From Zero to Forty Five - my PPL Diary
Join Date: Sep 2005
Location: Manchester, UK
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Cheers Lee 
Would be good to meet up with you for a chat/ale when you are over at Barton and if I am there. Medical - Class 2 - booked in for Monday, hoping to get booked in for a couple of hours flying the following weekend weather permitting.
Feel free to PM when you are going down and I'll let you know if I am there. If not, I'll be the short, bald, bespectacled Harry Hill lookalike walking around and fumbling everything nervously!
Cheers
Mark
Would be good to meet up with you for a chat/ale when you are over at Barton and if I am there. Medical - Class 2 - booked in for Monday, hoping to get booked in for a couple of hours flying the following weekend weather permitting.
Feel free to PM when you are going down and I'll let you know if I am there. If not, I'll be the short, bald, bespectacled Harry Hill lookalike walking around and fumbling everything nervously!
Cheers
Mark
Join Date: Jan 2005
Location: Northants
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Originally Posted by benhurr
So what aeroplane are you going to buy then?
Cheers
Mike N
Join Date: Jan 2005
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And finally....
Not sure if I should do this on here, but a very BIG thanks to everyone at the East Midlands Flying School (especially my instructor Morris). Their professionalism, patience and help were of the highest order, and I can highly recommend them - if they can teach me to fly, they can teach anyone!!!!.
Cheers all
CF
Cheers all
CF
Fixed+Rotary (aircraft, not washing lines)
Join Date: Jan 2005
Location: Peak District, Yorkshire, UK
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Congrats CF! The class of '06 is already getting well established, and yet another write up to look forwards to. Will your examiner take the coveted 'toughest tester' award from Mazzy's???
Mazzy - we really do need to have a fly in or beer meet to toast all our successes at all stages, May time would be good. Is the fly-in to Tatenhill still a possibility?
Mazzy - we really do need to have a fly in or beer meet to toast all our successes at all stages, May time would be good. Is the fly-in to Tatenhill still a possibility?
Join Date: Feb 2006
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Well done on your PPL Mazzy. Just out of curiosity, who was your instructor and examiner because i fly with RavenAir too and your examiner sounds like a certain person i know!!
Spicy Meatball
Thread Starter
Join Date: Jan 2004
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PRB - It was Phil R.....Welcome aboard, don't recall any other posts from you
Tatenhill would be a good idea, it's just numbers really - perhaps a booze up first would be better before we all crash in at the same airfield
Tatenhill would be a good idea, it's just numbers really - perhaps a booze up first would be better before we all crash in at the same airfield
Join Date: Jan 2005
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Originally Posted by BRL
Congratulations CF, are you going to be writing it up for us???
If not, give me a couple of days and I'll redo it here,
Cheers
CF
Join Date: Feb 2006
Location: Newcastle upon Tyne, UK
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Copying and Pasting
Originally Posted by Chequeredflag
OK, I'll do that. Actually, for my own benefit, I've written it up on Word on our PC......is there anyway I can paste it onto the forum? I may be a PPL now, but still somewhat computer illiterate!
If not, give me a couple of days and I'll redo it here,
Cheers
CF
If not, give me a couple of days and I'll redo it here,
Cheers
CF
[1] That means CTRL and A together.
Join Date: Jan 2005
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My QXC Report
I had completed my solo land away on the 22nd December (East Midlands/Turweston/Podington/EastMidlands) after having several attempts canned by, yet again, the weather. After the QXC, all that would be left was Skills Test revision and the Skills Test itself.
Firstly, Christmas intervened, then, there was poor weather in the first week of January, then two weeks of winter sunshine (hols), then a business trip to Spain – and that was the month of January accounted for!! So into February – well the month came and went, and still no QXC. It was either wind, fog, low visibility, rain, snow or any combination of the lot you care to choose! Next, I ran out of currency for solo flights, then the same on solo land away, needing time back with the instructor (twice) for each of these.
So, now we were into March, and once again attempts were canned, weather again, until you’ve guessed it, solo currency ran out again!! By now, I had 22 attempts at the QXC cancelled because of weather, and to be honest, it was starting to get to me. It was being built up in my mind as a sort of barrier, a big deal. I found I was starting to worry about things like the approach and landing at Cambridge – no ‘rhyme nor reason’ to it really.
However, on the 22nd of March, the weather was within limits for three or four solo circuits, to regain currency. On the journey up the M1, I received a call from my instructor – make all haste, looks like the QXC may happen today!!!! Blimey, I suddenly had to get myself psyched up for this surprise. I arrived, and immediately set about plotting the QXC route (EMA/Turweston (land)/Podington/Cambridge(land) – never been there before, and back to EMA).
I downloaded the TAF’s checked the 214/215’s, the Notams, Royal Flights etc (only one restriction in the Southern North Sea - blimey, if I bust that, I really would be lost!!) I checked out the Warrior on its return from another students 09.30 lesson - my favourite G-CDON – all was OK, and it was off to do the circuit work. No problems, no orbits, number one all the way. The second landing was a bit of a bump, but the rest were fine (why can’t I ever seem to grease it on the runway these days?) Happy with that, and another 30 minutes solo under my belt (which should put me over the 10 hour required after the QXC time is added), I returned to the school for a coffee and Mars bar (I’m into healthy food!) to up the energy levels. I received all the paperwork for signature and off I went with the best wishes of everybody at the school – brakes were off at 11.40. The viz was pretty good at 9999, but the 3000’ winds were a bit fluky – variable, at 15 to 25 knots – not the easiest for planning headings!! Nevertheless, it all started fine, zoning out to the South via Sierra Echo. Once clear of the zone and its 2000’ limitation for VFR flights, Approach gave me FIS and I climbed to 2400, taking care not to bust the 2500’ lower limit of the controlled airspace there.
Clearing the Markfield VRP and the lower section of EMA airspace, I climbed to 2800’ (trying to avoid the even/odd numbers that many pilots choose, as an additional safety precaution) and requested, and got, the OK to change to Coventry Approach for FIS. They were as helpful as always (in my experience anyway), giving me their standard FIS squawk of 0250, and telling me to call overhead Daventry. The heading was working fine, and I continued Southwards to Daventry, and right overhead our house! I had told my wife roughly what time to expect me, and I could clearly see her in the garden waving – strangely emotional that! I resisted the temptation to weave or waggle my wings, and kept on the heading.
