North Weald

Sunday 25th March was a day of high pressure and good flying weather. By mid morning, the fog in the south east was clearing and all was looking good for my flight to North Weald airfield in Essex. The trip was in the Cessna 172SP based at Manchester Barton and I spent half an hour or so checking over the aircraft, including adding a litre of oil to the engine. I also entered today’s flight plan into the Garmin G1000 system and laid out my various maps and logs on the front passenger seat, all close to hand.

The previous evening I created a SkyDemon flight plan on my laptop which gave me all the information I required today, including the estimated flying time of 1 hour 38 minutes. There was a headwind for the flight down and I wanted full fuel so I would not be delayed on the return trip. With 53usg or 201 litres of avgas on board, I taxied to A3 to prepare for departure. With a cruise fuel burn of 8usg or 30 litres per hour, I clearly had plenty of range and reserve for the day’s flying.

The plan in the G1000 was EGCB (Barton)-LLRN (low level route north)-NANTI-LONLO-PEDIG-DTY-HEN-BNN-BAPAG-EGSX (North Weald). This route took me over to Warrington, then south towards Winsford before turning south east down between East Midlands and Birmingham airspace. The journey then continued abeam Coventry, over Silverstone motor racing track, and just west of Aylsebury before heading east, towards the destination. North Weald is in an area of airspace that requires the carriage and use of a transponder, a TMZ (Transponder Mandatory Zone). Additionally, the airspace from HEN onwards is beneath the London TMA with a base of 2500 feet. It is also very busy, and I had planned to use Farnborough Radar to provide a traffic service to assist me in seeing, and avoiding, conflicting traffic.

A3 at Barton is the last holding point for a departure on 27 right, or the runway today, 27 left. I dialled 1200 feet as the autopilot altitude target, selected a heading of 240 on the bug and lined the Cessna up on 27L. Holding the yoke back to protect the nose wheel, I smoothly applied full power. With 10 degrees of flap, the plane was soon in the air and climbing at 60 knots, easily clearing the power lines on the climb out path. I engaged the autopilot which kept the plane climbing on runway heading and at the same vertical speed as when I pressed the button. Pressing the heading button turned the Cessna towards Warrington and then I pressed the altitude arm that would level me at 1200 feet. Next press was the NAV button and the plane follows the plan in the G1000, leaving me to monitor systems and position, by cross checking with VORs on route, and talk to any air traffic service providers on the journey.

It was the first time I had used Farnborough Radar North on 132.80mhz and I was very impressed. They gave me many traffic contacts and eased my way through to destination. On release from Farnborough Radar, I changed my transponder squawk to 7010 to comply with the TMZ, and show the Stansted controller my ident, altitude and destination, as this code is for North Weald traffic.. North Weald sits beneath the Stansted class D airspace that starts at 1500 feet. You do not need a specific clearance as long as you stay under this level and are transponding.

All the planning before departure paid off as I had an uneventful flight, which is how I like them! The landing at North Weald was not one of my best, due to being too tight on the left base join for runway 02. Nobody’s perfect, but something to improve on next time.

Cessna at North Weald

"The Squadron" at North Weald

I spent four hours at the airfield, which included eating a very nice mushroom omelette and salad at “The Squadron” and having a friendly chat with a retired IT consultant whilst sitting in the sunshine. I had a specific reason for visiting North Weald but it did not fully work out today. I will write about what this reason was in another post, as I hope to return to complete my “mission” soon. The return to Manchester, reversing the outbound flight plan was also uneventful. I positioned on a three mile final for Barton’s runway 09 and made a very nice landing.


The only stress on this particular trip was my undignified exit from the Cessna and my sprint over the grass towards the toilet, as soon as the engine stopped. I should never have had that tall, cool J20, before leaving North Weald.