Campbeltown and Breighton

CAMPBELTOWN

I chose to take the week commencing April 18th as a holiday from work. Usually my holidays turn out to be bad weather days where I can't fly or enjoy a little outdoor life. However, this week has been an exception, with day after day of warm temperatures, clear skies and gentle winds. A week off would not be complete without a flight though, and I had chosen Tuesday April 19th as the day. I had booked a Cirrus SR20 a couple of weeks previously, and my friend Steve was to join me in a flight out to .... somewhere!

But as things are in aviation, events conspired to put an obstruction in the way, in that the plane we were to fly was about to run out of hours. All was not lost though as the Twinstar was available and so I booked that for the day as a substitute. Steve was coming to the end of his Cirrus conversion course, which requires a total of 10 hours with an instructor before he could fly as pilot in command. But he still needed another twenty minutes. Luckily an instructor was available and he completed the required time before we set off for Scotland. This means we can now share Cirrus trips as we are both qualified on this type. Why one should need ten hours on it to be signed off is a mystery to me. It's pretty straightforward to fly if you have a bit of experience. But that's insurance companies for you.

I had planned that we would fly up to Campbeltown for our little outing, utilising the twin engine safety of the DA42 on the over water legs, which I no longer relish in a single engine aircraft. As you get older you tend to get less bold!

After Steve had completed the paperwork for his Cirrus sign off, we hopped aboard our aircraft and taxied over to the fueling area to pick up some Jet A1. The friendly tanker driver soon had us topped up to 50 US gallons and we were ready to go. Runway 10 was in use and we were directed to holding point A3 where I went through the various engine and systems checks. I also reviewed the flight plan Steve had entered into the navigation part of our Garmin G1000 which routed us via SUBUK, NGY (an NDB) then direct Campbeltown. All looked well and minutes later the undercarriage tucked away and we began a left turn on track SUBUK climbing to FL65. The visibility was fair but not good, and there were scattered clouds around with more substantial cumulus ahead on track. The visibilty gradually deteriorated as we made our way North but, as we were conducting the flight under instrument flight rules, I was not too concerned.

The DA42's autopilot had been malfunctioning intermittently over my last few flights and so I wondered if it would work today. I cautiously switched it on, watching to see what it did. It engaged in a wing leveller mode as it should when switched on. So far, so good. Next I pressed the heading selector which aligns the heading indicator with the aircraft's actual heading. Then I pressed the HDG button on the autopilot and just as it should, it held the heading we were on. Next, I turned the heading selector 10 degrees to Port and sure enough, round she went onto the new heading. Then I pressed the ALT button which engages altitude hold and, yes, that works too. Finally pressing NAV meant the autopilot would track the course required and take us all the way to our destination if required. I was watching closely to ensure all remained well as it was clear we would enter some cloud on our route.

One of the pleasures of flying to Scotland is the great service you get from Scottish ATC. I had again asked for a transit of the Class D airspace and was granted this, IFR, at 6000 feet on their QNH setting. We entered some cumulus clouds but there was was little turbulence and, although we could see nothing, the flight was progressing well. We were in the clouds for the next 40 miles or so and even when we cleared the coast South of the Turnberry VOR, the very poor visibility meant there was no horizon. I asked Scottish Control for descent and we dropped down to 4000 feet for the over water leg. I was not going any lower until we had visual contact with the land and this was not until we were pretty close in when it appeared out of the haze.

Scottish released us to call Campbeltown and we positioned for a straight in approach to runway 29. With the late descent we were rather high but with nearly 3000 metres of runway we still stopped in under a third of the length after a steep final approach. After back tracking we parked on the deserted apron and entered the terminal building which was also deserted! Lots of peace and quiet here then!


G-GFDA on the deserted Campbeltown Apron

The friendly Ops 1 man called a taxi for us and within a few minutes we were on the way to Campbeltown for a spot of lunch. We ate at the White Hart Hotel and then walked down to the harbour for a look around and a sit in the afternoon sunshine. There were roadworks down near the harbour so even here there was no escape from that. However, the boats looked nice on the water and the views over to the hills were good too.


Campbeltown Harbour


 As arranged, our taxi duly arrived to take us back to the airport and again our taxi driver was a very pleasent and friendly guy. Ops 1 arrived after a few minutes, I paid our landing fee and looked at the sky which was looking very hazy. It would be an IFR trip home without question. If you are new to the blog, this means we would navigate using our flight instruments only as visual reference would not be there to see landmarks and towns etc on the way home.