I called Coventry again, and they gave the OK to change frequency to Turweston Radio, who advised there were two others in the circuit, gave the QFE and the runway (09). I chose to join downwind, rather than the rather lengthy process of a standard overhead join (it’s a very wide circuit there for noise abatement reasons). The landing was pretty good (for me!!), and I was advised to backtrack at my discretion as the grass taxiway was pretty wet. I could see/hear nobody on base or final, so backtracked as suggested, keeping a good look out as I did so.
I parked up (at 12.25), shut down and set off to the tower to pay my fees, and most importantly, to have my form signed – the controller gave me a “good”, so I was happy with that. I didn’t stay long, had a quick pee (important at my age!!), decided against a cup of tea (a diuretic), and instead, had a swig from my bottle of water. A quick check of levels, and a walk around, saw me starting up and departing from runway 09 at 12.55, using one stage of flap for a short field takeoff (not strictly necessary at Turweston, but good practice). Overhead Silverstone Circuit, I called “goodbye and thanks” and changed frequency to Cranfield, who gave me a FIS, and told me to call when overhead Podington. They were quite busy with a lot of school traffic in their circuit, but nothing to bother me.
Something, however, did not feel right – the plane seemed to be struggling somewhat, and wanted to climb all the time – why, I wondered?
“You prat” I called out aloud, and put away the first stage of flap that I had used (and subsequently forgot about!) for take off ten minutes ago!!! I gave myself a b*****g (well, lets say a telling off!) and began looking for Podington. This should be coming up on the nose in the next four minutes, but, for some reason I couldn’t see it. Mmmm, what’s happened here? I rechecked the time, the heading and assumed it was a bit late due to having lost a little time with the flap episode. Still, no sign – looking anxiously around (calm down now and think) I saw it off to the left, about a mile north of me. Why? I still don’t know what happened, I know I was definitely on heading, which had worked spot on for the first half of the leg before going awry. My only explanation was the flukiness of the wind – perhaps at that point I had got a 25 knot “shove” rather than the 15 knots at the bottom end of the forecast. Anyway, forget it now, I’m back on track. Cranfield called and suggested I now speak to Cambridge Approach. I told them I wanted to call Bourne for any traffic information they may have – all approved, and they bid me “good day”. I tuned into Bourne and listened, but there was nothing at all going on, so gave them a miss and went straight to Cambridge Approach.
Cambridge said they had me on radar, to continue my approach, and call when the field was in sight. Suddenly, out of the corner of my eye, something caught my attention – it was a glider, going from my right to left, probably only about 300/400’ higher than myself. A bit of a shock, and right out of the blue – I convinced myself that he had probably had me in sight with his better visibility, but it made me resolve to keep a better look out. With the field now in sight, Cambridge advised to expect a standard overhead join and to go over to Tower on 122.20.
Now my earlier Cambridge demons came back to haunt me – what exactly did they mean by a standard overhead join when approaching, as I was, from the deadside? I checked out the template for the field, and surmised they meant for me to be overhead the upwind threshold to join the circuit downwind. However, I did not fancy descending to 1000’ on their deadside, ie overhead Cambridge city. I called the tower, and asked if they were happy for me to approach over the city - they were, as long as I stayed above 2000’. Ah! Now I get it, no problem, overhead the downwind threshold at 2000’, maintaining that height to turn back North, and then commence descent on the deadside. That way, the descent is further away from the city centre, with sites for a ‘land clear’ in the event of any engine problems. I joined the circuit and landed comfortably on runway 05 at 13.35. I was directed to park in row ‘G’ of the GA park. I shut down again, and hoped my approach had been OK, ‘cos I now had to get my form signed! No problem they said, my approach, landing and R/T had been fine, and they gave me a “good” again.
I thought I had better give my wife a call to let her know that I was still alive and well, and now in Cambridge – she sounded relieved, and put the insurance policies back in the drawer. This time, I had a quick coffee, and another Mars bar to keep the blood sugar and energy level up (does it work by the way?) but by now I was feeling a bit tired. Two pees later (to be sure!), I said my goodbyes to the GA staff, and booked out with ATC (by fax to the tower from the GA centre) for my return to East Midlands, the longest leg at 66 miles. Fuel/oil levels were all OK, and everything looked fine, so I fired her up and was ready to go.
I was told by the tower to taxi (brakes off at 14.15) to the holding point for runway 05, where I went through pre-flight and power checks. I was cleared for take off and departed towards the North East. I then turned west towards the A1(M), tracking around the North of the city, before turning onto 310 degrees and towards home base. Tower passed me over to Approach who gave me a FIS, until I requested frequency change to Cottesmore (MATZ). Cambridge said “goodbye”, and the Military guys granted a continued FIS.
It was now becoming rather bumpy as the plane was reacting to various thermals. At one point, the VSI showed +1200’ per minute, and the little plane ballooned upwards with no assistance from me! A little concentration was needed to maintain height for a while before things settled down again. My track was to take me directly over Leicester airfield, so I said goodbye to Cottesmore in order call Leicester on 122.12 for any traffic information. I was advised all was quiet there, so I changed back to East Midlands Approach for FIS, and a Zone rejoin. I was cleared to approach the zone boundary, and to call before arrival, but when the time came, I could not get a word in edgeways – the world and his mother were talking to Approach, so I had to break off and orbit just South of the zone boundary (at Shepshed). Eventually, I got through, and was cleared for rejoin and to a right base for runway 09. Eventually I was given clearance to final as number 2 to a Ryanair 737, remembering to keep high and upwind of him to avoid his vortex.
I landed at 15.05, and was cleared to taxi back to the school, where a (relieved?) instructor was waiting with outstretched hand. I was very pleased with my overall performance (apart from the flap issue, and getting a bit too close to the glider), but I suddenly realised I was absolutely knackered. I had been actually in the air for a solid three+ hours and it started to catch up on me. Another Mars bar, and a strong coffee saw me recover and begin to contemplate my next exercise, the Mock Skills Test, which will be…..
….TOMORROW? Blimey, I’m off home to get some sleep.
Firstly, Christmas intervened, then, there was poor weather in the first week of January, then two weeks of winter sunshine (hols), then a business trip to Spain – and that was the month of January accounted for!! So into February – well the month came and went, and still no QXC. It was either wind, fog, low visibility, rain, snow or any combination of the lot you care to choose! Next, I ran out of currency for solo flights, then the same on solo land away, needing time back with the instructor (twice) for each of these.
