tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-346949092024-03-13T01:50:17.229+01:00Clay's Flying - Clear Prop!!CMPhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16320314777024581442noreply@blogger.comBlogger121125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-34694909.post-45974807257191137182013-01-19T17:19:00.000+01:002013-02-03T17:23:47.752+01:00Winter Wonderland<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Usually at this time of the year, I am getting cabin fever (or the aviation equivalent) because the Weather Gods decide not to play nice and forcefully ground me with wave after wave of low pressure systems.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">But this year has been somewhat different. A large high pressure system coming from Eastern Europe extended all the way across western Europe as far as the UK, which meant lots of cold Arctic air, and snow. Lots and lots of snow. The great thing about this type of weather pattern is that when the snow passes, you are left with gin clear days, and a new take one the countryside below....i.e. a Winter Wonderland.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">So I decided not to pass up such an opportunity and make the most of it. My buddy, Aleksey, and I arranged with our respective better halves to get a hall pass for the weekend and we headed off to do some winter flying.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">"Nippy" was snuggled up in a warm hangar, so there was no need to worry about de-icing, and the moisture levels in the air meant that icing aloft would not be a factor. It was also Aleksey's first time in a small plane, so he was pretty excited to say the least. When we got to the hangar, "Nippy" was buried at the back, so we had to wheel out two other planes before we could free "Nippy" from the hangar. I was also clever enough to have her fuelled after the last time I flew, so I didn't have to waste time at the fuel dump.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">A quick pre-flight and safety briefing and we were taxying out to the runway. I offered the take-off to Aleksey, telling him not to worry, I would follow-through on the controls in case anything went wrong. Before we knew it, we were taking off and climbing away over Lelystad (EHLE) heading for Texel (EHTX).</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The original idea was to fly over Amsterdam, but given the transponder (TX) is acting up and needs replacing, I knew if it didn't work properly in Amsterdam's Class C, then we'd be either not allowed in in the first place, or in a shit load of trouble if we ventured in there in the first place with a dodgy TX. So I elected we just head straight to Texel for some lunch.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">It was pretty quiet in the air, and we were the only aircraft anywhere near Texel when we arrived. I suggested to Aleksey that we do some touch and go's, so he could film it on his iPhone. The nice thing about Texel is that they have a 1000ft circuit, which is normal height used in the UK and US, but for some reason, the rest of the Netherlands uses 700ft, which really mucks up my approaches sometimes. I'm used to certain power and flap settings, and if you are entering a circuit at a lower height, then you need to delay these settings somewhat. But the touch and go's were great practice.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">On the last touch and go, I kept "Nippy" in ground effect after we lept into the air and built up the speed to allow me to pull hard and climb vertically. Aleksey was whooping like an excited 5 year-old in the co-pilot seat.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">When we landed and went to pay the landing fees, Mike told us that Lelystad was reporting diminished visibility. This meant we would have to skip lunch and get a wiggle on to get back. As we climbed out from Texel and headed back towards Lelystad, I asked Amsterdam Info fpr an update on Lelystad's status. The reply I got wasn't good. They had low cloud ceilings to 500ft and visibility of only 2km's. This is below minimums for me. I took a look at the chart to weigh up my options. Schiphol was open, but after my last visit I wasn't so keen of shelling out a ton of cash, especially if there was a much cheaper option. I asked Amsterdam Info about Hilversum </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">(EHHV)</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">, and they came back with a "CAVOK". Nice one. Hilversum it is.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I've never flown into Hilversum, so trying to figure out where a grass airfield, which is now covered in snow, is relative to the city was a bit of a challenge. I first aimed for the Pampus VOR, and then picked up the TV antenna that dominates the Hilversum skyline. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">When I was near, I dialled up the folks in Hilversum tower and asked if I could join overhead at 1000ft and then let down on the deadside of the airfield so I could avoid conflicting with other planes in the vicinity. The boys seemed OK with that. We spotted the airfield and I started in on the circuit, coming upwind, then joining the downwind leg and reducing power. It wasn't long before we kissed the snow covered grass of Hilversum airfield, with a suitably impressed Aleksey applauding the gentle landing.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The lovely folks in Hilversum's tower helped us verify that Lelystad airport had now closed to all flight operations. That meant we were stuck here. And it's -8C outside, so I was worried about the well-being of "Nippy". But Jerome, the airport manager helped save the day. He knew of a Mooney that had left earlier for it's annual. It would be gone some time and offered to put "Nippy" up in the hangar, FREE OF CHARGE. My word, such wonderful generosity. On top of that, he waived the landing fees because we diverted to Hilversum AND he offered us a lift to the train station. What a gentleman. He was so enamoured with "Nippy" that he said he's even keep me informed if any hangar space becomes available, which would be nice, since it's much closer to home that Lelystad.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">We tucked "Nippy" away in her guest digs and then headed for the train. A few days later I was lucky to get another weather window to let me pick "Nippy" up and ferry her back home to Lelystad.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">So my first Winter flight in my log book, some new friends made and another experience where I was able to put my training to the test.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I can't wait for Spring :-)</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>CMPhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16320314777024581442noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-34694909.post-31278993422368907632012-01-12T09:55:00.002+01:002012-01-12T09:58:29.114+01:00Free French Charts<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><a href="http://carte.f-aero.fr/" target="_blank">Carte.aero</a> have just released a website that lets you view French 1:500,000 ICAO charts free online and plan routes on them.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The site includes air force low altitude activity, NOTAMs, visual approach charts, METARs and TAFs, and a whole lot more.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Have fun!</span>CMPhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16320314777024581442noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-34694909.post-82394914984569638522011-11-14T14:10:00.000+01:002011-11-14T14:10:25.199+01:00Parasailing With A Difference<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I've been trying unsuccessfully to go parasailing here in the Netherlands. The guy who advertised on Groupon constantly cancels the lessons, even when the weather is glorious. Since coming across this video, I think I'll ask for my money back and go do it with these guys instead. This looks like a lot more more.</span><br />
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</span><iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/pd5BMP_41bI" width="560"></iframe>CMPhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16320314777024581442noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-34694909.post-70306205257232095122011-11-14T14:07:00.001+01:002011-11-14T14:11:05.474+01:00Oshkosh Dreams<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I've always wanted to go to Oshkosh, and I'm hoping that I will be able to make the visit either in 2012 or 2013. For those of you who don't know what Oshkosh is about, then take a look at this wonderfully edited video (filmed and edited by a regular visitor called "Slickhutto") from 2010.</span><br />
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<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/FcFOzE4K5NE" width="560"></iframe>CMPhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16320314777024581442noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-34694909.post-1717768692302075292011-11-12T18:51:00.002+01:002011-11-14T14:11:33.279+01:00Nippy's Annual Check-up<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">My good friend Howard flew Nippy over to Texel and delivered her safely into the caring hands of Michael at VOT for her annual. I'm not expecting any surprises, given that a lot of work was performed last year. There's only one minor snag, the battery keeps discharging as a result of a lose connection with the rocker switch that turns it on and off. And I've asked for an additional PTT (push to talk) button to be installed on the P2 control stick, as there is currently only one PTT switch and it's on the P1's stick.</span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Howard had a beautiful day to ferry her over, I just hope the ferry flight back is not a repeat of last years, with near gale-force winds and low cloud ceilings. Fingers crossed</span>CMPhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16320314777024581442noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-34694909.post-66380715408016084222011-10-22T19:00:00.103+02:002011-10-24T10:19:54.104+02:00Return And Renewal<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Entrance to the new GA terminal building at Schiphol</span></td></tr>
</tbody></table><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i>"Nippy"</i> has been living it up at Schiphol this past week. After diverting to Schiphol last weekend on the way back from Bremen, it was time to pick her up and fly her back to Lelystad. When I went to pay the bill, I was expecting to suffer heart failure at the sight of the bill. But thankfully the landing and handling fees were less than I had anticipated, and it turns out it's cheaper to park your plane at Schiphol than your car. Parking fees cost only €1.60 per day, versus the €20+ euro's a day they charge at the long-term parking!! A bargain :-)</span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The lovely people at KLM Jet Centre whizzed me over in the limousine to where I had parked "<i>Nippy"</i> the previous Sunday. The canopy was full of condensation, so I opened it up completely and began the walk-round. Once the checks were completed, I settled into the cockpit and got all the charts and paperwork in order and closed up the canopy. This being Schiphol, I was not allowed start up the engine without permission from Schiphol's <i>"Clearance Delivery"</i>. So I tuned in to the ATIS for the latest weather update and then checked in with <i>Delivery</i> mentioning that I had the latest weather, was ready for departure and would like permission to start-up. I was hoping they'd be quick about it because the battery on a small GA plane doesn't last very long without the engine turned on. But they replied back quite promptly with start-up permission and I was asked to contact <i>Ground</i> once I had reached a specific taxiway.</span><br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">"Nippy" parked at the stand in EHAM. Schiphol Tower in the background</span></td></tr>
</tbody></table><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">"<i>Nippy</i>" started up immediately and I was soon holding at taxiway <i>GL</i> and waiting for permission to taxy to the runway.....runway 22, the same one I landed on the week before. The skies were glorious and I was in my element listening to the Big Iron on the same frequency I was on. Before I knew it I was told to taxy to the holding point of runway 22 and contact <i>Tower</i> when I got there. I was the only airplane using runway 22, so I was cleared for take-off and up in the air in no time at all. The route called for a brisk climb out and then a left turn to intercept the church at Amstelveen. Once over the church, I then need to fly towards the north eastern corner of the lake at Vinkeveen and to report clear of the CTR. I stayed level at 1,000 feet and then when calling clear of Schiphols CTR asked for permission to "resume own nav" and told them I'd change over to <i>Amsterdam Info.</i> </span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhZ9Gt2PsjtkU_AUwQc27lWa3hm_NVPRCztsC-2acA1TN_OxzYy3AnS4aa9nFg9MapXe0HT2nj65s0Hb4U289pwqMYqYS0mNOvVf4Ew-gzekao6G2BD_ZVESlDOw0LtZtlPNRso/s1600/IMG_4406.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhZ9Gt2PsjtkU_AUwQc27lWa3hm_NVPRCztsC-2acA1TN_OxzYy3AnS4aa9nFg9MapXe0HT2nj65s0Hb4U289pwqMYqYS0mNOvVf4Ew-gzekao6G2BD_ZVESlDOw0LtZtlPNRso/s400/IMG_4406.JPG" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">"Nippy" parked in the morning sun at the GA terminal. KLM ground equipment in the background</span></td></tr>
</tbody></table><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The route on the way up was completely uneventful and I was on the ground in about 25 minutes. When I landed, filled up the tanks and called Reuben, my instructor/examiner who I'd planned to meet for my 5 year licence revalidation check-ride. I was a little late, having been held up sorting out the bill in the Jet Centre earlier, so Reuben knew I'd be a wee bit late. When I arrived, he had the coffee on and we sat down for a chat and a prep over todays flights.</span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Reuben had never flown in the Robin ATL before, so it was something fun for him too. I went through the various speeds, such as the clean stall speed, Vy, Vx, Vs, Vs1 and Best Glide. He told me we'd practiced some PFL's (Practice Forced Landings), some precautionary landings, steep turns, stall recovery and anything else I wanted. We settled into "<i>Nippy</i>" and I ran him through the safety briefing, the speeds once again and the general cockpit layout.</span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Reuben had me head towards the low flying practice area, which allows us to get down to 100ft of the ground (an instructor has to be on board though) to practice out engine failure drills. The first thing I did was demonstrate an engine failure. I set best glide speed (60 knots) trimmed the plane, looked for a suitable field, ran through the emergency drills, demonstrated a mayday call and aimed to set us up for the filed I elected. Everything went off without a hitch. I was slightly higher than I liked, but I dumped the flaps at the last minute and that sorted out the height issue. Once Reuben was happy, I put the power back in and slowly pulled in the flaps. It was at this point that I noticed that we were lower than the windmills which were right beside us....COOL!!</span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Next thing we practiced was a precautionary landing. A precautionary landing is a controlled landing which you choose to make as a pilot in the event that you're running low on fuel, there's something up with the engine, you have an ill passenger on board or the weather is turning sour on you. It can be at an airfield, or it can be at a field somewhere. The point of this exercise was the latter. To pick a suitable field, check the condition of the field and see if it's long enough and then set up for a landing once you're happy.</span><br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Some of the windmills near the Low Flying Practice Area at Lelystad</span></td></tr>
</tbody></table><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">So I picked what looked like a nice long field. Reuben had mentioned that when picking a field, it's wise to make sure that there's nothing large at either end that could affect the landing or take-off when you go to leave again. This field had only small shrubs and trees and was so long that they wouldn't be an issue anyway. With a tailwind, I dropped down to 200 feet, throttled back to 60 knots and counted off 20 seconds. That worked out to be about 500 metres long, which is more than enough to get down and fly back out. The condition of the field was also excellent, so we climbed away to 500 feet and did a teardrop turn and counted again with a headwind, and I got up to 28 seconds....wonderful. This time I climbed up and performed a standard circuit and brought us over the field at 100 feet before putting the power back in and climbing out again towards Haarderwijk.</span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">At Harderwijk we practiced steep turns, power-off stalls, approach to stall in full landing config and some slow flight. Reuben then asked what the gliding characteristics of <i>Nippy </i>were and I had to confess that I had not really tried it out much in her. SO he suggested that we climb to 3,000 feet and do a simulated forced landing and aim to land at Lelystad!! Cool. The tailwind would help us out a lot, so I called up Lelystad and asked if they'd be OK with that, which they replied back that they had no problem. </span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">We both kept an eye out for traffic below us, and there was only one aircraft heading towards the field for landing which would be much quicker than us given they were flying with full power on. I called overhead BRAVO at 3,000 feet and pulled the power off, trimming the plane for 65 knots best glide speed. We seemed to just hang in the air losing very little altitude at all. By the time we'd reached the turn for "Downwind", we were still at 2,500 feet or so!! Rueben started joking that at this rate we could make it all the way to the A6 motorway if we wanted. I was not 100% sure about when I should start the turn for "Base", knowing that as soon as you dump the flaps you start to sink a lot. I made the error of turning a little sooner than I should have, and then tried to compensate and lose height by dumping flaps and side-slipping on Final. In the end I was about 200ft too high over the threshold. I could probably have landed, but it would have been WELL DOWN the runway :-) But it was a very useful lesson....I now have the confidence of gliding Nippy in from a very long distance.</span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">We practiced a few touch and go's, the last one being a test from Reuben to see if I could land where I wanted to land. He picked the spot where taxiway BRAVO meets the runway. So I mastered the speeds and RPM, dumping flaps gradually and floating the plane over the runway, kissing the ground exactly where he asked me to land. This time was even more rewarding because I was not fighting the crosswind with the aileron like I had done earlier. Instead I used the rudder and kept the ailerons neutral just using the elevator to adjust the rate of decent to float her in. </span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">We taxied back, tucked her in to the hangar and went inside for a debrief and some more coffee.</span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I'm really pleased with the flight today, and as is always the case when I fly with Reuben, I came out of the cockpit more confident in my own abilities and a wee bit wiser from his excellent tuition and experience.</span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The paperwork has now been sent off to the CAA in the UK, so I cannot fly solo until I get it back in a few weeks. I just hope that it's raining between now and then and that I'm not tormented by the wonderful Autumnal weather we've had this past month.</span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEikg9XXfNlCR7C52ew3XfplI16BSd5q5Z0_89do4ZIb2jIQ_0rygyp_Ndddr6iT2kf7jPdj3LR_EN74ZjXxSuWnISMNq25seG2tNuzuPdHy3wRc_1xewEaSlf4K7ctVUUo8y0jt/s1600/IMG_4409.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEikg9XXfNlCR7C52ew3XfplI16BSd5q5Z0_89do4ZIb2jIQ_0rygyp_Ndddr6iT2kf7jPdj3LR_EN74ZjXxSuWnISMNq25seG2tNuzuPdHy3wRc_1xewEaSlf4K7ctVUUo8y0jt/s400/IMG_4409.JPG" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Short Wave radio transmitter antennae near Zeewolde</span></td></tr>
