i supp ose we all rememebr the old Christmas Pantos where the lead player wandered around the stage with the audience chanting ITS BEHIND YOU as the nasty player loomed ever closer, well this tale might just ...welll let it relate this saga in its own way. Read on.
IT'S BEHIND YOU. IT'S GETTING CLOSER.
I can't remember the date, but it must have been autumnal, just one of those pleasent quiet days with little wind and clear skies that are just asking to be flown in.
So why not. Lets go to the Isle of Man. Hooked the towbar through the front wheel axle of the Bonanza and dragged her out of the hangar.
Now, whenever possible I always top up the fuel tanks after a flight , especially as winter draws in to make sure that there is NO air space above the fuel level where moisture might condense and then drip down and through the fuel until water is resting on the outlet pipe, just waiting to cause problems.
This was just to be an out there, have a bite to eat and then back.
Take off was slotted for early afternoon, so when all was ready a call to ATC and filed our flight plan.
This trip is one of the easiest ones to do, provided that you have complete confidence in your plane as you are going some 80 miles single engined over water. I had no such qualms after all the hours logged up without any problems at all.
The route takes you to the WAL VOR at the north tip of the Wirral Peninsular then straight out on a 330 degree radial FROM the VOR (As I recall, so don't shout at me if I am a tad off) Also knowing the distance I could see it incresing on the DME. On this day it really didn't matter as I could see the Island from some distance away and my oppo has eyes like a hawk.
The trip was indeed uneventual and we touched down at Ronalsway and parked up.
It was no more than about half an hour later that we heard the Met office start mumbling about fog expected soon. So it was either go now or stay the night. Work commitments rather leant us in the GO HOME direction, so a hasty flight plan was made and off we went.
As we were about half way back I lost the sea below us and it was obvious that the cloud was thickening fast. But for now the ATC at Liverpol was still saying it was OK, so we carried on.
Then is closed in. I heard a commercial flight saying that they had had a missed appoach at Liverpool. OK What now. Do we go back and chance it... No, one more option comes to mind. Get Manchester on the No 2 Com.
Its OK they say, 800 metrs on the runway, but it is solid from 200 ft up to 3000 feet.
We are still in bright sunlight but the sun is now setting. Its going to be think down there. We accept an ILS approach with radar vestoring to the localiser.
We are told to decend to 3000 feet which we do and follow instructions down until we are now is fog. Turn off the strobe and landing lights as the reflections off the fog wuld be blinding then add a touch of bright to the instruments.
We knew that there were some other BIg Boys up there in the pattern but ATC knowing we were light slotted us in at the lowest level with no holding pattern needed to get us out of the way ASAP. That suited me just fine.
The needles centred and I set up the landing checks, Wheels down, 20 degrees flap for now. speed 75 kts all else in the green.
My oppo was staring fixedly out of the windscreen. His job being to tell me the very instant he saw the runway lights. At that point I would look up and get the wheels onto the tarmac.
My gaze is fixed on the ILS and with fog there is no wind,so no drift to worry about.
Then ATC calls to tell me to huury. So I increase speed to 100 kts, and have to retrim to kep the rate of decent on the glide path.
Just get everyting settled when ATC says hurry again. They had put a Tristar behind us and it was catching us.
All I could do was say 100 knot flap and wheel limit and I am doing that now. I knew the Tristar pilot could hear me so now it was up to him whether he did a missed approach or not. I knew that his boss would be upset if that happened as he would have had to go back to the top of the stack. Not good from a
PR pointy of view.
As I didn't hear him call it I knew he was closing as slowly as he could.
Suddnely my oppo called that he had the lights in sight. I look up and there dead centre are the runway lights.
Not boasting but I ould not have done that better in broad daylight with no wind . But oh crap. I am way over touch down speed. That should be 65 kts. Lights whizing past at eye level, where's that damn runway, hold off. power right off , a greaser if ever there was one, touch the brakes even though we are still way too fast.
Exit next left calls ATC and I note a touch of anxiety in the call. Brakes have to go on We slow just enough to make the turn. Please don't burst I ask the tyres. They hold and we are no more than a few yards down the taxiway when with a roar the Tristar hurtles past and I hear the reverse thrust howling.
We taxi to the ramp and just sit for a few moments letting the tension subside.
Was it close? I don't know as nothing was ever said. and aftr a couple of hours waiting the fog clears enough so that I could do a reverse ILS away from Manchester and a normal ILS into Liverpool.
So what have we learned from this episode. Well as thre wre two of us in the plane it worked out well as related, but had I been solo I would not have ateempted it. A full ils under thoes conditions would in all probablility been a tad beyond my limits. Maybe later after many more real ils approaches I might have done it. But at that time I would have gone back to the Island sooner, The ILS for 26 is over water so there are no obsdtacles in the way if you are just a whisker low. Decision height is OK too. So 'Alls well that ends well' as the Bard tells us.
In conclusion I must say that in the late 70s there was not quite as much commercial traffic as there is today, and ATC were possibly more amenable to things like practice this and that,
I don't know, but while some may say that flying is boring at times. mine NEVER was as I hope you will gather from these tales of derring do.
Cheers until next time.
D