What a glorious day for flying...

[MyData]

Looking at the METARs for my local patch, and looking outside at the glorious clear blue skies, what a fantastic day for flying.

DONCASTER FINNINGLEY EGCN 031150Z 34007KT 280V030 CAVOK 21/04 Q1030
EAST MIDLANDS EGNX 031150Z 30010KT CAVOK 21/04 Q1029
HUMBERSIDE EGNJ 031150Z 32006KT 280V360 CAVOK 19/08 Q1030
LEEDS BRADFORD EGNM 031150Z 29005KT 220V020 CAVOK 19/05 Q1029

Unfortunately, I've also been struck down by something and don't feel 100% fit to fly so have had to sit at home. Unbelievable. :(

For those out flying, and not PPRuNeing - have a good one.

[flower]

Absolutely glorious here too,not a cloud to be seen and I reckon from my bedroom I can see a minimum of 40km.
I too wish i was up for a flight especially as I haven't been for a bimble in around 2 years :bored:

Hope everyone is having a super day flying :)

[Kaptain Kremen]

Bummer guys! Hope you are up soon.
It is a beautiful day up there - aren't we a priviledged bunch? Flying. Great stuff!
KK

[javelin]

Would have been flying if we didn't have so many rivets to set and skins to dimple :ooh:

Still the forecast is good for tomorrow so I will go lust after some round engines at Breighton :ok:

[davidatter708]

It was good went the whole way round east midlands zone
there is so much you see that you dont know about right on your door step
david

[Lister Noble]

I was all set to go this afternoon,wx was great and all looked too good to be true.
It was!
The aircraft I was due to fly was being used for a QXC by a student and it all went really wrong for him,I waited until late afternoon by which time it was too late for me to do what I had planned.
A lot of interesting aircraft arrived through the day and I chatted to pilots etc so time went well.
I really felt for the student as I have had some cock ups on the way and know how he must feel.
Good news is I have the craft booked again for tomorrow.
Lister:)

[Henry Hallam]

Grumph... Attempted to go to Le Touquet yesterday but was forced to turn round over Southend due really awful weather (*THAT* wasn't on the TAF). Of course today with no a/c available and lots of exam revision to be done it is lovely.

[LysanderV8]

Glorious indeed on the South Coast. Went from Shoreham to Popham for lunch, then to Old Sarum for a cuppa. Back to Shoreham via the Isle of Wight, but no time to land as the aircraft was due back. Flew over the Needles though and saw over 1,000 sailing craft trying to find a bit of wind for a competition.

Best day's flying I have ever had because there was hardly any haze.

This is why I got my PPL.

Bliss !

Happy flying tomorrow guys. I have to do the garden :*

Lysander

[kevmusic]

I was due to go to Biggin as a guest of the Aircrew Association in the Caterpillar Club hospitality tent.......private car park/viewing area, coffee with the old boys, everything! What a day! Unfortunately, my wife was taken seriously ill during the week & is now recovering (thankfully) in intensive care, so no contest, really. Maybe next year..............

Kev.

[PeterJfrancis]

Hi all,
I booked an a/c yesterday and had to struggle with a 1500ft cloudbase and naff vis..and look at the weather today !! But it was a good flight , my first solo from Earls Colne as I've just moved to the area

I live in Maldon Essex (it's a VRP) so there has been a constant stream of aircraft all day ...that just rubs salt into the wound.

But thats the great British weather for you !

Have a good day to all those flying and don't forget to tells us how you got on

Peter

[MyData]

Best day's flying I have ever had because there was hardly any haze.

This is why I got my PPL.

Bliss !

I am so jealous. :{

I still don't feel 100% so won't be going up tomorrow. What price an overcast wet weekend next Sat/Sun.

[Whirlybird]

MyData,
There will be other good weekends, really. I know how you feel, but you don't have to fly every single good weekend - even in Britain there are quite a few of them, though not enough for most of us.

I had a full day of instructing booked, six half hour trial lessons, every hour from 10 to 3. Since you need to brief students, wait for the obligatory photos, and fit in refuelling, this means I only managed a five minute break all day, and eventually sat down to eat lunch and fill in my log book at 4.30 pm. Was it worth it? YES!!!!! It was a wonderful day; you could see for ever. I took the R44 to fly around Alton Towers, twice. The others all wanted to learn to fly a helicopter - in half an hour!....so we stayed local and I managed to get them all flying straight and level after a fashion. Everyone loved it, relatives enjoyed sitting in the sun, and I got to demonstrate lots of quickstops and other fun things. I'm fairly worn out, and I haven't earned a fortune, but......this is why I became an instructor. Anyone else contemplating a late career change, and wondering if it makes sense or not.....GO FOR IT! :ok:

[BEagle]

Brilliant day!

Went to Wellesbourne Mountford to get a bit more refamil on the Vulcan (which did a low power engine run and taxi today in preparation for the high speed run in 2 weeks time) - and showed one of my ex-students around the a/c. Then she took me for a trip in her Bulldog over the Malverns - fantastic weather (and she is an extremely good pilot!). A cup of tea, then a whizz home with the roof down before a barbi'. It doesn't get much better!

