Reindeers on long finals
 

Its that time of year again, when 'She-who-must-be-obeyed' asks me what I want for Xmas.

My request for a Spitfire was swiftly rejected by the Finance Committee, as was the suggestion that I could just take the money and go flying.

So, does anyone have any ideas for Xmas pressies for a low-time PPL?

My recommendations for anyone else in the same boat, (or seaplane), are two books that I bought this year.The first is about VFR navigation for novices and the other is what to do now you have your PPL. I don't have the details to hand, but if anyone is interested, I can post them. [img]null[/img]

WHC, interested in the book about what to do now you've a PPL. And if you want to get it for me for crimbo... :D

Ask Santa for a GPS, but don't let her get too excited when you say it's a special positioning tool. The Pilot III would make a great Christmas present.

Going off at a tangent here, I know....but....should those reindeer actually be on long final??

Assuming they are not all IFR approved - only Rudolph - and even he is unlikely to be FM immune....then they should not be operating at night in Billericay....and reindeer are not scheduled day time flyers when on the pressie dropping run.

This may suggest then, that they are operating at a "non towered" facility - at which the application of "long final" may be taken to be a straight in approach.

Not good. :D

I've been to Billericay airfield (better known as Chase Farm I believe), it is firmly non-towered.

How about getting away from books, about which there are multiple threads going anyway. Possibilities, some more frivolous than others, might be: -

- Lesson in something totally different (microlight, glider, warbird, helicopter).

- Giant airfix kit for those IMC winter evenings

- Irvin jacket (a bit pointless in a C150 I'll grant you, but they look good)

- Place on a farmstrip course, allowing you to land a C150 at Billericay.

G

The reindeer operate under a specific exemption to the ANO which will be promulgated by NOTAM.
It's called the "Santa Clause" :D

What about the Land Clear ruling? How does SC get round that? Must have wicked short field skills too.

:p

bcfc - The book is called 'Beyond the PPL', by Nigel Everett, published by AFE in 2000. The ISBN is 1 874783 26 8 and I think it cost about GBP15. And no, I'm not going to buy it for you!

Reindeer are anticipated on short finals in about 4 weeks and crossing the threshold in 5 weeks and 4 days.

Genghis - you are the only person I known to have landed at Bill&Dicky. Its a microlight strip, if I stand up, I can see it from here. My instructor dead-sticked a C150 in there once, with a chap who was having a trial lesson.

Land clear does not apply to SC. He has to be able to land on roof-tops.

I confess I was in a microlight when I landed there, but I don't think it would be too challenging in a C150 if you were familiar with strip flying techniques. In an X'Air I only needed about 1/4 of the field to land, and 1/2 to take-off.

G

[ 15 November 2001: Message edited by: Genghis the Engineer ]

What's all this talk about short runways ?

Define short. Anything longer than 600 yards is a motorway :D :D

Rush Green International (near that lesser known short strip, Luton) is all of 550 yards.

Back to the original question; how about a pair of RAF flying gloves. Great for preflighting oily aeroplanes and they stop your sweaty palms slipping on the controls in moments of sudden tension ;)

My airfield sheets are in the car, but from memory I think it's about 350m.

G

As I recall, Captain Claus' aerodyne is quite a state of the art machine and well able to comply with the normal FAR 25 performance standards.

I distinctly remember reading a cartoon where the neatly uniformed check airman seated in the right hand seat (with shotgun resting on his knee) was briefing Capt Claus to the effect that "... and I may fail one of the power units during the takeoff ".