| Two Weeks in England | |
| 13 July 2007 Pilot Section General
The week after our arrival from Reykjavik was deliberately set aside as a week of no flying – time for other things with my family on holiday in the New Forest, and N238JG was placed in the care of Airtime Ltd at Bournemouth airport for an oil change and rectification of a few very minor issues, such as the rear seat entertainment system, that had shown up during the trip so far.
After a week on the ground, Saturday 7th July was the day of the Legends of Flight airshow at Duxford. The same show that the Bolero II flight who we had met back in Goose, Canada were heading for. My friend John Quinn had booked tickets for his son Finnegan, myself and my son Hallin and we all met at Bournemouth ariport at 0715 ready to fly up to Duxford in N238JG… but it wasn’t to be!!
On start up, the Primary Flight Display (PFD) showed a series of error messages indicating that it was getting no direction input from the magnetometer, and lack of this input affected several of the primary instruments on he PFD, navigation systems and the autopilot. We spent some time trying to fix the problem, called Cirrus in USA and UK for advice, and Airtime’s avionics engineers pulled the equipment apart but all efforts showed that it was not a simple loose connection – by 1030 it was clear that the magnetometer, a sealed solid state component located out in the right wing, had failed and would need to be replaced.
Two very disappointed boys were facing the prospect of no flight in a Cirrus, and also missing the Legends of Flight air show!! John Quinn checked his road GPS and calculated we could be at Duxford in 2 hours 40 minutes in his Saab. Although we would miss the morning activities and walking the flight line, the flying air show started at 1300 – so we could still make it by road. We all piled into John’s car, left the Cirrus behind at Bournemouth, and raced off up the motorway towards Duxford.
The day was saved! As we pulled into the carpark at Duxford after 2¾ hours on the motorway the first air display had just started (A modern US Air Force F15 flying in formation with two veteran P51 Mustangs). We had an excellent lunch watching the flying show with a mind boggling number of historic aircraft flying, and then explored the various exhibitions including the Imperial War Museum aircraft and Concorde.
At Duxford I was looking out for our Bolero II Flight friends from USA in the P51 Mustang “Miss Velma” and P38 Lightning “Glacier Girl” and looking forward to introducing the boys to the crew we had met in Goose, Canada. However, as I read the show programme over lunch the rest of the Bolero II story was revealed. Apparently the Bolero II flight had taken off from Goose on 27th June just as Mike the pilot of N1008U had told us in Reykjavik, but only an hour or so out from the Canadian coast “Glacier Girl” had developed a problem in one of her two engines and both aircraft had turned back to Goose - which explained why Mike had not heard them on the radio as he had expected. Glacier Girl was still in Goose waiting for engine parts. A few days later the P51 “Miss Velma” had crossed the Atlantic alone, but was now trapped by bad weather in Scotland and hadn’t made it in time for the Legands of Flight show at Duxford. It just wasn’t meant to be for “Glacier Girl”, “Miss Velma”, or N238JG – nevertheless John and I enjoyed a great day of aviation nostaligia and entertainment with our two boys at Duxford, even though we had to drive there rather than fly!!
Now I was faced with an unserviceable N238JG at Bournemouth, and had to work out how to get it fixed as soon as possible to continue the flight on towards Singapore, but also to do the flights I had planned in UK without further delays. I spoke by phone to Alex Vincent at RGV Aviation Ltd at Gloucestershire Airport, the Cirrus Service Centre in UK. In the Cirrus “Mold” Alex was extremely helpful and knowledgeable about the aircraft and the problem. He advised me he had the parts and could fix the problem if I could get my aircraft to him at Goucestershire Airport by Monday morning.
With the PFD and Autopilot effectively unuseable, and the navigation information greatly reduced the Cirrus SR22 still has more instrumentation available to the pilot than most small aircraft. I had sufficient instrumentation to fly to Gloucestershire legally, but only under “Visual Flight Rules” (VFR), and this presented me with a new challenge. Airspace in UK for VFR flying is extemely complex (I would argue unecessarily complex, but that is another story!). I had flown VFR many times in USA and South East Asia to places that I was not familiar with, and where review of the charts and a read of the clearly published Airport Directory provide enough information to safely plan a flight – not in England!!
