Sherburn - Shobdon - Old Sarum - Sherburn

Sunday 13th July - Flight Planning

The previous Thursday Chris, our CFI, sent us the crew details for the away day. There were going to be four planes, 3 instructors, 1 safety pilot and 12 private pilots with varying degrees of experience. I'd been allocated the outbound Shobdon leg in Charlie Romeo and had to plan this in both directions. The wind direction on the day would determine which way round we flew the route. So I downloaded the relevant NOTAMS from the AIS web site and started planning the outbound route from both Sherburn & Old Sarum. I realised I'd have to finish off both plans at the aero club as I wouldn't have the wind forecast until 6.00am UTC (i.e. 7.00am) the next morning.

Monday 14th July

I dragged myself out of bed at 5.30am in order to make sure I got a cooked breakfast inside me and still have time to drive over to Sherburn (via the M62) for the 8.00am briefing. At 6.53 I managed to print off the UK Low Level Spot Wind Chart Forecast (F214) & the Forecast Weather below 10,000 ft (F215). It wasn't going to be too windy aloft, but the cloud base could be as low as 1,500ft and rain would definitely be moving in from the west. As I set off for Sherburn I could already see the grey westerly clouds.

When I arrived at the club around 8.10 am, the car park was nearly full, I was late. I needn't have worried. Everyone was in the final stages of their flight planning and I parked myself in one of the classrooms with a pilot I'd met on the France trip who advised me we were doing the Shobdon leg first. I sanity checked my route with Chris and he advised me that the inbound leg from Old Sarum was up for grabs if I wanted to do it. I agreed and then realised I'd have to get the flight planning done somewhere between flying the first and third legs!

I worked out the average spot wind for the area we'd be flying in (270°/08) and, after completing my calculations, co-pilots Tony & Richard found me and introduced themselves. We decided to check the weight and balance given there were four of us and all our flying paraphernalia and worked out we'd be overweight by a few pounds, but still in balance. Richard then checked whether we'd have enough take-off run on 29 tarmac. That was fine too.

Sherburn - Shobdon

Before going out to the plane I completed Charlie Romeo's log sheet and Dale, one of the club's instructors, asked me how I was getting on. I confided I was feeling quite nervous. He assured me, what I instinctively knew from my QXC etc, that once up there I'd enjoy it.

After doing the external, internal, taxi and line up checks we took off from runway 29 tarmac. Given the load, I closely watched the airspeed and shortly after take-off found it was approaching 60 knots (heard the stall warning briefly cut in) so lowered the nose to get it up to 75 knots.

The air was quite smooth as I wended my way between Sherburn in Elmet and Steeton Hall turning south at the motorway. As we crossed the MATZ boundary I advised Sherburn we were departing Sierra (i.e. not above 1,500 to the south via Ferrybridge). At Ferrybridge I changed frequency and passed my details to Doncaster Radar. Following their response I set the altimeter to the Doncaster QNH and the transponder to the assigned squawk code. Then I turned onto my calculated heading (given the wind and magnetic variance) for Derby (195°) and noted the time (9.55).

My first pin point was Sheffield City airfield (now sadly closed) with an ETA of 10.07. As we flew south the weather deteriorated and Chris quickly challenged whether I should stay at 2,000 ft given the clouds rolling towards us! I reduced power and descended to around 1,800 ft. At 10.07 we made the first pin point on track so now I could be confident the wind I'd factored in was accurate.

Prior to Derby I requested a frequency change to East Midlands. I reset the altimeter to the Barnsley QNH and then dialled in the new squawk code. We arrived at Derby on time and changed heading for Stafford at 10.25. At this point it brightened up a little bit and shortly after turning I was advised that there was traffic crossing left to right in front of me at the same level. I quickly clocked a black helicopter about a mile ahead and reported 'visual with traffic'.

