The Aeroplane We Fly and How We Operate

This is the aeroplane I fly and which I will be writing about as the Spring and Summer arrive and the flying "season" begins. I own a share of this Piper Arrow along with several other Private Pilots. We share all the costs of ownership which include hangarage, maintenance and insurance. It cruises at around 130 knots which makes it a good means of getting to places quickly.

My friend Stephen and I share "legs" which means I will fly the aircraft "To" the destination whilst Stephen navigates and communicates with air traffic control. We reverse rolls on the next leg of the flight so we both share the duties and enhance our enjoyment and safety.

We navigate by looking out of the window at features on the ground: towns, motorways, lakes, rivers etc. We also use electronic aids such as the GPS receiver pictured below. This wonderful device "shows" us where our destination is, tells us how to get there, how fast we are travelling over the ground and when we will arrive.

Here our GPS tells us we are 19.21 nautical miles from our destination, we are travelling over the ground at 151.1 kts (approx 170 mph) and we will arrive at 1317 hours, just in time for lunch!

I was hoping to fly today but it has been snowing for most of the day and the airfield has been closed as the grass runways are waterlogged.

Maybe the weekend will bring better weather....we'll see!