Thud_and_Blunder
16th Jul 2019, 20:56
Folks, I learned as I turned finals this afternoon that I was on my last flight after 43 years in the trade. Fittingly, the airport where I was approaching has an example of the first type I flew in 1976 (a Jet Provost T3a) sitting in a field on short finals, even more fittingly propping-up a disused (I hope) septic tank. After training on the JP I was delighted to get my first choice - rotary - and have been flying fling-wing ever since.
From the very beginning I have been helped through my aviation exploits by professional air traffic controllers, a description that quite a few of the readers here should recognise as pertaining to themselves. The fact that a good number have also given my crew and me reasons to smile on many an occasion has been a bonus.
It's always wrong to pick out particular occasions, but as I'm of the pilot persuasion I'm used to being wrong. My time on the Northern Lighthouse Board Bolkows and EC135s, mostly as Redhead 12 and 14, was made immeasurably better by the reassuring presence of Scottish Info, 2 of whom I was able to meet at Plockton when they brought their Cessna floatplane in on a well-earned week off. I would credit the lovely people at London Information with being every bit as patient, kind and helpful as their Scottish equivalents. In my last incarnation before retirement flying yellow powerline EC135s, I have always enjoyed transitting through or past the airspace looked-after by Gloucester, Newquay, Cardiff, Oxford, Doncaster, Brum and East Midlands. I'd single out the last 2 for special mention: Brum for its Air Traffickers ability to handle transits by pesky VFR helis under conditions mere humans would find impossible, and East Mids not only for being almost on a par with Brum but also for having 2 of the best voices that can be heard anywhere on UK ATC frequencies.
I appreciate that it's not always plain sailing in your world - I once popped-up to the tower at Filton a week before they closed to say thanks to the folk there, and found out that the supervisor had only arrived there a year or so earlier having been at Plymouth until the closure of THAT airfield. It also turned out that he only lived a stone's throw away from me in the West Devon town to which C-in-C Domestic and I will be moving back in a fortnight's time. He was also able to resolve a mystery for me: I'd been on shift with the Devon Air Ambulance over Christmas one year, then just into the next month I was flying a team up to the UK's most northerly Shetland lighthouse (Muckle Flugga) when I heard a voice on frequency at Scatsta that I was certain had been at Plymouth a fortnight before. He confirmed that it was indeed the same Air Traffic Controller, and entertained me with a dit about a Honda Civic I could use to confirm identity when next speaking.
Finally, my last home base - Bristol. The care, courtesy and consideration our home base provides have made operating out of the south side a pleasure. Even when undergoing spirited post-flight email conversations with Green Watch, it has always been apparent that Bristol ATC are doing all they can with the resources at their disposal to make things work for everyone. It's not their fault that someone put a mostly-day-VFR helicopter outfit on their airfield 56 years ago (apparently the unit was offered space at Portishead, but the then-Chief Pilot lived just down the road from Lulsgate so that's where the unit was based). I never felt more welcome than I did when returning to base this evening after 5.2 hours, most of which had been down at 30 feet among the treetops of Leicestershire and Northants, and I very much appreciate the kind messages passed by Radar and Tower. I am obliged to you :)
yours gratefully, Electricity 13
From the very beginning I have been helped through my aviation exploits by professional air traffic controllers, a description that quite a few of the readers here should recognise as pertaining to themselves. The fact that a good number have also given my crew and me reasons to smile on many an occasion has been a bonus.
It's always wrong to pick out particular occasions, but as I'm of the pilot persuasion I'm used to being wrong. My time on the Northern Lighthouse Board Bolkows and EC135s, mostly as Redhead 12 and 14, was made immeasurably better by the reassuring presence of Scottish Info, 2 of whom I was able to meet at Plockton when they brought their Cessna floatplane in on a well-earned week off. I would credit the lovely people at London Information with being every bit as patient, kind and helpful as their Scottish equivalents. In my last incarnation before retirement flying yellow powerline EC135s, I have always enjoyed transitting through or past the airspace looked-after by Gloucester, Newquay, Cardiff, Oxford, Doncaster, Brum and East Midlands. I'd single out the last 2 for special mention: Brum for its Air Traffickers ability to handle transits by pesky VFR helis under conditions mere humans would find impossible, and East Mids not only for being almost on a par with Brum but also for having 2 of the best voices that can be heard anywhere on UK ATC frequencies.
I appreciate that it's not always plain sailing in your world - I once popped-up to the tower at Filton a week before they closed to say thanks to the folk there, and found out that the supervisor had only arrived there a year or so earlier having been at Plymouth until the closure of THAT airfield. It also turned out that he only lived a stone's throw away from me in the West Devon town to which C-in-C Domestic and I will be moving back in a fortnight's time. He was also able to resolve a mystery for me: I'd been on shift with the Devon Air Ambulance over Christmas one year, then just into the next month I was flying a team up to the UK's most northerly Shetland lighthouse (Muckle Flugga) when I heard a voice on frequency at Scatsta that I was certain had been at Plymouth a fortnight before. He confirmed that it was indeed the same Air Traffic Controller, and entertained me with a dit about a Honda Civic I could use to confirm identity when next speaking.
Finally, my last home base - Bristol. The care, courtesy and consideration our home base provides have made operating out of the south side a pleasure. Even when undergoing spirited post-flight email conversations with Green Watch, it has always been apparent that Bristol ATC are doing all they can with the resources at their disposal to make things work for everyone. It's not their fault that someone put a mostly-day-VFR helicopter outfit on their airfield 56 years ago (apparently the unit was offered space at Portishead, but the then-Chief Pilot lived just down the road from Lulsgate so that's where the unit was based). I never felt more welcome than I did when returning to base this evening after 5.2 hours, most of which had been down at 30 feet among the treetops of Leicestershire and Northants, and I very much appreciate the kind messages passed by Radar and Tower. I am obliged to you :)
yours gratefully, Electricity 13