So, now we were into March, and once again attempts were canned, weather again, until you’ve guessed it, solo currency ran out again!! By now, I had 22 attempts at the QXC cancelled because of weather, and to be honest, it was starting to get to me. It was being built up in my mind as a sort of barrier, a big deal. I found I was starting to worry about things like the approach and landing at Cambridge – no ‘rhyme nor reason’ to it really.
However, on the 22nd of March, the weather was within limits for three or four solo circuits, to regain currency. On the journey up the M1, I received a call from my instructor – make all haste, looks like the QXC may happen today!!!! Blimey, I suddenly had to get myself psyched up for this surprise. I arrived, and immediately set about plotting the QXC route (EMA/Turweston (land)/Podington/Cambridge(land) – never been there before, and back to EMA).
I downloaded the TAF’s checked the 214/215’s, the Notams, Royal Flights etc (only one restriction in the Southern North Sea - blimey, if I bust that, I really would be lost!!) I checked out the Warrior on its return from another students 09.30 lesson - my favourite G-CDON – all was OK, and it was off to do the circuit work. No problems, no orbits, number one all the way. The second landing was a bit of a bump, but the rest were fine (why can’t I ever seem to grease it on the runway these days?) Happy with that, and another 30 minutes solo under my belt (which should put me over the 10 hour required after the QXC time is added), I returned to the school for a coffee and Mars bar (I’m into healthy food!) to up the energy levels. I received all the paperwork for signature and off I went with the best wishes of everybody at the school – brakes were off at 11.40. The viz was pretty good at 9999, but the 3000’ winds were a bit fluky – variable, at 15 to 25 knots – not the easiest for planning headings!! Nevertheless, it all started fine, zoning out to the South via Sierra Echo. Once clear of the zone and its 2000’ limitation for VFR flights, Approach gave me FIS and I climbed to 2400, taking care not to bust the 2500’ lower limit of the controlled airspace there.
Clearing the Markfield VRP and the lower section of EMA airspace, I climbed to 2800’ (trying to avoid the even/odd numbers that many pilots choose, as an additional safety precaution) and requested, and got, the OK to change to Coventry Approach for FIS. They were as helpful as always (in my experience anyway), giving me their standard FIS squawk of 0250, and telling me to call overhead Daventry. The heading was working fine, and I continued Southwards to Daventry, and right overhead our house! I had told my wife roughly what time to expect me, and I could clearly see her in the garden waving – strangely emotional that! I resisted the temptation to weave or waggle my wings, and kept on the heading.
I called Coventry again, and they gave the OK to change frequency to Turweston Radio, who advised there were two others in the circuit, gave the QFE and the runway (09). I chose to join downwind, rather than the rather lengthy process of a standard overhead join (it’s a very wide circuit there for noise abatement reasons). The landing was pretty good (for me!!), and I was advised to backtrack at my discretion as the grass taxiway was pretty wet. I could see/hear nobody on base or final, so backtracked as suggested, keeping a good look out as I did so.
I parked up (at 12.25), shut down and set off to the tower to pay my fees, and most importantly, to have my form signed – the controller gave me a “good”, so I was happy with that. I didn’t stay long, had a quick pee (important at my age!!), decided against a cup of tea (a diuretic), and instead, had a swig from my bottle of water. A quick check of levels, and a walk around, saw me starting up and departing from runway 09 at 12.55, using one stage of flap for a short field takeoff (not strictly necessary at Turweston, but good practice). Overhead Silverstone Circuit, I called “goodbye and thanks” and changed frequency to Cranfield, who gave me a FIS, and told me to call when overhead Podington. They were quite busy with a lot of school traffic in their circuit, but nothing to bother me.
Something, however, did not feel right – the plane seemed to be struggling somewhat, and wanted to climb all the time – why, I wondered?
“You prat” I called out aloud, and put away the first stage of flap that I had used (and subsequently forgot about!) for take off ten minutes ago!!! I gave myself a b*****g (well, lets say a telling off!) and began looking for Podington. This should be coming up on the nose in the next four minutes, but, for some reason I couldn’t see it. Mmmm, what’s happened here? I rechecked the time, the heading and assumed it was a bit late due to having lost a little time with the flap episode. Still, no sign – looking anxiously around (calm down now and think) I saw it off to the left, about a mile north of me. Why? I still don’t know what happened, I know I was definitely on heading, which had worked spot on for the first half of the leg before going awry. My only explanation was the flukiness of the wind – perhaps at that point I had got a 25 knot “shove” rather than the 15 knots at the bottom end of the forecast. Anyway, forget it now, I’m back on track. Cranfield called and suggested I now speak to Cambridge Approach. I told them I wanted to call Bourne for any traffic information they may have – all approved, and they bid me “good day”. I tuned into Bourne and listened, but there was nothing at all going on, so gave them a miss and went straight to Cambridge Approach.
Cambridge said they had me on radar, to continue my approach, and call when the field was in sight. Suddenly, out of the corner of my eye, something caught my attention – it was a glider, going from my right to left, probably only about 300/400’ higher than myself. A bit of a shock, and right out of the blue – I convinced myself that he had probably had me in sight with his better visibility, but it made me resolve to keep a better look out. With the field now in sight, Cambridge advised to expect a standard overhead join and to go over to Tower on 122.20.
Now my earlier Cambridge demons came back to haunt me – what exactly did they mean by a standard overhead join when approaching, as I was, from the deadside? I checked out the template for the field, and surmised they meant for me to be overhead the upwind threshold to join the circuit downwind. However, I did not fancy descending to 1000’ on their deadside, ie overhead Cambridge city. I called the tower, and asked if they were happy for me to approach over the city - they were, as long as I stayed above 2000’. Ah! Now I get it, no problem, overhead the downwind threshold at 2000’, maintaining that height to turn back North, and then commence descent on the deadside. That way, the descent is further away from the city centre, with sites for a ‘land clear’ in the event of any engine problems. I joined the circuit and landed comfortably on runway 05 at 13.35. I was directed to park in row ‘G’ of the GA park. I shut down again, and hoped my approach had been OK, ‘cos I now had to get my form signed! No problem they said, my approach, landing and R/T had been fine, and they gave me a “good” again.