Further down the leg I spotted a Cessna coming towards us at 11 o'clock and below us. Before I could decide whether or not it was ascending, it skidded out of view underneath us and to the right of us. Chris advised me that the sighting was an 11 o'clock 'low' as opposed to 'high'. Without that piece of information he hadn't known whether to look ahead up or down. He also pointed out that the ATC had probably been too busy to advise us of this traffic - hence a Flight Information Service is just that. It's still the responsibilty of the pilot to keep a good look out.

Excitement over, we arrived at the pinpoint for this leg (Utoxeter racecourse) on time at 10.35. At Stafford I was asked to change frequency to Shawbury Radar and turned onto a heading for Kidderminster. At this point the weather deteriorated further and we heard over the radio that two of our pilots flying separately in a Cessna were heading back to Sherburn due weather. My brain reeled - was that the Cessna we just clocked eyes on?

En route to Kidderminster I remained at 1,800 ft, just clear of my safety altitude and safely below the clouds. But then I realised this would take me into Wolverhampton's ATZ. I advised Shawbury I was changing frequency to Wolverhampton but didn't make clear that the change was only temporary so they asked me to squawk the conspicuity code 7,000. Chris quickly clarified with them my intentions. I changed frequency to Wolverhampton and requested zone transit at 1,800 ft. They were absolutely fine with this - the airfield wasn't active. At the southern side of the ATZ I advised Wolverhampton where I was and that I was changing frequency back to Shawbury.

With that out of the way I could focus on my next waypoint - the lake south of Kidderminster. We arrived on time at 11.05 and I turned onto my final heading (260°) for Shobdon. The track skirted hills to the south and the landscape in front of me was very bland compared with the rest of the route. I'd earmarked a pin point only five minutes down track - Hanley airstrip. After a few minutes I started looking out for it and I picked out a field that resembled an airstrip but wasn't a hundred per cent sure. Thinking about it afterwards, Tenbury Wells and the village to the south of it would have been a much better pin point.

I kept on my heading and Chris pointed out we were tracking roughly the same direction as the runway. With that thought in my head I peered into the distance and made out a brownish strip pointing towards us. I changed frequency to Shobdon and requested joining instructions - 'overhead for 27 left hand'. I descended on the dead side and crossed the 09 threshold at 1,000 ft, then steered slightly right to make sure I got behind Pembridge village on the downwind leg. I looked over my shoulder to validate where I was relative to the airfield, made my downwind call and did the pre-landing checks.

I then flew past the second village before turning onto base and reduced power. As soon as the airspeed allowed I set the first two stages of flap. Everything was fine so far. At around 800 feet I turned onto final and at 300 ft lowered the drag flap and set the carburettor heat to cold. Chris prompted me to aim for the numbers, which I duly did and then I flared - but too high I realised as I levelled out. In the hold off I ballooned and added a trickle of power to cushion the inevitable descent. A few moments later we were safely on the ground!

On reflection I realised the perspective of the runway had foxed me - it had appeared quite wide because of the grey\brown verges either side and therefore the surface seemed nearer than it actually was and I hadn't compensated accordingly. (Ground School - Human Factors & Pilot Performance: Eyesight & Visual Allusions).

I parked up behind Delta Echo and did the close down checks. Then we all went across to the club for a welcomed cup of tea. I booked in Charlie Romeo, paid the landing fee and then made a beeline for one of the large tables so I could spread out and do my flight planning for the third leg (inbound to Sherburn from Old Sarum). There I got talking to Selwyn, a qualified private pilot from Mirfield.

Then Chris decided in view of the weather we'd not go as far as Old Sarum, but instead head for Sywell (home of the Blades - I recalled their spectacular visit to Sherburn for the Emmerdale filming last year on the day I was taking my final ground school exam). The plan subsequently changed again as Sywell was closed for the day and we finally decided to route to Turweston having checked they could accommodate four PA28s and feed us.

Shobdon - Turweston

On the next leg it was Tony's turn to fly. He was going to undertake some instrument training. The two VORs were set (HON 185° radial from and DTY 090° radial from) to provide a fix just south of Stratford upon Avon overhead Alscot airfield.

