"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
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
The last few weeks have been pretty tough for my family as sadly my father-in-law passed away following a very short illness. He was 68 and it was about 5 weeks from the first signs of cancer to his eventual passing. Like all these dark moments in life it is not just a wake up call to ones own mortality but a stark reminder of how fragile life's comfort can be. Having returned to the UK the night before I was determined to take an early morning plane around the Kent skies and clear my head of all the darkness that had taken root. It was what I really needed and so I was up very early with everything planned, weather and NOTAMS checked and ready to go. The weather was extremely kind and I could not remember a more pleasantly clear and crisp morning for a long time. This is my favourite time of the year and as I dragged the weighted tie down containers across the grass I noticed ice had formed on them as I placed them neatly away from the parked aircraft. It was a really beautiful morning. A speeded up video is included below. A simple route down to Dover harbour, up to Deal and Whitstable before heading back to Rochester. Southend radar were busy for a while with people heading down to France for the day but like most early morning trips I had the tranquil skies to myself. Just how I like it.
Brakes Off: 07:55(Z) Brakes On: 09:00(Z) Total: 1:05 Total Hours: 113:40
