It was just one of those fabulous flight. A tripto ....
It was just one of those nights, One of those fabulous flights.
The words of this old song apply to one particular trip in the Bonanza returning to Liverpool from Jersey
Jersey was one of those rather special places to visit, not only for the scenery And the chance of pivking up some very nice antiques at a very reasonable price, but because fuel there was duty free,
This meant that if you timed it right, you could get back to base with several gallons of cheaper fuel that could be used on other journeys.
For me, planning the flight was as enjoyable as the flight itself, It was a thing about arriving at the destination as near to the second as was on the planned route. Calculating times between points on the chart be tHey VORs or NDBS each leg had its own time allotted, Of course on a trip like that the wind does not always follow what the Met office says it will. So adjustments had to be made as time went by, Getting beind, add a coulple of hundred rpm or even slow down a bit as needed.
On VFR trip you could avoid controlled airspace and climb up into the sun and clear of cloud, Of course this did mean that you had to call ATC and ask permission to cross through an airway, They were always obliging for us at any rate, You just had to give them height, time of entering and leaving the airway and most important, crossing at right angles. This being the shortest distance across. So 8 or 9000 feet was my usual height, observinng quadrabtals of course.
This preamble is just to get the plane positioned correctly for the return flight as this is the main drift on the story.
We had had a great time just wamdering around, spending more time than was really necessary looking at and being slightly jealous of the owners of some of the fantastic yachts and powerboats that were moored in the marina.
Note; diesel for boating was also duty free as I remember.
So eventually we returned to the fielp and went over the flight plan before submitting it to ATC. Leaving so late we would arrive well into the night, but that was OK as I like night flying.
Refuelled with that nice stuff and did the usual checks then were ready to go. I can't remember th
details but there was nothing amiss so off we went.
Dusk had set in as we climbed through cloud but broke out into bright sunlight. This was a truly amasing sight. The cloud top was as flat as a billiard table with towering pillars driven high by thermals from the ground beneath.
At this point in time the clouds were a brilliant white. As we wer heading Northish the sun was out over the port wing and was nearing the cloud edge.
As we watched the rim touched and the clouds morphed from white to delicate pink, then so gradually into orange, red. and as the sun sank lower, the hues changed again into violet and darker grey.
But what's this. The clouds are getting brighter not darker. Odd, until tearing our eyes away from the sinking sun and switching 180 degrees there over the starboard wing was a rising full moon.
So for a few fleeting moments we had both the sun on one hand and the moon on the other changing domination until the moon gained in brightness and the sun vanished completely.
During these moments not a word was spoken. It was just too much and it was a sight I shall never forget, and my words here paint a poor picture of it.
The cloud cover seemed to be extensive indeed as we ploughed our way north, but soo we just had to get down through it as we wer nearing the Approach Zone.
Saying farewell to the moon we dropped down to the 1500 ft limit and called ATC for clearance, and asked, as it was late at night and they were not busy if we could do a practice ILS approach. This was approved and soon we were on the Glide Path and the wheels touched the runway.
Now a bit of a surprise. The Ground Marshall with his bright batons parked us by the customs office, This was normal practice as we had come in from waht was considered abroad, We went into the office to report arrival but whether it was that they had nothing to do and were just looking for something to aleveiate boredom they, well two of them, decended on the plane and went through it with the proverbial fine toothe comb even to the exten t of one of them lying on his back in the coclpit shining a torch up behind the instrument panel .
Eventaully they were satisfied that there was nothing to find and we were, dare I say, released.
And so ended one of those 'Fabulous Flights' One which I have tried to describe in the hope that you too can enjoy and envisage what I saw in reality.
Honest, you won't hurt my feelings if you have a better tale to tell