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</span>CMPhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16320314777024581442noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-34694909.post-76036787194699363722011-10-16T22:00:00.149+02:002011-12-02T18:51:51.850+01:00Bremen And The Brothers Grimm<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The weather Gods have been kind to us this weekend. A large high pressure system has sat over Holland and Germany for the last few days pushing the jet-stream north over Denmark and Sweden. Which has meant gin-clear days, perfect for flying, and even better for a last minute day-trip to Bremen.</span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">When I pushed "Nippy" out of the hangar and taxied to the fuel station, I was met by one of the guys from Lelystad tower. He wanted to let me know that the airport closed at 19:00 local and to make sure that I got back in time. I should have known that minute that I was cursed, but I thought nothing of it, told him I'd be leaving with plenty of time to spare and I'd see him later.</span><br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjZvEBmfn6ebQKnPpLYsFDXjSemxhQoBmKS0afYugP_V3NHM7uQU7XQW6k57vz5Z14G_rLT8n0yl74iQpiVUI3p_ynHiQGF5pP5UfMlTzYl-BYh8O6z8ai4gx5rm8H8Ewz63LSk/s1600/Bremen+Trip+2011-104.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjZvEBmfn6ebQKnPpLYsFDXjSemxhQoBmKS0afYugP_V3NHM7uQU7XQW6k57vz5Z14G_rLT8n0yl74iQpiVUI3p_ynHiQGF5pP5UfMlTzYl-BYh8O6z8ai4gx5rm8H8Ewz63LSk/s400/Bremen+Trip+2011-104.jpg" width="241" /></a></div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">M and I jumped in after filling "Nippy's" tanks and we headed off to Bremen, in a more or less direct routing, just south of Hoogeveen airfield, towards the city of Emmen and crossing into Germany direct to Bremen. I was a little nervous about arriving in a large airport that served everything from KLM and Ryanair to little GA flights like mine, but the call I made to Bremen Ops earlier before taking off put me at ease, with the folks telling me I would be "<i>more than welcome</i>".</span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">We had quite a good tailwind on the way over, with "Nippy" clocking up over 100 knots over the ground. Mal sat back, eyes closed and dozed off as I brought us up to FL050 and then throttled back, leaning out mixture and keeping an eye out from any traffic. About an hour into the flight we were asked by ATC to begin our descent and asked which routing into Bremen we'd prefer. I initially told them I wasn't fussy, whichever worked for them, eventually being told to steer towards reporting point WHISKEY. As I pulled back the throttle, Mal woke and asked if we were there yet :-)</span><br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj9bQ1scHHzFL7pAY4-wbGQhIJYy8DliKBktQzdy2MM_HpUXaPgH6ttFTRHtzZZGk-a3YJZcqPf8dmyS1A4up0KLAP4rER4dwG-HRiVX6_smalLbMDjrWTXH5-wL7qcGKH7VZvJ/s1600/Bremen+Trip+2011-21.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj9bQ1scHHzFL7pAY4-wbGQhIJYy8DliKBktQzdy2MM_HpUXaPgH6ttFTRHtzZZGk-a3YJZcqPf8dmyS1A4up0KLAP4rER4dwG-HRiVX6_smalLbMDjrWTXH5-wL7qcGKH7VZvJ/s400/Bremen+Trip+2011-21.jpg" width="266" /></a></div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">As we began our descent, I tuned in to the ATIS at Bremen and found that the runway in use was 09, winds were calm and visibility was excellent. <i>Bremen Info</i> passed me over to <i>Bremen Tower</i> who asked me to report overhead WHISKEY and to then continue inbound following the highway. He told me he would call when I could turn onto baseleg for runway 09. I continued my descent down to 1000ft agl and followed along the highway, spotting the the airport in my 11 o'clock.</span><br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEimia3w_OeuiddbQ3DYfTcIHoaMg1SL2YG5Qv3smTLaSLurXDeOvs_jVoftIDIveuyGTr8ls-rPdGBIzYi9DekXJnz9doQpc06TitOCnFmbqHZD4-ZVR1QNBst5Dh3DbFFd3mbN/s1600/Bremen+Trip+2011-27.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEimia3w_OeuiddbQ3DYfTcIHoaMg1SL2YG5Qv3smTLaSLurXDeOvs_jVoftIDIveuyGTr8ls-rPdGBIzYi9DekXJnz9doQpc06TitOCnFmbqHZD4-ZVR1QNBst5Dh3DbFFd3mbN/s400/Bremen+Trip+2011-27.jpg" width="283" /></a></div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Before we knew it we were turning left to join baseleg and then turning onto final. I managed to pull off such a smooth landing that Mal started clapping in approval :-) I called the folks on <i>Ground</i> and they gave us instructions to the GA ramp where we were met by a minibus and driven to the GA terminal. I paid for the landing fees, which amazingly were only €20, given it's an international airport, and returned to the minibus which would drop us off at the exit gates. Exiting the terminal was as simple as walking out the security gates with instructions to return via the same gates when we wanted to flay back home.</span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">A short tram ride later and we were in the city centre. It's a gorgeous little city, with many historical buildings, references to the Brothers Grimm and the old city has a myriad of little narrow streets. There was a small carnival in the main square with lots of Ghluwein, pretzels, beer and all sorts of meat and sausages cooked on big open grills. Our mouths began to water at the first site of the grills. I ordered a bratwurst for myself and Mal had one of those grilled pork sandwiches. As luck would have it, the bar also sold non-alcoholic beer!! Happy days. With the Autumnal sun beating down on us and our bellies warmed from the good German fare, we were ready to explore the city.</span><br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhEiloTEXHXV4nQIHIhlIP8wP0Inoh5sOVU74f8-qz3zqBwPeFUjc7srSlH2NJCoqW7_bo-krW9w5a9x68hyphenhyphen-74nLCg7VySDjVkFaD-flB1YA9ujmM7AVySrJfiVQT3HjZl2BHW/s1600/Bremen+Trip+2011-40.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="193" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhEiloTEXHXV4nQIHIhlIP8wP0Inoh5sOVU74f8-qz3zqBwPeFUjc7srSlH2NJCoqW7_bo-krW9w5a9x68hyphenhyphen-74nLCg7VySDjVkFaD-flB1YA9ujmM7AVySrJfiVQT3HjZl2BHW/s400/Bremen+Trip+2011-40.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I think my favourite part of the city is the Schnoor quarter....very old, very narrow and lots of character. But Mal preferred the Boettcherstrasse, which was more artistic and had a beautiful Glockenspiel playing every hour. But sadly the time whizzed by, as it always done when you're having fun, and we had to make our way back to the airport.</span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">We arrived at the GA security gates and jumped into the minibus which drove us back to "Nippy". And this is when I cocked up royally. I knew I used up just over 1/3 of the fuel on the way over. But I had underestimated the strength of the winds, which had picked up a fair bit since the afternoon. On the climb out, I asked for FL060, which took forever to get up to. And all the while the engine is guzzling fuel and we've not made the German border yet! I looked at the fuel gauges and the stopwatch and I was seriously doubting we'd make it back on the fuel remaining. On top of that, it was starting to get dark...the sun was beginning to make it's descent and turn from an amber orb to a blood red ball as it dipped lower and lower.</span><br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEigvTyh0-9i18i0Rwn_gihcqk0x8WC5e-iKDHZDlOgqZHvw7MRNa1VX39ZxZM3o_-qMGmAxpdnj2sYjg6QX0OFA5L0XEVrSsLSZCXGlnvPAzJCHaZtFC4MnAJQC4iSVuGD9btZ8/s1600/Bremen+Trip+2011-66.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEigvTyh0-9i18i0Rwn_gihcqk0x8WC5e-iKDHZDlOgqZHvw7MRNa1VX39ZxZM3o_-qMGmAxpdnj2sYjg6QX0OFA5L0XEVrSsLSZCXGlnvPAzJCHaZtFC4MnAJQC4iSVuGD9btZ8/s400/Bremen+Trip+2011-66.jpg" width="276" /></a></div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I decided that rather than risk landing in a dark field with no fuel, I'd stop off and top up the tanks. So I let the folks know at Dutch Mil that I was diverting to Hoogeveen for fuel. When I landed, I pulled right up to the tanks and waited for what seemed an eternity for the old codgers working there to turn them on. When I finally filled "Nippy" to the brim, I had to wait even longer for him to write out the receipts, which I was happy to not bother with, but was told I needed to wait for. The guy must have been to calligraphy classes or something because he took forever to write them out in the best handwritten script I have even seen. Just as I had lept into the air, <i>Hoogeveen</i> called me to tell me that I would probably not make Lelystad before they closed for the night and I should stay there. Hmmmmmm. According to the GPS I'd make it maybe 2 mins after 7pm, the time EHLE said they'd be closed. I elected to press on and informed <i>Hoogeveen</i> that Amsterdam Schiphol was my designated alternate.</span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">As I rounded the north of the Flevopolder, I called up <i>Lelystad Radio</i>, who curtly told me that if I was not in the circuit in the next three minutes, then I could not land there! I was 7 minutes out at this stage.....I would be four minutes "late"...in other words, the airport was closed and I was buggered. My pleading fell on deaf ears, and I was told in no uncertain terms that if I insisted on landing at Lelystad after having been told it was closed, then they would be obliged to call the authorities.....i.e. piss off or we'll have your licence.</span><br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiMAUAxkb7haLewAQG1pA8VE52TFpiVVTTM8eaa-Ubb6dTmIb5xPARiuU8HXXO1qS-fncCWeeKhDfVXc1p0MlEstOwudAv5vjkj9BcaF5ShG1ZMlw9lktyWwRxGXfOL29qikAYe/s1600/Bremen+Trip+2011-90.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="266" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiMAUAxkb7haLewAQG1pA8VE52TFpiVVTTM8eaa-Ubb6dTmIb5xPARiuU8HXXO1qS-fncCWeeKhDfVXc1p0MlEstOwudAv5vjkj9BcaF5ShG1ZMlw9lktyWwRxGXfOL29qikAYe/s400/Bremen+Trip+2011-90.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Message received and understood. I told Mal that we would have to land at Schiphol. I called up <i>Amsterdam Info</i>, told them that I was diverting to Schiphol and would like to land on the GA runway, which is runway 22. <i>Amsterdam Info</i> were more than happy to help me out and passed me over to <i>Schiphol Approach</i>....first time I ever spoke to these guys. <i>Schiphol Approach</i> gave me headings to steer so I could intercept the localiser for runway 22. The approach would have us come in right over the city of Amsterdam. The only problem I had now - and this is the second lesson learned today - was that the light was disappearing and I only had my sunglasses in the cockpit. My normal glasses were in the car at Lelystad. D'oh!!</span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">After following directions from the guys in <i>Approach</i>, I was lined up on a 15NM final for runway 22, fully established on the localiser and asked to switch over to <i>Schiphol Tower</i>. As I flew overhead the centre of Amsterdam, I was cleared to land on runway 22. The landing this time was not so good because of the fact that my dark glasses made it harder to see the surface of the runway, which had no centreline lights. A single bounce and a firm landing later, we were soon off the runway and calling up <i>Schiphol Ground </i>asking for progressive taxi instructions to the GA terminal. It was my first time as a pilot landing in Schiphol and I was not familiar with the airport, as huge as it is. No worries...the GA terminal is right next to the runway we landed on. Before we knew it we were following a "Follow Me" van to our parking stand and shutting "Nippy" down.</span><br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiLNM6a5CszMgfMHRSbglKz8GX4heP0ZGiX621PDoLHLPJGyD6ongOz0Msvz8hCkqhFJ-UQy3IOjWT65hSE9iN_iFz6Om9v9PYvtZtW2wzM6GDZaowDfmJMt-9YHxxv9oWtEq5v/s1600/IMG_4404.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiLNM6a5CszMgfMHRSbglKz8GX4heP0ZGiX621PDoLHLPJGyD6ongOz0Msvz8hCkqhFJ-UQy3IOjWT65hSE9iN_iFz6Om9v9PYvtZtW2wzM6GDZaowDfmJMt-9YHxxv9oWtEq5v/s400/IMG_4404.JPG" width="400" /></a></div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">We were taken care of by the wonderful people at KLM Jet Centre. But the VIP treatment came with a hefty price. The 4 minutes I was late at Lelystad cost me the guts of €200!! Damn!! Had I refuelled at Bremen, I'd have made it without any issues. But having an alternate such as Schiphol saved the day in the end.</span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">It'll be next weekend before I can move "Nippy" back to Lelystad. Thankfully, parking your plane at Schiphol is a helluva lot cheaper than parking your car. Parking rate for your plane is €1.60 per day....it's more like €20 a day for your car!! I'm just bummed that I have to schlep all the way out to Lelystad to pick up the car now. Oh well, at least I can get my glasses :-)</span><br />
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</span>CMPhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16320314777024581442noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-34694909.post-41560354184113776672011-09-25T14:08:00.007+02:002011-10-23T22:37:45.897+02:00Lost My Wingman<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">No, I haven't put him away somewhere safe and now cannot find him, nor (Thank God) is he six feet under, but he is leaving and heading South, to South Africa to be exact.</span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Ouen and his wife, Wi, are heading home, and their departure is more than just being about losing dear friends, it's about me losing my Wingman.</span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">You see, Ouen and I are kindred spirits....we can wax lyrical about the planes we love, talk shite in the bar afterwards about aviation accidents, lessons learned from our previous flight, which is better....tail or nose-wheel, and about future flights and destinations we'd take together.</span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Sadly though, those future flights together will have to wait. One of the things Ouen did promise though was his determination to get his PPL when he returns to SA. Which means that when M and I head to SA to visit them, the four of us can putter about the skies and across the vast African bush. I made a promise in return....that when we move down to SA and live in Cape Town, we will buy a share together in <a href="http://www.aircam.com/">this little beauty</a>.</span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">So my wing man is flying solo, 4,800nm South, to where the skies are almost always cerulean blue, and the $100 burgers are always interesting.</span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Ouen, you were the best Wingman I've ever known, and I'm going to miss you in the cockpit next to me. But I wish you and Wi the very best of luck with your move back home, and I cannot wait to get back in the cockpit with you when we meet up again soon.</span><br />
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</span>CMPhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16320314777024581442noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-34694909.post-70066237769343234722011-09-03T11:58:00.004+02:002011-10-23T22:40:18.076+02:00Indian Summer<div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">I had never really understood the phrase "Indian Summer"as a child until a geography teacher explained the weather patterns in India one day at school. That's when the penny dropped and when I understood where the phrase originated. But it still didn't help when I was stuck in a classroom in September, those first few weeks back to school, looking out the window at the sunshine taunting us to come out to play. As a kid I hated Indian Summers, but as an adult, I relish them because it's our last chance to enjoy the last rays of the summer sunshine. The warmth waning as we slip into Autumn and start our longing for Spring to return again.</div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">And with Indian Summers come flying weather. It's been a pretty shitty Summer all-round. According to the Dutch Met Office, it's been the wettest Summer on record since 1906...that's over a hundred years ago!! My goodness. </div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">The destination for today was <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ameland">Ameland</a>. I had been put off going to Ameland for a while, simply because of the exorbitant landing fee they charge. Not only are they the most expensive GA airfield in the Netherlands, but they also charge a "tourist tax" for every occupant of the plane. As if I don't pay enough taxes in Holland already! But my friend "H" had suggested it a few times before, and this time I agreed, so I plogged a route and loaded it into the GPS.</div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Ameland is one of the West Frisian islands, situated 15NM North of the Frisian city of Leeuwarden. There's not much to do on the island. It's popular amongst Dutch and German tourists as a holiday spot, and with the wide and varied flora and fauna on the island (around 60 different bird species nest on the island throughout the course of the year), it's a popular spot with nature lovers. Aside from tourism and farming, that's pretty much it. It's about 12NM long and 2.5NL wide at the widest point. It's got a quarter the population as <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Texel">Texel</a> (the largest of the West Frisian islands) and only half the land mass as Texel. </div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">We were wheels up at 1pm and with two heavy men and full fuel, Nippy was feeling the hurt. We climbed very slowly and I started a shallow 180 degree turn to the North. The routing I had planned was a Northerly course out over the Ijsselmeer, passing east of the town of <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Urk">Urk</a>, and then following the western coast of Friesland to Harlingen. We climbed up to 3,000ft and settled into the cruise, admiring the Frisian countryside. On our way North, "H" spotted a Mig fighter parked in some children's playground in the village of <a href="http://g.co/maps/nf92">Sexbierum</a>. (You've got to love Frisian names....."sex", "bier" & "rum" :-) LOL. Overhead Harlingen we made a dog leg turn to the North East to join the westerly corridor and then commenced our descent towards Ameland.</div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">There are two "corridors" that they insist on using, so as to not disturb the wildlife in the nature reserves below. And depending on the corridor being used, they have various joining instructions for entering the circuit. Our route, which used the Western Corridor, meant that we should stay above 1,500 over the wetlands and aim to drop to 700 feet (circuit height in Holland) by the time we neared the lighthouse. We would then join the Base Leg for Runway 09 or continue along the back of the island to join the Downwind for 27. Today they were using 27, so I carried on heading East. I asked for a wind-check when I noticed I had to use a lot of right rudder, and was told it was blowing 8-14 knots from 210. Hmmm...a bit of a crosswind</div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Feeding in flaps gradually, I aimed to pull off a greaser, even with a crosswind, but I was hampered by the really shitty runway conditions. I'm not kidding...there were potholes and chunks missing all along the runway. It was in terrible condition. Not only that, but the taxiways were even worse. The grass was so long, and damp, that I had to use almost full power just to keep us from bogging down. And Nippy's small wheels don't do well in long wet grass either. We eventually came to a halt and parked up next to a visiting C172.</div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Fish was the menu choice and "H" spotted a restaurant on the beach, fifteen minutes walk from the airfield. But when we arrived, the only "fish-dish" on the menu was a salmon salad. Not exactly pushing the boat out, were they? I mean, what kind of restaurant, situated at the beach on an island does NOT serve fish? I settled for an uitsmijter and reasoned that the BBQ that M and I had planned for later in the evening would fill my belly.</div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj92PHviHG7kflWHUCoq5bFUNELtsZy-PtE5tnhQaFIlddQJ7Ml9zzCm7utkfo2PkhBdbHSSqgiRAaFmBHGnpFdrlJeajNFEeqhRSTTuZVj1gfCeNV2ipAQd426uQdL-kl5_yOH/s1600/IMG00028-20110903-1551.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj92PHviHG7kflWHUCoq5bFUNELtsZy-PtE5tnhQaFIlddQJ7Ml9zzCm7utkfo2PkhBdbHSSqgiRAaFmBHGnpFdrlJeajNFEeqhRSTTuZVj1gfCeNV2ipAQd426uQdL-kl5_yOH/s400/IMG00028-20110903-1551.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: xx-small;">"H" standing next to "Nippy" at Ameland</span></td></tr>
