"For once you have tasted flight you will walk the earth with your eyes turned skywards, for there you have been and there you will long to return." - Leonardo da Vinci
I had the great fortune this past Sunday to go flying. Rochester airfield was still closed due to the condition of the grass runways and so I went over to Southend Flying Club and rented their C152. My slot was first thing in the morning which is my favourite time to fly. Everything went well and it was really great to be away from the rat race for an hour. It was actually the first time I had rented an airplane and gone solo from Southend so upon reflection, it feels good to strike this achievement off the To-Do list.
Brakes Off: 09:50 Brakes On: 11:15 Total: 1:25 Total Hours: 122:50
Last night I was back at Southend to complete my Night Qualification. I had about 1.5 hours to burn off the 5 hours course requirements so headed up to Earls Colne and Sudbury and then turned left to route over to Cambridge. From here another left turn over Duxford and to the BKY VOR beacon. I requested a transit through Stansted which was granted. Once over the threshold keys of runway 22, I resumed track and Stansted kindly acknowledged another request which was to be passed over to Southend Approach for a traffic service at Chelmsford.
At Chelmsford I was met by a friendly Southend ATC contact who provided a traffic service and a procedural ILS approach to runway 24. I would recommend doing a Night Qualification to anybody thinking about doing it. Really good fun and some great views. I have been lucky with the weather as I only had to cancel one flight due to fog. This has been a nice end to the year for me. I have enjoyed my flying this year and am pleased about the IMC rating and Night Qualification I've obtained. Brakes Off 16:40, Brakes On 18:20 Total 1:40 Total Hours: 121:25
The Night Qualification requires the student to go through 5 solo take offs and 5 solo landings (full stop not Touch and Gos) so last night my third lesson was all about getting this done. The weather was great so an opportunity not to be missed.
Brakes Off 17:35 Brakes On 18:00 Dual (two circuits) Total 0:25 Brakes Off 18:00 Brakes On 18:55 Solo (5 Full stop landings) Total 0:55 Total Hours: 119:45
Last night I was back at Southend to perform a cross country NavEx as part of the Night qualification requirements. It was my first night flight away from an airfield and so I was lucky that it was a still and beautifully clear night. With the full moon shining on the water and lighting up the sky some stunning views were to be really enjoyed as well. I captured the trip on video here (speeded up of course) which took in Southend Runway 24, Faversham, Ashford, Lydd, Ashford, Maidstone, Rochester and back to Southend.
Brakes Off: 15:50(Z) Brakes On: 18:15(Z) Total: 1:25 Total Hours: 118:25
Last Saturday night I was over at Southend (EGMC) to start a night qualification with Southend Flying Club. I had intended to start the week before, but it was cancelled literally at the last minute when fog rolled in and covered the airfield. Before the briefing ... clear as a bell, after the briefing ... a pea souper!
So my first session was nearly an hour doing 5 Touch and Gos on Runway 06. It took a while to get my visual bearings in the circuit as its not my home airfield but to be fair Southend is lit up like the proverbial xmas tree so it shouldn't have been too difficult. Anyway, by flying the numbers it all worked out fine. One landing was a bit flat (all were full flap approaches) but the rest went rather well and I was pleased with everything. Included below, I captured some video of the approaches to show what it feels like coming into land at night.
Brakes Off: 16:40(Z) Brakes On: 17:35(Z) Total: 0:55 Total Hours: 117:00
This Sunday I fancied doing some cross country navigation to revisit some traditional map reading skills and so I picked a route which I thought would be quite relaxing but fun. From Rochester I decided to head East over to Whitstable, then South East to find the small Maypole airfield. From here, I decided to track down to the Dover VOR and then west to Folkestone before heading up to Pent Farm (another small airstrip) and then to Clipgate (... another small airstrip) before heading to Canterbury and back to Rochester. The weather wasn't great but the cloud base was a comfortable 3,000ft. The wind was brisk but there was no turbulence to content with. The rain held off.
All in all, took about 1 Hour 15 minutes from Brakes off to Brakes On. I think I will do the route again and take a longer look at Pent Farm and Clipgate. It is quite relaxing in that you can stay tuned into Southend Radar all the way around, so no chopping and changing on the radio to disturb the tranquility of an early morning flight. Brakes Off: 08:45(Z) Brakes On: 10:00(Z) Total 1:15 Total Time: 116:05 Some additional photos included below...
Brakes Off: 08:45(Z) Brakes On: 10:00(Z) Total: 1:15 Total Hours: 116:05
Sunday saw me up at Rochester for my weekly fix of aviation. I didn't care where I went so I literally stuck to last weeks route which I quite enjoyed. I was in a different (non-aerobat) aircraft G-BNKV. A video is included below. I now have one eye on Clipgate a small farm strip which I passed en-route. Maybe one day it would be good to get in there and say hello. There are some others as well which I am starting to think more about.
Brakes Off: 07:55(Z) Brakes On: 09:05(Z) Total: 1:10 Total Hours: 114:50