I thought I had better give my wife a call to let her know that I was still alive and well, and now in Cambridge – she sounded relieved, and put the insurance policies back in the drawer. This time, I had a quick coffee, and another Mars bar to keep the blood sugar and energy level up (does it work by the way?) but by now I was feeling a bit tired. Two pees later (to be sure!), I said my goodbyes to the GA staff, and booked out with ATC (by fax to the tower from the GA centre) for my return to East Midlands, the longest leg at 66 miles. Fuel/oil levels were all OK, and everything looked fine, so I fired her up and was ready to go.
I was told by the tower to taxi (brakes off at 14.15) to the holding point for runway 05, where I went through pre-flight and power checks. I was cleared for take off and departed towards the North East. I then turned west towards the A1(M), tracking around the North of the city, before turning onto 310 degrees and towards home base. Tower passed me over to Approach who gave me a FIS, until I requested frequency change to Cottesmore (MATZ). Cambridge said “goodbye”, and the Military guys granted a continued FIS.
It was now becoming rather bumpy as the plane was reacting to various thermals. At one point, the VSI showed +1200’ per minute, and the little plane ballooned upwards with no assistance from me! A little concentration was needed to maintain height for a while before things settled down again. My track was to take me directly over Leicester airfield, so I said goodbye to Cottesmore in order call Leicester on 122.12 for any traffic information. I was advised all was quiet there, so I changed back to East Midlands Approach for FIS, and a Zone rejoin. I was cleared to approach the zone boundary, and to call before arrival, but when the time came, I could not get a word in edgeways – the world and his mother were talking to Approach, so I had to break off and orbit just South of the zone boundary (at Shepshed). Eventually, I got through, and was cleared for rejoin and to a right base for runway 09. Eventually I was given clearance to final as number 2 to a Ryanair 737, remembering to keep high and upwind of him to avoid his vortex.
I landed at 15.05, and was cleared to taxi back to the school, where a (relieved?) instructor was waiting with outstretched hand. I was very pleased with my overall performance (apart from the flap issue, and getting a bit too close to the glider), but I suddenly realised I was absolutely knackered. I had been actually in the air for a solid three+ hours and it started to catch up on me. Another Mars bar, and a strong coffee saw me recover and begin to contemplate my next exercise, the Mock Skills Test, which will be…..
….TOMORROW? Blimey, I’m off home to get some sleep.
Join Date: Jan 2005
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Age: 80
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My Pre GFT Test
After a somewhat restless night (still on a high after the QXC), I turned up at the school for the mock skills test, feeling tired and jaded. To be honest, I didn’t really feel like doing it, but it was a fine day, with the forecast for bad weather the next day, so it was important to get it done. My instructor explained the score - we would simulate as far as possible the GFT, and I would be on my own, making all my own decisions with him just monitoring.
The first section was to be the navigation. .It did not get off to a great start – I failed to do a FREDA check, and the Compass/HI was some 20 degrees out!! No wonder I was struggling to find the route – after the error was pointed out, I quickly got back on track, and from there on I was OK. I was not really on form and pretty unhappy with my sloppy approach to the task. It was time to pull myself together. I had to get a MATZ crossing approved (Waddington - no problem, crossing approved), which involved passing over Scampton, the home of the Red Arrows - there was no sign of them being at home. I went on to easily find the disused airfield (Binbrook) that I was looking for (not that far from the East Coast near Louth). I was finally beginning to settle down. After the high of the QXC yesterday, I was on relatively poor form today, and feeling tired.
Having successfully found Binbrook, I was told to divert to Coal Aston, a small grass airfield just South of Sheffield, some 40 miles to the West. Not easy to do everything together, fly the plane, find the diversion destination, draw a line, calculate the heading allowing for wind, distance, ETA - a lot to achieve in a short time. At last, however, I was on the button, and got there accurately with no problems, except one rather important one - I couldn’t see the field!! I was sure I was in the right place, but could I see it? Could I “‘eckaslike” as they say in Yorkshire! I was sure I was in the right area; everything else fell into place, but still no airfield. In the end, it was pointed out to me! I WAS in the right place all along, but as it consisted of a small grass strip, and a well camouflaged green “hangar” it was difficult to see from the air.
Next, I was put straight into various stalls, steep turns and a PFL, all of which went fine. I was then asked to fix my position using the Trent and the Gamston VOR’s, again not an easy task when flying the plane in a cramped cockpit, to accurately draw the lines, It was OK though, and I was within about a mile or so of actual position. We then headed back to East Midlands for debrief. I was really tired, which I think hampered my performance, and I made quite a few mistakes. I comforted myself with the thought that that’s what mock tests are for, but I was not over pleased, and turning in a fairly average performance like that, was just adding to the pressure of the upcoming GFT. I perked up a bit though when the instructor told me in his opinion, I did enough to get a pass, so perhaps it was not TOO bad after all.
I was then told that the GFT would be on the following Thursday, 31st March. Bugger, is it really only a few days away? I’ve waited for that day to come for months, but now it’s here, oh my gawd!! I made a pledge to do a lot of thinking/revision in the time I had left, and arrived home for a whiskey (or two) and a very long sleep.
The first section was to be the navigation. .It did not get off to a great start – I failed to do a FREDA check, and the Compass/HI was some 20 degrees out!! No wonder I was struggling to find the route – after the error was pointed out, I quickly got back on track, and from there on I was OK. I was not really on form and pretty unhappy with my sloppy approach to the task. It was time to pull myself together. I had to get a MATZ crossing approved (Waddington - no problem, crossing approved), which involved passing over Scampton, the home of the Red Arrows - there was no sign of them being at home. I went on to easily find the disused airfield (Binbrook) that I was looking for (not that far from the East Coast near Louth). I was finally beginning to settle down. After the high of the QXC yesterday, I was on relatively poor form today, and feeling tired.
Having successfully found Binbrook, I was told to divert to Coal Aston, a small grass airfield just South of Sheffield, some 40 miles to the West. Not easy to do everything together, fly the plane, find the diversion destination, draw a line, calculate the heading allowing for wind, distance, ETA - a lot to achieve in a short time. At last, however, I was on the button, and got there accurately with no problems, except one rather important one - I couldn’t see the field!! I was sure I was in the right place, but could I see it? Could I “‘eckaslike” as they say in Yorkshire! I was sure I was in the right area; everything else fell into place, but still no airfield. In the end, it was pointed out to me! I WAS in the right place all along, but as it consisted of a small grass strip, and a well camouflaged green “hangar” it was difficult to see from the air.