</tbody></table><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Tummies full, we walked back to the airfield and made our preparations for the return leg. Seats swapped (I was PNF), "H" taxied out to the threshold and did his best to avoid the multiple rabbit warrens and potholes. Lined up on 27 and after applying full throttle it seemed like an age before "Nippy" started to build up any speed. The long grass was having an effect. When we finally did build up a head of steam, the plane visibly slowed down as we drove through an area of wet mud. I suggested pulling her up into ground effect and build up speed to climb out, which "H" did. As we climbed out over the coast, "H" proffered that we could have done with using some flaps to help counteract the effects of the grass.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">What I don't understand though is why an airfield who insists on fleecing you with exorbitant landing fees prefers to line their own pockets rather than investing it into the airfield and facilities. Take Texel for instance. Ed and Mike run a top notch facility there. Both airports have grass fields, but Texel's is as smooth as a billiard table, built on top of lava stone they laid the sod top of to help with drainage. The poor condition of the runway, expensive landing fees and the lack of fish on the menu will mean it'll be a long time before I make a return visit to Ameland.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The return leg was uneventful, up until we were on the inbound leg from BRAVO to join the circuit. The boys in Lelystad tower let us know of a Fokker 50 en route. The F-50 crew would call when they were 2 mins out on long final. So "H" kept the speed us to ensure we would not get caught out in the circuit with a F-50 up our jacksie. He did an excellent job pulling the speed back and dealing with a crosswind, bringing Nippy down for a gentle landing. As we were tucking Nippy back into the hanger, we stopped to admire the F-50 come roaring past us on its way back to the Aviodrome. Her roaring Pratt & Whitneys humming nicely.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">"Nippy's next flight will most likely her flying over to Texel for her annual renewal. Is it that time of year again already?</span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi9aLisPoHixQhWvbIYZnBssHaqYcBpZ-cABc4MtdwPHxdqV7gYrAtJ5ncAeK60JxDZGjyBTX70gMQhM2XU0Jz1wbUg-uQB9AKlTC1cGoVToyW1JfulT6plleTYdt8zHt-WZTyw/s1600/IMG00030-20110903-1729.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi9aLisPoHixQhWvbIYZnBssHaqYcBpZ-cABc4MtdwPHxdqV7gYrAtJ5ncAeK60JxDZGjyBTX70gMQhM2XU0Jz1wbUg-uQB9AKlTC1cGoVToyW1JfulT6plleTYdt8zHt-WZTyw/s400/IMG00030-20110903-1729.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i><span style="font-size: xx-small;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">"Nippy" looking "surprised"....the screen's giving the impression of eyes</span></span></i></td></tr>
</tbody></table>CMPhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16320314777024581442noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-34694909.post-38537240812004940692011-08-18T14:03:00.001+02:002011-10-23T22:39:15.179+02:00Norway Gives You Wings<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">I've sky-dived several hundred jumps when I was younger, but I have never dabbled in BASE jumping. I reasoned that sky-diving, at the time, was the closet to flying I could afford...average price for a jump in Ireland 15-20 years ago was around <span style="font-size: small;">£25 (this was before Ireland had the euro of course) a jump.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br />
</div><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">But these mad Norwegians really show the intensity of what BASE jumping is all about. Hope you enjoy the video</span>.<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><iframe allowfullscreen='allowfullscreen' webkitallowfullscreen='webkitallowfullscreen' mozallowfullscreen='mozallowfullscreen' width='320' height='266' src='https://www.youtube.com/embed/b7qwBJH9QN0?feature=player_embedded' frameborder='0'></iframe></div>CMPhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16320314777024581442noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-34694909.post-79255589368388906572011-07-31T15:40:00.001+02:002011-10-23T22:39:35.260+02:00New home for "Nippy"<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">It's been a roller-coaster two months to say the least and no flying in between. In mid-June, right before I was heading off on holidays, I got a phone call from my friend Wouter, the owner/director of Polder Aviation, telling me the sad news that his business had gone belly-up. The old adage of "How do you make a small fortune in aviation? Start off with a big one" finally rang true for him. With a large amount of debts mounting up, he had to close the doors. This had an immediate impact to me because I have been storing "Nippy" there now for over a year.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The added complication was that everything that was on Polder's balance sheet would now be sold-off, including the hangar, and I would have to find a new home. I started looking for hangar space all over Noord Holland. Hilversum has absolutely no space, and to be honest, the two wankers working in the control tower on the day I went there, would put me off even flying into Hilversum. They were extremely unfriendly, and even more so when they heard me speaking in English. I eventually found a new hangar only two doors up from Polder. It was advertised in the local pilot shop and they were more than happy to have us move in.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I collected the keys last weekend from Wouter and moved "Nippy" into her new digs. With Wi-Fi, a pilots lounge and ample parking, it should be a nice new home. </span><br />
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<u><b><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Sands of Time</span></b></u><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">With the scramble for a new hangar before our holidays, and then the three weeks off during June-July with work getting in the way the rest of the time, there has been absolutely no time to fly. Mind you, Mother Nature has decided to not bother granting us a Summer in these parts this year. The weather is absolutely SHIT. I'm off travelling again for work next week, so the chances of getting up in the air this Summer slip away as each day passes. I must be honest though....I really do love Summer in the Netherlands.....it's my favourite day in the year ;-)</span>CMPhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16320314777024581442noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-34694909.post-64737262277123814722011-06-04T21:00:00.002+02:002011-10-23T22:40:04.543+02:00Club Med in the North Sea<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I've never known a Spring like it. Practically no cloud or rain to spoil those plans of getting aloft, and a high pressure system just sitting right over the Netherlands for the last two months straight. Sadly the month of May was a busy one for me, what with family commitments and business travel getting in the way. But today a pilot friend and I decided we'd make the most of the weather. Destination for today's mission was Borkum, a small island off Germany's north-western coast. It's the westernmost island that constitutes the East Frisian Islands, and came highly recommended from some other pilot friends of mine as a place to visit.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I scoped out the route the previous night and filed the flight plan to route us North-east to Emmeloord , then continue towards Heerenveen, slippling between Groningen and Leeuwarden's Class "C" routing overhead Drachten airfield and then out over the coast towards Borkum.</span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiKdtRV2Z-llel0hAB-5Zo_gNpQIZwJpbJTOviRYeSGTG0JwOJlurOK_zazTDthEylzGmyDQOZKoccACmevReK_Nt0MbN6Q373h5pXSBhwpy6DDFSWWJt6WGiykPFuzo73X1K9v/s1600/IMG_7118.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="266" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiKdtRV2Z-llel0hAB-5Zo_gNpQIZwJpbJTOviRYeSGTG0JwOJlurOK_zazTDthEylzGmyDQOZKoccACmevReK_Nt0MbN6Q373h5pXSBhwpy6DDFSWWJt6WGiykPFuzo73X1K9v/s400/IMG_7118.JPG" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">Cruising at FL050 above the clouds</span></td></tr>
</tbody></table><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I was PIC for the outbound leg, my friend choosing to fly on the way back. The flight-plan I filed had us set to climb to FL050 (5,000ft). But we departed at around midday, so the heat and the midday sun meant "Nippy" was struggling to get up that high. We eventually levelled off 5NM north of Emmeloord and I leaned out the mixture to conserve fuel. There were a few smalll fluffy cumulus clouds which we had no problem climbing over, but as we got closer to the coastline the clouds had disappeared and it was blue skies all the way. I've noticed that once she gets a little higher, "Nippy" is a very smooth girl.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">We heard another aircraft, a Grumman AA-5, on the same frequency as us (Dutch Mil Info) who'd departed Texel and was also enroute to Borkum. Seemed like someone else was in the island hopping mood today. I made a comment about our groundspeed being so slow </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">(only 87 knots) </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">due to the headwinds at our altitude and wondered aloud if he'd get there before us. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">At ten minutes out I told Dutch Mil I was switching to the folks in Borkum, and I started my descent. I called up the folks in Borkum as was asked surprisingly if my intentions were to land there!! To which I was then asked if I had filed a flight plan. Seems he never got it, despite being on the recipients list when I filed it the night before.</span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjUO8e1J4Q33aI4EvRKDXaBkOgUq6QtgyupNPH76WOVSCLjTSZdwP6aBA9u-oEYpzlDPkTJi1RjbY4jKbkMXD9u3-Tc3KERpQFBFwOMo4TlXuj-YmLV4OxK-rnI2PiShDcohs-z/s1600/IMG_7126.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="266" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjUO8e1J4Q33aI4EvRKDXaBkOgUq6QtgyupNPH76WOVSCLjTSZdwP6aBA9u-oEYpzlDPkTJi1RjbY4jKbkMXD9u3-Tc3KERpQFBFwOMo4TlXuj-YmLV4OxK-rnI2PiShDcohs-z/s400/IMG_7126.JPG" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">Borkum lying off to our left</span></td></tr>
</tbody></table><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">During the descent we looked at the approach plates to try and figure out which runway they'd have us use. The wind was coming from the North-east, so I guessed they'd have us use runway 05, a grass runway approximately 810m long. But instead we were told runway 31 was in use. It's a long and very narrow asphalt runway. Because it's so narrow, you have this optical illusion that you are too high.</span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh-_ocubMuzB4oPmjL7w8FpbaIBntAkL7M62f7Qyf7ZfHVfs-wb9Zl_R5aE_oEiSKe03Zq7CMqoMno8bme3TMshzYHKvYVz0F_IMs7BC4eORCBPnzM-embagLGRtzN4dHqFur2T/s1600/IMG_7128.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="266" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh-_ocubMuzB4oPmjL7w8FpbaIBntAkL7M62f7Qyf7ZfHVfs-wb9Zl_R5aE_oEiSKe03Zq7CMqoMno8bme3TMshzYHKvYVz0F_IMs7BC4eORCBPnzM-embagLGRtzN4dHqFur2T/s400/IMG_7128.JPG" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">On Final for Rwy 31....a long and narrow runway!</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">With no "circuit" in place to worry about, I routed us over the isthmus that the ferry terminal sits on and set us up on final. But I soon noticed that it was blowing a hooley out there because I was very left of the centreline and crabbing like crazy. We were being bucked about so much that I decided to only use half flaps and decided to land a little fast so I would have more control of the plane on final. A quick kick of the rudder to the left and we were down, albeit a little firmly, and coming to a stop.</span><br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjXvW7bU6xTxYTwQsVc7cBOc8IXd03fRktSUBDNTdLadu-Ceh35Be11vP-doZ6rLMGGibA6v7pZQDuYNnrvohpj7fVWIy1DqpVHTrOdllODiDAH8l66N_FGt5xjGnIJ3zy7_C1T/s1600/IMG_7130.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="266" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjXvW7bU6xTxYTwQsVc7cBOc8IXd03fRktSUBDNTdLadu-Ceh35Be11vP-doZ6rLMGGibA6v7pZQDuYNnrvohpj7fVWIy1DqpVHTrOdllODiDAH8l66N_FGt5xjGnIJ3zy7_C1T/s400/IMG_7130.JPG" width="400" /></a></div><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">We parked "Nippy" right in front of the tower and had the usual gaggle of photographers snapping away at her. On the way in to the apron we noticed another Robin ATL parked up on the long-term visitors area and heard the Grumman had landed too....crikey he must have been going at full pelt! Not long after paying the landing fee, we accosted ourselves a taxi and were heading off to "downtown" Borkum.</span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjQ-Rg4Xx42cYjzS1Y7xPYwnOGwIKKZVbq-9q67wRkSVdPdVp9v9m-thg3JwzJK9HzamEpD2Bz_Tl7tKq8CMvzPG6ly_lUyo6EEHix98moiY-42hDf3bgGVM4BNhjqaDsipl0co/s1600/IMG_7146.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="266" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjQ-Rg4Xx42cYjzS1Y7xPYwnOGwIKKZVbq-9q67wRkSVdPdVp9v9m-thg3JwzJK9HzamEpD2Bz_Tl7tKq8CMvzPG6ly_lUyo6EEHix98moiY-42hDf3bgGVM4BNhjqaDsipl0co/s400/IMG_7146.JPG" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">Can you see "Nippy's" sister parked up?</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The first interesting thing we found was that Borkum has its own railway!! Apparently this railway is free and shuttles people back and forth between the town centre and the ferry terminal. We took a stroll along the seafront and found a nice little place that had Curry Worst on the menu as today's special. Sounded like a plan to me. Sitting in the sunshine, and protected from the wind, you could almost be forgiven for thinking you were somewhere in the Med. Especially with all the Dutch and German accents that surrounded us :-) </span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEinnzoIHdN1bhLHw9PyC4uV3WkqPtRLMUt4mb-W5FzgoSzn0v71b7gTZl0F6e4tgsStDRAys7n89nctKVQ2PEcTMAkoS-1EVADYzYyHuj6ILcvo5g-2cehcIOjeHPq-Rtma1cCG/s1600/IMG_7132.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="266" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEinnzoIHdN1bhLHw9PyC4uV3WkqPtRLMUt4mb-W5FzgoSzn0v71b7gTZl0F6e4tgsStDRAys7n89nctKVQ2PEcTMAkoS-1EVADYzYyHuj6ILcvo5g-2cehcIOjeHPq-Rtma1cCG/s400/IMG_7132.JPG" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">Borkum's railway</span></td></tr>
</tbody></table><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhGWzDQr9AK20_NaFSyz-oVMGEVarOjG3ahxMsnHohlCkAiYieExeTxcIh-S978FZmFJz-S1KDvqPsS3jrMbTff-Uu6aiGJ_3cH1R3aXzsH0ItIiDRu980UXT29yvH3rnVNSXsE/s1600/IMG_7137.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="266" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhGWzDQr9AK20_NaFSyz-oVMGEVarOjG3ahxMsnHohlCkAiYieExeTxcIh-S978FZmFJz-S1KDvqPsS3jrMbTff-Uu6aiGJ_3cH1R3aXzsH0ItIiDRu980UXT29yvH3rnVNSXsE/s400/IMG_7137.JPG" width="400" /></a></div><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Tummies full, we took a short stroll through the small village, then jumped back into a taxi and headed back to the field. It was my turn to play with the camera and help with the navigation. Same runway for take-off, only this time we had to avoid overflying the town. Not a problem....straight out over the beach, left along the coast and head back the way we came. I saw some bloke below us using the winds to his advantage on one of those wind buggy thingies....looked like fun! Must try that myself sometime.</span><br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi5Z9IeE28A5YaqCN2PV_LpHQU2pRfHh-My5hIRd2fsJeawVEcVq7lDImqgwQzfYZWOiKi-QjTNPowLLgUFebxI92W0LLAn0fuXwGJEM1yhHXttsKXpJOr7ZM2NFb6IwC3usuvR/s1600/IMG_7138.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="266" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi5Z9IeE28A5YaqCN2PV_LpHQU2pRfHh-My5hIRd2fsJeawVEcVq7lDImqgwQzfYZWOiKi-QjTNPowLLgUFebxI92W0LLAn0fuXwGJEM1yhHXttsKXpJOr7ZM2NFb6IwC3usuvR/s400/IMG_7138.JPG" width="400" /></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh4k6s6BKORLX0DvC7QsXx4kn1cGjOvkcQBmNJns1WsMQXrOQI8sSF4XQiaOdaSKc7c3EkTRKKWI1K-cJsMpZP2Bbfl3wl6sq3ImWjL9BuMhTSALyLiPPOxZr8ruFY3qVxujdR6/s1600/IMG_7141.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh4k6s6BKORLX0DvC7QsXx4kn1cGjOvkcQBmNJns1WsMQXrOQI8sSF4XQiaOdaSKc7c3EkTRKKWI1K-cJsMpZP2Bbfl3wl6sq3ImWjL9BuMhTSALyLiPPOxZr8ruFY3qVxujdR6/s400/IMG_7141.JPG" width="265" /></a></div><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">We climbed to FL040 this time, and settled into the cruise. But I had to remind my friend to lean out the mixture and lower the rev's. Once settled into the cruise we chatted about planes and trips we'd made or have yet to make. Soon enough, we were getting closer to the Flevo Polder. I explained how Biddinghuizen has a lot of gliding activity, and the best way to avoid it is to fly along the eastern side of the polder over the water and then turn into "BRAVO". My friend is still new to flying out of Lelystad, so it was also a good opportunity to show him some of the landmarks I use when trying to get my bearings.</span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhgsj5KMRI9Oz2D5JaCt7wwjU3UdJJbERAsAkNsp3PUL5v_j7RCfWjjB7uiBYi9-R9UPUeio9nAVpJiwWZnaoyhEzRYQQixVvsvUPWcNK-VBtlXMMnuqt4s_2UKm-0frkEXR53n/s1600/IMG_7152.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="266" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhgsj5KMRI9Oz2D5JaCt7wwjU3UdJJbERAsAkNsp3PUL5v_j7RCfWjjB7uiBYi9-R9UPUeio9nAVpJiwWZnaoyhEzRYQQixVvsvUPWcNK-VBtlXMMnuqt4s_2UKm-0frkEXR53n/s400/IMG_7152.JPG" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">Sand flats between the coast and the islands</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">We dropped lower so as to avoid busting Schiphol's Class "A" TMA and said our goodbyes to Dutch Mil...the radios in Lelystad were surprisingly quiet. Pre-landing checklists done, we were just turning downwind when a pilot came on the radio asking if he could make a straight-in approach as he had two sick passengers....I'm guessing they were suffering from motion sickness. We had no idea how far out he was, so it was decided to do a Spitfire approach....a short downwind, and a continuous turn onto Final.</span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiaplcGFGsuHDAr3S_2uklPGwHCqquUsr8yjPhfN28PWZ8sjmPyVX0H9tiF47FYPQGd-vSxqpMqU9PyBB7GQQhJ1jbSPTEeIZk1HvUrws6mYluKpj9lWtyXHXEi0CkS-9yvTUJO/s1600/IMG_7163.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="266" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiaplcGFGsuHDAr3S_2uklPGwHCqquUsr8yjPhfN28PWZ8sjmPyVX0H9tiF47FYPQGd-vSxqpMqU9PyBB7GQQhJ1jbSPTEeIZk1HvUrws6mYluKpj9lWtyXHXEi0CkS-9yvTUJO/s400/IMG_7163.JPG" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">Drachten Airfield...not sure I'd like to have an engine failure if I was using Rwy 26!!</span></td></tr>
