January to March 2010

January 2010 and the start of another year’s flying.

I do not follow the “flying season” where some pilots only fly between April and October. I like to fly year round and maintain my currency or to put it another way my skill levels. Having said that it had been several months since I had flown our Piper Arrow and I needed to perform three take offs and landings in order to be legal to carry passengers in a single engine aeroplane. Regaining this privilege took two flights due to meeting up and flying with Mike and Steve when I had intended to just do my renewal flight. I flew HALC down to Sleap and met up with Steve and Mike who had flown down in Joel's Jet Ranger helicopter. Following Coffees in the cafe Mike and I flew back to Barton in the heli while Steve brought HALC back. Me and Steve then took the Jet Ranger on a local flight over Manchester Airport and Jodrell Bank, down to the Low Level Route and back to Barton.

This was an unexpected day’s flying and was very enjoyable although I only got in one of my three required take offs and landings.

Prior to the flight described above I took the Twinstar over to Caernarfon. This was intended to be a solo flight but at Blackpool I met Howard, a PPL student nearing the end of his course. He asked if he could have a ride so I gladly agreed. We popped over to the lovely coastal aerodrome of Caernarfon and had lunch before returning to Blackpool. Howard loved the Twinstar. Who wouldn’t?

On Feb 12th I set off for Barton to get those two take offs and landings sorted in HALC. A quick flight up to Preston and back to Barton for two circuits and my passenger carrying privileges were restored. This would be useful as I was planning to fly with Steve the following day.

The next day I met up with Steve at Barton and we headed over to Caernarfon again for lunch. Then Steve flew the leg to Sleap and finally I took us back to Barton. It does not get boring going to the same airfields as it is being in the air that’s the enjoyable bit, not where you end up.

So it was nice to fly HALC again but the Twinstar does spoil you somewhat.

A week later I took the Twinstar up for a local flight North of Blackpool before completing an autopilot coupled ILS/DME 28 approach to land. Good practice should the autopilot need to be used for real.

Early March arrived and I was hoping for good weather as I had arranged for three people to experience the delights of private aviation, namely the Twinstar. Alan and his son and Harry drove us up to Blackpool where we loaded up and headed off to the North for a fly around Windermere lake. We then headed off to, you guessed, Caernarfon for lunch. After a walk on the beach we had a fly around the Llay Peninsula before returning to Blackpool. They all thoroughly enjoyed the day and it was good to show them how light aircraft can be used to good effect. The weather on the day was very good with no clouds at all and only a little haze over the sea.

This was the first time I had flown the Twinstar at just under maximum weight and had 40 usg of fuel on board. I did the weight and balance calculations and take off and landing distance figures and all were well within it’s flight envelope. The Twinstar took it in its stride although I chose to land on a slightly out of wind runway at Caernarfon as it was a longer runway.

That’s me, Mr Caution.

Less than a week later I was at Liverpool to renew my multi engine rating. This I have to do every year and following some single engine work, stalls and steep turns and single engine go arounds I was signed off for another year.

The first three months of the year are nearly over.

Maybe time for another flight yet though!


Caernarfon town ahead (can you see the castle?)