Aero Expo 2011 Sywell, Northampton

Aero expo is an annual event that features trade stands selling everything from the latest avionics, maps, training books, flight planning software, insurance services, flying holidays, electronic log books and watches. This list is nowhere near definitive. The products and services available are too numerous to mention in this post. In addition, aircraft manufacturers display their very latest models, all in one place, ready for inspection and considerable drooling over by us pilots!

2011 was the first time this event had been held at Northampton Sywell airfield, a lovely set up I have visited many times before. It has grass runways, a recently completed hard surface landing strip plus lots of space for parking. There is also a hotel on site and an excellent cafe. Both Avgas and Jet A1 fuel is available too. Now the new hard runway is operational I intend to come down in the Twinstar for a visit this summer.

Up until the Thursday of this week I did not expect to be going to the show this year, but Steve rang me to say one of the helicopter partners had pulled out of his trip thus leaving a spare seat. I jumped at the chance to go and met up with Steve and Malcolm, a LADZ co-owner, at Barton, just before 9am on the Saturday morning. The weather forecasts said to expect an increasing wind in the afternoon with 25 knot gusts and probable heavy showers. The visibility, away from the rain, was forecast to be very good.

Steve had done all the planning, on Sky demon software I had told him about, and he was fully prepared with laminated charts and plogs. We fired up the turbine Enstrom 480 and were soon heading South down the low level corridor, turning towards Stoke and making our way eventually past Bruntingthorpe airfield and in to land just over an hour after take-off. If you fly-in to the show admission is free for all on board with only a £10 charge for landing.

First port of call was the busy cafe where we ordered bacon and sausage muffins and coffee. Suitably refreshed we headed out to look at the flying machines and immediately encountered a row of helicopters, including the new Robinson R66 turbine model. Steve admired an Augusta whilst I slipped away from the Sales Manager to look at the Piper Seneca V (five). Having recently checked out on an older model, I was keen to see the latest version. It looked magnificent and sitting in the captain’s seat only made me like it more. It’s just like going into a car showroom and being seduced by the new smells and leather seats, the metallic paint and alloy wheels! Only here it’s the two turbo charged 220HP engines, the glass cockpit and the thought of getting this into the air. The salesman’s patter was heading slightly over my head after I heard him quote “around a million pounds” for me to fly this beauty away.

Piper PA34-220T

Garmin G500 Glass Display

Twin GNS430 GPS

The Diamond DA42NG was there, but as I have already flown that, I did not look again. Instead I made my way over to the new Technam P2006T light Rotax powered, high wing twin. This very aircraft, G-ZOOG, was featured in a flying magazine article recently on a trip down to Alderney. I sat in the left seat and was impressed by the space on offer. There was not enough time to look closely at the cockpit but I did get a feel for it. I would like to test fly this plane to compare it to the Seneca and Twinstar but that would have to wait for another day. The risk of showers in the forecast turned to reality as we were hit next by torrential rainfall with hail, sending all visitors in the direction of the exhibition halls and shelter.

Technam P2006T

Steve, Malcolm and I looked around paying close attention to the GPS devices with a new one ever present on our agenda for HALC, our Piper Arrow. The new Garmin touch screen units were very impressive but they are too expensive for us. To fit the larger of the new units would cost nearly half the value of our aeroplane! When you add VAT and modification costs you come to the conclusion that it would be better to buy a new plane instead of fitting these superb units into an old airframe. Still, it’s good to dream and think of what might be.

SR22 10th Anniversary Edition

We called into the Sky demon booth and met Tim, one of their programmers. Steve and I have been very pleased with their flight planning software and both signed to upgrade our trial versions to the fully licensed ones. A nice saving of £19 over the usual price was eagerly accepted as we both handed over £100.

We all sampled the new BOSE active noise reduction headset and liked it a lot. The new A20 model may be good but it’s not cheap as it will cost between £850 and £950 depending on the variant you chose.

We ran into Joel Tobias who had dropped in with his wife in the Blackpool Twinstar. They arrived pretty late from Blackbushe on their way home. We only had time for a few words but Joel was still awaiting the return from maintenance of his beloved Jet Box (Bell Jet ranger). Still, the Twinstar is a very nice distraction while he waits.

We looked around all the booths a final time before calling it a day and deciding to head home around 3pm. The nice Sywell people sent the fuel bowser over to us and after settling the bill we took off to retrace our route home.

G-LADZ Enstrom: our "ride"

This time there were quite a few showers around but they were easy to see and avoid. The gusty wind was evident in the air as the helicopter rocked from side to side on several occasions, but Malcolm took it in his stride. This was good flying practise for Malcolm as he had a training hour booked for Monday and a test on this type on Tuesday, to add the Enstrom 480 to his types qualified on. The flight back to Barton took about an hour and a quarter and was pretty uneventful, which is how we like it.

The day worked out well as it’s good to keep up to date on all the new things in aviation, even if I can’t afford most of them!

Two Days Out in June

A DAY OUT IN G-HALC

Several years ago, before the helicopter, Steve and I used to take HALC on days away, where we would go to airfields all over the country. Each weekend was spent on visiting both new and familiar destinations. This type of flying, where you share trips, builds both experience and enthusiasm to continue flying once the initial thrill has faded. Since both Steve and Mike earned helicopter licences and bought a rotary machine, our trips have lessened in frequency, as they enjoyed more time playing with their new “love” interest.