[helicopter-redeye]

Elevenses in Lands End.

Lunch in the Scilly Isles.

High Tea in Swansea.

Dinner in Sheffield.

Now THATS what I call a good day out.

h-r;)

[Cricket23]

Glad you all had a good time, sigh.

Me, I was stuck in my study writing a piece for the church.

Only highlight was a trip round the southern part of the M25, where I spied a Tiger Moth that was so low I was almost looking down into the cockpit! Also, spied a Typoon flying a holding pattern more or less over Sevenoaks (probably waiting for it's slot at Biggin I guess).

Ah well, enough 'pruning, back to the church work.

C23

[SkyHawk-N]

Great day flying in East Anglia, you could see forever. Flew to the Second World War Weekend at Duxford and enjoyed the atmosphere and sunshine.

[Kolibear]

A really fantastic day to be aviating, we took the Aiglon (hint hint - Koliber replacement), up to Oxford & it was a pleasure to be airborne again.

Looking down on the traffic jams on the M1 & M11 was a sweet moment.

Henry Hallam, what was wrong with the Southend weather, we heard quite a few a/c going to L2K?

[Henry Hallam]

The bad weather over Southend (and in fact over most of the south east) was yesterday not today, it wasn't too bad when we departed Cambridge around 10:00 but got steadily worse the further south we flew until finally decided to chuck it in over the Thames estuary.
Many thanks to the brilliant approach controller at Southend, he had a hell of a workload and provided a very efficient service.

[bladewashout]

Fantastic day, quick flight around St. Albans, dropped in to my neighbour's air-strip for tea and cakes then popped back home! The joys of rotary flying...

A Jet Ranger was having a slightly less good day about 5pm when I heard him pan-pan-pan with a chip light on and make a precautionary landing at Panshanger. Glad to hear everyone was fine.

BW

[kookabat]

Crappy day. 25 knots of crosswind at times at Bankstown. 30 knots at 2000'. Rain. Cloud.


I stayed on the ground!

THEN - was supposed to go up early this morning but canned it last night on basis of forecast - which they got spectacularly wrong: blue skies, wind VRB/03kt, though a bit chilly. Of course I'd missed my slot by the time I woke up, hadn't I!!

Now it's gone all crappy again


*sigh*

[davidatter708]

whirlybird were you at leicester yesterday in the blue R44??

[Whirlybird]

Nope, not guilty. I was in the purple R44 which went from Tatenhill to Alton Towers and over a little bit of the Peak District, twice. And also in the red R22 which circled around Blithfield Reservoir lots - that's my challenge for trial lesson students who pick up helicopter flying quickly: "Fly me around the reservoir".

[Shaggy Sheep Driver]

I'm in the second week of two I booked off from work some months back. Wow! I could not have chosen better! Lots of lovely flying in the Chippy and other aeroplanes, biking (but today it's just too hot to put the 'gear' on), top-down driving..... it hasn't rained at all and looks set well until at least early next week.

Excellent!:)

SSD

[S-Works]

i am in Poitiers on my way to Mallorca having decided to head here at the weekend. I know before anyone starts shouting that I did not plan the trip 6 months in advance and I have no recent hunting training that it is a foolhardy adventure but sometimes you have to say "what the $%$%"...........;)

But as I flying week, I have flown the club aound low level, flown the chippy, flown the Senecca to Elstree for a 50hr, sold my 152 and started to fly a JP. Next week, who knows........

[i.dingbat]

Kookabat - near Camden at around 4pm last Sunday:

http://www.iainhosking.com/images/2006/06/04/tempting_field_20060604_s.jpg

Not so good this coming weekend though :(

[Confabulous]

Bose - well done on finally selling the 152 - you have seen the light :E

[S-Works]

well i made Sunny Mallorca, very impressed with the service at Son Bonet. Cheap fuel and landing and efficient service.

The flight along the Island at 1000ft parallel to the arriving chav transporters was stunning. Amazing scenary.

Tommorrow sees us heading for Girona in the morning and then onto La Rochelle for the evening.


Selling the 152 was like losing an arm but I dont need two Cessna's!

[Leezyjet]

Glorious indeed on the South Coast. Went from Shoreham to Popham for lunch, then to Old Sarum for a cuppa. Back to Shoreham via the Isle of Wight, but no time to land as the aircraft was due back. Flew over the Needles though and saw over 1,000 sailing craft trying to find a bit of wind for a competition.

What time were you flying over and in what a/c ?. I was on the beach near Hurst Castle and was watching the sailing. I was looking at all the light a/c flying over thinking I wish I was up there !!. I was on the beach from about 11-1430. i was suprised how low some of them were - hope they had life jackets on inside !!

:)

[flower]

Whilst not flying I did get a chance to have an aviation fix today , meeting up with the Luscombes Grand tour at Upfield farm.

Gosh how I miss it all, can't wait to be back in the thick of it again.