In South West England, close to Bournemouth Class A airspace comes down as low as 3,500ft and the region is littered with Military Danger Areas and “Areas of Intense Arial Actictivity” (AIAA) between 3000ft and ground level. It is a mess of local rules with every airport having slightly different requirements. Booking out must be done for VFR flights at the airport of departure, and Prior permission (“PPR”) must be obtained before going to most destinations. Different frequencies and telephone numbers must be called to check on different types of airspace all of which must be researched in advance if you are not familiar with VFR flying in the area, and that is before you even start to try and get information on Notams, FIRs / TFRs - and the weather!
In USA and most other places outside Europe the airspace control is integrated and follows a straightforward clearly defined system. There is one single source of the necessary pre-flight information and on a VFR flight I would call up ATC after takeoff, advise them where I am headed and request “Flight Following”. Here in the UK they call this service “Lower Airspace Radar Service” (LARS). It is run mainly by the Royal Airforce and … (would you believe it!!)… at weekends, when in the summer the sky is busy with light aircraft flying VFR, the RAF switch off and go home…. So there is no LARS service!!! It is absolutely no surprise to me that one of the most controversial topics in UK General Aviation circles this year is light aircraft “busting” airspace for the world famous RAF Red Arrows display team!!
The last thing I wanted was to have an airspace infringement in N238JG through lack of local UK VFR flying knowledge, so I called up a flight school at Bournemouth Airport and went over to have a chat with one of their instructors. He was extremely helpful and together we worked out a route from Bournemouth to Goucestershire avoiding airspace difficulties, which included a national gliding competition taking place along the route that I had not been aware of. Since it was Sunday he advised to forget about trying to get LARS service from the RAF along the way, only to call Bristol to transition their Class D airspace and after passing Bristol to talk to Gloucestershire for joining and landing. Following this plan I took off from Bourenmouth at 1620 VFR, and 50 minutes later was on the ground at Gloucestershire without difficulty – and (as far as I know!!) without busting anyone’s airspace or causing any Red Arrows displays to be cancelled!!
On Monday morning I was at RGV early, keen to get the magnetometer fixed and the flying programme bak on track. RGV were magnificent, a Cirrus Service Centre in the absolute mold of Cirrus USA. Nothing was too much trouble. While their avionics engineers were fixing the magnetometer their airframe engineer checked the nosewheel which had again developed an occasional shimmy on landing. Sure enough they found the torque setting (which had been fixed on the second day of delivery in Duluth) had slipped back to 15lbs from the correct 25lbs. It was fixed, together with the magnetometer, and by midday N238JG was back together, tested and ready to go.
This time, with a full set of IFR instrumentation working properly I was able to file an IFR flight plan – both simpler and safer for my trip back to Bournemouth, where I arrived at 1330 on Monday 9th July.
As a result of the magnetometer breakdown we had to postpone a family trip to Yorkshire. Most importantly this was to have been the first trip for my wife Lily and both our children in N238JG. On the morning of Wednesday 11th July the trip was resurrected and we all flew IFR 2 Hours 15 Minutes from Bournemouth to Durham Tees Valley. The weather was overcast and there was not much to see from our 9,000ft cruising height. Arrival at Durham Teeside required a real Instrument Approach. We entered the cloud layer and rain some 50 miles out from the airfield, being vectored towards the ILS, and only broke out of the cloud at 1,500ft, with the lights of Durham Tees Valley airfield in a patch of sunshine directly ahead of us. The approach was followed by a smooth landing, but It wasn’t exactly what I had hoped as the ideal flight to boost Lily’s confidence in flying in small aircraft – but it seems I was wrong!! We hired a car and as we drove down to my aunt and uncle’s house near Helmesley, conversation changed to the next leg of N238JG’s flight from Bourenmouth to Paris. Lily volunteered that she and my daughter Jasmine would like to come on that flight too – fantastic news, and a great vote of confidence in N238JG! - I concluded I can’t have flown too badly today!!
After returning to Bournemouth with the family on Thursday 12th there was only one remaining flight to do in UK before we were ready to depart for France as scheduled on Saturday 14th. The breakdown last Saturday, and our revised trip to Duxford by car, had meant that John Quinn’s son Finnegan had missed his opporunity to fly in N238JG. Although he was incredibly philosophical about the outcome, I knew it had been a big disappointment for him and I was keen to take him up for a flight before we departed UK if it was possible. On the afternoon of Friday 13th July (not a very auspicious date for a young man’s first flight in a light aircraft!) I met Finnegan together with his Dad, John and Mum Sheena at Bournemouth airport.
