Cessna 172SP to Calais and Lille

At the end of June I had a very enjoyable flying adventure. Over the course of three days, Kim and I flew a total of six legs, which saw us visiting the south east of England and France. Most of the flying was in the Cessna 172SP G1000 although we were able to fit in a short flight in a Diamond Twinstar as well.

The adventure started on a windy Friday morning when we met at Barton and planned to fly down to North Weald in Essex. This was the weekend of the Barton Open Day and a fun fair had been erected on the aerodrome, blocking the use of our crosswind runway. Of course, the wind decided to blow from the south and this meant we had a very significant crosswind on departure. Not only that, but the headwind on the journey slowed us considerably and made progress somewhat tedious at around 80kts groundspeed.

The weather on this leg was mostly o.k. apart from between the Henton NDB and North Weald, where rain and low cloud was in our way. We had a period of ten minutes or so where conditions were difficult, but then flew into the clear and landed at North Weald after a flight of around two hours. Kim flew this first leg and, as he did the preparation for our later visit to Calais, I pre flighted the Diamond Twinstar ready for a local trip

The Twinstar was waiting for me at hanger 7 and I went through the check list and found all to be well. We planned to have half an hour in the local area before heading off to Calais in the 172 to clear French customs, and head for our night stop of Lille. I have over 80 hours in the Twinstar and it is my favourite airplane by far. We flew out to the east of North Weald and I just enjoyed climbing and turning and using the autopilot. The DA42 Twinstar is a wonderful flying machine!

My favourite flying machine, DA42 Twinstar

I did a couple of circuits on our return to North Weald, before heading to “The Squadron” for lunch and final preparations for departure to France. The day was going well so far and we were not behind schedule. Kim filed our flight plan with a direct route down to the Dover VOR before entering French airspace at the RINTI intersection and heading, via the harbour, to Calais. The weather was still windy but visibility and cloud base were fine for our VFR trip. Before long we were downwind right hand for Calais runway 24 and Kim parked us on the apron. We went to pay our very inexpensive landing fee and clear customs which was very simple.

Leaving the White Cliffs of Dover

Approaching Calais

The Cessna was now mine for the final leg of the day. I lined up on runway 24 and climbed out to 2500 feet turning left on track towards the MVC NDB near Merville Calonne. I established contact with Lille and after a flight of around 45 minutes we landed in another strong crosswind. There was some kind of emergency in progress at Lille which required us to go to point N and hold for ten minutes or so. The French controller made me laugh though when he told us to remain well to the north of the runway so as not to “scare the big aeroplanes” that were departing. We landed after four or five jets had departed, clearly a busy time of day!

Lille is a big airport and the planning we had both done was put to the test as we taxied to the fuel pumps on the other side of the airfield. We were soon refuelled and parked up on the main apron for the night. The Cessna holds 200 litres of fuel and we had used 105 litres on the journey from Barton. That was pretty good as it covered three take- offs at high power.

Handling is mandatory at Lille and it is needed. A very helpful lady picked us up in a car and took us to the terminal, also helping with our onward transport into the city. On our return the following day, we received excellent service and assistance in filing flight plans and were very happy with the 60 euro charges levied.

We hopped on the airport bus to Lille centre which was only nine euros return and set about finding Kim’s friends who were waiting at a restaurant in the city. They were touring World War One battlefields and all we knew was they were at a place with umbrellas in a square. There were lots of places that matched that description!! After a lot of walking and looking we eventually met up and had a nice meal and a couple of beers. However, it wasn’t until 9pm that we got fixed up in the same hotel as the other guys. And that was thanks to Kim’s French and a phone call from the restaurant.

We spent Saturday morning in lovely weather just exploring the city. The buildings are impressive and the ambience is very nice, giving a relaxed, informal impression. I liked Lille very much.

Stunning buildings in Lille

Lille Opera House

We took the bus back to the airport and filed a flight plan to North Weald routing MVC-ING-LYD-DET- direct. Kim was flying this leg and the trip took around ninety minutes. We had already given the required four hours notice via our GAR to North Weald and this flight was uneventful. We departed Lille in a brisk wind with good visibility and scattered clouds. The French countryside is very flat and pretty and I enjoyed the scenery as we headed up to the west of Calais before turning left on track to the Lydd VOR. We passed east of the airfield at Lydd and to the east of Rochester to avoid the ATZ before landing once again on runway 20 at North Weald.

The next leg home was to be mine and I set about reviewing the weather. There were thunderstorms over the northern part of England and all routes home looked to be difficult. We sat it out for a while waiting for any improvement, but none came.  It may have been possible to pick a way through the weather, but with the day getting on, a strong crosswind once again at Barton and me feeling tired, I chose to stay where we were. This meant another overnight stay and we managed to get rooms at the Epping Travelodge which was close by. A hearty meal and an early night rounded off the day.