</tbody></table> <br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Flaps were set to full, and the wind was blowing hard again. It was straight down the runway this time, but it was gusting a fair bit. But the wheels kissed the Earth very gently and we exited the runway fairly lively.</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> I think I would like to try the islands of Juist and Nordeney next time. Would be nice to have all the islands in the logbook, don't you think?</span><br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjtfS3Fii2D_bpKhKaZJ7X44Z6wJm_dvVQb2OY1wWRBww1RppR95wrIajNDsRkmIZf5Q9ShuBk3x0Y8j1lTsflrZDVgRbQd89idK3FGKXMc58rair92SFoAHQNEbfxkmAlSWzLn/s1600/IMG_7159.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="266" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjtfS3Fii2D_bpKhKaZJ7X44Z6wJm_dvVQb2OY1wWRBww1RppR95wrIajNDsRkmIZf5Q9ShuBk3x0Y8j1lTsflrZDVgRbQd89idK3FGKXMc58rair92SFoAHQNEbfxkmAlSWzLn/s400/IMG_7159.JPG" width="400" /></a></div>CMPhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16320314777024581442noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-34694909.post-71592427709930077522011-04-25T20:09:00.001+02:002011-04-26T16:20:46.389+02:00The magic that is Holland in the Spring<div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">It's been a busy few days this past week. I've not flown this much in such a short space of time since flight school!! This is the time of year that Holland looks her best, and especially when viewing Mother Natures majesty from above. It's as though she has cast her wand over this wind swept flat land and turned it into a carpet of colour, each one individually exquisite. But the life of a Dutch tulip is short lived because man soon comes along to chop it's pretty little head off. </div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi2L7w0z9hW93BH63L9bXu_xratLOUuu9kAFn6t82j8FL-Qp2mvqe4d_mZianW21e9BGI6wCv7caBWk6X7FaubfpWcesa2YWR5j6dC9fHal5kH7Eqzhxcp0_ihkK-oUpNIVGkw8/s1600/6932.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="276" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi2L7w0z9hW93BH63L9bXu_xratLOUuu9kAFn6t82j8FL-Qp2mvqe4d_mZianW21e9BGI6wCv7caBWk6X7FaubfpWcesa2YWR5j6dC9fHal5kH7Eqzhxcp0_ihkK-oUpNIVGkw8/s400/6932.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">For those of you who are aghast at this inhumane treatment of the poor defenceless tulip, fear not. It's because of the decapitation that the plant can put its energies into making the bulb grow fatter, rather than spending it on the high maintenance energy hungry flower. And the tulips growing in the fields will be harvested and sold to you and I so we can grow them and enjoy them in our own gardens.</div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhsZ0f2-3P5EuFzQKHNFqB6jfrhjKlsjIT0F74K54o1PSYeiy5xXJP_9hJB-la6b2zmGRR6n5D2cW7quiKztdLXU9zpvxIFXYIuseyZXlQPMbrw9vcbPrabpHCGGE_dry1yYFTI/s1600/6952.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="276" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhsZ0f2-3P5EuFzQKHNFqB6jfrhjKlsjIT0F74K54o1PSYeiy5xXJP_9hJB-la6b2zmGRR6n5D2cW7quiKztdLXU9zpvxIFXYIuseyZXlQPMbrw9vcbPrabpHCGGE_dry1yYFTI/s400/6952.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">But today was all about admiring their beauty from above. It's one thing to cast your eye across a tulip field from the ground, and quite another to see them from the air. And I had the pleasure of doing this pretty much all weekend long. I took a colleague up in Nippy first. He's new to flying in light aircraft, but had dabbled on Flight Sim before, so he had an idea of the basics. I let him steer us over towards Amsterdam whilst I negotiated with the boys at Schiphol Tower to let us into the Amsterdam sector for a spot of "I can see my hotel from here" before moving on to the delicate procedure of passing overhead Schiphol itself en-route to Lisse.</div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiDOuJBgWhdoRA-qlhQFoh2g8Y582da7h6LpjwvaBO1muwDl4s7MnznQN04ry3-IhM4YRjwfQAu2fTIvZTOuVnyWLGZBYEMdC-dkR0Z5KTniHBa_PtqGww65MMDvpgcTHJtyIHU/s1600/6966%25281%2529.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="276" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiDOuJBgWhdoRA-qlhQFoh2g8Y582da7h6LpjwvaBO1muwDl4s7MnznQN04ry3-IhM4YRjwfQAu2fTIvZTOuVnyWLGZBYEMdC-dkR0Z5KTniHBa_PtqGww65MMDvpgcTHJtyIHU/s400/6966%25281%2529.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">The negotiations successfully concluded, we carried out a few orbits of the city and then headed over towards Schiphol. I was asked to fly towards the threshold of runway 24 (I assume to avoid runway 18C which was being used by landing traffic, and therefore to keep clear of them in the event that they boltered and carried out a missed approach) and to wait for their call for heading change. Eventually the call came to route direct Lisse which meant I managed to fly right over my house :-) Yes, I let out a "I can see my house from here" to my colleague sat next to me :-)</div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgaJog4tKAcPbsRB_scWNk0HnLwwgaKUc2FuoKMiXo7VmxmoWYr2-G7nVxIMGhDdjksGHRHgGccC7R_rygRe0lFqwKLOzkTeFs2wL0W8BaJpMbWzeS6OMAX24m_mj1mHAn4z17D/s1600/7194.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="276" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgaJog4tKAcPbsRB_scWNk0HnLwwgaKUc2FuoKMiXo7VmxmoWYr2-G7nVxIMGhDdjksGHRHgGccC7R_rygRe0lFqwKLOzkTeFs2wL0W8BaJpMbWzeS6OMAX24m_mj1mHAn4z17D/s400/7194.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">By the time we arrived on station over Lisse, my colleague was struck in awe. I heard lots of "wow" and "amazing" in between his clicking away at the camera. Schiphol asked me to keep clear of their airspace as the lunchtime rush was now in full effect. So that meant routing North along the coast and across the Noord Holland peninsula back to Lelystad. The fun bit was mixing it up with the big iron which were about 1000ft above us descending into Schiphol.</div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiCrJ12o8LkqZyC4XCuO7I9cuyfVFRqXDZz3h6R_Hcczrj_SfvDdPh-eGkNCjz8QG2cdZydNszgNSLb_AJDc1oGCh6ky7XlQz62r5wnfTDwha6sCDZlw6xt_vkE7JUiJO37olZO/s1600/7212.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="276" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiCrJ12o8LkqZyC4XCuO7I9cuyfVFRqXDZz3h6R_Hcczrj_SfvDdPh-eGkNCjz8QG2cdZydNszgNSLb_AJDc1oGCh6ky7XlQz62r5wnfTDwha6sCDZlw6xt_vkE7JUiJO37olZO/s400/7212.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"></div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">The next flight was Easter Monday. A new photographer had found this very blog and the photo's from last year and asked me if I could take him up on Easter Monday. He was driving up from Belgium with another friend of his, so I booked a C172 for the mission and agreed on a time. That time came and went sadly, due to a Numpty who was late leaving, then went to the wrong fuel dump to refuel and decided to eat into MY booked flying time just because he was late and got lost of the airfield. I was allowed extend my flight by 30mins to make up for the time I lost, so without haste we were off.</div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjmmkhnBl94KiE2jQKouCJKYdbjaEQi2mo1sjUm_UNc-o-AA69vEMHB1QBxptxu78YmBlqBZ9P6T7PaRZXUTSgcjtUiYJvqwyshRcwLLu96mYznHHsLQPU_BzAxrn7lVreB86c2/s1600/7224.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="276" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjmmkhnBl94KiE2jQKouCJKYdbjaEQi2mo1sjUm_UNc-o-AA69vEMHB1QBxptxu78YmBlqBZ9P6T7PaRZXUTSgcjtUiYJvqwyshRcwLLu96mYznHHsLQPU_BzAxrn7lVreB86c2/s400/7224.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"></div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">A call to Curtis, my photographer friend from the US and the man in the know when it comes to all things tulips told me the night before to avoid Lisse and head for Anna Paulowna and Julianasdorp...."Clay it's wall to wall tulips there all the way to the coast" he told me in his inimitable Louisiana accent. Well, that would certainly avoid the Schiphol CTR headaches, on the other hand, I still have a military airbase to contend with. I called them up the day before and was told it shouldn't be a problem.</div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjU2e9-ipf20GrSd09v6cN_Jyilt2qUw6UJQd0sHKm3XpTNyg42_bwLe86IrvdRoaYZdnkrpPjp4J4AcJziwR0jvNS5A-bX_cnccW9y4j1w5PnMr6tW71HupsXh_ByW5lpYVOkR/s1600/7250.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="276" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjU2e9-ipf20GrSd09v6cN_Jyilt2qUw6UJQd0sHKm3XpTNyg42_bwLe86IrvdRoaYZdnkrpPjp4J4AcJziwR0jvNS5A-bX_cnccW9y4j1w5PnMr6tW71HupsXh_ByW5lpYVOkR/s400/7250.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">The GPS decided right before our flight to run out of power, and as luck would have it, the 172 I was flying had not cigarette power adaptor. So I was going to have to do this the old fashioned way....VOR beacon and the Mark 1 eyeball to figure out where I was.</div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiBH2mlZl9pUSOsdTiiJjugDW0OhFPAcrsddGAbSeycz07RnHyuZUyaMyovT2nVr7ED284APuCgzr-KRD5bLCl955naOVPXx3jTKMVKcfUxZAVNShcMqzaBZIQ-x9JIQspvSuo5/s1600/7264.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="276" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiBH2mlZl9pUSOsdTiiJjugDW0OhFPAcrsddGAbSeycz07RnHyuZUyaMyovT2nVr7ED284APuCgzr-KRD5bLCl955naOVPXx3jTKMVKcfUxZAVNShcMqzaBZIQ-x9JIQspvSuo5/s400/7264.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">We were soon overhead Venhuizen and Normann was giving me directions on where he wanted to go. This meant of course that the navigation was going to be a challenge. I not only had to know where I was in relation to De Kooy's class CHARLIE airspace, but I knew of a gliding club and an ultralight airfield all within close proximity to each other and where I was currently at. Damn you GPS!!!</div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiAgNAA5kjedu6qgIW_gdaLR6-7Hop6cm1ByoyDDwnu2z3xVbD-TTeBYDyEEe6eEWJeclLWyBD5-G5m3AHuLJY3EKRc7clFKgWPu4M5vNlVeGRnEB8kzOp_NL5VounviPUtb29_/s1600/7239.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="276" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiAgNAA5kjedu6qgIW_gdaLR6-7Hop6cm1ByoyDDwnu2z3xVbD-TTeBYDyEEe6eEWJeclLWyBD5-G5m3AHuLJY3EKRc7clFKgWPu4M5vNlVeGRnEB8kzOp_NL5VounviPUtb29_/s400/7239.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Once I was happy we were clear and safe from traffic, I dropped down to 700ft and slowed down to about 70-80kts. The boys opened the windows up to stick out their lenses and began snapping away feverishly. Their tulip field fix being met :-) I gave Dutch Mil a call to let them know I wanted to enter De Kooy's control zone. We stayed south of the airport and remained in and around the areas of Schagen and Anna Paulowna.</div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg_bVxLSUprcDlT68v5yj0EpIWln5zCWsEKMKKpeq9tLxsuc5q_1LKKHROv2ZobbeG3UgX0DYM_IK1zZiT3XeksMTtZyj6MmHYcqKTab4MyQZFsnLQmAKozKdFmuej7plWwLpDb/s1600/7283.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="276" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg_bVxLSUprcDlT68v5yj0EpIWln5zCWsEKMKKpeq9tLxsuc5q_1LKKHROv2ZobbeG3UgX0DYM_IK1zZiT3XeksMTtZyj6MmHYcqKTab4MyQZFsnLQmAKozKdFmuej7plWwLpDb/s400/7283.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">With the boys happy and their cameras full to bursting with Mother Natures splendour on show, we climb back up to 1,200ft and powered up to 110kts for the flight back to Lelystad. Curtis, was right on the money. And the season's not over yet!</div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg3dKh480gOTjxBR8IpIfOABG40h_gUSWAOPDcjl7yOTzC0OsGFisHPd2bgtraMDzS8dpvUozf4vzTMoUgpBYJPQxifvFC-qKyDLJGRENulkcVMctLG8fIxGTJb9qb130DTZoac/s1600/7403.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="276" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg3dKh480gOTjxBR8IpIfOABG40h_gUSWAOPDcjl7yOTzC0OsGFisHPd2bgtraMDzS8dpvUozf4vzTMoUgpBYJPQxifvFC-qKyDLJGRENulkcVMctLG8fIxGTJb9qb130DTZoac/s400/7403.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br />
</div>CMPhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16320314777024581442noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-34694909.post-66060508510812849582011-04-16T20:16:00.000+02:002011-04-26T16:20:58.994+02:00In a fix, Squawk 76<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">We're level at 1,000ft just past Hoofddorp and I'm setting the plane up for low and slow flight overhead Lisse....when it happens. The radios made a "plink!" noise and they're all dead. The transponder was still working, so I dial in 7600 to let ATC know that I have no radios.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">I'm in a bit of a bind now because today's mission was to take the Internal Auditors who were over from the U.S. auditing my company up to see the beauty of the tulip fields from the air. But now I'm right on the fringes of Schiphol's CTR with no radios.....and now no Transponder....that's just gone and died too.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">OK, first things's first.....I need to get us out of Dodge and quickly. Once clear we head west to the coastline. I'm going to have to take the long way round to get back. Even if the radios come back alive, I doubt that Schiphol Tower will let me back in in case they died again, and I also don't trust them to stay alive. I have full fuel tanks so it's a no brainer to decide on the safest route along the coast and cut across the north end of Schiphol's approach.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Much earlier, I was thinking about the last time I transitioned from "Nippy" to a Cessna 172. I remember the senstation that the Cessna was like flying a truck with wings when comparing it to "Nippy". But amazingly this particular C172 is VERY light on the controls. Not sure which version it is, but looking at the log book she's an old bird....almost 10,000 hours logged on her. But she's it great shape and well looked after.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">I've checked all the fuses, nothing has blown or tripped, I have no "low voltage" warning light and all the fuel gauges and giros are working....so it's not an electrics problem. It's isolated to the avionics. This particular C172 has the Garmin GNS 430, which means that the GPS and radios are coupled. It has a spare back-up radio, but neither of them are working. OK....I'll try recycing the avionics.....nope, still nothing. OK, nevermind.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"> </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">We're abeam Ijmuiden and I can see the steelmill below me to the right. A quick look at the chart and I could zip under Schiphol's CTR here are 1,000ft....the base of the Class "C" is 1,200. But I opt to continue north a wee bit further until I'm well clear. Since the transponder doesn't work, I do not want to risk tangling with a 737 on finals for Schiphol.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Since most pilots are stubborn and never give up, I continue to recycle the avionics....and eventually my stubborness pays off....first the transponder returns to life, followed by the navigation instruments and the the Garmin and back-up radio......PHEW!!</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"> </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Amsterdam Info informs me they can hear me loud and clear and they welcome me back. They must have seen me on their primary radar the whole time, but the voice of a familiar controller is music to my ears. I explained to her what had happened and told her I was routing to Lelystad.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Passing south of the field, I called overhead "BRAVO" and set us up for the circuit. My head has the power and speed settings for the 172 memorised.....my instructor would quiz me on the speeds every morning when he picked me up for flight lessons. So it was a matter of slotting into the circuit and pulling off a smooth landing. Sadly, the landing was a little laboured, and we hit with a bit of a bump....I just hope that's not reflected in the results of the audit :-)</span>CMPhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16320314777024581442noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-34694909.post-7632847114811830662011-03-28T11:35:00.000+02:002011-04-26T16:20:20.496+02:00Transair....they're not always greedy buggers<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">It's a pretty widely accepted opinion amongst the piloting community in the UK and Ireland, and to some extent those on the continent, that if you're ever going to buy anything that's aviation oriented, then you should steer clear of Transair, based in the UK.</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">My own experiences have not been negative, and on the few occasions I happened to buy something it arrived on time and at a reasonable price. However, that was limited to about two or possibly three instances. The rest of the time I would either buy when I was in the U.S. or buy online (ebay, Sporty's etc) and then either have it shipped direct (it it was under the Customs threshold) or brought over by a visiting work colleague. And failing the US option, there was also "The Pilot Shop" for charts etc based at Lelystad airport.</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">That is until recently however. The EPIRB/PLB that I had for the Robin ATL had suddenly sprouted legs and walked. It's location is to date still unknown and given there is a legal requirement to carry on onboard at all times, I had to replace on pronto.</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I carried out the usual scouting around in the U.S. first, then took a look at "The Pilot Shop" and then finally looked at Transair's online store. Long story short, by the time I factored in the shipping and import costs from the U.S., Transair was by far the cheapest place to buy it. I was surprised at first, so I went to compare some other items, and found that they were also equally priced compared to the shipping from U.S. option and better priced than TPS. This isn't the case on all items of course, TPS is cheaper on certain products they carry.</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I guess the whole point of me writing this is to advise my fellow pilots to take the time to shop around. Flying is already an expensive hobby, and reputations precede some organisations, but they're not always true.</span>CMPhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16320314777024581442noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-34694909.post-28081073281753654392011-03-26T17:00:00.003+01:002011-04-26T16:21:40.992+02:00Bloggers Fly-in<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">We're level at 1,200ft overhead Enkhuizen and the warm and fuzzy meter is well into the green. Ouen is at the controls and doing a very nice job at keeping "Nippy" straight and level, tracking course nicely and listening to me explaining the FREDA check (Fuel, Radio's, Engine, Direction, Altitude). This is a check I was taught, and continue to use today, whenever I'm doing a cross-country flight. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">We're on our way over to Texel to meet some fellow flying bloggers for one of the twice annual get togethers they organise. This is the first time I've been able to attend myself, with either the weather or life getting in the way, so I'm looking forward to it.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The weather has already started to brighten up, with the sun poking through a layer of haze. Ouen was quizzed by his wife before leaving because it was drizzling when I picked him up in the morning. But the TAF's for the day matched the weather picture we saw on the trip up to the airfield.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Ouen is sitting in the P2 seat, and he's jabbering on about how he cannot feel the rudder. In his opinion, the rudder is very light and non-responsive. But I keep reminding him that he's not yet got the feeling, and that given time, he'll figure it out. I was the same in the beginning and the important thing to check is the ball in the Slip Indicator.</span><br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi8Xxf051m0ceDf7g-oD19OF6Lt7TtCzFrNx1eLTiXmysyDXXG3Fu94Bhi9ESnMnm6ge2Z4wkZtJ3Cl9yGLWYpxs2T5fJqGlr4Qjsf9Nv0att6wkVydHXIGLT8OLCbtT51i6QMH/s1600/IMG_1046.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi8Xxf051m0ceDf7g-oD19OF6Lt7TtCzFrNx1eLTiXmysyDXXG3Fu94Bhi9ESnMnm6ge2Z4wkZtJ3Cl9yGLWYpxs2T5fJqGlr4Qjsf9Nv0att6wkVydHXIGLT8OLCbtT51i6QMH/s400/IMG_1046.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">His take-off was good, keeping centred on the centreline and he applied constant and steady back pressure to help get us airborne. But he started tracking right of the runway, which I had to help with some application of rudder, so I'm not surprised about his comments on the rudder...he's just not gotten used to it yet.