Next, I was put straight into various stalls, steep turns and a PFL, all of which went fine. I was then asked to fix my position using the Trent and the Gamston VOR’s, again not an easy task when flying the plane in a cramped cockpit, to accurately draw the lines, It was OK though, and I was within about a mile or so of actual position. We then headed back to East Midlands for debrief. I was really tired, which I think hampered my performance, and I made quite a few mistakes. I comforted myself with the thought that that’s what mock tests are for, but I was not over pleased, and turning in a fairly average performance like that, was just adding to the pressure of the upcoming GFT. I perked up a bit though when the instructor told me in his opinion, I did enough to get a pass, so perhaps it was not TOO bad after all.
I was then told that the GFT would be on the following Thursday, 31st March. Bugger, is it really only a few days away? I’ve waited for that day to come for months, but now it’s here, oh my gawd!! I made a pledge to do a lot of thinking/revision in the time I had left, and arrived home for a whiskey (or two) and a very long sleep.
Join Date: Jan 2005
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Age: 80
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My GFT Report
During the early part of the week, the weather forecast did not look too promising – the general outlook for Thursday was wet and windy. With my recent luck with the weather, it was bound to be canned. On Tuesday afternoon, I phoned the school, and they suggested that the next day, Wednesday (29th) looked promising, and did I want to pull it forward if the examiner was available. The pretty straightforward answer to that was “yes”
The nerves were really jangling now – a call came to say the examiner was free, and we would start at 10.30. I had spent the previous few days going over and over things in my mind, HASELL and FREDA checks, when to do them and in the right order. The PFL procedure, going through it in my mind step by step etc. “Relax, and enjoy it” came advice from the forums - Oh yeah? This is something I’ve been working on for 12 months now, and an awful lot rides on this one final examination, and I’m supposed to relax and enjoy it - GET REAL PLEASE!
I decided to stop revising at 18.00 on the Tuesday evening, and try to forget it. I went to bed fairly early and read a non aviation book before lights out. I actually went to sleep quickly, and slept well, but awoke pretty early the next morning. My stomach was churning!! I made a cup of tea, watched teletext, and generally tried to forget it was D Day! I packed all my things, ensured I had everything and left at 08.00, arriving at the school one hour later.
The instructors were busy refuelling the planes, and one by one wished me luck. The phone rang, it was my examiner saying he would not be able to arrive until 10.00am but gave me the route to plot and his weight. Basically, I was to zone out to the South to Markfield VRP, then head for a disused airfield in Bedfordshire, before turning west for another disused field in Oxfordshire, and back to EMA. Having committed the route to paper, I marked on all the Frequency change points, FREDA points (as reminders) and put the 3000’ wind direction/speed on the chart (260 degrees at 20kts), then I completed the flight plan. I carefully noted down all the frequencies I might need, and those either side of the route in case of (!) any diversion.
I also noted the Cranfield and Daventry VOR frequencies. I checked the Notams, Royal Flights, got the TAFs and METARs. I then checked the TAS (103 knots), distances, times en route, fuel requirements, weight and balance calculations, and the myriad of other things you have to do pre flight - I was busy, and feeling a bit more relaxed.
10.00am arrived very quickly, but I had everything covered except pre flighting the plane. I went outside to check out Oscar November, only to discover, that in the last half an hour, the skies had darkened, there was now low cloud, and it was raining! I DON’T BELIEVE IT!! I completed the pre flight checks, set up the necessary radio frequencies for the first part of the flight, and punched in the planned VOR frequencies. I returned to the office, met my examiner (who’s day job is flying wide bodied Airbus A300’s, lucky so and so!) and suggested that if I was going solo VFR, I would consider cancelling the flight due to the weather. Thankfully, whilst acknowledging my caution, he indicated it would be fine!
I went out to the plane and got settled in, shortly followed by the most important person in my life at that precise moment! I explained that I would treat him as if he was my neighbour, who has never been in a small plane before “That’s fine” he said “Has she got big tits?” I roared with nervous laughter. I’m going to like this chap – he cracked another couple of jokes about Noddy and Big Ears, and it was obvious he was determined to lower any stress level I may be experiencing.
I gave him a full briefing. Do not touch anything, tell me if you do, feet off the pedals, the location of the emergency items (extinguisher and first aid box), safety belt and door operation and asked him to shout if he saw another aircraft in the sky, no matter whether he thought I’d already seen it. I fired up the motor, collected the ATIS (information PAPA, runway 27, QNH 1005, winds 220 at 7, Ground closed), did a full instrument check, T’s and P’s etc, making sure I said everything out loud so he knew what I was doing. I taxied forward to initial hold at Mike Alpha and called the Tower. “Taxi to and hold at Sierra 1 for runway 27, QNH 1005” came the reply. I read it all back and taxied out to S1, checking the compass and HI for correct movement, and the turn coordinator both on left and right turns.
I ensured the compass and HI were properly aligned, arrived at the hold and carried out power checks etc. All was well, called ready for departure, and was told to hold position and line up after the landing 737. Mr Ryanair went passed and I entered 27 and lined up ready to go. I checked everything again, a quick burst of carb heat to be sure, all lights on, everything ready.
“Golf Oscar November, you are cleared for a Sierra Echo departure to the South, not above 2000 VFR” I acknowledged, and heard in return “read back is correct, you are cleared for take off” Oh well, here we go, opened up to full power, speaking out loud “full power, T & P’s OK, speed increasing”
Sixty knots, rotate, and up, up and away! Passing 300’ AGL, I heard “Oh dear, we’ve suffered engine failure!” as he closed the throttle. OK, we have an EFATO eh? Pitch down, full flaps, touch checks only but call them out loud – no problem there’s plenty of runway left to get back down. “OK Mike, climb away” I called the tower to report climbing again and we cleared the boundary. 500’ AGL arrived and I started a gentle 15 degree climbing left turn to a heading of 150 degrees for the correct zone exit. 1000’ AGL, so fuel pump off, transponder on 7000 Mode Charlie. Approaching Shepshed East I called “Golf Oscar November, Zoning out Sierra Echo” Tower acknowledged and passed me over to Approach, who gave me a FIS. The weather was not nice however, low cloud, raining and not much visibility, probably no more than 7000 metres. This was going to be a tough test.
“I think with the cloud level being about 2000’, we had better avoid Leicester City (original route at 3000’ for land clear), so track around the North of the City, and pick up your original route overhead Leicester Airport” Great!! The visibility is pretty poor and I’m now taken off my route and relative comfort zone, but I find my way, and a few minutes later, Leicester Airport came up on the nose. “You pick up your heading and I’ll give Leicester a call” What a nice man my examiner is! I carry out a FREDA check, align compass/HI, all OK.