The Cessna at North Weald before heading home

North Weald opens at 8:30am and ten minutes after that I took off from runway 20 for the flight home. The weather was beautiful but I was aware of poor weather at Manchester. The deterioration in conditions could be clearly seen as we approached Crewe. Low cloud and rain blocked the low level route between Manchester and Liverpool airspace. My plan was to fly through with the option of turning back to Sleap if conditions required it. I called Barton on the radio and asked for a weather update. They said visibility was ok but there was a scattered/broken cloud base of around 1000 feet. Not ideal, but I decided to continue.

After a challenging fifteen minutes we spotted the aerodrome and landed on runway 27R. In hindsight I could not really decide if the decision to continue was correct or not. On one hand, the final segment was in very poor visibility in and out of the clouds. On the other, I know the area very well and was confident on how we were progressing. The weather improved slightly a couple of hours later and so a wait at Sleap would have been an option and less challenging. But if you never do anything you never learn anything and improve your skills.. I guess it’s where you draw your line.
So, we arrived back a day late but having completed a long and satisfying series of flights. It is good to share the flying duties and costs with another pilot and that extra pair of hands and eyes improves safety in difficult situations. Despite flying for over thirty years now, I am often surprised about how much I can still learn about flying.

Turbo Seneca Training Sortie

The Seneca is an aircraft I started flying when the Twinstar was withdrawn from our flight line, as it needed two new engines at considerable cost. At first I was not sure about the Seneca but as my hours in it increased, the more I came to like it. But recently this aircraft has also been out of action. You may recall an earlier post in which I described the right engine problems I had, which resulted in a diversion to Carlisle en-route Aberdeen. Following that problem and a repaced cylinder, I discovered that the engine had been removed and sent off for further work. Four months later it was back, and I needed a refresher flight to regain currency.

Stuart Chambers, my instructor, was enlisted to fly with me and I also had a French Instrument Rating student in the back. We positioned over Morecambe bay and following some general handling, Stuart threw in a few simulated engine failures. The first was a tricky one! He told me to set up a descent at low power and then "failed" an engine by retarding a throttle out of my sight. There was no perceptible yaw but the balance ball had moved a touch to the left. Gentle pressure on the rudder corrected it and told me the right engine had failed. I looked at the fuel flow gauge to confirm my choice and completed the touch drills for feathering the propeller. So far so good.

On the climb up to altitude, Stuart failed an engine again. Under high power the yaw is clear and once again I correctly completed the drills and held the correct single engine best rate of climb speed. We were up at 6000 feet and I wanted to fly instruments, so on contacting Blackpool I asked for vectors to the I.L.S. I tuned in the frequency, morse identified it, and began to follow the controller's instructions. As I turned onto a heading, it was clear we would be descending into the clouds at around 4000 feet. I did not look out of the window at all until we were on short final to land. The controller positioned me onto a closing heading for the localiser and a glance at our groundspeed on the GPS suggested a rate of descent of around 450 feet per minute. The glide slope came in and I lowered the undercarraige and deployed two stages of flap. This was the first instrument approach I had done in the Seneca and all went well. At one stage I was about to adjust the power, but Stuart said to leave it alone at 18 inches manifold pressure. He was correct, of course, and on looking up at 350 feet the runway was just a little off to the left.

So a good workout on a very warm day. My shirt was wet from the effort and the temperature. The Seneca is a very rewarding aircraft to fly as it is demanding and fast. In contast, the Twinstar is easier and more modern. I like them both.

Seneca Pilot's Panel

It's nice to have two engines!

SR20 Local Area Flight

A number of posts ago I said that I was finding it difficult to remain current in all of the five aircraft types I fly. I also said that I would no longer fly the Cirrus SR20 because of this problem. But, following my trip to Aero Expo in the Cirrus, I decided to try it again.

The SR20 is a going places tourer and to be frank, is better flown by engaging the autopilot early and allowing it to fly the aircraft to the destination. The reason I say that is because of the trimming system, which can be tricky to use. Most aeroplanes have a manual trim wheel which you roll forward for nose down trim, or backwards for nose up trim. The Cirrus does not have this, being replaced with a small device on the side stick which is used for both elevator and aileron trimming. The gearing is such that it is hard to "blip" it just enough to get the desired effect. So you can end up getting it close to being trimmed and then turn the autopilot on. On disengaging you may find it is a little out of trim so you need to be wary when you revert to manual control.

My last flight was in an SR20 that was working correctly, i.e. with full PFD/MFD, as opposed to the failed PFD in the plane used to go to Aero Expo. There is not too much to say about this flight except that I was solo and took it up to 7500 feet above the Lake District which was totally overcast with clouds. I hand flew a little but mainly used the autopilot. The trip lasted ninety minutes and was pretty uneventful.

I returned to Blackpool having seen nothing of the Lakes, just the tops of many clouds. Still, I enjoyed the flight and feel at home in the Cirrus SR20. I have the aircraft booked for a weekend trip at the end of July and am waiting to see what the weather outlook is nearer the time, before chosing a destination.

G-GCDA SR20