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">On the way over the water to Enkhuizen I asked Ouen the "what if.." question my instructors asked me ALL the time. "What of the engine quit right now, what would you do". He's a quick learner, because he said he'd set-up for best glide speed (which he remembered from our last flight), aim towards the dike (the Houtribdijk) and then try and land. So I expanded on that and said once he'd set-up for best glide, his next priority should be to look for a field, then run through the "Engine Out" checks, and while doping that to get out a Mayday call.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">We were doing quite nicely as went "Feet Wet" past Enkhuizen on the next water section towards the Afsluitdijk on our way to Texel.</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> I'd been walking through the idiosyncrasies of getting the plane trimmed. Using the simple acronym of PAT (Power, Attitude, Trim) Ouen was beginning to get the hang of applying small gentle inputs to the controls to feel-out the plane, letting her settle and then adjusting the trim wheel. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The fun, speed and flurry of checks soon arrived when we begin our Pre-Landing checklist. runway 04 is in use today, which means after the reporting point ALPHA we'll need to avoid the town of Oosterend keeping it on our left to join the DOWNWIND leg halfway. I asked Ouen to feel me through on the controls for this landing so he can get a feel for the control inputs. By the time we turn final, I'm still a little too high. So I explained to Ouen that I'll side-slip to lose some height and then put in the last few stages of flaps once I know I can make the field.</span><br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhbnrD7nFS3plt-rTSiDaBH76QCwoShtl0oHY4z5ZpWrjGoP-Z-of5okQM2Nom0JHl85umxb1MLoieTNkw49ofn0SQi9BQAlUUn9Ck0bWxJkysuqxQwnLPJb4vKzC8nf5bUiaNb/s1600/IMG_1084.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhbnrD7nFS3plt-rTSiDaBH76QCwoShtl0oHY4z5ZpWrjGoP-Z-of5okQM2Nom0JHl85umxb1MLoieTNkw49ofn0SQi9BQAlUUn9Ck0bWxJkysuqxQwnLPJb4vKzC8nf5bUiaNb/s400/IMG_1084.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">When we landed, Ouen remarked on how impressed he was at how quickly we had lost the excess height and were still able to pull off a very gentle landing. So I explained the aerodynamic principles to him over lunch. Our fellow bloggers arrived and we had a lot of fun chatting with them and exchanging stories, but time was ticking and we both had to be back in Amsterdam by early evening.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I taxied the plane to the run-up area and Ouen handled the take-off. When he got her airborne I said "My Plane" and kept her in ground effect until the speed built up to 90kts, and then I said "watch this" and pulled straight up at about 60 degrees. The speed dropped as we climbed altitude and when we were at 65kts I said "Your Plane" and he continued the climb-out....albeit a little giddily :-)</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">On the cruise across to Lelystad Ouen had pretty much mastered keeping "Nippy" trimmed and was doing his FREDA checks every fifteen minutes or so. There was the funny moment though when he confessed that he was using a sailing boat as a reference point to try and determine the wind effect....we both let out a chuckle.</span><br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjPjQOIRIqu_k-mmmQqt82MxzMmyAQZXp28e9DBq2ySoUq46q6KoK1O_yoD9pJq1vSvTyxkUt8xwkCvx_e6he9Tbw9xgRCTbMCODUR4r-AWWexX4MfxAm_w2LVJl9tSN_6q9pa9/s1600/Texel+Fly-in.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="297" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjPjQOIRIqu_k-mmmQqt82MxzMmyAQZXp28e9DBq2ySoUq46q6KoK1O_yoD9pJq1vSvTyxkUt8xwkCvx_e6he9Tbw9xgRCTbMCODUR4r-AWWexX4MfxAm_w2LVJl9tSN_6q9pa9/s400/Texel+Fly-in.JPG" width="400" /></a></div><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">This time I am quite happy to let him set "Nippy" up for the approach and see how he handles it...maybe he'll get a landing today. He takes her nice and steady to BRAVO, turns inbound and gets the "Pre-Landing" chacks out of the way. I show him the reference points for turning DOWNWIND, and explain the power-settings he needs to set when abeam the threshold and again for turning onto BASE. We start descending a little when we turn BASE and adjust the power again for FINAL. We're a little high, not much, but when I said "Throttle to FULL idle, we're a little high" he said maybe "you should do this one? Your plane". So I slipped a little and got the speed right back. I was teaching Ouen to aim for a specific point on the runway (the threshold, the numbers etc) and try to keep that spot in place on the windshield during the entire descent and to aim passing the threshold with 60kts and ready to flare. I landed on the numbers and slowed us down all within 180 metres. I still think that Ouen could have managed his first landing. Maybe our next trip will be across the border and we can do some touch and go's so he can pop his "landing" cherry :-)</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">All in all a really great day....we met some nice fellow pilots, enjoyed some gorgeous Texel sunshine and had a very good training session. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">And I'm looking forward to the tulip fields returning to their full splendour in a week or two :-)</span>CMPhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16320314777024581442noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-34694909.post-49065198362998160072011-03-12T19:44:00.000+01:002011-04-26T16:21:40.993+02:00Not easy getting in or getting down<div style="color: #d9ead3;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: separate; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: small; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: 2; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Have been debating whether or not to pop this AIRPROX report form into the postbox or not. Maybe I'm over-reacting, or maybe I'm justified?</span></span></span></div><div style="color: #d9ead3;"><br />
</div><div style="color: #d9ead3;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: separate; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: small; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: 2; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">It wasn't the best starts to the day either. I had picked up a friend who is interested in either buying a share of "Nippy" or at the very least, using her on a regular basis. We've been trying to arrange a date to complete the check-out for the best part of three months. Maintenance, bad weather and worser scheduling conflicts have resulted in the series of delays in getting together to do the check-out flight. When we arrived at the airport there were road blocks at every road leading into the airport. Everyone was asked to exit their cars and both people and cars alike were searched. Unfortunately, a rather plump middle-aged policeman bodysearched my friend and I, whilst the car was given a once over by a rather nice young looking blonde female officer. </span></span></span></div><div style="color: #d9ead3;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: separate; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: small; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: 2; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br />
</span></span></span></div><div style="color: #d9ead3;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: separate; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: small; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: 2; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Arriving at Polder was a little like arriving at the scene of a police raid. The instructors were panicking and asking their students if they'd remembered to bring the Weight & Balance docs and a copy of the NOTAM's with them. It seems the police were airside too, checking all arriving pilots. Interesting....first time I've ever seen such a thing in all the years I've been flying in the Netherlands.</span></span></span></div><div style="color: #d9ead3;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: separate; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: small; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: 2; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br />
</span></span></span></div><div style="color: #d9ead3;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: separate; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: small; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: 2; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">We rolled "Nippy" out of the hanger and I showed my friend the in's and out's of the walk-around for the Robin ATL. We topped off her oil and headed out to the run-up area. I suggested that we head over to Texel, do a few practice landings, have a spot of lunch and then head back to the training area and do some slow flight, stalls etc. By the time we'd get back, the "Rozzers" would have gotten bored and buggered off. </span></span></span></div><div style="color: #d9ead3;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: separate; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: small; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: 2; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br />
</span></span></span></div><div style="color: #d9ead3;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: separate; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: small; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: 2; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Since it was a check-out flight, I elected to sit on the right hand seat. This was a first for me. My friend climbed in next to me and we walked through the idiosyncrasies of starting up "Nippy" on a cold morning. She's a bit finicky and there's the added curve ball of using the choke. She spluttered into life and we quickly closed the choke and headed off to the run-up area. It was quite a busy morning, and even though we were last to join the run-up area, we were ready quite quickly and managed to jump the queue a wee bit. The Dutch pilots were probably grumbling into their headsets :-)</span></span></span></div><div style="color: #d9ead3;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: separate; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: small; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: 2; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br />
</span></span></span></div><div style="color: #d9ead3;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: separate; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: small; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: 2; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">We lined up on runway 23 and my friend advanced the throttles forward. He was a bit unsure of the rudder and when we lifted off he had a bit of trouble negotiating the crosswind we had on take-off. I heard a "Interesting" from him in my headset and asked if that was god or bad. He replied "good" and commented on how nimble and almost "fighter like" the handling was. We weren't climbing as fast as I would like and reminded him to set the trim and climb at Vy to get the best climb performance out of "Nippy". </span></span></span></div><div style="color: #d9ead3;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: separate; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: small; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: 2; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br />
</span></span></span></div><div style="color: #d9ead3;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: separate; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: small; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: 2; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">We exited the circuit and headed for Lelystad city and I had my friend dial up Amsterdam Info and ask them for a FIS (Flight Information Service) for our trip to Texel. He hadn't flown since November, and even then it was in the UK so he was a bit unsure of what the say etc. Also, given the fact that he is used to flying Tiger Moths in uncontrolled airspace with no radio, and you can soon see how he was a bit hesitant about using the radios. But after the first two or three exchanges with AMS INFO he soon got the knack again.</span></span></span></div><div style="color: #d9ead3;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: separate; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: small; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: 2; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br />
</span></span></span></div><div style="color: #d9ead3;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: separate; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: small; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: 2; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">We didn't climb too high, just bimbled across at 1,200ft. I gave him the lay of the land and pointed out the key landmarks. It was on the short hop across that he noticed how light "Nippy" tends to be, especially when you have your head inside the cockpit setting the radios. He ended up doing the same thing I did in my early flights...the plane would slowly start banking left or right. It's a habit he will learn to correct for, as have I.</span></span></span></div><div style="color: #d9ead3;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: separate; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: small; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: 2; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br />
</span></span></span></div><div style="color: #d9ead3;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: separate; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: small; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: 2; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">About 20 mins later we were setting up to call Ed & Michael in Texel. I helped run through the BEFORE DESCENT and BEFORE LANDING checks. It was hard for my friend to spot the grass airfield in amongst all the many farmers fields. We were set-up for Downwind, turning Base when I asked my friend to drop some flaps as we were a little high. He struggled to get the Robin down and keep the plane from overspeeding on the descent, so he side-slipped a little to lose height and traded the excess speed off in the flare. We landed (a fairly decent attempt even though it was fast) and taxied back. He was sweating a wee bit and offered up to him my own first landing, which was also too fast. We said hello to Ed and Michael and then had lunch and a debrief at the restaurant on the airfield. </span></span></span></div><div style="color: #d9ead3;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: separate; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: small; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: 2; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br />
</span></span></span></div><div style="color: #d9ead3;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: separate; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: small; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: 2; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">On the way back we uplifted fuel and planned to do some airwork north of the polder. But we noticed on the climb out from Texel that the ammeter showed it was discharging. I quickly set about unplugging and switching off all non-essential items, but nothing happened. As we flew on, we decided to skip the airwork and head straight back to Lelystad. As we drew nearer to Lelystad city, lo and behold, the ammeter was showing fully charged. We reckon it must be a loose connection. Michael from VOT will take a look at it next time I bring her over.</span></span></span></div><div style="color: #d9ead3;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: separate; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: small; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: 2; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br />
</span></span></span></div><div style="color: #d9ead3;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: separate; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: small; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: 2; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">So we tracked eastwards so I could show my friend where the VRP (Visual Reporting Point) of BRAVO is. This is a mandatory VRP used by all VFR traffic into Lelystad. We descended to 700ft and called overhead. Pre-landing chacks complete we were turning right for downwind for runway 23. This meant the sun would be in our eyes on final. As we turned final, I made the call to Lelystad Radio. My friend was again trying to control the speed and lose height (slightly high again) when all of a sudden some idiot rolls onto the runway without making a radio call, when were only about 300m from landing at the threshold!! I glanced quickly over to the right (the dead-side of the runway) to make sure nobody was using the microlight runway, just in case we needed to take avoiding action from this idiot.</span></span></span></div><div style="color: #d9ead3;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: separate; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: small; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: 2; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br />
</span></span></span></div><div style="color: #d9ead3;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: separate; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: small; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: 2; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Thankfully he was in a powerful airplane that he was able to clear the runway and climb away, but needless to say it had our hearts going. When I landed I asked for the tail number of the plane and the pilots name as I wanted to file an AIRPROX report. Strangely the guys in the tower were a little hesitant to give the details at first. If I wasn't so cynical, I'd half imagine they knew who this person was. </span></span></span></div><div style="color: #d9ead3;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: separate; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: small; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: 2; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br />
</span></span></span></div><div style="color: #d9ead3;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: separate; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: small; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: 2; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">And so endeth another fun filled day in the wild blue yonder. My friend is now checked out on the Robin, and I decided....the AIRPROX is in the mail.</span></span></span></div><div style="color: #d9ead3;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: separate; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: small; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: 2; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br />
</span></span></span></div><div style="color: #d9ead3;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: separate; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: small; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: 2; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br />