The apron was still empty as I started the engines of the Twinstar. After the usual engines and systems checks were complete I lined up on runway 29 ready for departure. The area to the south contained some high ground but we easily outclimbed it, although it was very hazy with no horizon over the sea, towards Turnberry. We were navigating by gps and I put the aircraft on a heading to intercept the track towards the NGY NDB once again, selecting a target altitude of 6000 feet. The autopilot worked fine again and we were soon established on track and receiving a clearance to enter the Scottish class D airspace. We were under radar control and were asked to turn right 20 degrees and report our heading. We did this and were tracking towards an active Danger Area and although I was confident we would remain clear, ATC were worried so we adjusted heading to be extra sure.

As the land came into view I switched off the autopilot and did some manual instrument flying. The only thing visible was the coast directly below and that was very hazy. There was no horizon and no visibility. Still it was good to practise those skills required to fly in these conditions. We progressed down the coast over Seascale and Barrow, descending to 4000 feet before routing to Fleetwood and a visual landing on runway 28 at Blackpool. We were offered an insturment approach but that would have added a lot of track miles to the flight and I could see Blackpool airport clearly enough for a visual.

The last challenge of the day was an approach to either 28 or 31. As there was a 10-12kt crosswind on 28 I took that rather than the more into wind 31. Crosswind landing practise is always useful especially in the Twinstar which can be a bit "twitchy". I pushed the drift off with the rudder and touched down o.k. but the right wing lifted a little. Quick application of aileron solved this and we slowed to taxi speed and followed a Cessna 152, that had landed on 31, to parking at Flight Academy.

Completing the post flight paperwork revealed another two and a half hours multi engine time to add to my logbook. So a good day with Steve, now signed off for the Cirrus, and the prospect of some shared trips to come.

BREIGHTON

The Easter weekend looked like it would hold no flying for me. Great weather, apart from the haze, but no trips planned. However, a Sunday morning text to Steve resulted in an invitation to join him and Mike on a fly out in their Enstrom 480 turbine helicopter to Breighton. Just get to Barton quickly! This I did and we were soon departing over the hills near Rochdale, following the M62, towards the area South of Leeds. Passing Huddersfield, Dewsbury and Castleford en route, we soon spotted Breighton and approached below 500 feet to land and park up on the grass next to the runway.

On exiting the helicopter we were greeted by world war two music and some very interesting aeroplane types. The field was busy with flyers and photographers and all were enjoying the sunshine. We went into the clubhouse and had sausage muffins and a drink before planning where to go next.



Breighton April 24th



Breighton April 24th

Breighton April 24th

Steve had flown the first leg so now it was Mike's turn. It was decided to visit the Devonshire Arms near Skipton for a drink and once again we were soon airbourne and heading to the north west. After a couple of minutes Mike had a problem with trimming the helicopter cyclic to the left, resulting in large and uncomfortable loads. A precautionary landing was made at Sherburn to see if the fault could be rectified. On opening the engine bay, Steve found the electrical contacts that control the trimmer and reseated them and applied some WD40. That did the trick and we were back in business. A quick cup of coffee in the clubhouse and we were off again, retracing our outbound course south of the M62 before heading through the gap in the hills past Rochdale and back into Barton.

This was a great trip as it was unexpected and was "grass roots" aviation, flying into a small aerodrome and reading a quarter mil map, even though we did have two gps devices switched on!

I have a possible trip over to East Anglia on the Royal wedding day and a session in the Cirrus SR20 with Steve and Mike on the Sunday after. Fingers crossed these trips will take place and we keep this good spell of weather we have had for the last ten days or so.

More Multi and Glenforsa (Isle of Mull)

MORE TRAINING ON THE SENECA

Since I flew a Piper Seneca, I have had my interest in “old generation” aircraft renewed. I felt quite at home behind the controls of the Seneca model one, and even more so when I flew the model two, of which I am a part owner. I mentioned in an earlier post that this is because it is very similar to the Piper Arrow I fly, albeit with two throttles, two propeller controls etc. So for my first flight in April, I chose to do some dual time in the PA34-200T (turbo) Seneca and concentrate on coping with engine failures.

My instructor for this training was Nick Brown. I knew he would not only make me work hard, but also impart some good tips and operating techniques on this type of light twin. On strapping in, he immediately gave me a simulated engine fire on start up. “Okay Dave”, he said, “What are you going to do?” I went through my actions including mixture cut off, magnetos off, fuel off, master switch off etc, but forgot to keep the starter turning to draw the fire into the engine. Crickey, told off even before the engines were running!

