Buzzing the tulip fields

Well, Spring is in the air, and with it comes some fantastic flying weather. At this time of the year the weather is turning to warmer climes but the dust and dirt has not yet had a chance to get lifted into the air on the warm columns or rising air, which means that you can expect pretty good visibility in all directions as opposed to Summer flying when you can expect a layer of clag hanging around at the inversion layer.

Today's sortie or sorts was to bimble around the tulip fields of Northern Holland. Something I have wanted to do since I got my PPL but had never managed to get up in the air for whatever reason during blooming season. The weather forecast all weekend was for sunshine, but when I awoke on Saturday I thought the weather men had gotten it completely wrong. Saturday as it turned out was indeed a write-off, but as luck would have it, I had planned to go up on the Sunday, and when I awoke and had breakfast and my morning coffee the sun started to burn off the early morning mists and the sun was playing centre stage.

While Marina entertained the dog, I whipped out the map and had a look at where might be a good place to go. I had initially planned to go towards Lisse, but those crazy Dutchies have scuppered those plans....and also any future idea's of overflying Amsterdam with friends. They've introduced a new SRZ (Special Rules Zone) which prohibits VFR flying inside the Schiphol CTR. The reason for this apparently is that since the introduction of Mode S transponders, the radar scopes that ATC use are now cluttered and they cannot provide safe separation. I'm guessing that the Mode S tx's give more info which must show-up on the screens. If you ask me, all they need are bigger screens which would help with the clutter. But after talking with some fellow pilots yesterday, they think that this has been their (ATC) golden goose in terms of finding an excuse to kick VFR traffic out of the CTR. Which the way the SID's (Standard Instrument Departures) and STAR's (Standard Arrival Routes) are set-up for Schiphol, there really isn't a lot of work for ATC whenever a VFR flight passes through, but cést la vie. I'll keep you posted on any updates, as the AIP stated that they were "working on a solution". I personally won't be holding my breath.


Anyway, after chatting with Wouter in Polder about the new SRZ I asked if he thought I would be excluded. The rules stated that all Mode S equipped aircraft wouldn't be allowed in, but I had an old Mode C tx in my plane. He said give it a go and let him know how I got on. I did, and failed. ATC wouldn't let me anywhere near the CTR even told them I was Mode C equipped. Unless, I was told, that I intended to land in Schiphol, I was not allowed in.....BUGGER!!

No worries, I turned the plane Northwest and headed towards the fields over Noord Holland. It was a gorgeous day, and F-NP (if anyone can come up with a cuter name, then let me know) was enjoying it as much as I was. Over the water of the Ijsselmeer she settled down and was as smooth as silk. Overland though, the thermals bumped her ever so slightly. She's a very light plane, only 600kg's MTOW, so she can get a little jittery if a stiff breeze is blowing, or in rising thermals.


With the camera in my hand and a few fields spotted, I did a few orbits and snapped away. Mission complete, I then headed towards the Afsluitdijk for the crossing over towards Texel. The closer I got to the island the better the visibility, and pretty soon I was talking to Ed in Texel asking for the airfield info. Runway 04 was in use today, so pretty simple approach. I've noticed with the clean lines on the wing of the little Robin that F-NP is very slippery and hard to slow-down. I was a little high initially on finals, but I put in the remainder of the flaps and throttled all the way back. Today's landing was an indication for the rest of the day...very smooth and gentle.

After taxying back to the apron and paying the landing fees I got talking to Ed about landing fees in general here in Holland. Texel is the cheapest in terms of Full-stop and touch and go's, but I was asking him his opinion that charging for touch and go's puts some pilots off of practicing their landings. I know though that I'd journey over to Texel to do them rather than pay the HUGE price in they charge in Lelystad!! Ed went out to take some photo's of F-NP as she was a new visitor to the airfield. Marina called to ask when I'd be back. That was my signal to head off again, and so goodbyes to Ed and I was off.