But helicopters need maintenance and this takes time, sometimes many weeks. As G-LADZ was out of service on such grounds, this left Steve free to spend more time on fixed wing flying and hence this latest blog entry.

June 4th - Steve had suggested flying over to Leicester where a “tea and cakes” event had been organised by a web site for general aviation. The day looked good for flying as we pulled HALC from the hangar and Steve took the left seat for the trip. We headed off down the low level route, which starts at Warrington and ends at Winsford. The maximum altitude is 1250 feet and you listen out on the Manchester Approach frequency whilst squawking 7366. This number shows on the radar screens of the controllers and they can speak to you should they wish to.

Once clear of the low level corridor, we climbed to a more comfortable altitude and navigated to the PEDIG intersection, near Tatenhill aerodrome. We established contact with East Midlands air traffic controllers and routed directly towards Leicester, remaining below controlled airspace. After an approach and landing on the short runway 04, we were soon on the ground and enjoying an excellent chilli, chips and rice in the airfield restaurant and bar, which overlooks the runways. It’s a very pleasant spot to pass time. As for the tea and cakes? We had a quick look in the portacabin they were using but there did not appear to be much happening so we were soon on our way.

G-HALC holds around 190 litres of fuel and over recent years the cost of our fuel, called avgas, has risen considerably. Our home airfield has some of the most expensive avgas in the country at £2.28 per litre, so it can pay to shop around for fuel and save a lot of money. We called Tatenhill aerodrome to ask the price of their fuel and it was £1.86 per litre. Picking up 100 litres would save us £37 over Barton’s price, and it was on the way home, so no detour required! This leg was mine, and only 30 miles or so, and I routed directly to Tatenhill, again contacting East Midlands radar as we transited beneath their airspace. I landed on the westerly runway and parked up to get fuel. We were soon full and ready to head off home with me flying again. A direct track to Winsford saw us again heading up the low level corridor, before turning to land at Barton. It’s good to be flying HALC again after spending so much of my time with other planes recently.



G-HALC at Leicester


ANOTHER FULL DAY’S FLYING

The week of June 6th I was on holiday, and that Monday was the only day of the week where good flying conditions were forecast. With this in mind, I called Steve and we were soon set for another great day out.

As you will know, I have been flying from Blackpool for several years now. This involves me driving up there from Manchester which takes around 75 minutes each way, thus adding time to the day. After a full day's flying I do not relish the drive home. I had arranged to meet Steve at Blackpool to fly the Twinstar, but called him and said I would fly up in HALC instead. He quickly said that he would drive to Barton and we could share a few legs in HALC. Great plan!

I flew us up to Blackpool which takes about 15 minutes and we parked at Flight Academy as we were taking one of their aircraft out next. After a bite to eat, I prepared the Twinstar for flight and we were off again. I had planned a 40 minute trip around Clitheroe, the Lakes and Barrow and intended to let Steve fly a lot of it as he has his multi engine test coming up soon on this plane. I mention the towns we would be flying close to, but this trip would be under instrument flight rules where we navigate to “intersections” in the sky, defined by lat and long co-ordinates.

After takeoff we could see the cloud base was around 1800 feet, so we stayed beneath it as I handed control to Steve. He took us over his house near Clitheroe, before I took back control and climbed us up through the clouds to flight level five zero (around 5000 feet for aviation novices). Once level, I showed Steve the autopilot features and watched as it turned us on track headings very competently. Switching off the automatics near Barrow, I handed her to Steve who then took us back to Blackpool, flying visually. The clouds were now scattered and we dodged around them as we descended and headed towards Fleetwood. I talked Steve through the approach but he did well as he has been training on the Twinstar recently. He positioned us on a wide right base for runway 28 and I only took over at 400 feet to complete the landing. When he gets his test done we can share legs on the aircraft.

Steve taxied us in, we parked up,chocked the plane, and thought of where to go next.

The Twinstar photographed at Kirkbride April 2010

For no particular reason, we decided to fly down from Blackpool to Sleap, in Shropshire. Back in HALC, Steve was in command for this one as we departed from runway 28 with a left turn out, heading, once again, for the northern end of the low level corridor. The weather was beginning to improve, with the clouds breaking up with higher bases now. We landed at Sleap after a relaxing flight via Whitchurch and then into the Shawbury MATZ (military air traffic zone) and on to the airfield. We filled the tanks with fuel at a very good rate, saving more money, just as we did at Tatenhill.

Weekdays at Sleap look to be very quiet despite the good weather. A cup of coffee later and it was my turn to take us on to Halfpenny Green airfield in the Midlands. This is a short flight so we extended it to fly over Droitwich, where the aforementioned G-LADZ heli is in maintenance. We spotted the landing pad easily. If you can’t fly in it, fly over it and wish you could. Really, Steve!! We map read this leg just to keep the skills alive in these days of the pinpoint navigational accuracy of GPS.

Approaching Halfpenny Green from the South, I joined the circuit from the overhead and landed uneventfully. We taxied to the parking area but soon discovered the cafe was closed as it was past 5pm. Not to worry, we were only going to consume even more coffee. A fast turn- around and Steve was set to fly us home to Barton. We left a very quiet aerodrome and headed past RAF Cosford, a deserted Shawbury and descended to transit the low level corridor. An arrival on runway 27R completed our day out.

Steve and HALC

At Halfpenny Green Aerodrome

So, all in all, a good couple of days.