View Full Version : Qxc
It's done - Goodwood, Bournemouth, Wycombe and back home :D :D :D
Got off to a bad start - Solent told me "sorry, but b*****r off" when I asked to transit en-route to Bournemouth - but I managed to find my way under their airspace and a dream landing and couple of Goods on the form from ATC meant that things were picking up a bit.
Bournemouth then shut while the Red Arrows went off to do their thing along the seafront, which was followed by the most staggering recovery into the circuit over my head and after a while I was off again. Boscombe were nice, Farnborough indifferent, but I found Wycombe without worries and managed to join and do a circuit without irritating the neigbours. Back to Goodwood and the nicest cold beer I think I've ever had.... :D :D
Thanks to Aussie Andy and Wycombe for advice beyond the call of duty, AerBabe (you were right, but being prepared helped :) ) and Sennadog for offering - I'll make it there soon. Gotta go - feel another cold beer calling :) :)
AerBabe
16th Aug 2002, 15:59
Woohoo!!! More congratulations!!!
Was a day much like this last summer when I did mine.
Have another beer on me :)
(When's the big day going to be?)
sennadog
16th Aug 2002, 16:14
What a star. I bet you feel like the dog's b****cks now! Get the beer down you and indulge yourself tonight and tell your other half to be bored to tears for the next few days as you retell the story.
As they say, the QXC is the highlight of the whole PPL training.
Well done!:D
The only advice that I can give you now is to get those hours in and go for the Skills Test as soon as you can.
FlyingForFun
16th Aug 2002, 16:29
Congrats Evo! And especially well done for being unphased by Solent not letting you through! :)
FFF
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Wycombe
16th Aug 2002, 16:36
Well done Evo....I can well remember the elation of completing the QXC without incident, feeling that you coped with things and that real sense of achievement.
Hope the extra gen. I sent Weds evening via e-mail was useful and didn't arrive too late.
It probably worked in your favour to do this on a weekday, as Wycombe was probably quite a bit quieter than it usually is on a Sat/Sun when the sun's out...will be in the thick of it there committing some aviation myself tomorrow :D :D
Aussie Andy
16th Aug 2002, 17:11
Great stuff Evo7 - glad it went well and glad we could help!
Sounds like Wycombe was a non-event then... what RWY was in use (haven't been outside so don't know what the wind is today!) and what approach was it (I'll bet d/wind join for 25 right-hand?)
I reckon QXC was the major highlight of the whole PPL - proves to yourself that you really can put it all together, and I think boosts your confidence for the flight test.
Re- Solent, I have had them tell me to bugg*r off a few times... best bet is to plan around them I find, and speak to Bournemouth LARS instead. I've even had them (Bournemouth) clear me through bits of Solent airspace - they just coordinate it by phone if you ask nicely - when Solent were too busy to help me!
Well done again :D
Penguina
17th Aug 2002, 13:09
Congratulations! Sounds like you're pretty damn good to me! I'm hoping to do mine next week, weather permitting, and I hope I do that well, so if you wouldn't mind sending some of your good luck/skill through the ether at me...
Wonderful day for flying and for cold beers, on the whole.
Andy - Wycombe was on 07 when I got there. Had the choice of straight in from Henley or overhead, and as the visibility was fairly poor decided against a straight in. Made it into the circuit OK, and turned base in the right place too. It wasn't exactly a non-event (will mail you why, because it's not really one for a public forum in case I misread things) but I kept ahead of things and had no problems. Not sure what it's like at the weekend - compared to Goodwood it was busy. And I like the 07 departure :)
Still on a high - definitely the high point of training so far. Skills test scheduled for 2nd September :eek: :)
Grim Reaper 14
19th Aug 2002, 08:30
Sorry for the tardy response, but my sincerest and heartfelt congratulations. It's true, it is the high point and worth savouring your success for as long as you can. Very well done! and from what I can tell from this remote point, very well deserved. :D :cool: :D :cool:
Aussie Andy
19th Aug 2002, 08:31
Evo7 - sounds great, and yeah the 07 departure is good fun - my kids love it and complain if we go out on say 25 instead as they like the low-level turn over the M40 "I can see the roof of that truck Daddy!" :)
Who has control?
19th Aug 2002, 09:15
Congratulations Evo - you must be nearly there now.
sennadog
19th Aug 2002, 12:14
Evo7. Any idea on the timing for the Skills Test?
First thing in the morning. By this time, two weeks from today, I'll have done it. Or it may be raining :rolleyes: :)
Well done! (It wasn't you who phoned and complained to B'mth ATC about seeing some aircraft flying dangerously close together that day. There were a few of them and all red, apparently, and if something wasn't done, there was going to be an accident. The SATCO got a call reporting this - and he's still not sure whether it was a pilot or one of his staff...)
Just out of interest, were you planning Bishops Wal. to Romsey when you got refused by Soton - and what was the cloudbase?
Irv - I asked to transit from Havant (i.e. just south of Bishops Waltham VRP) to Stoney Cross VRP via the Southampton overhead, at 2500 feet. I've done it several times before without problems, and that was the first time they said no. Cloud was FEW150 SCT200 (and yes, the zeros are in the right place :) )
Perhaps your instructor phoned them to test you out on that sort of thing :) Sounds like he/she trained you ok! (eg: to ask in the first place)
I don't know if it's published anywhere (cos I haven't looked) but they prefer Bishops.W. to Romsey then down to Stoney Cross. I'm just back from 2 days away and flew back from Alderney this evening and got a Solent crossing Needles - Popham across the VOR which I was assuming all along I wouldn't get. I was all ready to route to the West below 2000' but it was offered straight through so I took it. Never look a gift horse, etc. I would never expect that routing as it is almost runway alignment. (02/20)
Aussie Andy
20th Aug 2002, 23:28
Hi Irv, Evo7...
I've had a similiar pleasant surprise being routed straight across the VOR from south to north when routing back across the channel also (returning to Wycombe from France). It was in the evening: I suspect they are less busy then.
Hi A_A:
But this was what I think of as peak commercial time there - (getting on for 6pm - plenty going out and coming in) - the time you don't wanna do circuits there! I wouldn't want to encurage people to ask for generally N-S or S-N due to their runway alignment, but it shows it can happen.
Aussie Andy
21st Aug 2002, 07:56
Just shows to go ya... if you don't ask, you don't get! But whenever I need to get through there, e.g. to IoW say, I always plan around it (under the 2000' bit to the west), but ask for straight-through anyway if the frequency is not too busy when I am approaching. Easier to re-plan a straight line than a bent one :)
I don't know if it's published anywhere (cos I haven't looked) but they prefer Bishops.W. to Romsey then down to Stoney Cross.
Now you tell me :)
I've never had a problem routing through their overhead before, but there was a lot of commercial traffic arriving from the south that Friday morning. The controller was talking almost non-stop, so I had to do a couple of orbits over Havant before getting my request in (and several more before getting a reply) - a student pilot was probably the last thing they needed. Still, they took the time to call Bournemouth to tell them I was coming, so they did their best to help :)