Crossing back though was a bit of a pain in the arse. I had Amsterdam Info providing FIS all the way over to Texel, but when I left Texel, I couldn't raise them on the radio at all. I called De Kooy tower for the frequency of De Kooy Approach to ask them to give me FIS service. The boys in De Kooy were only too happy to oblige and every few minutes suggest I try Ams Info again. It wasn't until I was near Enkhuizen that Ams Info could hear me. Very strange. But there wasn't much in the way of traffic at all. I took the scenic route to the North of the Lely Polder and then headed South towards Haarderwijk to join BRAVO.

Lelystad was pretty quiet, considering the weather. I think I was only one of two airplanes in the circuit. I turned downwind, did the before landing checks, throttled back on base leg and then turned final, selecting the last notch of flaps. Once again, the little Robin just kissed the Earth...what a smooth landing. Maybe my friend Matt is right......low-wings seem to have a more pronounced ground effect and the landings seem to be greasers a higher percentage of the time. :-)

Off at Delta and taxy back to the hanger to tuck F-NP into bed. I have to say that the 3 hours clocked on her were a lot of fun. I had thought that I would get cramp or something, but it wasn't so. And with only 11 litres of fuel drank during those 3 hours flying, it has to be one of the cheapest flights. That's €5.50 per flying based on the fuel consumed, and I wasn't flying too lean either. A few more hours under the belt and looking forward to the next bimble. Now if I can only convince Marina :-)

Back in the saddle

Yesterday we took our new puppy, Alko, to Naarden and then on to the coast. With the weather being so nice, and with us being so close to both Hilversum and Lelystad airports, my thoughts turned skyward again. Marina knows that every now and then I simply HAVE to go flying, regardless. She calls it my "flying addiction" and she knows that pretty soon I'm gonna have to go flying, no matter what. So today was one of those days.

I spent a while last night looking at the TAF's and also figuring out where to take "November Papa". I was deciding on Ameland, or Midden Zeeland. But in the end, I thought why not do a round robin and test the new GPS software from PocketFMS. I downloaded it onto my old Qtek mobile phone and tested it on a train journey earlier in the year. I fiddled with the setting and practiced using it en-route. But of course, nothing is quite like the real thing. So with the GPS software updated and the latest WX and flight plan uploaded we were off.

It was also a fun time since we were going to introduce Alko to life at the airport for the first time. Marina had not seen "NP" yet either, so it was a chance for her to check out the plane. She really liked the plane and looked all round it. I did the walk-round and sat in the cockpit. Marina and Alko sat on the bench and waved goodbye as I taxied out to the run-up area. I started up the GPS and lined up for take-off.

It was pretty blowy today, and I had to use the rudder a lot after lifting off, but I was soon climbing up to the cloud base and settled her in the cruise at about 700-800ft. Any higher and I was zipping in and out of clag. So I kept low enough to avoid the cloud but high enough to avoid the wind farms.

The mission for today was to do a round-robin trip from Lelystad towards Teuge, then route North to Zwolle and back towards Lelystad. But I ran into a fair bit of turbulence overhead the forest between Harderwijk and Apeldoorn. I was also worried a little about carb-icing but the engine was ticking over nicely. With a strong tailwind (GS was about 125kts) I was soon overhead Teuge and turning towards Zwolle. Zwolle was pretty easy to find (just follow the river North and hey presto) and soon I was turning South West for Lelystad. The GPS was working perfectly, and even flashed whenever the airspace changed or if an obstacle was up ahead. I just need to get myself a cradle for the window to hold the GPS whilst flying.

Heading towards Lelystad, the weather started to turn a little sour. I found myself zipping in and out of the odd light shower here and there. I was told by the folks in Lelystad's tower to keep an eye out for a Beechcraft King Air on long final. I found the traffic, and set myself up into the circuit, letting down slowly. The Robin really does turn on a dime and it's so lovely to fly in the circuit. With the last little bit of flap to bring in, I was set-up nicely for the approach. Just a little crosswind to deal with. With a little flare, the main wheels kissed the ground gently and I rolled clear of the runway.

Marina and Alko helped me put "NP" to bed......I pushed as they looked on and made sure I didn't hit anything. Another hour in the log book.