</span></span></span></div>CMPhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16320314777024581442noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-34694909.post-9784487310929805872011-03-07T17:06:00.000+01:002011-04-26T16:22:06.202+02:00Sunshine and Schnitzels<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">A week of glorious weather has held out all the way through to the weekend. Which meant my friend Ouen and I were able to take Nippy out for a bimble</span><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">. Ouen is like myself, an avid aviation enthusiast, and would gladly join me for a quick bimble across the Dutch countryside in search of some nice airfield food. So we're sitting in the German sunshine, bathing in the sunlight like two Galapgos Iguana's enjoying our Schnitzels. Sadly no beer though :-(</span><br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjSW2Ti5Z59QYjFNmvghrkB8kPdAHXSwVJdcEAHCAtt-zOVIAEkO-G-FzlvkRW-p3uEsModECdawZBG_DUD4s0CqGyjchoZBul7V0BeCnpCQIVAH97Ns7xAnXcMHnENBKaz_sjO/s1600/IMG_1079.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjSW2Ti5Z59QYjFNmvghrkB8kPdAHXSwVJdcEAHCAtt-zOVIAEkO-G-FzlvkRW-p3uEsModECdawZBG_DUD4s0CqGyjchoZBul7V0BeCnpCQIVAH97Ns7xAnXcMHnENBKaz_sjO/s400/IMG_1079.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">"Nippy" had been tucked away in the hangers of Polder since her ferry flight over from Texel, and it was about time she was let out to experience some Spring sunshine. I had a look at the charts a few nights beforehand and settled on a little airfield just across the Dutch/German border call <a href="http://www.flugplatz-nordhorn-lingen.de/">Nordhorn-Lingen (EDWN)</a>. I saw on their website that they had a restaurant on the field, so the choice of destination was a no-brainer. That, and the fact that they charge those wonderfully low German landing fees I have come to love so much.</span><br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj2hI1l4jp4ivkC6ag6GmnIQRBsr41JeTXpJbYhrHCzgEx9k8YtLqBi3sykSYfX7VhihoBOs8hVq3cR3sfytsiuLzkRedYrm2aUmSOF2BxEU58iaHI_-ySrQQ5L0dFxvwDtGYIf/s1600/IMG_1046.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj2hI1l4jp4ivkC6ag6GmnIQRBsr41JeTXpJbYhrHCzgEx9k8YtLqBi3sykSYfX7VhihoBOs8hVq3cR3sfytsiuLzkRedYrm2aUmSOF2BxEU58iaHI_-ySrQQ5L0dFxvwDtGYIf/s400/IMG_1046.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">With it being a little less than an hours flight away, I figured that on the way back we might make a quick stop in Holland somewhere. I soon put that thought out of my head when I compared the landing fees in Germany (€3.00) versus the ridiculous prices in Holland (€18.50 for Hoogeveen for example). This has indeed become a recent bane in my side about flying in Holland and is indicative of what one has come to expect LIVING in Holland. The Dutch are simply greedy buggers. They fleece you for everything....the cost of parking your car in Amsterdam is the highest in Europe, you pay health insurance for shitty, non-existent medical care, and the price of a dinner for two is approx 3-4 times higher in Holland than the equivalent in either Belgium or Germany, <u><b>AND</b></u> you get way better service in those two countries than anywhere in Holland. But I digress...needless to say, you can get an idea on what the topic of conversation was on our wee cross-country.</span><br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEghuaM40drio-4JI2GkTzmYOXS89g6nBZaMTtXzZQYM_gXdUqmfMol_GFp5TmCEac68zrkqiEcGS3JdCClb5Pp68VNrvP8YwZGORJeHGZWU_1qhMGNtraWAAjDhWCd3gZPcrXC0/s1600/IMG_1049.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEghuaM40drio-4JI2GkTzmYOXS89g6nBZaMTtXzZQYM_gXdUqmfMol_GFp5TmCEac68zrkqiEcGS3JdCClb5Pp68VNrvP8YwZGORJeHGZWU_1qhMGNtraWAAjDhWCd3gZPcrXC0/s400/IMG_1049.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">So it was settled. I picked Ouen up from the train station and we drove to the airfield, rolled-out "Nippy" into the morning's sun and fired her up. We had to contend with two really slow pilots taking their sweet-time filling up their Piper Archer at the fuel pumps. When they'd done filling up, it took them about 10 minutes just to climb into their plane and start it up. Off to our left and also waiting for fuel was a young idiotic PPL student who was there to log some solo time. I knew who he was because I was chatting to his instructor earlier in the morning. But I wasn't impressed with him because while we were both waiting he was revving the bejesus out of his engine. Typically one would keep the plane revving in idle, with the occasional increase in revs or use of carb heat to avoid carb-ice. But his revving was idiotic. So bad in fact that someone from the control tower made his way over to the guy and told him to shut down the engine, and then invited him out of the cockpit for a bit of a bollocking. So it was a learning day for the young pilot. </span><br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEimWpA0S_1YKsmkOrszpWNCg2dvcQn8Ib3GV1DZwDzQxEh_Wl6E3545BImwI4onhsrym3p1xmeR07WJntMrjgKYfBDiwd4p4lVmgUnBMCE4RZkLi9Y5M1adfYcl20xcbwvSFIQb/s1600/IMG_1051.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEimWpA0S_1YKsmkOrszpWNCg2dvcQn8Ib3GV1DZwDzQxEh_Wl6E3545BImwI4onhsrym3p1xmeR07WJntMrjgKYfBDiwd4p4lVmgUnBMCE4RZkLi9Y5M1adfYcl20xcbwvSFIQb/s400/IMG_1051.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Fifteen minutes later and we were lining up on runway 05 for a right turn departure to the East. Ouen gingerly advanced the throttles and I scanned the engine instruments as the speed built up. At 55kts we were airborne, although not in the usual manner of a homesick angel....more like that of a slightly obese angel whose flying at max all-up weight :-) Still 700fpm wasn't bad. I reminded Ouen a few times to maintain a climb out speed of 60kt's in order to climb out at Vy (best rate of climb) and to level off at 1200ft. After take-off checks complete I dialled up Dutch Mil and asked them to climb to FL55. There was a small patch of Cu (Cumulous) clouds on our path, so we kinked left to avoid them and climbed above them. Once past them, it was blue skies all the way to the German border.</span><br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiObU7YtNw8pMx6n-8S0Sa49ltEguuniOXeaFCX2DxJDPtKQaLcz_68paqrUwLhnXMr21RmC4xC9mG3ML1BWZ6A5gN0MrQT5l5l0vr9LQ_2xKXhWiciSxqIhOjeS9P7033f9EkM/s1600/IMG_1056.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiObU7YtNw8pMx6n-8S0Sa49ltEguuniOXeaFCX2DxJDPtKQaLcz_68paqrUwLhnXMr21RmC4xC9mG3ML1BWZ6A5gN0MrQT5l5l0vr9LQ_2xKXhWiciSxqIhOjeS9P7033f9EkM/s400/IMG_1056.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">The airspace was surprisingly quiet today, given the good weather, and about 15 minutes out of EDWN we requested to descend to 1,500ft. About 10 minutes out, I dialled up Nordhorn Information and asked for the airfield information. It was at this point that I then took the reigns and steered toward the VRP, whilst Ouen and I kept a sharp lookout for both traffic and the airport itself. Which was easier said than done. The airfield is hidden behind a dense forest of evergreen trees, which are quite high. Before we left, we had a look over the Jepp plate for the destination airfield and I noticed the displaced threshold for runway 06. But it never occurred to me that the trees that created the need for the displaced threshold would be so high as to obscure the airfield when inbound from the VRP. We were told the circuit was clear to allow for a straight in approach to runway 06, so it was now only a matter of finding the damn field. I eventually spotted it and set "Nippy" up for the approach. That's when I noticed how tall the trees were. :-)</span><br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi0UoqsNJqoDSIZ0Mmy915eE1_EiDBZfN1VuFmVsxul2CPa5YXSVS-GzxRSfh8fuzdeVbhbhTqKINRshhRhSLIMoXHMQa5NJU-Vqb2GsipPf9YqA7GUKdo1u7ZICwCB0ngQc18R/s1600/IMG_1058.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi0UoqsNJqoDSIZ0Mmy915eE1_EiDBZfN1VuFmVsxul2CPa5YXSVS-GzxRSfh8fuzdeVbhbhTqKINRshhRhSLIMoXHMQa5NJU-Vqb2GsipPf9YqA7GUKdo1u7ZICwCB0ngQc18R/s400/IMG_1058.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Landing fees paid, we decided to explore the airfield a little bit. We noticed an An-2 in a hanger off to the distance and were told by the locals that there were THREE inside, and we were welcome to go take a look. We wandered around talking to some of the local pilots and doing what most in the GA community do best....talking about planes, fuel prices and landing fees....and of course where the best restaurants can be found. </span><br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhJiIPBYv7D2LnkXojTfsiF8TSp9QH7Ls-t0CZo2b5lWDfPWBmo64uW6SNiWAGMXPYWH5RjWb3kZ8myM0eHVN-tzcayD8JrCz1DOauHy2jBWMqOMiJ9k5ANpS4MWS5zt9fnDRHg/s1600/IMG_1074.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhJiIPBYv7D2LnkXojTfsiF8TSp9QH7Ls-t0CZo2b5lWDfPWBmo64uW6SNiWAGMXPYWH5RjWb3kZ8myM0eHVN-tzcayD8JrCz1DOauHy2jBWMqOMiJ9k5ANpS4MWS5zt9fnDRHg/s400/IMG_1074.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Strangely, this joie de vivres and affinity with fellow pilots, it has to be said, is sorely lacking amongst the Dutch aviation community...certainly in GA circles. I've flown in the US, Finland, France, Belgium, Germany, UK, Ireland and Ukraine, and every pilot whom I've ever met would gladly talk flying given any chance they can get. It could start off with someone admiring someone else's plane, or commenting on a landing, or over some beers after a days flying...and the conversation is almost always easy going and a collection of the grey haired wizened ones advising the youngsters through the telling of tall tales and the like. However, not so in the Netherlands. I've wondered why this has always been the case ever since I started flying here, and I think Ouen helped hit the nail on the head. Our theory goes like this:</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Most pilots (including a lot of European ones) have gone overseas to someplace where the training costs are lower and the weather better. This has meant that the average Joe (especially the case in the US) has been able to afford attaining their wings. With so many average Joe's, there are very few snobs about, and the ones that are there confine themselves to the expensive FBO's where the red carpet is rolled out upon arrival. Which means that the GA community I've been exposed to is full of normal, ordinary (and somewhat humble) people.</span><br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiKSX4pqnM2U7iAICVPZbQgztCpVDFyvVGrkUJ7DczRSZ7zicoZX3Spi0J_FiyzIhtmzVjGMD_YJMVxyIHyiBtQuL0eUhjRanjJloghAMt1oWSIN7sbWDy7BRXOn8qDXyd36Q7C/s1600/IMG_1083.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiKSX4pqnM2U7iAICVPZbQgztCpVDFyvVGrkUJ7DczRSZ7zicoZX3Spi0J_FiyzIhtmzVjGMD_YJMVxyIHyiBtQuL0eUhjRanjJloghAMt1oWSIN7sbWDy7BRXOn8qDXyd36Q7C/s400/IMG_1083.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">However, there is still a large clique of Dutch pilots who have gotten their wings at home. Given that it's, at best, around three times more expensive to get your licence in the Netherlands, it seems that this has bred an exclusive community of snobs. Since they're quite content to pay, on average, three times the price for their training, they seem to have this "I'm better than you" chip on their shoulder. Looking at the average car park and you'll see it's full of the usual Dutch "Ralph Lauren" wearing tosser mobiles in the guises Audi's, BMW X5's, Alfa's and the occasional Porsche or two. Now, match that "chip on your shoulder, do you know who I am" attitude with someone on the airfield and you end up with a fraternity found uniquely here in Holland, namely the "Tit who calls himself a pilot".</span><br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjMI1dAIslcORLraDTduz_xEUX813SPtzjGnqhErvqti1Z8emx_pAZhob6cfaV4_MDa6ziMFFmGnemzwp6UeBBuuQ-2L8ciknQekJrbu_zu84dj0skVnpSvQYwJc90-aUVZS0Yi/s1600/IMG_1089.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjMI1dAIslcORLraDTduz_xEUX813SPtzjGnqhErvqti1Z8emx_pAZhob6cfaV4_MDa6ziMFFmGnemzwp6UeBBuuQ-2L8ciknQekJrbu_zu84dj0skVnpSvQYwJc90-aUVZS0Yi/s400/IMG_1089.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">On our way back, we decided to do a little airwork. I had Ouen practice some steep turns, slow flight and some stalls and stall recovery. His execution of the steep turns was phenomenal....almost hitting our wake every time when he rolled back straight and level. He needs some more practice with slow-flight, but made a damn good effort in "Nippy" this time 'round.</span><br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhQSjKN7MIdXyvcE-LL5Z7DZffHAoW8t2-md1GXRYPcdt36e2nyIaqtPHCHjGVjysWmwxcHxWJmaRg-krz9a7LBDSv0CI4ZA2ODRJdr60Z0xSVNILcWFRfo_gjm3wLwieO_zydb/s1600/Ouen+An-2%2527s.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="107" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhQSjKN7MIdXyvcE-LL5Z7DZffHAoW8t2-md1GXRYPcdt36e2nyIaqtPHCHjGVjysWmwxcHxWJmaRg-krz9a7LBDSv0CI4ZA2ODRJdr60Z0xSVNILcWFRfo_gjm3wLwieO_zydb/s400/Ouen+An-2%2527s.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">And so it was....two and a half hours in the air spent on airwork and life's observations. And of course two well fed tummies. Ouen's already hatching some time to get back up in the air....with weather like today, I can't say I blame him.</span><br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjwmXIoeQBpyu5H9entCTRLPoMzcF3MBJCFnQ1fcmLrCXX9m1vanqqT0mxt2qFB14Wb_zOXx9KrIuHxPGLzPo7YyCV-NN3Uq1fUh2AFr3xMPBnstSThcx-UjD13snMf1N3Ds3nD/s1600/IMG_1084.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjwmXIoeQBpyu5H9entCTRLPoMzcF3MBJCFnQ1fcmLrCXX9m1vanqqT0mxt2qFB14Wb_zOXx9KrIuHxPGLzPo7YyCV-NN3Uq1fUh2AFr3xMPBnstSThcx-UjD13snMf1N3Ds3nD/s400/IMG_1084.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span id="goog_709441549"></span><span id="goog_709441550"></span></span>CMPhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16320314777024581442noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-34694909.post-30856439419592065492011-02-07T21:38:00.002+01:002011-04-26T16:21:40.995+02:00Any Way The Wind Blows<div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">In today's case it was blowing from the South West at >25 knots and gusts reported up to 37 knots. But the visability was good, the cloud base reasonable for todays mission, and although the winds were strong, they were blowing straight down the runway at both the departure point and the destination. So the only two things to elicit a read out on the "Pucker Factor" were the gusts to deal with at Lelystad (my destination) and the winds aloft enroute.</div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br />
The mission was to ferry "Nippy" across from Texel back to her home-base of Lelystad. A previous attempt the week before came to nought. A check of the weather that weekend had beautiful blue skies on Saturday only to give way to grey overcast stratus and poor visibility. However, the forecast predicted that come the afternoon it would clear up and make way to sunshine. That it did, but only over Noord Holland. The rest of the route from Enkhuizen onwards was shrouded in mist and claggy clouds no higher than 300 ft. It wasn't a completely wasted trip. I got to do some touch and go's in "Nippy" and check the plane out after Michael from VOT had stripped her bare and put her back together again (I just hope that there were no bits leftover when he put her back). Having your mechanic only 40 minutes flight away is a damn sight better than the 3 hours or more I had to contend with when she was looked after in Strasbourg. And although the flying legs were quite comfortable, it was the 8 or more hours either getting there or back that hacked me off.</div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">So the first attempt was scrubbed, but with the strong, almost hurricane force, winds dying down, and the visibility improving, I thought it was definitely doable today. The TAF's from EHAM (Schiphol) and EHKD (De Kooy) both showed lighter winds in the morning, gradually strengthening as the afternoon progressed. No worries, I'd be up in the air by lunchtime.</div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Michael came to pick me up from the ferry terminal on Texel. We rolled Nippy out of the hanger and I carried out the preflight. As I started her up and asked for the airfield QNH from Mike in the tower, I noticed the windsock was fully inflated and horizontal!! Mike asked me what was the max cruising speed of the little Wooden Wonder, to which I replied "Don't worry, it's fast enough that I won't be flying backwards in this wind".</div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgRCwsnHtR7BInIBXGD2Ul43vC4tw5LVTuf8Yyh-CSyxCknVEq_EB_C3ZUBEhoz0cRoJUQ33vCIIZkFJfwcujoNNbNwuLSQrgpyljQbJu7M8_ZJ2hjvHYy-U3NlscgWAkO5M4nI/s1600/windsock.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="250" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgRCwsnHtR7BInIBXGD2Ul43vC4tw5LVTuf8Yyh-CSyxCknVEq_EB_C3ZUBEhoz0cRoJUQ33vCIIZkFJfwcujoNNbNwuLSQrgpyljQbJu7M8_ZJ2hjvHYy-U3NlscgWAkO5M4nI/s400/windsock.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">It was a blustery trek to the departure point of runway 22 in Texel. I had a hard time trying to counteract the affects of the wind on the v-tail. But with the engine run-up checks complete, I was soon in the air, and quite quickly too! Before I knew it the ASI was showing a speed of 80kts and Nippy was climbing like a homesick angel. But it was very early on that I noticed exactly how windy it was once airborne.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">I was being thrown around like a ragdoll and really had to crab into the wind. On a normal day with light winds, a normal track </span><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">would have me steer a heading of 143</span><span lang="EN-IE" style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12pt;">°. <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Howev</span></span><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">e<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">r on today's flight, I was having to steer 180</span></span><span lang="EN-IE" style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12pt;">°</span><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"> just to keep centered on the magenta line shown on the GPS. It was quite an odd feeling to be flying and looking 45</span></span><span lang="EN-IE" style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12pt;">°</span><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"> to my left. As a result of the winds aloft, a simple jaunt of thirty minutes ended up taking a full hour to complete.</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">As I flew overhead the city of Lelystad, I could see the airfield away off in the distance. I could also hear from the radio chatter that there was someone even more mad than me bashing the circuit and doing touch and go's. I have no idea if it was a poor student getting in some very valuable training (and having a pair of brown shorts by the end of his sortie) or if it was an owner getting up in any auld weather just to stay current. But given that the winds were now gusting close to 35kts at Lelystad, but right down the centreline. And since there was only one guy in the circuit, I asked the folks on watch in the tower if I could forgo the necessary join at BRAVO, and instead opt for a very long approach over the woods. The reasoning for this was to enable me to assess the strength of the winds from a good distance out and give me enough time to set Nippy up for a stable approach. </span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">A "keep a close eye for traffic" was the all-clear I needed. With the gusts being 15kts greater than the average wind speed, I tacked on another 15kts </span>to the approach speed and elected for half flaps. The other aircraft in the circuit was turning upwind, so I had plenty of time to set-up for the approach. No worries. Power set to idle, carb heat hot and the flaps slowly coming in as I was feeling out the wind, before you knew it Nippy was flaring oh-so-gently over the threshold, kissing Mother Earth. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">There......Home, Sweet Home. Nippy is now tucked up in the hanger awaiting for the winds to die down and the Spring sunshine to make its appearance. And I am home enjoying a well deserved cold beer.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Below is the METAR from Amsterdam Schiphol at the time I was touching down in Lelystad. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Monospace,Courier;">EHAM 071425Z 22026G37KT 9999 OVC018 10/06 Q1011 NOSIG</span>CMPhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16320314777024581442noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-34694909.post-6589685600114753272010-12-20T11:37:00.000+01:002011-04-26T16:20:20.499+02:00The Science of Santa<div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">As a result of an overwhelming lack of requests, and with research help from that renowned scientific journal, SPY magazine (January, 1990) – I am pleased to present the annual scientific inquiry into Santa Claus.