Nighttime approach to Lydd (EGMD)

Here is an extract from Saturday nights approach into Lydd. It demonstrates to some extent an illusion known as a 'black-hole approach'.

6 December 2014 - Night Qualification Lesson 2 - Navigation

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

29 November 2014 - Night Qualification. Lesson 1: Circuits

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

October 26, 2014 - Cross Country Navigation

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

12 October 2014 - Dover, Deal and Whitstable

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

5 October 2014 - Dover, Deal and Whitstable

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

21 September 2014 - Isle of Sheppey ,Canterbury, Rochester

This morning I was up early at Rochester Airfield hoping to get a flight down to the Dover cliffs but looking down to the south the cloud was fairly low so I decided to do a relatively local flight up to Sheppey and then down to Canterbury. Weather was better than it had been for some time due to a weather front that had passed through during the night. Wind was fairly brisk and the active runway was 02 although one wind sock was showing 02 and the other wind sock was showing 34. It was the first time I had heard the radio controller at Rochester give pilots an option as to which runway they wanted to use.

Brakes Off: 07:55 (Z) Brakes On: 08:55 (Z) Total: 1:00
Total Hours: 112:35

13 September 2014 - Isle of Sheppey , Faversham, Rochester

A sustained period of high pressure has meant generally poor visibility (muck, haze and mist/fog) to content with, and so a lot of flying had been cancelled over the last few weekends. These were the conditions that greeted me in the morning. Keen to get something in, I rebooked for 16:30 later in the day. 

The low cloud and mist fell away about 13:00 and so to my relief it was on.  I was back at the airport at 15:45 and waited for the plane (G-FLIP) to come back from a trial lesson. I managed to get rolling at 16:50 which gave me 40 minutes to play with. With the pressure of being back on the ground at 17:30 I didn't have much choice in destination really so headed over to Sheppey to blow the cobwebs off. 

Runway was 02 which can be a bit interesting when there is a fresh breeze blowing over the ridge, but nonetheless all ended well.

Video enclosed. This demonstrates upon the return to Rochester how bad visibility can be in haze when flying into the sun. This is typical after a period of sustained high pressure.

Brakes Off: 15:50 (Z) Brakes On: 16:30 (Z) Total: 0:40