Oh, before I go, there's one last thing to let you know about....the new cafe above Martinair's flight school. It's always existed, just run by somebody else before. But now it's under new management and they have a new menu....which is FANTASTIC. Marina had a mustard and taragon soup with a salmon/cheese toasted sandwich, and I had a fantastic BLT with a mayo mixed with a small amount of chili peppers. If you're looking for somewhere to visit on the airfield for some food, then check out the restaurant above Martinair. We both totally recommend it. Oh....and it was THE best service I've had in Holland. They even gave Alko a bowl of water ;-)

Blue Skies.

Test Flying F-NP

Well as I had planned, I managed to get up last week. The weather here in Holland has been lovely the last week or so. Bitterly cold but with a large Polar airmass resulting in a high pressure sitting right over the Netherlands. That means frosty days but "gin clear" skys to go flying in.

I had a couple of chores to do before I headed off to the airport...the most important one was to buy Marina her Christmas pressie. But once I got all that squared away I headed off to the airport.

F-NP was tucked up in a nice warm hanger. But she was put into a tight corner right next to another airplane and I was scared of twanging her on the hanger door or against someone else's plane and having her suffer from hanger rash. Thankfully I managed to squeeze her out into the cold winter air and I ran in to grab my headset and the ships papers.

The mission today was to do some airwork and get used to her handling, so I planned for some touch and go's, stalls and steep turns. But getting her started was a challenge in itself. As I may have mentioned, Marinus had replaced the voltage-meter and put some oil in the engine. But she was proving a troublesome girl who doesn't like being taken out into the cold from her warm bed. When I would do the run up checks and select the carb heat, the engine would quit. Not a good thing to happen especially when lowering the RPM in the pattern and choosing the carb heat selector to keep the carb warm. A little troubleshooting and I managed to figured out what was wrong. With a check of the windsock, I was off.....or so I was to think.

Just after I rotated and lifted off, the ASI began to show ZERO knots!!! WTF!!! I pulled the power back, told ATC and landed her back on the runway....there was lots of tarmac ahead of me to do it. Someone behind had to go around, but I was safe on the ground and trying to figure out what was wrong with the ASI. I put the pitot heat on and everything read OK. So off I went again.

The Robin is so light that she almost jumps into the air by herself. I will try and figure out how far the Robin takes to lift-off the next time I fly and try some short field and soft field take-offs. But for now I wanted to feel her handling in the pattern and in the air.

I did a few touch and go's, she's very slippy and hard to lose speed because the wing is laminar flow in design with no rivets anywhere to be found. But I soon got used to her in the pattern. She's slow int he pattern with the rest of the traffic, so when I was used to lowering the flaps just before turning on base-leg in the Cessna, I don't bother to lower them until mid-way on base-leg and then the rest on final, so as to ensure I don't affect the traffic in the pattern behind me.

At this point I would like to agree with my friend Matt. Matt as you may know from previous blogs, has fallen in love with the Piper. I never liked the piper, purely from an aesthetics thing and the Johnson Bar method for lowering the flaps. But he did tell me his landings had become smoother with the low wing of the Piper...and I've noticed the same thing with my landings. That extra cushioning you get from the lower wing on the Robin seems to have the same effect the Piper's low wing had for Matt. Nice :-)

After three or four circuits I left teh circuit and headed North. Clear of traffic, I set her up for some stalls and found her to stall clean at about 36 knots and with a dirty wing at about 33 knots. I think the C172 would regularly stall for me when I was training at around 40 knots. But there is no real departure from control flight and the stall horn blew about 2 knots before the stall on each occaision. It's reassuring to know that it's consistent with handling.

Steep turns were a little difficult, simply because the nose cowling is so short and there are not many useful reference points to use to maintain the position on the horizon. I got the hang of it, but will try them when I go flying again.