</div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">1. No known species of reindeer can fly. BUT, there are 300,000 species of living organisms yet to be classified, and while most of these are insects and germs, this does not COMPLETELY rule out flying reindeer, which only Santa has ever seen.</div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">2. There are 2 billion children (persons under 18) in the world. BUT, since Santa doesn’t (appear) to handle the Muslim, Hindu, Jewish and Buddhist children, that reduces the workload to 15% of the total – 378 million according to the Population Reference Bureau. At an average (census) rate of 3.5 children per household, that’s 91.8 million homes. One presumes there’s at least one good child in each.</div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">3. Santa has 31 hours of Christmas to work with, thanks to the different time zones and the rotation of the earth, assuming he travels east to west (which seems logical). This works out to 822.6 visits per second. This is to say that for each household with good children, Santa has 1/1000th of a second to park, hop out of the sleigh, jump down the chimney, fill the stockings, distribute the remaining presents under the tree, eat whatever snacks have been left, get back up the chimney, get back into the sleigh and move on to the next house. Assuming that each of these 91.8 million stops are evenly distributed around the earth (which, of course, we know to be false but for the purposes of our calculations we will accept), we are now talking about 0.78 miles per household, a total trip of 75.5 million miles, not counting stops to do what most of us must do at least once every 31 hours, plus feeding, etc. This means that Santa’s sleigh is moving at 650 miles per second, which is 3,000 times the speed of sound. For the purposes of comparison, the fastest man-made vehicle on earth, the Ulysses space probe, moves at a poky 27.4 miles per second – a conventional reindeer can run, tops, 15 miles per hour.</div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">4. The payload on the sleigh adds another interesting element. Assuming that each child gets nothing more than a medium-sized Lego set (2 pounds), the sleigh is carrying 321,300 tons, not counting Santa, who is invariably described as overweight. On land, conventional reindeer can pull no more than 300 pounds. Even granting that “flying reindeer” (see point #1) could pull TEN TIMES the normal amount, we cannot do the job with eight, or even nine. We need 214,200 reindeer. This increases the payload – not even counting the weight of the sleigh – to 353,430 tons. Again, for comparison – this is four times the weight of the Queen Elizabeth.</div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">5. 353,430 tons travelling at 650 miles per second creates enormous air resistance – this will heat the reindeer up in the same fashion as spacecraft re-entering the earth’s atmosphere. The lead pair of reindeer will absorb 14.3 QUINTILLION joules of energy. Per second. Each. In short, they will burst into flame almost instantaneously, exposing the reindeer behind them, and create deafening sonic booms in their wake. The entire reindeer team will be vaporised within 4.26 thousandths of a second. Santa, meanwhile, will be subjected to centrifugal forces 17,500 times greater than gravity. A 250-pound Santa (which seems ludicrously slim) would be pinned to the back of his sleigh by 4,315,015 pounds of force.</div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">So using Newtonian physics, this is not looking good.</div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">However……</div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">If Santa ever DID deliver presents on Christmas Eve, he could be using the probabilities of all possible supposition of states that is part of quantum theory, so that Santa, in his protective plasma bubble (large enough to hold the sleigh, Reindeer, Santa and all the presents), would have to suppress the decoherence of the quantum state in the macro sized world. Hence he can be in all places simultaneously and could then deliver the presents to all the right folks in the same night. By using quantum tunnelling at a marco level, he could jump from one place to another bypassing the space-time fabric, not meet any other suppositions of himself, and pop out at on the roof or inside the house bypassing the challenge of “we do not have a chimney”.</div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">The energy required for the utilising the quantum state at a macro level and to use quantum tunnelling for each hop would be equivalent to a significant part of the Suns output, so the sleigh needs to be powered by a captive black hole, which adds it’s own complications. One hypothesis is that the captive block hole power source is contained in another dimension or even another parallel universe, to reduce the mass and radiation challenges in our universe. </div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Meaning that Santa himself (we assume he is a he), is not from our dimension at all and his red suit is a containment system to support whatever requirements his life form needs in our dimension. </div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">The catch is that he must not be observed (ref. Schrodinger’s cat), because that would cause all the wave function to collapse and hence no presents to everyone, so please tell your kids not to look for Santa as it would stop him for everyone else! Or better still dress up in a Santa suit and pretend to be him for your kids, to protect the real Santa from being observed as he does his work!</div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Merry Christmas Everyone :-) </div>CMPhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16320314777024581442noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-34694909.post-85207178735639595942010-09-05T22:01:00.011+02:002011-04-26T16:20:20.500+02:00It's A Funny Old Game....<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Yes indeed, flying is a funny old game. From the characters you meet, to the stories we share and the experiences you enjoy from flying both in the air and in the hanger, it's certainly a unique world.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"> </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Recently I found a new A&P for "Nippy". My "Wooden Wonder" had been abused at the hands of the French and no more was I willing to stand for over the odds pricing they had demanded, for both the maintenance AND their supposed parking fee (for leaving "Nippy" out in the snow and ice on the tarmac on THEIR property. But I digress.</span><br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjnbJI4qNouHPQeGu7fS_Fv_IXqUQQHt1TuRnOiFGiWpSfvvOAcPRUnHbuMPVGWVG6HgJrfRQM5IAtgE43H7PBgXudVtG8OMtrw1ejpBL5pLGDf7sYCk0wDnaLUdeR9uOBcRDog/s1600/IMG_8441.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjnbJI4qNouHPQeGu7fS_Fv_IXqUQQHt1TuRnOiFGiWpSfvvOAcPRUnHbuMPVGWVG6HgJrfRQM5IAtgE43H7PBgXudVtG8OMtrw1ejpBL5pLGDf7sYCk0wDnaLUdeR9uOBcRDog/s400/IMG_8441.JPG" width="400" /></a></div><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Our new A&P is situated on the lovely island of Texel, the southernmost, and indeed the westernmost, of the Frisian Islands, and home to my favourite FISO's, Ed and his son, who provide a fantastic service.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">The plan today was to visit the hanger and try to get "Nippy" out and take her to Texel, where Michael could open up her guts and have a poke around prior to signing off on her new annual. As this is the funny old world of flying though, I was not 100% certain if I could get into the hanger. You see, I was told about a month or two ago about two vacant spots in the Pionier Hanger at Lelystad. I contacted them and was told I could have one...."No Problem" I was told in that inimitable Dutch accent. M and I moved the plane over last Wednesday, only to be told by Friday, "Yah, Sorry, but der ish no more room". So, no room at the inn for "Nippy".</span><br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj4wUA3zwUmLBJlVRRo0qLmrqlLotXwzYJCYrAk_60m9cx-FXwH4YPJwkKKXjJ5vvL9UFskfSjyOpnoG27X7uK_YfZQPcto3oy1bm6wGpeYO7y6YlWHgrYqgjsyMmQX53uBKQhD/s1600/IMG_8438.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj4wUA3zwUmLBJlVRRo0qLmrqlLotXwzYJCYrAk_60m9cx-FXwH4YPJwkKKXjJ5vvL9UFskfSjyOpnoG27X7uK_YfZQPcto3oy1bm6wGpeYO7y6YlWHgrYqgjsyMmQX53uBKQhD/s400/IMG_8438.JPG" width="400" /></a></div><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">But fear not, because this funny old world of flying had another surprise up her sleeve. I got an email from an acquaintance who had recently sold his plane and who had three months left on his hangar rental. So, problem solved. "Nippy" will have a place to tuck up for the Winter afterall.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">As I was getting the cockpit ready, I started a conversation with someone I knew who had bought a 50% share of a plane with someone else. His story was an eye-opener. This funny old world, which most of the pilot fraternity believe is filled with honest, trustworthy and honourable people, is seemingly filled with charlatans, chancers and cons. His story about how a plane he'd bought, spent money on and then was cheated out of made me realise both how naive I was to think, nay BELIEVE, that the pilot community would not screw over another, and how trusting I had been thus far. But I will try and not let his negative experience influence my normal level of cynicism.</span><br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi6T72cZgap-TDw6wb_8fJaSgnAlFwopSRE9tKijsYQEMhGrLj5xZE_EbcjBInHxZHcDtq_lSfy4g8pNSe8TjvZhyphenhyphenf0VOb1LZ3-0rbMyKS9j6cCu18_idsQ94mjJ2d32dxmWWBq/s1600/IMG_8435.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi6T72cZgap-TDw6wb_8fJaSgnAlFwopSRE9tKijsYQEMhGrLj5xZE_EbcjBInHxZHcDtq_lSfy4g8pNSe8TjvZhyphenhyphenf0VOb1LZ3-0rbMyKS9j6cCu18_idsQ94mjJ2d32dxmWWBq/s400/IMG_8435.JPG" width="400" /></a></div><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">It wasn't long though before "Nippy" and I were slipping those surly bonds of Earth and "Nippy" was doing her best to imitate a home-sick angel. I had neglected to update the GPS before I left home, and I think that was the reason it decided not to work. But fear not...it's a simple little jaunt, undertaken many times before, so I levelled off at 1200ft, heading 330 magnetic and kept a listen on Amsterdam Info for any traffic that might be coming my way, or even coming up my jacksy. But I DID remember to bring the camera, so I tried to take a few photo's and vid's while I was in the air. It's much harder to do it one handed though when you're bouncing around in the air :-)</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">After landing, I taxied over towards the "apron" on Texel. Boy was it busy today. Some oligarchs had flown in on a Beech 200 King Air, and there was the usual gaggle of Dutch day trippers and German vacationers. After the previous debacle I had experienced when I tried to taxy over to Micheal's hanger when the dropzone was active, I called up Ed and asked him if I could have him marshal me over there. He replied that if I made a move for it, I should be OK. But, in this funny old world, the Cessna Caravans has just emptied their bellies of those adrenaline junkies and they were already touching down left, right and centre. I stayed put on the apron and then was given the go ahead to taxy to Michaels and asked to shut down the engine ASAP. This is were it went a little Tango Uniform.</span><br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiyht7my0nMqSGk103xxMPKYXrgdH0lNi9vcy04Jj5FdLyq5MDEZ_yzeE5NwAoISwHc-HfrFmZee72fIrylJqdC3eszCET5u6yOV7gMBIbk-tChbfeawJ_hBlVzI8BWuHdNJrha/s1600/IMG_8450.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiyht7my0nMqSGk103xxMPKYXrgdH0lNi9vcy04Jj5FdLyq5MDEZ_yzeE5NwAoISwHc-HfrFmZee72fIrylJqdC3eszCET5u6yOV7gMBIbk-tChbfeawJ_hBlVzI8BWuHdNJrha/s400/IMG_8450.JPG" width="400" /></a></div><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">I thought Ed meant to shut down as soon as I was on the concrete taxiway that leads into his hanger. This made sense to me so as to avoid chopping off the adrenaline junkies arms as they walked back, or worse, landed into my spinning propeller when they came in to land. But alas he meant to taxy all the way up to the hanger and shut off ASAP. So as I climbed out of the cockpit after shutting down I was welcomed by the blonde fire eating dragon called Martina who works for Paracentrum Texel. She was adamant that she didn't care if I chopped off arms and legs, but that I was "on her dropzone and to get off quickly". Fair enough....."chop away"....sorry, "chocks away".</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">The last thing this funny old world threw at me today was the sad sad sight of the C177 sitting in Michaels hanger after somebody twanged her after a poorly judged landing attempt on the island a few weeks ago. I had the joy of flying G-BAJE, a really gorgeous airplane, when M and I held this years annual "Flying BBQ Extravaganza". I got checked out on her and was taught the many peculiarities of the all-flying tailplane and <a href="http://claythonsairborne.blogspot.com/2010/04/tulip-fieldsbbq-extravaganza.html">wrote about the difficulties</a> of handling the round-out during the flare.</span><br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjBzCG9SNVJLOZjoX_ZmNfeYWYAHCA4YubC8CJOjx36cVT-yL6frJJ5MchBCQNVzPZWghpeMyKDqJQVX6_D7Jf7_Tey-_12jtxUGzwvj6T8_qpm4J7cnqfciY5AN-R8CGq1z6vD/s1600/IMG_8476.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjBzCG9SNVJLOZjoX_ZmNfeYWYAHCA4YubC8CJOjx36cVT-yL6frJJ5MchBCQNVzPZWghpeMyKDqJQVX6_D7Jf7_Tey-_12jtxUGzwvj6T8_qpm4J7cnqfciY5AN-R8CGq1z6vD/s400/IMG_8476.JPG" width="300" /></a></div><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEha6YxkAyVRWm7dpyC3I6-CllLU4e1NorpICC00AuFex6TdqMx7Xe-2egEpBs1CgloF52RKHQUug1kAD3Dc7JryqN7CeSn5LFzHF4LiSG32WaRsQz9c-qdy0GEp6r4EARIZ6shx/s1600/IMG_8478.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEha6YxkAyVRWm7dpyC3I6-CllLU4e1NorpICC00AuFex6TdqMx7Xe-2egEpBs1CgloF52RKHQUug1kAD3Dc7JryqN7CeSn5LFzHF4LiSG32WaRsQz9c-qdy0GEp6r4EARIZ6shx/s400/IMG_8478.JPG" width="400" /></a></div><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Depending on who you talk to, the pilot who was a low time PPL, and experienced problems during the flare, over correcting so much that he either hit the tail first and then bounced hard on the nose gear, or he hit the nose gear first, but with such force that he managed to twist, bend and warp the nose wheel, oleo strut, engine mount, firewall, stringers and the prop. The damage is quite extensive, but not blatantly so. But enough that it may be a total loss. So sadly I may be that I never get a chance to fly her again. :-( </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">"Nippy" will be in Michaels capable hands for a few weeks and then we'll see what this funny old world has in store for us both then.</span>CMPhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16320314777024581442noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-34694909.post-31180190359672941232010-08-15T00:05:00.003+02:002011-06-17T09:44:55.652+02:00Swapping the Jersey Islands for Texel Island<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgGUsJrbQuDV5XgtIJBdwA-QHrOGmCXNaDnMNoNwBVHjy6d-yvVRjHaJyRgwxKHkNLkenlaC2G3A2vCXCDRQDE6em3FL5ipcnghSa6intFPgHESABXce9sKjnn3QK14uDFInA5f/s1600/Texel1-Frisone-Olanda-front.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="291" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgGUsJrbQuDV5XgtIJBdwA-QHrOGmCXNaDnMNoNwBVHjy6d-yvVRjHaJyRgwxKHkNLkenlaC2G3A2vCXCDRQDE6em3FL5ipcnghSa6intFPgHESABXce9sKjnn3QK14uDFInA5f/s400/Texel1-Frisone-Olanda-front.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"> </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">I have been suffering a wee bit from cabin fever, ever since the gorgeous Summer weather decided to up sticks and bolt to the southern climes of this fair continent that is Europe. But since I have the Wooden Wonder, aka "Nippy", I thought that I'd make the best of the cards that Summer had dealt us and planned a long weekend chasing the sun south.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">I've always wanted to visit the Jersey Islands, and as a pilot, it's also a destination which provides a nice challenge to add to your skillset. You are effectively flying in Class "A" airspace and so need special dispensation from ATC to complete the mission. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">The plan was to take a leisurely flight to Jersey, stopping off at picturesque Dieppe for lunch on the way. But as is the case with all the best laid plans, <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">the weather was less obliging. A large trough of low pressure was edging southwards from the UK and Ireland and was forecast to settle along the Northern French coast and hover over the islands for the entire weekend, hampering any effort to get there and back and also resulting in us choosing to spend a weekend in the rain. Once bitten and all that, I decided to stay away from volatile weather systems and chose the old adage of "better to be on the ground wishing to be in the air, than being in the air wishing you were on the ground", so I decided to scrub the Jersey trip.</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Initially I was a little bummed. I checked to see what the weather was going to do elsewhere. Funnily enough, as is usually the case, Mother Nature was playing silly buggers and plonked a great big HIGH right over Holland. So we decided on a short hop over to Texel. A recent development has been the transfer of Nippy maintenance from the Wallet Grabbing Extortionists in France to a more able and reasonable AME actually on Texel. So I arranged to meet them on Saturday, have them look the plane over and discuss what is required to have them take over the job of applying TLC to Nippy from now on.</span></span><br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgsiVMJThQsUFdXALc3ahpiaX1cdrZM-wgP7kSVA4uZykyMHhPAc2W0-wxId3bpEeTj03uNA7w8rJaQC-a5HjB3rMRYdSX_SwKZL9UNuoKCQd3DMyNTB2TKFRmjhZkpFTFbjUat/s1600/Dc3.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="225" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgsiVMJThQsUFdXALc3ahpiaX1cdrZM-wgP7kSVA4uZykyMHhPAc2W0-wxId3bpEeTj03uNA7w8rJaQC-a5HjB3rMRYdSX_SwKZL9UNuoKCQd3DMyNTB2TKFRmjhZkpFTFbjUat/s400/Dc3.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">The sight of having one of the Aviodromes DC3's sat next to us at the run up area got Malinka's pulse racing. She was amazed at the size of it compared to our little Nippy. The DC3 had 21 POB and was off on a pleasure flight around the polder. I pushed the throttles to max power and we were shooting up into the hazy skies above. A brisk 30 minutes later and we were on final for Runway 04 and a greaser of a landing on Texels' green sod. </span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">A very nice meeting with the new AME has meant that we're really happy with the decision to have to folks in Texel look after Nippy from now on, and given it's a 30 minute flight to Lelystad, I will certainly save money on the simple logistics I getting down to Strasbourg and back. </span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Au Revoir </span>Extorqueur.....Goede Dag Verfrissende Verandering.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"> </span></span>CMPhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16320314777024581442noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-34694909.post-44901199483578820452010-07-25T22:04:00.003+02:002011-04-26T16:20:20.501+02:00Pan Pan Pan ........ Diverted to Eindhoven<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Day two of our weekend away, and it was one of those</span><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"> times when you review the weather, expect one thing but experience another. You remember I mentioned the Summer Sun a few days ago? Well it's gone on vacation!!</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">I filed the flightplan to Lelystad as an exact reversal of the route we took yesterday. The weather showed rain showers on the radar moving eastwards. Given the speed they were moving, it was reasonable to expect them to have dissipated by the time we were taking off. But that was not to be the case!!</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">When we arrived at the airfield, the tower was closed for 30 mins due to a "lunch-break". As we sat outside the cafe we opened the charts and I decided to avoid Dusseldorf on the way back. I didn't want to deal their ATC, so we routed in a westerly </span><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">direction and avoided their CTR. BUT, and this is were it gets interesting, to the north where I wanted to go, there was low hanging clouds, rain showers and general nastiness to be avoided at all costs. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Malinka didn't seem fazed at all. She figured out the day before that her travel-sick tummy was a result of being dehydrated and flying on an empty stomach. She stocked up on good hearty German cuisine earlier for lunch, and she was happily staring out the window and looking for other aircraft as we trundled along. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">I continued my track westwards, passing South of Moechengladbach, eventually turning North over Roermond. Langen had me switch over to Dutch Mil Information and they cleared me to cross the Vokel and De Peel CTR's. But as we passed about 10 NM's east of Helmond, I had to descend due to a lowering cloud base. With the weather deteriorating all around me, and my warm and fuzzy meter rapidly moving towards the red arc, I told Malinka that I was going to declare an Emergency and divert due to the weather.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">I declared a Pan Pan Pan with Dutch Mil who immediately swung into action. They asked me which direction I had the better visibility. I could see clearer to the west. The consensus was to divert to Eindhoven, so they gave me a heading to steer. I was also trying to avoid the showers that were ahead of us, but Dutch Mil helpfully obliged by giving steering headings to enable me to intercept the ILS for final to runway 22 at Eindhoven. At one point she asked if I had the airfield in sight, mentioning that they'd turned the runway lighting to FULL to help me find it. It wasn't long before we had the field in sight and I was asked to contact Tower for a smooth landing. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">After I landed and taxied off the runway, I got a little confused and I think I called Eindhoven Ground "Lelystad Ground". I guess that my brain had decided to relax after working hard to get us on the ground. We were marshalled to the GA parking and parked NP beside a Canadian AF A300 parked beside us. The Marshaller helped us refuel (at €2.70 a litre, I will NEVER be buying fuel in Eindhoven again) and then he drove us to the Flight Ops Office so we could consult the weather radar and make a decision on when/if to leave for Lelystad.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Malinka and I looked at the weather radar in Eindhoven and decided that the front was passing through and we could be off again in an hour. Eindhoven then tried to charge me €80....YES!!! €80 for a landing fee. Guess who won't be coming to Eindhoven anytime soon!! I told them that I had declared an Emergency and that the fee should be waived....which it was.</span><br />