After taking off Tony got onto his easterly heading, said farewell to Shobdon and called up Birmingham Radar. By now we were in the clouds. He requested a Radar Information Service and, after dialling in the squawk code, was advised that we were 35 miles South West of Birmingham and they could only provide a limited RIS (limited information regarding traffic from below or behind).

I had only ever done (in total) less than fifteen minutes instrument training and couldn't imagine how high his workload must have been flying under IMC for an hour or so. It must have been exhausting!

Eventually we descended towards Turweston via Silverstone and came out of the clouds. We heard over the radio that the others were in front and staggering their approach to the airfield by undertaking an orbit over the race course. Tony changed frequency to Turweston for airfield information and we were asked to join on right base for 27.

Turweston - Sherburn

Instead I opted for a series of dog legs up to Gainsborough and back to Selby. I decided to fly to Pittsford Water a couple of miles north east of Sywell, then Melton Mowbray, Newark on Trent, Gainsborough and Selby. This wasn't the most elegant route but would keep me out of East Midlands (usually very busy) airspace and clear of the main obstacles on route. However this plan wasn't without its drawbacks when attempting to fly by dead reckoning alone, I was soon to discover!

The airfield staff were very friendly and provided us with an informal tour of one of their hangers containing a very interesting collection of planes. Having eaten well, stretched our legs and got the planes re-fuelled we were ready to set off for the last leg. At that point the flight desk manager offered to take a group photo of us out on the tarmac.

We took off at 16.30 from Turweston. I got onto my first heading for Pittsford Water at 16.35 and arrived a minute or so early. Then I turned onto my new heading (357°)for Melton Mowbray with a pin point of Market Harborough at 16.49.

At this point I did a FREDA check and continued to the next waypoint whose ETA was 17.05. However prior to the allotted time when I peered through the gloom for Melton Mowbray it was nowhere to be seen and East Midlands suddenly asked me to change frequency to Cottesmore which puzzled me. Was I was off track and heading for their MATZ stub? Cottesmore was incredibly difficult to understand and Chris prompted me to request a MATZ penetration. It soon dawned how far off track I was with a tall mast to the left of me and an airfield to the right. My instinct was to turn left towards my original track, but the wind was coming from this direction so I could have ended up flying into gliders as well as getting even more lost.

Chris pointed out that it was imperative I didn't just jump to conclusions as to where I was. Since my last waypoint I noted I'd been flying for 17 minutes so I scanned an arc 10° either side of my track and confirmed I was just north west of Saltby gliding base. Using the standard track correction method I changed my heading 20° (double the track error) to the left. After the same period of time I was heading back to my track but slightly east of Gainsborough (i.e. still east of track) at 17.19.

I then changed onto my heading for Selby and again found myself right of track for my next pinpoint, Sandtoft ATZ. On the next FREDA check I realised I'd set the DI incorrectly on the previous one which accounted for some of the track error. To get to Selby I adjusted my track again by another 20° left which got me there at 17.40.

At this point I requested a radio frequency change from Doncaster to Church Fenton, who had gone home for the day and realised, being Monday, no-one would be at home at the club either. So I had to decide which runway to land on for myself. As I flew over the airfield I looked at the windsock. There was a slight crosswind on 29 but the wind was straight up 24. I made all the usual radio calls in case anyone else was either in the circuit or joining overhead and finally landed on 24. I was both exhilarated and exhausted, having spent 3.5 hours flying that day.

Afterwards we debated the route I'd planned and came to the conclusion that some of the legs had been far too short and a pinpoint of less than 10 minutes was frankly useless. I'd set myself up for being way too busy most of the time. At home I pondered what else I could have done and figured that maybe I should have tracked direct to Newark on Trent (63 miles) from Turweston and used Market Harborough (27 miles) Melton Mowbray (44 miles) as pinpoints en route. It might have taken me closer to Husbands Bosworth (gliding) than I'd like to have been, but overall would have required far less work. Then I possibly wouldn't have made the error with the DI setting in the first place or would have picked up on it much sooner. A salutary lesson.