This time N238JG worked perfectly! We took off from Bournemouth on Runway 26 and flew out VFR, South over Hengistbury Head towards the Needles at the West end of the Isle of Wight. After a brief demonstration of the systems on the Cirrus, Finnegan took the controls with his Mum and Dad in the back seat and flew us around the south of the Isle of Wight and down the coast to Shoreham. We turned around there and flew back over the old Navy Diving and Minewarfare Training base at HMS Vernon, Portsmouth where I had trained and been based in the Navy more than 20 years ago (now a shopping centre called Gunwharf Quays), and then back towards Bournemouth over Cowes and the Solent. For a change the English weather didn’t let us down. The weather was beautiful and the views of the scenic Isle of Wight and Solent were spectacular. It was a great finish to the 2 weeks in UK and I felt ready for the start of our next leg of the delivery flight.
Pilot Section
The real Pilot’s story about England is the fantastic costs of flying and the complexity of rules for those used to flying cheaper and more simply elsewhere. There is no shortcut on the complexity issue. You just have to do as much research as possible in advance and wherever possible file and fly IFR!
On the costs, I have set out a selection of the hugely varying costs from airports visited…… brace yourself!!
Notes:
1. I have included VAT (17.5%) in all prices where this was charges to me by suppliers.
2. Where US$ conversions are stated the conversion rate is ₤1 = US$2.02 (The weak dollar makes the already high prices even worse!).
3. Where conversions from Litres to US Gallons are made, 1 US Gallon = 3.79 Litres
4. I am expecting a bill from Euro Control some time in the future for Navigation charges since most of my flying was IFR and I used ILS approaches at Glasgow, Bournemouth and Durham Tees Valley. So far this bill has not caught up with me!!
Bournemouth: (Signature Flight Support)
Landing Fee: ₤40.70 (Approx US$82.21)
Airport Levy: ₤3.67 (Approx US$7.41)
Handling Fee (Arrival): ₤29.38 (Approx US$59.35)
Handling Fee (Depart): ₤35.25 (Approx US$71.20)
Parking Fee: ₤47.00/ Day (Approx US$94.94)
CAA Navigation Fee: Still waiting for the bill!!
Gloucestershire: (RGV Aviation)
Landing Fee: ₤18.50 (Approx US$37.37)
Handling Fee: Nil (at RGV Aviation Hangar for repairs)
Departure Fee: Included with Landing Fee
Parking Fee: Nil (at RGV Aviation Hangar for repairs)
CAA Navigation: Still waiting for the Bill!!
Durham Tees Valley: (Midwest Executive Aviation)
Landing Fee: ₤30.60 (Approx US$61.81)
Handling Fee: ₤30.00 (Approx US$60.60)
Passenger Tax: ₤31.20 (Approx US$63.02)
Parking Fee: ₤15.60 (Approx US$31.51)
CAA Navigation: Still waiting for the bill!!
Avgas Price:
Glasgow ₤1.28 / Litre (Approx US$9.80/ US Gallon)
Bournemouth ₤1.32 / Litre (Approx US$10.11/ US Gallon)
Durham Tees: ₤1.39 / Litre (Approx US$10.64/ US Gallon)
Kids Section Did you Know : 2007 has been the wettest June and July ever recorded in the UK!! Not great weather for flying in England!
Quiz:
Answer to yesterday’s Quiz: In a straight line (Shortest, Great Circle route), Bournemouth is 3,359 Nautical Miles from our starting point in Duluth Minnesota, USA. Duluth is at Longitude 92 Degrees West, and Bourenmouth is Longitude 2 Degrees West, so we have crossed 90 Degrees of Longitude - exactly 25% of the way around the world! As we get ready to depart for Paris, N238JG has flown 75 hours total time (Hobbs time) with 58.3 hours actual Flying Time.
Today’s Quiz Question: We saw lots of really famous historic aircraft during our trip to Duxford. Can you identify the most famous British Second World War fighter in the photograph below?
(Answers on the next Daily Diary!) | |
Hallin Marine (