Visit to Swansea
Saturday October 2nd saw my first visit to Swansea airfield in South Wales. This destination was picked simply on the basis that it was about an hour's flight from Blackpool. My original plan to visit Newquay was put on hold as the weather was not looking too stable further South.
I had arranged to fly with Joel Tobias and Steve Halliwell as they both had expressed an interest in gaining their multi engine rating. However, Steve dropped out which left just myself and Joel.
We met up at Blackpool and I preflighted the Diamond DA42 Twinstar for our flight. We had 40 usg of fuel on board which would be more than adequate for our journey and any diversion that may have become necessary.
The weather forecasts were all looking ok as we taxied out to depart on runway 10 at Blackpool. There was a crosswind from 170 degrees at around 12 kts so I elected to use a more into wind, runway 13. After the checks were completed we took off and started to follow our flight plan which was to route via ESTRY, MALUD and AMMAN reporting points and into Swansea. Our initial altitude was restricted to not above 3500ft as our track took us under an airway with a base at that level. We cruised at 3000ft and on reaching MALUD turned south and began a climb to FL80. This climb was completed without entering cloud although ahead on track we could see we were above the broken cloud layers. We called London Military ATC who gave us a radar service and were very helpful, even passing the latest weather at Swansea without us asking.
There was a 25kts or so direct headwind on this leg which held our groundspeed down to around 135kts but we picked up time in the descent holding an indicated airspeed of 155kts. We positioned on a direct final approach track to runway 22 and with another crosswind from a southerly direction landed and taxied into our parking position with a "welcome to Swansea" call from the radio operator.
Swansea from the air
After some lunch in the airport cafe which included the biggest portion of chips I have ever seen, Joel and I returned to the aircraft for our return flight to Blackpool. We called up the radio operator for approval to start our engines shortly after watching parachutists landing close to our position.
Checks complete, I lined the DA42 up on runway 22 and advanced the power lever to maximum and departed with a climbing right turn to intercept our track towards AMMAN. These navigation points do not actually exist, they are imaginary points defined by lat and long positions. We navigate to them by using gps technology. The plan was to climb to FL70 and hope to cruise home above the clouds. However, we entered cloud at around FL50 and as we hit FL70 we were still in the cloud. I decided to climb further to FL90 and hope to be in the clear but this did not work either: we were still enclosed in cloud. The outside air temperature was minus 1C so we were watching for any ice on the airframe but none was seen. I had hand flown the aircraft to this point and as I was about to engage the autopilot we came out of the cloud and could see ahead again.
The headwind on the way down was now a tailwind and I recorded the following data at one point in the cruise:
FL90 Power 69%, RPM 2040, Indicated airspeed 135kts, True air speed 156kts, Ground speed 174kts which is 200mph. The highest groudspeed I observed was 186kts or 214mph. Pretty good for a fuel burn of less than 11 usg per hour.
We again used London Military for a radar service and as we progressed to point MALUD they asked us to route to ROLEX to assist Blackpool air traffic fit us in to the traffic pattern. We set this new course and commenced a descent to be at 3000ft by ROLEX. There was some bad turbulence here as the air was disturbed by the southerly flow off the Welsh mountains. We then set course for Blackpool and discovered yet another crosswind of 150/17kts. I at first planned to use runway 13 as it was more into wind but on reflection changed to runway 10 which was more out of wind but gave me good practise at a stronger crosswind landing.
Backtracking the runway we taxied in and unloaded the plane after a good trip. Nothing went wrong and the only thing I was slightly unhappy with was my landing at Swansea that whilst perfectly safe, could, I felt, have been better. Still, there's always next time to make improvements.
Joel was suitably impressed with all he saw and expressed his desire to also add a multi engine rating. Maybe some shared trips could be on the cards in the future?
I had arranged to fly with Joel Tobias and Steve Halliwell as they both had expressed an interest in gaining their multi engine rating. However, Steve dropped out which left just myself and Joel.
We met up at Blackpool and I preflighted the Diamond DA42 Twinstar for our flight. We had 40 usg of fuel on board which would be more than adequate for our journey and any diversion that may have become necessary.
The weather forecasts were all looking ok as we taxied out to depart on runway 10 at Blackpool. There was a crosswind from 170 degrees at around 12 kts so I elected to use a more into wind, runway 13. After the checks were completed we took off and started to follow our flight plan which was to route via ESTRY, MALUD and AMMAN reporting points and into Swansea. Our initial altitude was restricted to not above 3500ft as our track took us under an airway with a base at that level. We cruised at 3000ft and on reaching MALUD turned south and began a climb to FL80. This climb was completed without entering cloud although ahead on track we could see we were above the broken cloud layers. We called London Military ATC who gave us a radar service and were very helpful, even passing the latest weather at Swansea without us asking.
There was a 25kts or so direct headwind on this leg which held our groundspeed down to around 135kts but we picked up time in the descent holding an indicated airspeed of 155kts. We positioned on a direct final approach track to runway 22 and with another crosswind from a southerly direction landed and taxied into our parking position with a "welcome to Swansea" call from the radio operator.
Swansea from the air
After some lunch in the airport cafe which included the biggest portion of chips I have ever seen, Joel and I returned to the aircraft for our return flight to Blackpool. We called up the radio operator for approval to start our engines shortly after watching parachutists landing close to our position.
Checks complete, I lined the DA42 up on runway 22 and advanced the power lever to maximum and departed with a climbing right turn to intercept our track towards AMMAN. These navigation points do not actually exist, they are imaginary points defined by lat and long positions. We navigate to them by using gps technology. The plan was to climb to FL70 and hope to cruise home above the clouds. However, we entered cloud at around FL50 and as we hit FL70 we were still in the cloud. I decided to climb further to FL90 and hope to be in the clear but this did not work either: we were still enclosed in cloud. The outside air temperature was minus 1C so we were watching for any ice on the airframe but none was seen. I had hand flown the aircraft to this point and as I was about to engage the autopilot we came out of the cloud and could see ahead again.
The headwind on the way down was now a tailwind and I recorded the following data at one point in the cruise:
FL90 Power 69%, RPM 2040, Indicated airspeed 135kts, True air speed 156kts, Ground speed 174kts which is 200mph. The highest groudspeed I observed was 186kts or 214mph. Pretty good for a fuel burn of less than 11 usg per hour.
We again used London Military for a radar service and as we progressed to point MALUD they asked us to route to ROLEX to assist Blackpool air traffic fit us in to the traffic pattern. We set this new course and commenced a descent to be at 3000ft by ROLEX. There was some bad turbulence here as the air was disturbed by the southerly flow off the Welsh mountains. We then set course for Blackpool and discovered yet another crosswind of 150/17kts. I at first planned to use runway 13 as it was more into wind but on reflection changed to runway 10 which was more out of wind but gave me good practise at a stronger crosswind landing.
Backtracking the runway we taxied in and unloaded the plane after a good trip. Nothing went wrong and the only thing I was slightly unhappy with was my landing at Swansea that whilst perfectly safe, could, I felt, have been better. Still, there's always next time to make improvements.
Joel was suitably impressed with all he saw and expressed his desire to also add a multi engine rating. Maybe some shared trips could be on the cards in the future?
posted by David M at 8:19 PM
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