Inverness-Stornoway

Saturday 22nd May, 2010

The evening before we'd unwound over good food at Nico's Bistro on Ness Bank, a glass of chilled wine and recollections of our favourite scenes from Black Adder & Fawlty Towers.

That had been only the beginning of the evening. Back at the Guest House we did some flight planning and decided to aim for Sumburgh close to the 60° parallel the next day. We'd also toyed with the idea of forming the 60° North Flying Club.

Following a sumptuous breakfast, our very welcoming host at the Talisker Guest House in Inverness bid us farewell as we set off in the drizzle for the airport. By coincidence the taxi driver had done some flying in his past so our aviation chat was well received.

G-CCTT was parked up alongside the heliport on the North Apron Westside next to the GA terminal. In order to gain direct entry into this part of the airport I had to present my pilot licence and photo id (passport) at the gate.

In the briefing room the computer was u\s but I managed to get a wifi connection on my netbook courtesy of Signature Flight Support next door in order to check the weather forecast on the Met Office aviation site.

Although the skies were clearing over Inverness a warm front was still clipping the northerly parts of Scotland including the Orkney and the Shetland Isles.

We then took a look at the METARS and TAFS. Our aspirations were shattered. Visibility was down to 3,000 metres and fog was forecast at both Kirkwall and Sumburgh. Given there was little wind, and these conditions were likely to last most of the day, we decided not to go.

In the end Stornoway, where we'd originally planned to end the day and re-fuel, looked much more promising so I planned a route to Stornoway across the Highlands instead.

In search of a loo before departure we found ourselves in the flying club next door. Here we chatted to a guy who had been hoping to undertake his Qualifying Cross Country (QXC) that day, but had arrived to find (like the rest of us) he was at the mercy of the weather.

During this flight Andy, with his instructor hat on, introduced me to instrument flying beyond the PPL, i.e. Instrument Meteorological Conditions (IMC). Once up at FL065 we were in the thick of the warm front and ploughing through bumpy clouds.

We identified and set the Inverness (INS 109.2) VOR (which is also used to carry the ATIS broadcast). I would be tracking the 308° outbound radial. Besides trying to stay on track I would be maintaining level flight and heading by scanning the instruments.

I recalled my PPL Human Factors and Performance training and realised I could no longer trust my sense of balance. All external cues had to be discarded and the instruments were now our lifeline.

Although I tried to resist, once or twice I glanced outside of the cockipt. At one point I found myself, not in a bland featureless grey world but, looking out at spectacular cloud formations in the horizontal gaps between the clouds. We were nearly 7,000 feet above sea level and in a completely alien world.

I found it extremely tiring checking the attitude indicator, heading and altitude again and again every few seconds. The monotony was alleviated only by weaving the plane back to the radial.

What I did come to realise is that only minute inputs were required to keep the plane level and on track, somewhat refining my flying technique!

After about twenty-five minutes I found myself VFR again coasting out at the Summer Isles. I was exhausted but had miraculously managed to stay on track maintaining FL065.

We now changed to the Stornaway (STN 115.1) VOR and tracked the 305°-to radial. Stornoway and the Isle of Lewis slowly began to take shape through the blue-grey haze.

Andy suggested we try an NDB approach at Stornaway. This would involve a non-precison approach from the opposite direction to the runway in use, 18. He showed me the instrument chart and explained what was involved.

He decided to self-position based on a QDM from the NDB being a more expeditious option than completion of the full procedure.

As we reached the airfield, we requested an NDB approach from the ATC. Although the NDB procedure was initially approved, an inbound Saab 340 meant that he'd have to offer us a procedural service to guarantee separation from the commercial traffic.

As a result we would have had to go into a holding position for around ten minutes whilst the Saab was brought in to land underneath us. Also this would have meant a charge would be incurred. In the end we declined.

We decided to fly to the south of the runway and turn to join on left base. Still at 2,000 feet and faced with a short final to land before the jet we had to shed the last bit of height very quickly.

Andy demonstrated two slide slips and a snake on final to get down to the runway. Finally we were safely on terra-firma and taxiing to our parking position.

We visited the controllers (via the green track) in the tower and paid the landing fee. They were non-plussed by the arrival of the Saab 340 and intrigued by our arrival in a Cessna 172. It had relieved the monotony for them!