FIS".
"G-XXXX, good afternoon, FIS, please squawk 4677 (and ident), the QFE is 1018 and its a left base for runway 05".
I repeated the message, and continued towards Teesside. I must have though the above was a clearance, and this was wrong. By the time the second call was made at Darlington, the damage was done. There were a lot of people talking over each other and in there somewhere was mentioned, "Darlington". Whether I then thought that I'd been requested to call at Darlington, I honestly now can't remember although thats not at all likely with Darlington being mainly within the CAS.
So, lesson learned.