Sherburn - Sturgate - Sherburn

Sunday 15th March, 2009

My last foray into the skies had been several weeks ago (and then only circuits) so I was determined to get a local navigation detail in this week and met up with co-pilot Steve Ware one of our Board members committed to advancing touring activities at the club.

We had lunch in the club house and discussed the route. I'd planned one out to Trent Falls, down to Gainsborough and across to Sturgate in order to join the downwind leg for 27. For the return trip I'd planned two routes -one taking us across Doncaster's airspace to Ferrybridge and then back to Sherburn; the second the reverse of the outbound leg just in case Doncaster couldn't provide us with clearance through their airspace.

During the internal checks I was asked by another pilot whether or not Delta Bravo was about to taxi (we were parked up in front of the main hanger). I replied 'Negative'. Steve and I were in the throes of deciding whether or not the radio was malfunctioning. Mike on the flight desk could hear each of us, but Steve & I couldn't hear each other. Finally we realised (after checking headset cables, batteries etc!) the radio volume control had simply been turned to its lowest setting (on a previous flight).

As I taxied out for the power checks I suddenly noticed just how busy the airfield was - several aerobatics pilots were heading off as well as several private planes. At the hold I counted 3 planes ahead of us and two behind in addition to planes coming into land! I think I spent almost 20 minutes on the ground from engine start up!

The wind was light and Delta Bravo gently lifted off the run way into the smooth air. At 400 feet I raised the flaps and at 1,000 feet levelled out, adjusted the power setting before finally trimming the plane. I then turned around the back of Steeton Hall and onto the downwind leg. At this point we clocked a Cessna just to the south of us and a few hundred feet above us. Steve kept his eyes on it as we were rapidly catching it up, fortunately it was heading south. To be on the safe side I stayed to the North of Selby before climbing to 2,000 ft and getting on my heading for Trent Falls. It was very hazy and visibility was only just about 10km.

After a few minutes I figured the northerly wind I'd factored in from the F214 report (315°/12knots) must have been a lot stronger. I had to keep correcting my track as I was constantly drifting to the right. However after my turn at Trent Falls onto a southerly heading I was still drifting to the right, so figured the plane was slightly out of trim.

At that point we heard Doncaster ATC advise a pilot that he had infringed their airspace and that he would be reported to the CAA. Steve and I grimaced. It wasn't as if the pilot had posed any danger by the sound of it. It seemed the new services were being stringently applied, ATC being perfectly within their rights to report the incident. I realised this was the new legal black and white view of the aviation world as opposed to the more pragmatic environment I'd been brought up in as a pilot. I pondered which was safer, noting the pilot had been advised at least twice he was going to be reported using up valuable air time.

Shortly afterwards Gainsborough came into view and I started my descent to 1500 feet. Meanwhile Steve said goodbye to Doncaster and hello to Sturgate who advised runway 27 right-hand was in use. As I approached Gainsborough I looked to the east for Sturgate and figured I'd clocked it, but Steve pointed out the strip to the south east of me and Sturgate's short southerly runway became apparent. I therefore turned onto the downwind leg adjacent to this and descended to circuit height (1,000 feet). I joined half way along the downwind leg, did my pre-landing checks and established where to turn on base - one mile out. I turned beyond an island of cars (what were they doing there, I pondered?) onto base and got my first flap in.

Then I turned onto final and got the second flap in. Everything was looking good and Steve pointed out the lack of headwind - just to be aware. As I reached my half mile marker at 400 feet I put the last stage of flap in and re-assessed the runway perspective and my airspeed - 70knots. It was looking fine. As I crossed the threshold I cut the power, gently flared and touched down. My landing roll went slightly skewed having applied too much braking action too soon and Steve prompted me to simply release pressure and let the wheels sort themselves out. And of course they did.

Sturgate opened during the war in April 1944 and received its first flying unit in September of that year when No1520 Beam Approach Training Flight (affiliated to the Pilots Advanced Flying Unit) moved in. Operational squadrons didn't appear until after the end of the war with 50 and 61 squadrons. However these were subsequently moved to Waddington in January 1946. In 1952 Sturgate was brought back to life by the Americans (3928th Air Base Group) who used it for fighter detachments until 1964.1 

The club house was busy and I was cheered by the fact that the dog was in residence. I took some photos and chatted to her owner who advised me she had been found abandoned on the day of a Solar Eclipse but they didn't want to call her the latter so named her Lunar! After a leisurely cup of tea, we decided to get back in the air. I quickly said farewell to Sturgate and hello to Doncaster to get my request for a zone transit in as soon as possible. Steve and I had agreed that if we hadn't received clearance by the time we reached the Trent we would defer to plan B - the reverse of our outbound route.

'Doncaster Radar, G-BODB, Basic Service'. 'G-DB, pass your message'. 'G-DB, PA28 out of Sturgate at 1,700 ft, routing Ferrybridge, request zone transit'. 'G-DB can you clarify route?' I pondered a moment and realised I should have added Sherburn to the route. 'G-DB out of Sturgate routing Ferrybridge and Sherburn'. 'Ah, thought you'd said out of Sherburn'. A moment later he advised: 'G-DB cleared to transit zone, VFR not above 2,500 ft, squawk 6160, route direct to Ferrybridge clear of Sandtoft ATZ, report crossing M62'. 'Cleared to transit zone, not above 2,500 ft, squawk 6160, wilco, G-DB'.

I quickly dialled in the squawk code to the new Mode S transponder installed in Delta Bravo. Meanwhile Steve realised the rudder trim was out and adjusted it (of course, I should have realised). A few moments later I noticed the transponder was squawking 7000 not 6160 and pondered what I'd done wrong. Steve advised that I'd probably pressed VFR which automatically resets it to 7000. I dialled in the squawk again and then figured I hadn't explicitly entered the last digit so maybe it had reset as a result of that.

At this point ATC asked us for our position and Steve duly advised him we were just to the north of their airfield. Meanwhile I heard Jan, one of our instructors, on the radio advising she was on her way south to the training area and would remain west of the A1 so I kept a good lookout as we approached Ferrybridge. As Sherburn was now in sight Steve and I debated whether to head straight for it, however we'd been explicitly instructed to route direct to Ferrybridge so continued. At this point ATC asked us again for our position and we advised we were coming up to the M62 with Sherburn in sight. We negotiated a direct route from there to the airfield and Doncaster asked us to Freecall Sherburn.

Back in the circuit, after the join over the 11 threshold, we reported on the downwind leg with contact one ahead. Steve lost track of the plane for a moment, but I was still visual with it (overhead the power station). He slowed down and followed it round onto base. Fortunately for us it did a touch and go clearing the runway in time for us to safely land. Taxiing back to base we reflected it had been a good trip and then I saw Pete Jackson, our Sunday CFI, heading out to runway 29 with a student and waved. On parking up for the shut down checks I noticed the gyrocopter was back and couldn't resist taking a few more pictures...

References

1. Delve, Ken. (2008) "The Military Airfields of Britain, East Midlands, Cambridgeshire, Derbyshire, Leicestershire, Lincolnshire, Nottinghamshire" Crowood p.275-276