I calculated a new ETA for the first waypoint, having had 10 miles chopped off the original route, and concentrated hard to stay on track. I changed to Cottesmore for a FIS and they were very obliging, warning of a Harrier that almost immediately flew straight over us - awesome beast that was, pleased we’re not in a dog fight with that!!
Various towns came up on the dot - there’s the A14 right where it should be, a couple of lakes - yep we were smack on it. I couldn’t see far ahead though, and I reckoned the airfield I’m looking for would appear in about three minutes. There it was, bang on the nose - just to be sure I looked for and established a couple of identifying features, and confirmed it to the boss. He’s happy.
I now turned West onto 260 for the next waypoint, some 50 miles distant, stopwatch reset, ETA calculated (16 past the hour) and off we went. The cloud level was still pretty low at 2500’ish, so we were bimbling along at 2000’ on the QNH. I spotted the disused and massive Bedford aerodrome, and the Santa Pod raceway, confirming we were on the correct heading. “OK Mike, do you know where we are?” “Yes, overhead Billing Aquadrome, just South of Northampton” I said confidently. “OK, I want you to divert to Leicester Airfield, do what’s necessary to get us there”
This is never easy, but I grabbed the chart, and drew as steady a line as I could, and calculated 340 degrees, less a bit for the 260 winds, let’s say 330. Distance, according to the thumb was 25 miles, ground speed, near enough 95 kts and about 17 minutes. I calculated the ETA and set off.
After a few minutes, he said “that’s fine, now I want you to track the 250 radial to Daventry VOR”. There’s no rest for the wicked here is there? Right, setting 250 on the clock, I turned a little to intercept the beam at a lesser angle, and wait for the needle to swing. Eventually it started to move into the centre, and once aligned, I set a heading of 250 to track to it. With the wind up here at 260, there’s no need for any substantial heading correction, so I settled in for a slightly quieter time. NO CHANCE!!
“That’s fine Mike, and that’s the navigation bit over with, so now we need to tackle the upper level stuff” The problem was the cloud base, which was still only about 2000’ or so. We headed back north towards Leicester. There was nothing else for it but to climb through the murk, to find clearer conditions. “OK, up you go” he said. Full power and I climbed into the cloud. Now, I’ve done loads of instrument stuff at home on the Microsoft simulator, but to do it for real was something else! Concentrating really hard on the Attitude Indicator, I remembered to rely on the instrument and not my senses. Actually, that home stuff really helped, because I held it nice and steady for what seemed ages, turning as instructed firstly 90 degrees to the left (gentle turn) then to the right, and levelling off at 4000’, still in cloud. “Hmmm, this isn’t much good, OK let’s go higher”. So, up I went again, and as 4500’ passed, we popped out into clear air. There was still cloud above, but we could see off to the East was a nice clear patch with the ground in view, so we headed off in that direction.
We were now receiving FIS from Cottesmore once again, and I was told “OK, whilst you are doing the next exercises, I will handle the navigation and the radio” We went into the various upper air exercises, firstly the steep turn - no problem. Then stalling in clean configuration (I remembered to do the HASELL check!), then with two stages of flap, and in a slow turn as if turning onto final - all OK. Boy I was now actually enjoying it, and there was some good banter inside the plane, but I was getting knackered, AND I needed a pee!!
That section over, we went back down through the cloud (it was great fun doing this IMC stuff, I’ll have to get that under my belt sometime) and down to 2000’. Finding a gap in the rain showers put me onto a heading of 260 degrees (smack into the wind) and the PFL. Again, that went better than expected, a kindly farmer had lit a bonfire to confirm the wind, and there was a perfect field straight ahead! I trimmed for 70 knots best glide speed (drifted a little high to 80 knots a couple of times) and went through the engine restart procedure, called a Mayday, “put” 7700 in the transponder, and at the right time shoved in first stage of flap. We were pretty low by now, and he finally called “OK climb” Phew, that went OK I think, we’ll see!!
We now headed back to East Midlands airport, and I had to demonstrate some slow flying (70 knots clean) on the way. On arrival at East Midlands, he wanted me to firstly carry out a standard rejoin and normal landing (or touch and go). I was told to ask for three or four circuits which were approved. Descending on approach to left base for runway 27 at 1500’, we were suddenly confronted by a very large hawk that flew rather too close to our port wing – I wouldn’t have wanted to hit it, that’s for sure! Cleared to final number two behind another school plane, I concentrated on maintaining a consistent approach speed – the landing? Well it was OK but could have done with a touch more right rudder to offset the light crosswind, so there was a bit of a lurch, not bad, but not good!! I apologised to let him know that it was not my best… “No problem” was the reply.
There followed three more circuits, a flapless landing, a short field landing and, with the towers’ permission a stop and go. I was now desperate for a pee after two and a half hours in the air, but luckily we had finished, so I landed for the last time. I taxied back to the school, and whilst I tidied everything up, he went back inside, even taking my gear with him - told you he was a nice man! Another instructor taxied past and put his thumbs up in a questioning manner. I shrugged my shoulders, nothing had been said.
I went inside and after a much needed comfort break, we retired to a briefing room. Still no answer to my silent question - in my head I was screaming at him “HAVE I PASSED?” After some time filling in forms, he said “Oh sorry, forgot to say, you’ve passed” That was the sweetest sound I have heard for a long time. “You did very well” he said “all in all, a good GFT”. I could have kissed him, but instead offered him a Mars bar from my flight bag, and bought him a coffee.
So that’s it, I’m a pilot! Fantastic!! After fourteen months, 70 hours total and seven exams I’m finally there at the ripe old age of 62. Has it been worth it? Most definitely yes - I’ve had a couple of wobbles along the way, once after a poor days flying (though I was unknowingly sickening for flu at the time), and once after failing the Met exam (my favourite subject), which I passed two days later with 100%
Now what? As I write this, I’m feeling strangely under whelmed by my achievement - almost an anti-climax, strange. I’ve built up good friends at the school, who have been tremendous, especially my long suffering instructor Morris. I intend to hire my mistress out at least twice a month this Summer, and learn to use my shiny new Garmin 296 moving map GPS at the same time, so I’ll be keeping in touch with them all. All the paperwork has now gone off to the CAA, and I eagerly await my lovely new licence.