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</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">An hour later, we were strapped back into "Nippy" and soon on our way again. This time the weather was clearer (a small bit of clag just north of Eindhoven was all we had) and we were edging closer and closer to Lelystad. Malinka wasn't impressed with the landing I made in Lelystad, having given a thumbs up in Koln and Eindhoven and a thumbs down at Lelystad. I guess I was just glad to be back and was not bothered that I didn't pull off a greaser :-)</span><br />
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</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Lessons learned? Well, my training paid off. But I will ask the FIS for more frequent weather updates next time I come face to face with a lowering cloudbase. Oh, and the quicker you let ATC know, the quicker they can put an action plan in place to help get you out of the predicament you're currently facing. </span><br />
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</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">A HUGE thank you to the girls manning Dutch Mil Info today. Malinka and I truly appreciated your professionalism and help today.</span>CMPhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16320314777024581442noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-34694909.post-54581711057211652242010-07-25T21:34:00.002+02:002011-04-26T16:21:59.815+02:00To Koln for Koelsch and Wursten<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Yesterday saw a milestone as a plane owner. We decided to spend a weekend away somewhere, and decided to use the Robin to get us there. It was a daunting prospect given that it's Malinka's first time flying in the Robin with me. Malinka's flown before; when we flew in Florida in 2008 and on a few jaunts to Texel and back) but she preferred to sit in the back where she could sleep. Given that the Robin is a cosy cockpit and that she has no "back seat" to fall asleep on, I was a little worried she'd hate it straight away.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">The destination choice? It had to be somewhere close (about an hour's flight away), somewhere fun, and somewhere we knew we'd really enjoy. So we decided on Koln. We bought love the beers, food and atmosphere in Koln. So it was settled....Koln.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">I also had a plan B up my sleeve. Our friends Andrew and Angelina decided to come to Koln also. Only they were taking the car. Which meant if Malinka really hated flying in the Robin, she could get a lift back with A&A in the car.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">I filed the flightplan Friday evening and we were up early to get to Lelystad. When we arrived, we quickly pushed the Robin out of the hanger, fueled up and headed off into the wild blue yonder.</span><br />
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</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">The planned routing was as straight a line as was possible down through Dusseldorf and into Koln Leverkusen airfield. Leverkusen is a grass field, extremely busy with glider activity from the filed, both in the form of glider towing and winch launching. The transit through Dutch airspace was uneventful. But when we approached Dusseldorf's Class C airspace, I contacted Langen Information and explained to them that I would like to transit overhead Dusseldorf (as filed) and to ask them if it was possible. This was a good 10-15 mins before I would even reach Dusseldorf's Control Zone (CTR). The response?? NEGATIVE. I was pretty pissed off because I was at a height that would not conflict with their approaches, and a deviation around the airfield would add another 15-20 mins to the flight. SO I turned left 30 degrees to avoid Dusseldorf.</span><br />
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</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">But then our luck changed. Langen called back, gave me a heading to steer and told me that I was approved to cross the airfield. NICE!! As we got closer, I called Dusseldorf tower who gave me a Squawk code and asked me to transition from reporting point "November", which is at Duisberg, north of Dusseldorf airport. Now, here's the thing. There was a NOTAM closing airspace over Duisberg (which the Controller should have been aware of), so rather than overflying the closed airspace, I flew abeam November. The result??? A piss ant controller whinging at me. I decided to ignore his pissy comments and carried on as cleared. When I cleared his airspace I called to inform him and got a "Hmmmm, well I suppose you are" Seems he wasn't as bothered about me crossing afterall if he wasn't paying attention to where I was. Anyway, bygones.</span><br />
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</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Malinka was by now getting twitchy and asking "Are we there yet?". With the turbulence from the clouds above she started to feel a little queasy. But we were only 15 mins away after crossing Dusseldorf.</span><br />
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</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">I told Langen I was switching to Koln Leverkusen and set-up for the descent. With the airfield in sight, Leverkusen was keen to let me know about the traffic in the pattern and gliders in the area. I had traffic pass underneath me and slowed down to follow him into the pattern. I was number three for landing, behind a glider being towed and the plane that had passed below me. Malinka perked up a bit when she saw the airfield and I stabilised us for a long final behind the landing traffic ahead of us. When we landed, we rang the guys who were trying to find the hotel in their car. The fun bit was the teasing we had when we met up about who was quicker. Given we left an hour and a half late than they did, and check into the hotel 15 minutes behind them, I think we were quickest on the day :-)</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">It was so much fun to travel together for a weekend away. And with the landing/overnight fees of only €5.50, we'll be back again soon.</span><br />
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</span>CMPhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16320314777024581442noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-34694909.post-14809648573926615812010-07-20T21:10:00.001+02:002011-06-17T09:41:16.670+02:00Enjoying the Summer sun<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">It's been a fantastic Summer so far, and no shortage of flyable weather days. The only downside to all this sunshine is the fact that I'm slogging away in the garden building a pond rather than up in the air flying. But I managed to escape the garden last week and got up for a few hours, and even managed to bring one of my best friends along for the ride too.</span><br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgWVdG0oo5FvrkEfdCg_Ge8uMXZgdgcBjtILdp9OYMyHMYKWjuJRZ1TybHhJr3kyxlkFQdmmMNfX9nYza8mWgRzEyREsqagoVMC12zVst5Axfl5oh9xgrsN-cARaw0gk0T7H1xM/s1600/Clay+Robin+EHTX.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="267" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgWVdG0oo5FvrkEfdCg_Ge8uMXZgdgcBjtILdp9OYMyHMYKWjuJRZ1TybHhJr3kyxlkFQdmmMNfX9nYza8mWgRzEyREsqagoVMC12zVst5Axfl5oh9xgrsN-cARaw0gk0T7H1xM/s400/Clay+Robin+EHTX.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">The plan was to take "NP" across over to Texel, meet with a potential new Aircraft Maintenance organisation, and then carry on South along the Dutch coast and back into Lelystad. The only thing to put a spanner in the works was the wind....it was STRONG, and it meant that as time was pressing on, we had to cut short how far South we'd ultimately go, in order to keep to our "other world" schedules.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"> </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">With Andrew joining me in the cockpit, I decided to take it easy and let him try his arm at flying while I took care of the radios, nav and looking out for traffic. We refuelled the plane and were soon up and heading for the coast.</span><br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjJzHbMaSFE9jPjZ-om7q-_lMRJu-bbhSEL1z5tjQVjz2gZcnPmoBC8iSk-HChJkEcmbuyoBGaB4DXoYg4eqGrel7y8RVYHE4uxTFSXR5ixJ20-6WD0HpAy6-ZQqmwTrxjdAk0O/s1600/Andrew+Robin+EHTX.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="267" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjJzHbMaSFE9jPjZ-om7q-_lMRJu-bbhSEL1z5tjQVjz2gZcnPmoBC8iSk-HChJkEcmbuyoBGaB4DXoYg4eqGrel7y8RVYHE4uxTFSXR5ixJ20-6WD0HpAy6-ZQqmwTrxjdAk0O/s400/Andrew+Robin+EHTX.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">The trip to Texel is really very simple and straight forward, and it's pretty difficult to get lost. The basic route is to head for Lelystad city, follow the dyke across to Enkhuizen, then follow the coast to the beginning of the Afsluitdijk, and you should already be able to see the island of Texel in the distance.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Andrew took the controls early on into the flight after he had snapped some interesting photo's. As we made our way closer to Texel, I contacted Ed who was working Texel Radio that day and we were told that runway 22 was in operation. Andrew though was having doubts. It seems that I had neglected to mention to him that Texel was a grass runway. So I was oblivious to the reasons why he kept asking where exactly the runway was, because he was looking for a strip of tarmac rather that a grass runway. It was only until I had lined us up on final that he let out a "Oh....it's grass" that I realised why he was having issues.</span><br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgitjhPwp0tfQrGrCPKPHkS1roVxO3z78FzfW98Dai84j3MfyGCFE_PIW4iHn_z3e7YgjfppIAvc1UlqgPi5Q_t0wciXZoAmZUQAEIAzLfG7LX3GFIe0EIr_95Jcuhp2JGDQcQk/s1600/Short+Final+EHTX.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="267" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgitjhPwp0tfQrGrCPKPHkS1roVxO3z78FzfW98Dai84j3MfyGCFE_PIW4iHn_z3e7YgjfppIAvc1UlqgPi5Q_t0wciXZoAmZUQAEIAzLfG7LX3GFIe0EIr_95Jcuhp2JGDQcQk/s400/Short+Final+EHTX.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">We paid our landing fee and had a quick bite. A few poses in front of "NP" and we were climbing back into the cockpit and starting her up again. In the beginning, taxiing out was quite a bumpy affair. The ground is all chewed up from those Cessna Caravan's that take the skydivers up for their parachute jumps. But I soon found that by keeping to the far right where the grass was longer and greener was much smoother.</span><br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiN51Cd8Y0xxWukUU9rhyphenhyphen0WkVEkoVAl4G0T084sipcZKMhdJRwyd9eeRCmPAWO2sWKoUQnae1aQs_zNZVo2TAzKxtMeK7OqhPMxO_mev9BjYspWC8bqTJdp9WYjqt8itTxoqiRj/s1600/Para's.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="267" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiN51Cd8Y0xxWukUU9rhyphenhyphen0WkVEkoVAl4G0T084sipcZKMhdJRwyd9eeRCmPAWO2sWKoUQnae1aQs_zNZVo2TAzKxtMeK7OqhPMxO_mev9BjYspWC8bqTJdp9WYjqt8itTxoqiRj/s400/Para's.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">I took-off and held "NP" in ground effect for a while, building up speed before yanking back on the stick and climbing fast. I think Andrew liked it because there was a grin on his face and a slight "woohoo" from his headset. I love doing those soft-field take-offs. I asked Ed if he could open the flightplan I filed earlier so we could transition across De Kooy's CTR (Control Zone) which is Class C and we switched the radio over to De Kooy Tower.</span><br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgytKz1uQb4M4a9bH6Leh8TM8qgLWqCj_6i47A-g6tsPmy11T4p5n-UBeega_4PxrJL-CE0uUCwz6tdNGsCSiP1b2SafSWY4nh0gEYSP_JZC9CJu7GrKJxF7GW4VYRuxhaou6f7/s1600/Texel+ferry.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="267" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgytKz1uQb4M4a9bH6Leh8TM8qgLWqCj_6i47A-g6tsPmy11T4p5n-UBeega_4PxrJL-CE0uUCwz6tdNGsCSiP1b2SafSWY4nh0gEYSP_JZC9CJu7GrKJxF7GW4VYRuxhaou6f7/s400/Texel+ferry.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">De Kooy were nice and let us transition North to South directly over the airport. Andrew took the camera out again and started snapping at the harbour with all the Dutch naval boats and the ferry docked in Den Helder. When we cleared De Kooy's CTR we headed straight for the coast. With the headwinds blowing quite hard at around 25 knots we decided to see how far South we could get before having to cut across Schiphol and head back home. Andrew was flying again so I started to snap away at the people on the beach. Sadly, we were too high to spot anyone laying topless on the sands below :-(</span><br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiQkn8-pTv47tWWQkxd_hJboYuzwcdwfeZgOAu15d6zxiL03-AeojAfx1Bze2Tzn9wA07orF5sDPAfKlNMrPOGl4ogfxJ2uo-1WFq-DhM-NIfHo2p_ZaIEMM4MxOIMKboJhn2TV/s1600/Beach.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="267" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiQkn8-pTv47tWWQkxd_hJboYuzwcdwfeZgOAu15d6zxiL03-AeojAfx1Bze2Tzn9wA07orF5sDPAfKlNMrPOGl4ogfxJ2uo-1WFq-DhM-NIfHo2p_ZaIEMM4MxOIMKboJhn2TV/s400/Beach.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">I was half expecting to see some traffic flying in the opposite direction but it seemed that we were the only plane out flying that afternoon along the coast. We got as far as Zandvoort when I decided that we would need to head back or be late for our appointments. So I called up Schiphol Tower and requested permission to transit their CTR West to East and exit via the Amsterdam Sector. As is usually the case with chaps working the Schiphol Tower, our request was approved. We were asked to enter via Hoofddorp, pass west of the tower and enter the AMS Sector from Badhoevedorp. </span><br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgw8WmkTCO_j75vv1aEgP7QFWFU-yEmXxANlc2IZ4jSxQ7p0aBffyC52K-vWq5abxcn_y8dc02Ceq_WEbz5WGazw2K7WbL3jt3UTjxpzglkXg-YRLu9qCBLEt4BRlNKCvs-BCQJ/s1600/EHAM+Tower.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="267" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgw8WmkTCO_j75vv1aEgP7QFWFU-yEmXxANlc2IZ4jSxQ7p0aBffyC52K-vWq5abxcn_y8dc02Ceq_WEbz5WGazw2K7WbL3jt3UTjxpzglkXg-YRLu9qCBLEt4BRlNKCvs-BCQJ/s400/EHAM+Tower.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Andrew got almost giddy at this stage with the prospect of overflying Schiphol. Again, camera at the ready he was snapping away happily. He got some nice shots and enjoyed the view, while I aimed us towards Museumplein from Badhoevedorp. When we entered the Sector we did a few tight turns for some city shots before exiting Schiphols CTR near Ijburg.</span><br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiJbTcTtPNHzMfm2q5r4ltz2mZoxurbcPY-EWoJmwabNSIecTZkAXXzKw-33CaZCAQiZRinIk0gerY-1QnPcuPiWBfnOhDuC0LfTeN0fmua_tnlmMzceXGR-Ku8jiLVW_tn5iQN/s1600/EHAM+from+above2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="267" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiJbTcTtPNHzMfm2q5r4ltz2mZoxurbcPY-EWoJmwabNSIecTZkAXXzKw-33CaZCAQiZRinIk0gerY-1QnPcuPiWBfnOhDuC0LfTeN0fmua_tnlmMzceXGR-Ku8jiLVW_tn5iQN/s400/EHAM+from+above2.jpg" width="400" /></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjgZ5yHhvYHQ2nysuKhKdSwznz2sB7FLry-bqlk6ckSU0Vqi-KCVGRNaESGb3OrBmIMgTwuAt6AKoxCo3McDUi_-kVrKpVpjyBrmCnuhH1deqqztQIM6G4C0CkzU2EGUjI5GqrC/s1600/EHAM+from+above.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="267" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjgZ5yHhvYHQ2nysuKhKdSwznz2sB7FLry-bqlk6ckSU0Vqi-KCVGRNaESGb3OrBmIMgTwuAt6AKoxCo3McDUi_-kVrKpVpjyBrmCnuhH1deqqztQIM6G4C0CkzU2EGUjI5GqrC/s400/EHAM+from+above.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">The last time Andrew had come flying we tried to get a picture of his house in Almere, but it was too far away for anything decent, so we made our way towards his neighbourhood and made a tight circle around his block so he could photograph it from front to back. I almost had to do a wingover to reposition myself for another shot from the opposite direction, but I think he got off a few decent pics.</span><br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEilsJ1K5uDvBoGMW8RSymZmWMpvIUdroKrXTJuxaUR0VB53H1diBY5pabEkM9fXiEAnvZO6ykHDq_68f1tRCjaxcEZBLiIHhMYXvK90TzbgCqQOuEW5vr_s0Oi1NNzJajXaJA6C/s1600/Andrews+house.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="267" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEilsJ1K5uDvBoGMW8RSymZmWMpvIUdroKrXTJuxaUR0VB53H1diBY5pabEkM9fXiEAnvZO6ykHDq_68f1tRCjaxcEZBLiIHhMYXvK90TzbgCqQOuEW5vr_s0Oi1NNzJajXaJA6C/s400/Andrews+house.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Andrew flew us then towards Bravo at Lelystad and I did the pre-landing checks before taking back the controls and landing us safely. It was a fantastic Summer flying day, and I got to fly along the Western coastline this time, something I had never done before. I think Andrew is well and truly hooked on this flying malarkey. The next planned trips are a boys day out to Germany, and I'm planning to fly to Cologne next weekend (weather permitting). With the ever present High's over this part of Europe, it's shaping up to be a great Summer for flying!!</span><br />
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</span>CMPhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16320314777024581442noreply@blogger.com0