After about an hour of test flying, I decided to head off home. I was late for an appointment with our neighbours...a pre-Christmas drink. The sun was low on the horizon and I was approaching from the North West so it was sometimes difficult to see the traffic. And at that time of the evening there were a lot of folks returning before the sun came down for good that day. I did a 360 orbit (the visibility is FANTASTIC) to slot in behind someone else and followed them into the pattern for a Full Stop landing. Again, another smooth landing and taxi back to the hanger left me smiling from ear to ear. She handles beautifully and you really feel like you're part of the plane. The next few flights will probably be more fact finding apropos handling charteristics, but I'm comfortable to take her further afield now....afterall, I fewrried her back from Strasbourg :-)

Let's see if the weather tomorrow is gonna be nice...... I just checked, it is :-)

Hoping to fly tomorrow

Well, I have not flown for for a few weeks and I am starting to suffer from "get-up-there itis". I got an email from Marinus to tell me that the voltage-meter that caused the electrical problems on the ferry flight from Strasbourg are now fixed and I'm hoping to take F-NP up for a jaunt tomorrow, weather permitting.

Keeping my fingers AND toes crossed.

The lunch that wasn't

Ever since changing jobs, I have found many new colleagues who are both intrigued and enthusiastic about my flying hobby. And I have been equally keen on taking them up with me once the weather Gods allowed us to go flying at the weekend.

This weekend saw the Gods play nice, and I took some friends from work flying. Our plan was the usual sight-seeing flight in Amsterdam followed by lunch in Texel. We arrived at the airport at around 2pm and I grabbed all the paperwork from Vivienne in Polder Aviation. She told me though that my plane for the day (PJ-PJL - "Julie") needed fuelling.


I had the guys jump into the plane, and taxied to the fuelling station. The boys sat patiently until I filled the tanks and then I had Csaba help me push the plane back from the pump so I could then start her up. But I was like a jack in the box. I had forgotten to pick up the check-list which was on the ground near the pump. It had the fuel card in it, hence why I took it out of the plane in the first place.

But once we settled in and buckled up we were ready to go. I had a heavy load in the plane with me, four grown adults and 3/4 load of fuel. So the plane was a little slow to climb-out. After we settled into the low level cruise, I left Csaba steer us towards Amsterdam. He held a vice-like grip until I explained you could fly with your thumb and forefinger. He got the knack pretty quickly but was chasing the heading a little bit until I showed him how to trim the aircraft. Good job Csaba ;-)


I contacted Amsterdam-Info and asked them if the sector over Amsterdam was busy or not, but I was told it was best to call Schiphol Tower. The boys in Schiphol were pretty quiet when I called them, and they had no problems letting us into the sector, but the airspace over Amsterdam was busy. There were already 3 light aircraft either en-route or in the sector already, so I asked the boys to keep a close eye for traffic.

The boys were so quiet in the back when we were orbiting the city. Camera's were clicking and the occiasional "Oh that's the street I live on" could be heard. When able I did some tour guide stuff, like "to the right is Dam Square, on our left is the Rijksmuseum" etc. But my tummy was grumbling so I asked the boys were they ready for lunch. Jamie, who's always stuffing his face in the office, gave a resounding "Yes" so we exited North and made our way to Texel. Csaba kept her straight and level again for the way up and De Kooy Approach gave us Traffic Advisories on our way over to the island.


No for the fun part...trying to find a grass runway on an island covered in grass!! Runway in use today was 04, the North Easterly runway. And we were approaching from the South. I asked Texel Radio is I could make a straight in approach, and they said fine, just be aware someone was doing circuits at the field. Not a problem. In fact, when I had thought I found the runway, sure enough I saw a plane in the distance setting themselves up for final, so I just followed it in for a really soft landing. I have to admit....I'm starting to like grass fields more and more :-) They're very forgiving.

The boys jumped out at the cafe, ordered some coffee and I came back to the tower after paying the landing fee. But just as we were about to order our food a call came from the tower. A departing plane had encountered a bank of fog to the North which was moving towards the airfield. Apparently earlier in the morning the same thing happened and everyone was grounded. Bugger!!! We had to scrap lunch and head off sharpish. Coffee drank, trip to the toilet and we were ready for the off again. This time Jaime was sitting in the P2 seat.


