Todays Unlimited Vis
 

Have you ever seen anything like it???

Went up for a jaunt at 1730 hrs and can honestly say that in my 550 humble hours of P1, I have never known such conditions.

From my 200 ft vantage point I saw distances I didn't believe were possible with the naked eye.

If only those who didn't fly could have seen it, there would not be enough planes to go around by the time they all decided to learn to fly.

And I had to sit on the ground at North Weald, wioth a fully serviceable a.c. available, due to having a heavy cold. Rats!

By the time the cold clears, the remmnants of TS Isodore will propbably be here to sock us in!!!! :(

Amazing! :) :) :)

From 3000ft over Goodwood this morning it was absolutely staggering. Never flown in anything like it. :)

Irv or any other Met guru - why? And why dont we get it more often? :)

(I took my little sister up for her first trip in a light aircraft today - now she'll think it's always like that :rolleyes: :) )

Sennadog - sorry you didn't make it mate :(

Same situation for me -- was moping around airfield, but then someone said they were going to land in a farmer's field that had never been landed in before. Had to follow along in mine! I can now affirm that blocked sinuses are not a problem -- for me anyway -- up to at least 1,000ft agl. ;)

QDM

Well I had an excellent day's back seat flying - my first time in a light twin, on a lovely flight to Wales and back in a Beech Baron :) Then a little local land away in the club's C172. :)

Huh! My lesson today, 0800Z at Barton, ended at 20 mins when we couldn't see the numbers from the downwind leg due to 700ft cloud base....One bad-weather circuit later and that was it till next Sunday!! Still I did take the Met exam so it wasn't a totally wasted day. The joys of autumn wx in England...

It was amazing wasn't it?

I could see the Isle of Wight from just south of Guildford on one flight this afternoon. Later on, flying from Biggin Hill to Lydd, it seemed as if we could see the French coast with absolute clarity all the way from Calais down to Dieppe.

Most astounding of all, I could actually see Lydd from more than half-a-mile away!

As Van Morrison once said, "Wouldn't it be great if it was like this all the time."

The coast of France could be clearly seen from 2000' above Bexhill in Sussex.

Evo. Yeah, that was a bit of a b*gga but at least the Vis was good enough to get down.:D

It's a shame the Vis was so good as if we'd made it Mrs.Senndog would have got some fantastic piccies.

I'm interested as to why the conditions were so good.

Went to the airfield to collect something which I'd left in the hangar. Europa was sitting there, un-used. Beautiful weather.

Then I remembered that it had been less than 24 hours since the end of the Private Flying bash the previous day. I tried to delude myself that I hadn't really been drinking heavily, and that the standard 8 hours bottle-to-throttle would have been sufficient. But common sense won, and I collected what I needed to, got back in the car, went home and studied for the ATPL exams instead.

Damn!

FFF
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Hmmm! Won't fly, but don't mind driving!! Well done Foo-Foo!!:D

Not just UK FIR, France too.
 

It wasn't just nice in the UK, it was beautiful all over France. Spent the day crossing Europe in a Yak-52, from a dawn start at Abbeville, south via fuel stops at Gueret and Villefranche, then straight over the Pyrennees at FL105 to Alicante. At the top we estimated the vis as 70 - 80 miles. Even at lower levels it was 40-50 mile plus. Airfields 10 miles away looked as if they were right on the wingtip. It was certainly a privileged view.

But the moment we crossed the mountains into Spain it was much wetter, lots of haze and a hefty cu layer from 6000 to 12000.

Grim, don't we all do that??? :D

Lowtimer, the rain in Spain falls mainly... yeah, you know how it goes. I think the best viz I've ever seen was flying around Arizona in a Super Cub last January, with a friend in the back seat. We turned to the north, and on the horizon we could quite clearly make out a snow-covered mountain. I thought I recognised the mountain from having flown up to the north a couple of weeks before, but my friend, who had lived in Arizona for years, confirmed it, and a check on other mountains in that direction didn't reveal any other possibilities. After we landed, I checked the chart, and discovered the mountain was 120 miles away :eek: I estimate the viz was at least 150 miles - it was absolutely superb :D

FFF
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CAVOK
 

It took until late morning in the Midlands for the cloud to clear but we eventually set off for Cherbourg (no ATC on Sundays/ Mondays - FP closed by phone!) and then 'did' the Normandy beaches - Pegasus bridge etc - then up to Le TOuquet. Flying back over Shepy we were passed by a lose formation of Corsiar,Mustang, Spitfire and P40 (I think) presumably on their way back to Duxford.

The weather was staggering. Ican't remeber how many times we looked at the map with astonishment and said - 'do you realise that's 40 miles away...!'

5 1/2 hours in a new Robin followed by 2 pints of Adnams.

Isn't life a bitch.

Evo:
Remember what I was saying about lapse rates in non-frontal conditions on Metform 214?

Irv, I remember it so well that I checked the outside air temperature while I was flying: 18C on the ground, 12C at 3000ft. Almost ISA ;) and the air was completely still - so presumably that was the steepest lapse rate of the day. According to Form 214 the lapse rate yesterday (Monday) was similar but the visibility was far worse. Never going to understand this Met business :confused:

Of course, G-LD may just be reporting a completely fictional OAT :)

evo: "and the air was completely still -"

You're nearly there... look at my notes on high pressure, clear skies, evening/morning - and NO WIND. Compare that to the same with 'very light wind', and you'll see why Sunday had morning mist and fog and Monday morning was clear.

(Well I say Monday was clear. I'm assuming that from what's said here - I didn't fly til Monday afternoon!)

QDMQDMQDM

Unfortunately it was streamng eyes that did for me.... but pleased you got a fly. :)

Any of you manage to take some digipix of said amazing views?


Sir George


The air is a navigable ocean that laps at everyones door