Well, the weather yesterday was absolutely beautiful, and we had a pretty much perfect flight, with a great view of the Isle of White, Portsmouth and Bournemouth to the south, and Didcot Power station and beyond to the north. (Ok, so the view to the south was better!)
We made it to Compton Abbas without any problems at all, and almost (but not quite) managed to see the airfield before we flew right over the top of it!
Had some lunch, spent a while enjoying the scenery and watching aircraft come and go, then headed back to our Warrior. Started up, noticed the fuel pressure guage was showing zero, followed a few seconds later by the engine quitting. Spent a few moments investigating before sheepishly admitting to my passengers that I'd forgotten to turn the fuel on!
Lined up right on the numbers, toe-brakes on and full throttle, come off the brakes, and she very slowly started to pick up speed. I saw the end of the runway getting closer, but the airspeed indicator was registering, and increasing. Then, a brief buzz from the stall warner as she lifted off. Lower the nose to build up a bit of speed, and climbed away, a little bit before the end of the runway passed beneath me. Using short-field techniques, there was plenty of room for the take-off, as expected.
The flight back was almost as good as the flight down. A couple of minor bumps along the way, but the vis was still superb. A slight difference in forecast and actual winds meant I drifted slightly south, but I think I caught it before busting Solent's airspace!
All in all, a great flight, and my passengers enjoyed it too. I even managed to pull off two fairly good landings to impress them with (complete fluke!)
Hope everyone else managed to get some good flying in, too, in the couple of days of good weather. Let's have some "bank-holiday weekend flying" stories!
Cobbler, I don't believe the CAA included a safety factor in the take-off performance charts. They did include a safety factor in the landing charts, and it's clearly marked on the charts. But no such markings on the take-off figures.
Take care!
FFF
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