I took off, climbed out and turned South East towards the Afsluitdijk. Jamie was asking lots of interesting questions and had a nice touch with the controls. I told him where to aim for and he banked the plane into the turn and then settled her on the new course. My arm was on the dash and so restricting his ability to see the altimeter, so I'd ask him to climb or descend a little. I only found out I was blocking his vision after we'd landed ;-)

Sunset was glorious and Anthony started to perk up a little at that stage. We flew over the city of Lelystad and I was told that the traffic pattern was empty. So I was give the go ahead to join from Sierra rather than Bravo and set us up for a nice descent and approach. The landing was a little wobbly, but still soft. With the full PAX we rolled a little further than usual, and we taxied back to Polder. After settling the bill, I told the boys about the cafe in Martinair. I was famished at this stage. But when we got there we were told the cafe was being used for a private function. Damn...I couldn't catch a break at all today. We elected to grab a steak in Amsterdam, so off we went. Talking about the days events on the way home and tucking into a nice cut of beef and a cold beer toasting their accomplishments from earlier that day.

I think they've got the bug in them now....I'm looking forward to the next flight with them.

Home Sweet Home

Well, the last 24 hours have been eventful to say the least. My electrics problems resulting in full comms and TX failure meant I had to do an emergency landing at the old RAF Bruggen base, which is now an Army base for 16 Signals Rgmt.

When I landed, one of the first people I met, and as luck would have it, probably the most useful person on the base to have met insofar as a) he was the base's electrician and knows EVERYTHING about electrics, and b) he's known by everyone on base so was able to sort me out for hanger space and getting back into the base, was Sergeant Milliken, or "Spike" as he liked to be called.

Spike was out walking his dogs on the base when I should up and landed on the runway last night. As I taxied up to the apron, I was a little apprehensive having just landed on a military site. I had visions of armed guards with rifles and the rest of it. But then a smile crept on my face, because all the parked vehicles sat next to me on the apron had Union Jacks painted on them. I thought to myself that if anywhere on God's green Earth, this was probably the best place because for starters, everyone would speak English, and secondly, there's no better bunch of lads to help sort out a problem than those in HM Armed Forces.

Straight from the off, Spike helped sort out security, hanger space for the plane and even got a spare battery to try and recharge mine. We settled on the idea of finding me a hotel for the night and dealing with it the next morning because it was getting late and I wouldn't be allowed fly at night in Holland (no night VFR in Holland!!) even if we did get F-NP up and running.

Luck was starting to shine on me at this stage. I got the last room in the hotel, and the staff were wonderful. It's funny, but the base is only a few hundred metres from the Dutch-German border in Germany...but the hotel is just inside the Dutch border. And the amazing thing is, is that the Dutch are most decidedly Dutch. I'd have thought there would be some sort of cultural cross-over with them being so close to the Germans...but NEE!! They are Dutch and proud, and it was great being able to speak Dutch (my second language) rather than German all the time. A few beers later and I was off to bed for a well earned rest.

The next morning, Spike came to pick me up at the hotel. This guy just kept going over and above the call of duty. We fiddled with the cockpit and took out the battery. We plugged in a different one to see if that helped. Everything showed up as dead as a door nail on the cockpit instruments. After a while we plugged in car jumper leads to try and see if that worked. We kind of jump started the battery by turning over the car engine and having the engine recharge the battery. It took ages though, and when we reckoned it was OK, we tried turning over the plane's engine. Nothing doing.

Eventually, Spike suggested taking my battery to his workshop and testing it. If it was a good battery, he had something that could power the battery up. So off we went. All the tests proved the battery was sound, just out of charged, so he hooked it up to his charger and we left if for a while. And we went to get some grub. Over lunch, I was trying to figure out a route back home. I showed Spike my problem about crossing class C airspace without a radio and would have to fly the long way round.

After lunch, luck was again on my side. Wouter rang to tell me the weather was clearing in the west and that Holland had blue skies, but strong winds. Germany was also easing up...no rain, scattered clouds at 1,500-2,000 ft and clearing. We also had a fully charged battery and were off to go test it in the plane. A few minutes fiddling with the screws to screw it back in and we were ready to try and turn over the engine. Wouter reasoned that as soon as the engine started, the magneto would keep the engine alive even if the battery failed. So I was able to get home radioless if need be. We filled the tanks up with fuel, and I tried turning her over. In my haste, the first time I tried firing her up, I completely forgot to put the mixture rich....D'oh. But I copped it and when I put mixture rich, she started without any problems.

