A bit of VFR 'on top'

Another two flights in a row last week-end, and that was quite enjoyable in the middle of the final revisions weeks.
I flew the Cessna 172 on saturday and the PA28 on sunday, both solo.

Me: 'G-BJWI at BCFT with Information Yankee, QNH 1030, Request taxi'.
ATC: 'G-WI, QNH correct, give way to a Falcon passing you from right to left to FR Aviation, then taxy behind, to November via Mike, for runway 26 departure'.

Holding at November (holding short of runway 26) after the power checks and 'before take-off checklist':
Me: 'G-WI at November ready to copy clearance'
ATC: 'G-WI, hold position, your clearance is to leave the zone on track to Sandbanks, not above 2000 ft, VFR, Squawk 7010'.
Me: 'Hold position, not above 2000 ft cleared on track to Sanbanks, VFR, Squawking 7010, and ready for departure, G-WI'
ATC: 'G-WI, readback correct, after the landing Citation line up and wait 26'
Me: 'After the landing Citation, line up and wait 26, G-WI'
And here I am, on that 2300m (7500ft) piece of asphalt facing west and ready for take-off.
Feet on the brakes, 2000 rpm, brakes released and full power applied. RPM checked, airspeed is alive, 65 kts, rotation, positive rate of climb, 80 kts.
Passing 500 ft I slightly bank the aircraft left to a heading of 217°, when Tower asks me to contact Radar on 119.475. (VFR Map is included, see below)
Me: 'Bournemouth Radar, G-WI passing 700 ft climbing to 1800 ft, on track to Sandbanks, VFR'.
ATC: 'G-WI, report leaving controlled airspace'.
Me: 'Wilco G-WI'.

Just on time to take a picture of Bournemouth town centre with its beach and pier, Boscombe pier in the background.













Leaving the zone to the South-West, I'm now heading towards Old Harry Rocks a bit further along the coast.













Turning left towards Poole Bay:













Right turn on track to the East (heading 085° with a 12 kts / 350° wind at 2000 ft), I soon reach 'The Needles' as it's called, which are the arm-shaped cliffs of the Isle of Wight (west side).













Left turn to Lymington and then Stoney Cross (a disused airfield now used as a VRP), cruising at 1800 ft as the Solent CTA starts at 2000 ft, just in between Bournemouth CTR and Southampton CTR. There's not much in this area and as the visibility inland isn't very good i'm giving it a better look out to find the grass-now-closed airfield. I see Brokenhurst just below me 3 minutes after passing Lymington, VOR set on the Southampton VOR (Sierra Alpha Mike), radial 260, the needle comes in, and I see my next turning point.
This is the easy part, I now have to track 261° (heading 270 to allow for wind) for 12 min before reaching Blandford. It happens to be aligned on the 260 SAM VOR radial all the way to Blandford.
I check the ATIS, it gives a cloud base of 4000 ft (BKN), I climb on top at Verwood to enjoy the superb view we get over the clouds layer.













Soon time to start our descent as Blandford is in sight, still on the Radial 260 of SAM, I contact Bournemouth Radar for rejoin, 2000 ft, left turn Heading 099 to enter the CTR via Tarrant Rushton (VRP). I'm cleared to join the downwind for runway 26, I turn 111° and the NDB needle is now pointing straight ahead. ILS frequency set (110.50), descent to 1000 ft, before-landing checklist complete, base leg and then final for a runway 26 landing. I put the camera with the self-timer on and it takes the picture right on time as I flare the aircraft a dozen feet above the runway.

Night Rated and Magical Sunset Views

Another small step forward, I got my Night Rating on wenesday night after my second solo flight and a fifth stop-and-go landing.
I did it on the Cessna 172, which takes a little getting used to, but is a nice plane to fly.

If the weather permits it (after the awesome blue sky we had all the previous days, I really hope it'll be alright), I should fly this afternoon my first pre-CPL solo nav on the PA28.

