The North Weald contingent consisting of the Lunatic and Two Charlie’s
took the easy way round the north M25 and straight to Compton, but the
‘Missus’, leaving from Andrewsfield, had a secret weapon on board in the
form of Vic the London City Airport ginger beer (engineer) who arranged for
us to do a SVFR flight via east London, Stratford, the Dome and Greenwich
Park.
As we approached the south end of the M11, Vic called up Thames Radar and
asked for permission to transit. As London City was not open until 13.00
that day, we were waved through. Passing the Olympic construction site, I
could see where I have been working for the past eight months. It looked a
total mess, but then it would, if I had anything to do with it!
The Olympic Mess. Canary Wharf.
Then we passed Canary Wharf, Isle of Dogs, over the Thames to Greenwich,
with me as P1 and constantly looking out to see where I could put the
‘Missus’ down if we had an engine failure. The better places seemed to be
the large areas of trees dotted around. I could just plonk it down in those
and we could climb down the trunks! Recovery may be a problem if the locals
had not devoured the airframe, like Piranha fish. It turned out to be 15
minutes of sheer exhilaration with Vic and Shane snapping pictures and me
worrying.
The Dome. Landing places??.
The route south of London was uneventful but was very calm and serene
with good views of Salisbury and the military bases.
Approaching Compton, we were surprised by the arrival instructions from
the radio controller. “Runway is zero eight left hand circuit, caution, you
will have a tailwind on approach” Now Compton has a marked downhill slope on
its runway going east and we thought that it was strange they had not
changed the runway direction. Anyway, as we are always up for a challenge we
called downwind, then final and then the controller says –“Golf Romeo
Sierra, I know you’re on final but can you change direction and land on
runway two six?”
Salisbury Cathedral. Downwind, or is it upwind?.
My GPS plot shows a nice downwind leg, good base and part of a final,
then it goes circling around to the right, a reverse base, a reverse
downwind and then a final from the other end. The circuit took longer than
the flight from Andrewsfield!
By the time we were down and after filling up with fuel (couldn’t have
full tanks taking off from Andrewsfield because of the weight of my two
passengers and all the luggage they brought with them) parking and then
walking back to the club house, the other two crews has eaten. No food left
then! However, I was in luck and I had a small prawn roll as shown in the
photo.
All the food's gone then?. A small prawn roll.
The air racing was worth looking at and we all decided that it was not
something any of the Circus members would want to do as it took skill and
determination. The aircraft took off at handicap intervals and as soon as
they cleared the end of the runway, they did a tight left turn and
disappeared behind the trees. After a number of circuits of the racecourse,
it was satisfying to see a Cessna 172 winning. No - the winner did not have
the weight of passengers that the ‘Missus’ had to carry to Compton!
Finals. Two hearts beating as one.
After the racing was over, we headed back to Essex via the south coast
with the ‘Missus’ as usual, first in the air and last back to base.
The lunatic starts her engine. Bob checks for stowaways as Joanne looks concerned.
As the ‘Missus’ headed south east and changed to each frequency, a few
minutes later we heard the Two Charlies call up the same station. The
difference in time span got closer until past Shoreham, she came in for an
attack!
Rat-a-tat-tat
As usual the faster plane wins the day and she passed us never to be seen
again.
Our sedate progress in the old ‘Missus’ was helped by a few GPS’s (what
is the collective name for a lot of GPS’s?) ----- (A Concern of GPS’s?)
An Etrex, a Garmin and a Fly Angel GPS, plus one in the back
Unbelievably, we actually made it back to Andrewsfield in clear
conditions despite the four GPS’s, three charts, compass, DI, radar control
and three qualified pilots!!
[Text: Mike] [Photos: Mike & Vic, click here for more]