Finally, my thanks to my wife Marie for her Xmas present that kicked it all off, and her unstinting encouragement over the past year. What a shame she suffers from terrible claustrophobia and will be unable to fly with me…...………well, that’s her excuse and she’s sticking to it!!
The nerves were really jangling now – a call came to say the examiner was free, and we would start at 10.30. I had spent the previous few days going over and over things in my mind, HASELL and FREDA checks, when to do them and in the right order. The PFL procedure, going through it in my mind step by step etc. “Relax, and enjoy it” came advice from the forums - Oh yeah? This is something I’ve been working on for 12 months now, and an awful lot rides on this one final examination, and I’m supposed to relax and enjoy it - GET REAL PLEASE!
I decided to stop revising at 18.00 on the Tuesday evening, and try to forget it. I went to bed fairly early and read a non aviation book before lights out. I actually went to sleep quickly, and slept well, but awoke pretty early the next morning. My stomach was churning!! I made a cup of tea, watched teletext, and generally tried to forget it was D Day! I packed all my things, ensured I had everything and left at 08.00, arriving at the school one hour later.
The instructors were busy refuelling the planes, and one by one wished me luck. The phone rang, it was my examiner saying he would not be able to arrive until 10.00am but gave me the route to plot and his weight. Basically, I was to zone out to the South to Markfield VRP, then head for a disused airfield in Bedfordshire, before turning west for another disused field in Oxfordshire, and back to EMA. Having committed the route to paper, I marked on all the Frequency change points, FREDA points (as reminders) and put the 3000’ wind direction/speed on the chart (260 degrees at 20kts), then I completed the flight plan. I carefully noted down all the frequencies I might need, and those either side of the route in case of (!) any diversion.
I also noted the Cranfield and Daventry VOR frequencies. I checked the Notams, Royal Flights, got the TAFs and METARs. I then checked the TAS (103 knots), distances, times en route, fuel requirements, weight and balance calculations, and the myriad of other things you have to do pre flight - I was busy, and feeling a bit more relaxed.
10.00am arrived very quickly, but I had everything covered except pre flighting the plane. I went outside to check out Oscar November, only to discover, that in the last half an hour, the skies had darkened, there was now low cloud, and it was raining! I DON’T BELIEVE IT!! I completed the pre flight checks, set up the necessary radio frequencies for the first part of the flight, and punched in the planned VOR frequencies. I returned to the office, met my examiner (who’s day job is flying wide bodied Airbus A300’s, lucky so and so!) and suggested that if I was going solo VFR, I would consider cancelling the flight due to the weather. Thankfully, whilst acknowledging my caution, he indicated it would be fine!
I went out to the plane and got settled in, shortly followed by the most important person in my life at that precise moment! I explained that I would treat him as if he was my neighbour, who has never been in a small plane before “That’s fine” he said “Has she got big tits?” I roared with nervous laughter. I’m going to like this chap – he cracked another couple of jokes about Noddy and Big Ears, and it was obvious he was determined to lower any stress level I may be experiencing.
I gave him a full briefing. Do not touch anything, tell me if you do, feet off the pedals, the location of the emergency items (extinguisher and first aid box), safety belt and door operation and asked him to shout if he saw another aircraft in the sky, no matter whether he thought I’d already seen it. I fired up the motor, collected the ATIS (information PAPA, runway 27, QNH 1005, winds 220 at 7, Ground closed), did a full instrument check, T’s and P’s etc, making sure I said everything out loud so he knew what I was doing. I taxied forward to initial hold at Mike Alpha and called the Tower. “Taxi to and hold at Sierra 1 for runway 27, QNH 1005” came the reply. I read it all back and taxied out to S1, checking the compass and HI for correct movement, and the turn coordinator both on left and right turns.
I ensured the compass and HI were properly aligned, arrived at the hold and carried out power checks etc. All was well, called ready for departure, and was told to hold position and line up after the landing 737. Mr Ryanair went passed and I entered 27 and lined up ready to go. I checked everything again, a quick burst of carb heat to be sure, all lights on, everything ready.
“Golf Oscar November, you are cleared for a Sierra Echo departure to the South, not above 2000 VFR” I acknowledged, and heard in return “read back is correct, you are cleared for take off” Oh well, here we go, opened up to full power, speaking out loud “full power, T & P’s OK, speed increasing”
Sixty knots, rotate, and up, up and away! Passing 300’ AGL, I heard “Oh dear, we’ve suffered engine failure!” as he closed the throttle. OK, we have an EFATO eh? Pitch down, full flaps, touch checks only but call them out loud – no problem there’s plenty of runway left to get back down. “OK Mike, climb away” I called the tower to report climbing again and we cleared the boundary. 500’ AGL arrived and I started a gentle 15 degree climbing left turn to a heading of 150 degrees for the correct zone exit. 1000’ AGL, so fuel pump off, transponder on 7000 Mode Charlie. Approaching Shepshed East I called “Golf Oscar November, Zoning out Sierra Echo” Tower acknowledged and passed me over to Approach, who gave me a FIS. The weather was not nice however, low cloud, raining and not much visibility, probably no more than 7000 metres. This was going to be a tough test.
“I think with the cloud level being about 2000’, we had better avoid Leicester City (original route at 3000’ for land clear), so track around the North of the City, and pick up your original route overhead Leicester Airport” Great!! The visibility is pretty poor and I’m now taken off my route and relative comfort zone, but I find my way, and a few minutes later, Leicester Airport came up on the nose. “You pick up your heading and I’ll give Leicester a call” What a nice man my examiner is! I carry out a FREDA check, align compass/HI, all OK.
I calculated a new ETA for the first waypoint, having had 10 miles chopped off the original route, and concentrated hard to stay on track. I changed to Cottesmore for a FIS and they were very obliging, warning of a Harrier that almost immediately flew straight over us - awesome beast that was, pleased we’re not in a dog fight with that!!
Various towns came up on the dot - there’s the A14 right where it should be, a couple of lakes - yep we were smack on it. I couldn’t see far ahead though, and I reckoned the airfield I’m looking for would appear in about three minutes. There it was, bang on the nose - just to be sure I looked for and established a couple of identifying features, and confirmed it to the boss. He’s happy.