We taxied for the full length of Blackpool’s runway 28 as I gave Nick my takeoff brief. I covered all the required points but he said it was too long winded. It should be brief and concise. After takeoff we headed up over Morecambe bay and Nick started to enjoy himself by simulating engine failures, lots of them: from straight and level, in turning flight and climbing flight. I correctly identified the failed engine every time, but drew criticism for being too eager to feather the propeller and secure the engine from a cruise failure. Nick said I did what all students do: by rigour carry out all the drills but without first looking to identify what was wrong and why the engine failed. He was quite correct of course. When you have plenty of altitude and have regained control of the aircraft take time to see if you can resolve the problem before you feather the propeller! So, check the fuel is on along with the magnetos, try alternate air. Is the engine on fire? Is there any oil escaping? If not, switch on the fuel pump as this may restore partial power. Only then should you secure the engine and decide your next move.

All this was really good stuff, just what I wanted to cover. We then headed back to Blackpool for engine failure after take- off practice and a single engine landing. My first approach was with both engines running and we landed for a touch and go. Nick raised the flaps and I applied take off power. At 500 feet Nick failed the left engine on me. I followed the correct actions and got the aircraft established in the circuit for a single engine approach. However, Nick was not finished with me yet! He informed me we would descend to 300 feet and go around. Nick’s mantra was “gear and flaps wait for no one” so I raised them both whilst applying power and established a climb. Nick said I needed more rudder, “push it all the way”. I could feel the strain on my leg as I battled to hold the plane in balance at the correct climb speed. The Seneca slowly went up and this was a great illustration of the fact that when you lose an engine you lose 50% of your power, but around 80% of your performance. The rate of climb was only 250 feet per minute and we were only two up and under half fuel! Once more around the circuit and I landed with only one engine producing thrust. The session was over.

We flew one hour twenty minutes and it was a great investment in safety for me. Thanks Nick, we’ll do it again in six months!



Senaca parked after our training sortie



GLENFORSA

Saturday April 9th looked set to be a good day for flying. There was a high pressure system over the UK and I had our Piper Arrow G-HALC booked for a trip: but where to? I’d texted my friend Niels to see if he wanted to share a flight and he came back suggesting Glenforsa airfield on the Isle of Mull. That sounded good to me.

We met at 10am at Barton where I had prepared HALC for departure. We had 40 gallons of fuel and the two of us and our flight bags. The air temperature was warm and rising and there was a slight crosswind. The calculations said we’d make it off ok and we did. However acceleration was slow and it seemed to take a long time to hit climb speed after we were air-born. The departure profile was lower than usual on my least liked runway 09.

We climbed to 1800 feet, then slowly up to FL60 talking to Blackpool ATC. We tracked East of the Tall Tower and then overhead Barrow, transferring to Scottish Information. We established that the Danger Areas on our track were inactive and routed directly to the Turnberry VOR on the West coast. Scottish asked us to fly 6000 feet on their QNH as we set course for the TABIT intersection. This track took us past the East coast of Arran, spectacular as it was barren. On we went, to pass East of the BRUCE intersection and over Mull.

We had a fairly strong southerly tailwind which saw us achieve ground speeds of over 150kts, which was good. However, I had been warned that the approaches to Glenforsa in a southerly wind were difficult and turbulent, with wind-shear and associated sink on final. Mull has some very high terrain so I arrived still at 6000 feet, wary of any turbulence, but it wasn’t long before I spotted the airfield below. I started the descent admiring the great landscape and eventually positioned down wind left hand for runway 07 at 1000 feet. There is a hill on final approach to the runway, so I chose a curving, descending flight path and, as warned, encountered wind shear. However, I was ready and applied power as we were thrown around for a few seconds at low altitude before I touched down. A small bounce and we were down for good and slowing. Phew, that was interesting! We were in the air 1hr 40mins, including the protracted descent.




The calm after the approach! HALC admires the view from Glenforsa Airfield

 

HALC at Glenforsa

Niels and I had a meal in the Glenforsa Hotel, followed by a walk to get some air. The Isle of Mull is a very spectacular and remote area. It was well worth the visit.

It was now Niels’ turn to be PIC as we departed runway 07, again encountering turbulence as we passed the upwind end of the runway. We routed around Mull before climbing and setting course for Prestwick where we could pick up fuel. We stopped briefly at Prestwick, arriving and departing on runway 31.

Niels flew us out towards Dean Cross VOR before turning south to follow the coast down to Blackpool. The visibility was not too good in haze as we passed the nuclear power at Seascale before routing to the Barrow overhead, then the Blackpool overhead at 4000 feet. We passed Warton Aerodrome, eventually descending into Barton to land on runway 20.

Another great day’s flying completed and it’s only mid April!