It's good to be back...
Hello all,
Well I've finally managed to get flying for the first time since...28th of Jan!
I turned up at the club today not expecting to get flying. 10 knot crosswind, what seemed to be very low cloud with poor vis. Snow and rain showers forecast...it didn't look good. Never mind I thought, might as well go down anyway.
As soon as I arrived I got the ATIS, which was cloud at 3000, 20KM vis and 11 knot wind 30 degrees of the runway. Not too bad after all... So I got the wind and plotted my route. All was fine, but my FI was away examining somebody, so a stand-in checked everything over with me, and I was good to go. Rang Teesside tower, faxed Newcastle, and was about to step into the plane when I was told there's not enough fuel.
No worries, so we rang the fuel company and they said they'd be a couple of minutes....one hour(!) and another phone call later we were becoming annoyed, and make the choice to taxi to the helicopter area to refuel. So I got in the aeroplane to get it started. But for some bizarre reason it wouldn't! I played around, tried everything and after a while I was off.
Once I'd got enough fuel I started (which it did straight away making me a lot more confident - was going to call it off). Before I knew it I was whizzing along the runway and flying. Right hand turn, leaving Newcastles zone via the "Tyne Bridges". The route itselfs pretty straight forward - follow the A1 until it veers off to the West, at which point Teesside should be in front of you. Luckily I got there with no worries, and was given my instructions - left downwind for 05 - which was fine, but I was having trouble orientating myself. Couldn't work out if I was left or right for 23 or 05! Quickly got my pooleys photocopy out and got my head around it, luckily I ended up in the right place! There was a slight crosswind and Teesside too, but it didn't cause any problems, and I got her down nice and gently!
I shut down, and began the marathon to Teessides main terminal to pay the landing fee - really is a long way...
After a (minging) sandwich from the main terminal cafe, I was ready to go back to Newcastle. After a quick inspection from imigration I checked the aeroplane out, and got my taxi clearance. I got my departure clearance and was ready to go. Full power, everything seemed good, so off I went into the blue yonder. The cloud appeared to be lowering, so I decided to fly at 2100 feet, and was promptly handed back to Newcastle radar, and already I had the city in sight. It was becoming a little bumpy now, but nothing to worry about. One of my favoutie things when flying is coming back to Newcastle, being greeted by the Angel of the North, the Sage and Baltic...but most importantly, St James' Park. I know I'm home when I see that! But anyway, I was transfered to tower and told to orbit a while, when some airliners came into land. After a few minutes I was told to continue approach to right base, for 07. There was still a crosswind, but it had died down a little my now - in the region of 8 or 9 knots, so I elected to go in with full flaps. Now flyers from Newcastle will know what I'm talking about here: The aeroclubs "turn off" is pretty close to the threshold of runway 07. I've landed on 07 twice - both times dual and both times not managing to land in time to turn off. (If your not familiar take a look at Pooleys - runway 07 taxiway F.)
However, this time I was set up perfectly. Wing down to counter the crosswind, good speed straight down the centre line - I was going to do it - nice soft landing, flared a little too early but managed to stop before missing the turn in - YES! (To most pilots this will not seem like a big achievment - but I'm very proud of myself doing that, especially in a crosswind!).
So that was that. My first solo landaway and first time I've managed to not miss F! Very happy indeed tonight! Was great fun - after a fairly long time out I'd forgotten how good it is!!
Thanks all!
Mazzy - good luck with the test! And cheers for that link, haven't yet looked at it but I'm sure it's very helpful!
Someone mentioned earlier whether a navigation test should be needed saying as we'll have done the QXC. I've thought about this for a while, and I guess it's probably best to have a test - there may be a useless instructor sending his students away on the QXC who aren't good enough. Not very likely, but could happen. So I suppose it's right to have the navigation part of the flight test...in my opinion anyway.
Cheers and good luck everyone!
John.