I now turned West onto 260 for the next waypoint, some 50 miles distant, stopwatch reset, ETA calculated (16 past the hour) and off we went. The cloud level was still pretty low at 2500’ish, so we were bimbling along at 2000’ on the QNH. I spotted the disused and massive Bedford aerodrome, and the Santa Pod raceway, confirming we were on the correct heading. “OK Mike, do you know where we are?” “Yes, overhead Billing Aquadrome, just South of Northampton” I said confidently. “OK, I want you to divert to Leicester Airfield, do what’s necessary to get us there”
This is never easy, but I grabbed the chart, and drew as steady a line as I could, and calculated 340 degrees, less a bit for the 260 winds, let’s say 330. Distance, according to the thumb was 25 miles, ground speed, near enough 95 kts and about 17 minutes. I calculated the ETA and set off.
After a few minutes, he said “that’s fine, now I want you to track the 250 radial to Daventry VOR”. There’s no rest for the wicked here is there? Right, setting 250 on the clock, I turned a little to intercept the beam at a lesser angle, and wait for the needle to swing. Eventually it started to move into the centre, and once aligned, I set a heading of 250 to track to it. With the wind up here at 260, there’s no need for any substantial heading correction, so I settled in for a slightly quieter time. NO CHANCE!!
“That’s fine Mike, and that’s the navigation bit over with, so now we need to tackle the upper level stuff” The problem was the cloud base, which was still only about 2000’ or so. We headed back north towards Leicester. There was nothing else for it but to climb through the murk, to find clearer conditions. “OK, up you go” he said. Full power and I climbed into the cloud. Now, I’ve done loads of instrument stuff at home on the Microsoft simulator, but to do it for real was something else! Concentrating really hard on the Attitude Indicator, I remembered to rely on the instrument and not my senses. Actually, that home stuff really helped, because I held it nice and steady for what seemed ages, turning as instructed firstly 90 degrees to the left (gentle turn) then to the right, and levelling off at 4000’, still in cloud. “Hmmm, this isn’t much good, OK let’s go higher”. So, up I went again, and as 4500’ passed, we popped out into clear air. There was still cloud above, but we could see off to the East was a nice clear patch with the ground in view, so we headed off in that direction.
We were now receiving FIS from Cottesmore once again, and I was told “OK, whilst you are doing the next exercises, I will handle the navigation and the radio” We went into the various upper air exercises, firstly the steep turn - no problem. Then stalling in clean configuration (I remembered to do the HASELL check!), then with two stages of flap, and in a slow turn as if turning onto final - all OK. Boy I was now actually enjoying it, and there was some good banter inside the plane, but I was getting knackered, AND I needed a pee!!
That section over, we went back down through the cloud (it was great fun doing this IMC stuff, I’ll have to get that under my belt sometime) and down to 2000’. Finding a gap in the rain showers put me onto a heading of 260 degrees (smack into the wind) and the PFL. Again, that went better than expected, a kindly farmer had lit a bonfire to confirm the wind, and there was a perfect field straight ahead! I trimmed for 70 knots best glide speed (drifted a little high to 80 knots a couple of times) and went through the engine restart procedure, called a Mayday, “put” 7700 in the transponder, and at the right time shoved in first stage of flap. We were pretty low by now, and he finally called “OK climb” Phew, that went OK I think, we’ll see!!
We now headed back to East Midlands airport, and I had to demonstrate some slow flying (70 knots clean) on the way. On arrival at East Midlands, he wanted me to firstly carry out a standard rejoin and normal landing (or touch and go). I was told to ask for three or four circuits which were approved. Descending on approach to left base for runway 27 at 1500’, we were suddenly confronted by a very large hawk that flew rather too close to our port wing – I wouldn’t have wanted to hit it, that’s for sure! Cleared to final number two behind another school plane, I concentrated on maintaining a consistent approach speed – the landing? Well it was OK but could have done with a touch more right rudder to offset the light crosswind, so there was a bit of a lurch, not bad, but not good!! I apologised to let him know that it was not my best… “No problem” was the reply.
There followed three more circuits, a flapless landing, a short field landing and, with the towers’ permission a stop and go. I was now desperate for a pee after two and a half hours in the air, but luckily we had finished, so I landed for the last time. I taxied back to the school, and whilst I tidied everything up, he went back inside, even taking my gear with him - told you he was a nice man! Another instructor taxied past and put his thumbs up in a questioning manner. I shrugged my shoulders, nothing had been said.
I went inside and after a much needed comfort break, we retired to a briefing room. Still no answer to my silent question - in my head I was screaming at him “HAVE I PASSED?” After some time filling in forms, he said “Oh sorry, forgot to say, you’ve passed” That was the sweetest sound I have heard for a long time. “You did very well” he said “all in all, a good GFT”. I could have kissed him, but instead offered him a Mars bar from my flight bag, and bought him a coffee.
So that’s it, I’m a pilot! Fantastic!! After fourteen months, 70 hours total and seven exams I’m finally there at the ripe old age of 62. Has it been worth it? Most definitely yes - I’ve had a couple of wobbles along the way, once after a poor days flying (though I was unknowingly sickening for flu at the time), and once after failing the Met exam (my favourite subject), which I passed two days later with 100%
Now what? As I write this, I’m feeling strangely under whelmed by my achievement - almost an anti-climax, strange. I’ve built up good friends at the school, who have been tremendous, especially my long suffering instructor Morris. I intend to hire my mistress out at least twice a month this Summer, and learn to use my shiny new Garmin 296 moving map GPS at the same time, so I’ll be keeping in touch with them all. All the paperwork has now gone off to the CAA, and I eagerly await my lovely new licence.
Finally, my thanks to my wife Marie for her Xmas present that kicked it all off, and her unstinting encouragement over the past year. What a shame she suffers from terrible claustrophobia and will be unable to fly with me…...………well, that’s her excuse and she’s sticking to it!!
Fixed+Rotary (aircraft, not washing lines)
Join Date: Jan 2005
Location: Peak District, Yorkshire, UK
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CF, wow! Three awesome write ups. Fantastic reading. From now on you will be known as the 'Mars bar and coffee guy'
Join Date: Sep 2005
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CF,three brilliant write-ups all of which are very helpful to me as I'm at the QXC/skills test stage and also 62,until May!
I just hope it all goes half as well for me as yours did.
Well done again and lots of happy and safe flying.
Lister
I just hope it all goes half as well for me as yours did.
Well done again and lots of happy and safe flying.
Lister
Join Date: Jan 2005
Location: Northants
Age: 80
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Could well be interested
Originally Posted by benhurr
I'm considering a 182 this time, again at East Mids, I might consider loaning it out!
Cheers
CF