Sunday 25 September 2005

Flying From France To Sheffield

Flying Hours Today 1:35, Total 40:05

P1 Flying Hours Today 0:00, Total 4:20

On the Sunday morning we awoke to overcast skies. There was no rush to get going as we would want to wait for some of this weather to break up. After breakfast we went for a walk around Cherbourg harbour before our pre-arranged taxi came at 1030 to take us to the airport.

We arrived at the airport to find it closed. Or rather, locked. There was obviously some activity as we had seen a light aircraft depart, and we could see the fireman's truck ready for use. But access to the tower and to the general airport was definitely closed.

At the far end of the airport was a flying club, we headed there and thankfully found two very friendly French pilots who allowed us access to the apron and gave us a phone to call the tower. The controller duly obliged to our request to get airside and shortly we were reunited with our aircraft.

Flight plans were filed and the kindly fireman brought all our luggage to the aircraft before returning to refuel the DA40s with Jet A1 while we had to make do with self service for the PA28 - filling to tabs to keep the weight down.

It was by now 1150 local time and the fireman went off duty from 1200 to 1400 so it was fortunate that we got everything done in time. To his credit the fireman stayed around and completed the refuelling of a couple of Cessnas from Exeter that had also decided to fly to Cherbourg for the weekend.

There had been a change of plan. We would be flying back via Kemble (EGBP - now renamed to Cotswold Airport) as it was more a more appropriate inbound airfield and Special Branch, if they so wished, would find it easier to intercept us there.

At 1223 local time we started up and made for R28. Wind was 270/10 gusting to 16, QNH 1012, QFE 996 millibars. We backtracked a short distance on R28 then turned and took off. Waggling the wings to say au revoir to those still on the ground.
A right turn out was approved and we were climbing for FL040 our cruising altitude. The flight was uneventful as we switched to Deauville and then to London Information at the FIR boundary.

We made a call to check if Danger Area DA036 was active as we were looking to fly across it. Unfortunately it was so we had to maintain the heading north to the Isle of Wight.

Southampton DME came on-line some 45nm out. We were indicating 104kts ground speed, 90kts IAS. This showed we had a great tailwind to fly us back north today. We tuned to the NDB at Bournemouth 339. By 1206 UK time the Isle of Wight was in sight.

We left London Information for Solent Radar. Descending to 2000ft and flying over the Isle of Wight just to the east of the Needles. From here we routed north to Salisbury at 2000ft.

One of the other DA40s come on the radio - they were flying quite close to us as we headed over Stoney Cross VRP with Salisbury Cathedral in sight.

We were below the clouds which had a base of around 2300ft when I saw another aircraft, G-BHSE, fly right to left in front of us, perhaps a few hundred feet ahead of us and only 100ft or so above. It was easily close enough to see the registration details very clearly.

We had heard nothing on the FIS from Solent about this. It really made me think about always maintaining a good look out and not flying too close to the cloud base. There had been 4 of us on board and non of us saw this aircraft approaching. It may have come out of the clouds, or been flying below them and not showing up well due to contrast.

It was now time to call Boscombe, but there was no reply so we called Lynham on 123.4. Danger area D123 was active up to 3000ft and D125 was active higher. We didn't want to climb due to the worsening weather and the low cloud base so we had to route around Warminster.
We heard that the DA40 was climbing to fly directly over the danger zone for Kemble. Making use of Southampton DME to confirm position we were looking for 35nm range to get us to Warminster. We followed the road from Salisbury along the edge of Salisbury plain and the associated firing ranges.
Up ahead big dark clouds were forming and they looked very ominous. We also had to remain clear of gliders at Keevil. It was a tense race to get to Warminster as the clouds approached ahead of us. We came to within a few miles of the clouds and the pouring rain before turning at Warminster and heading north towards Kemble.

We transited Lynham and kept a good lookout for a Hercules transporter as it took off abeam of us, climbed and then turned and entered the clouds above us as we passed Chippenham.

Kemble was soon on the radio and were were given R26 with a left hand circuit - paying special attention not to overfly the surrounding villages which would make for an interesting short cut from base to final.

As we made visual contact with the field we saw the DA40 on finals and then landing. Their flight over the top of the danger area had saved them time and they beat us to the rendezvous by a couple of minutes as we touched down at 1315.
Following Sunday lunch at the excellent AV8 Bistro & Restaurant at Kemble it was my turn to fly the return leg to Sheffield. We had refuelled and were ready to go. Taxi to A1 for R28 where I completed the power checks, lined up then took off at 1445 with a climbing right hand turn to 2500ft as we headed north east.

Soon I switched from Kemble to Brize as we set our course. I had never used an altimeter pressure setting calibrated in inches, so had to make intense use of a look up table stuck on the dash to convert between millibars and inHg.

The return trip was a great opportunity to do some basic radio navigation. We tuned to the Daventry VOR and adjusted the heading until the bar was centred. This gave a heading reading of 055. Set the heading bug on the HSI to 055 and there we have our heading to fly to get us to Daventry.

Leaving Brize I switched to Coventry Approach, or so I thought, I was given another frequency and made the switch to the right Coventry Approach. It was now time to fly north and intercept the Daventry 360 radial.

This is the opposite to doing the track. We set the radial to 360 and the bar indicates which direction to head in. As we knew we would be intercepting the 360 radial eventually we headed 030 until the bar began to creep to the centre and then it was simply a case of turning north and maintaining the bar centred.

Next I tuned the DME to EME at East Midlands as we had done on the out bound leg yesterday. We requested a zone transit and kept heading north. Other traffic were informed of an air display that would last for 7 minutes or so and so they had to hold, this didn't affect us as we would be approaching after the display. However one of the DA40s couldn't wait and so descended below 1500ft and cut under the zone and ahead of us.

As we approached Nottingham we were given permission and we crossed the zone and continued north to Sheffield. For some reason whenever I was passing messages to ATC I was forgetting where we had come from. I had Cherbourg or Popham in my head and had to request from the others on-board a reminder of where we had departed - Kemble of course.
Passing East Midlands overhead the EME beacon we switched to the Sheffield DME and I was shown how to intercept, say, a 330 approach that might be necessary to navigate around terrain.

Ten miles out I called Sheffield with my inbound message. Over the M1/M18 VRP it was time to turn in for a direct approach on R28 from 2000ft. Two stages of flaps, then call for final at 2nm and 3rd stage. Carb heat on for the whole approach. A pretty good landing considering it was my first time at Sheffield and that I'd never flown a fully loaded PA28 before.

I was also very aware that my landing skills would be judged by the three other pilots on board. A short back track and taxi before parking up after a 1hr 35min flight that literally flew by.

This weekend was extremely useful and I would recommend something like this to other PPLs and students. I sat in the aircraft for 6hrs 30mins and spent the time watching and learning but also taking time out to enjoy the trip. The great thing was that I only had to pay for the 1hr 35mins that I actually flew as pilot in command.

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