I backseated yesterday on the PA28, taken around Bournemouth and enjoying an awesome sunset over Poole Bay (the town next door), and then up to Salisbury further North. It makes us almost forget that we are still doing the ATPL theory and that the next and last 7 exams are in just 4 weeks time.

 

Blackadder 23 final 26 touch-and-go

Not much new in Bournemouth.
I went flying yesterday, backseat on the PA28 and P2 flight on the Cessna 172 doing 1 hour of circuits.
Enjoy the pics.

Cobham's Falcon 20

Bournemouth is home of the largest fleet of Dassault Falcon 20 (old French business jet), which are mainly used for various types of military missions with the Air Force and the Royal Navy. As some of ex BCFT students are now flying for them, we got the chance to visit their facility and had a tour (on the ground) of their aircraft.

I thought it could be fairly interesting to share some of the pictures I took, as it is quite a rare aeroplane, particularly when equipped with the 4 pods like the one we went in.
The pods can be anything from laser devices, targets towed, etc ...
There aren't many civilian flying jobs where you get to fly as low as 100 ft in formation with RAF Hawks, Tornados, Harriers, ...

 

Some flying at Bournemouth EGHH

I'm still waiting to do my night solo but we are stuck on the ground at the moment, due to some very nasty weather. Here is the Taf for tonight : 231857Z 2319/2402 13005KT 4000 -RA BR FEW005 BKN009 (4km visi, light rain, mist, few clouds at 500ft, broken at 900 ft). And this is pretty much what we'll have all week and what we had everyday of last week.

I managed to record a video though when I did a backseat on the PA28, just before doing my circuits.



I also recorded some footage on the apron for about 20 minutes, it gives quite a good idea of how dense the traffic can be at times ...

Night Flying

There won't be much to say for once since the pictures speak quite nicely for themselves.

I did my night navigation last tuesday : Bournemouth EGHH - Tarrent Rushton (entry/departure waypoint) - Dorchester (town on the coastline) - Blandford (small town in the middle of nowhere) - Stoney Cross (crossing both Southampton and Bournemouth axis) - Lymington - Bournemouth EGHH.
Tonight was circuits day, I backseated two flights and did the third one, ending up with total of 3 hours in the plane, doing 18 landings. I did as P2 a bit less than an hour and 6 touch-and-goes, simulating different lighting failures, onboard electric failure, too low / too steep approaches, etc ... It was quite fun!

Next week we've got the PT1 (Progress Tests) for the last 7 ATPL subjects.
I booked my flight to the States where i'll be building hours for 2months 1/2 in California on both single and twin engine aircraft (based in San Diego, CA).

Below is a picture of a Be-76 having trouble while landing. As a reminder of how safety is important in aviation and all our training, where we spend so much time learning how to cope with unexpected situations.

 

Mountain Flying

Hi everyone! I'm just back in sunny England after a short trip in the French Alps, and what an amazing trip! Indeed, I flew to Geneva (Switzerland) on friday, met some friends in Lyon and we drove all the way up to l'Alpe d'Huez (a ski resort) under some heavy snowfall. We met there a bunch of young pilots brought together under the association Jeunes-Ailes (literally, "Young Wings").

A bit worried at first, the gloomy foggy sky went away whilst we were skiing and we could finally enjoy a nice truly blue sky, although the temperature dropped close to -30°C (about -20°F) during the night in the upper part of the station.

I got to fly twice, in the nice Jodel D-140 Abeille (F-GJHU), and made a short video from the footage I took in flight :



I hope you like the pictures, probably the most beautiful I ever got to take, thanks to the awesome scenery!
There's a bit of everything, hard to comment them all but to sum it up, I took most of them on l'Alpe d'Huez altiport (at about 6500 ft altitude), which has a runway with a 15.5% slope and allows the random skier walking by to enjoy a superb scenery, covered in snow for the most part of the year.
I also managed to take a picture of 4 F16 and a KC135 Stratotanker from the USAF (US Air Force) overflying us at quite a high altitude. This is what I call a superb week-end!