Mission control, we are T -10 minutes and counting.

I rang Marina to tell her I was off (she was worrying) and I filed the flight plan. It was a bit weird telling then that the departure airfield has no ICAO code 'cause it was a disused RAF base and I had an emergency landing the night before, but the guy on the phone was OK with that. Only things to organise were the security guys to give the runway a once over, and I needed to use the loo. Here's were it gets funny.

The hanger loos had no loo roll....so the guys brought me up in the back of a army Defender Landrover (always wanted to do that) to the fire station so I could use there loo. The fire station is run by Germans....who have instructions pinned to the toilet wall telling you the right and the wrong way to take a shit....I knew the Germans were anal, but this is unbelievable. Here's the pic to prove it.


Pilot's weight lightened and duly relieved I was ready for the off. Driven back down to the aircraft and strapped myself in. F-NP started up first time and I was then shown how to get back to the runway from the apron.

I gave Spike a quick wave and salute to show my appreciation for everything he did and took off. I did a quick orbit, flew low and rocked the wings to say good bye. Was kinda cool flying low in front of Spikes car like that. But then I had more pressing matters....the route home and the opening of my flight plan.

I called up Dutch Mil Info, but they either didn't hear me or were busy. So I called Langen Info, and they told me to contact Dutch Mil....fucking Germans!! Tried Dutch Mil again and they heard me and opened the flight plan for me. The route of choice was directly North as far as Apeldoorn, and then head NW to Lelystad. Only problem with that was there was one small stub of Class C ahead of me for Niederrein airport (now being used by Ryanair and sold as Dusseldorf, which is about 80km's from Dusseldorf!!) and I needed a working radio to cross Niederrein. But so far, the radio was working and I decided I'd give it a go. And hey presto, clearance received. I passed right over the top and was making good progress. But for one thing. The cloud base was low and wet, with a few showers hitting the canopy. I knew that carb icing was a very real risk, so I kept testing the carb heat. When I would notice the RPM drop and then rise again, I knew I was in icing conditions. So I kept the carb heat on for a significant time during the flight. When I would test again by putting the carb heat off, the engine would cough and splutter, so I put it straight back on again.

Soon I was overhead Apeldoorn and things were brightening up, on all aspects. The shitty weather was behind me, the fuel situation was good and the radios were still working fine. In fact, during the last 15 mins of the flight, it looked as though the alternator had actually been charging the plane. So I'm really stumped about the incident last night.

But the annoying bit was the forest between Apeldoorn and the Flevo Polder. As far as Apeldoorn there were rivers, railways, towns, lots of useful stuff to navigate by. But now with the strengthening winds (and quartering headwinds) it made it difficult to navigate. Fortunately though there were two bloody great big aerials shown on the map and which I found and I used them to navigate by. Soon enough, I was back in familiar territory and readying myself for the last and final leg.

Lots of fuel still in the tanks....good, electrics still working for radio contact with Lelystad tower....good, and I was not lost, which is also good. I readied everything for the approach and followed another plane into the circuit. I saw that the winds were so strong, he was barely moving when on finals. And I really had to crab in the base leg of the approach, but I was on finals before I knew it and seconds from the runway. A small flare and gentle bounce and I was home, safe and sound.

Wouter came out to greet me and I gave the Earth and gentle kiss. It was good to be home.

We tucked up F-NP in the hanger for a well deserved rest and I went to regale my story to Wouter. This has truly been an adventure, and the memories I will cherish. Lastly, without the help and support of truly wonderful people (Spike, Matt, Wouter) I would've be taking the train home tonight. Again, thank you all for your help and I hope to be able to take you up in F-NP in the near future.

Collecting the pland and the ensuing Emergency Landing

Well, I picked up my new plane today from Strasbourg. I woke up this morning at 6am to catch the multitude of trains through Germany to Strasbourg. Yesterday Matt and I were looking at the weather online and figuring out what it would work out to be....either flyable or not. I bought the tickets to Strasbourg and off I went.

On the train down, Matt was updating me on the latest TAF's and METAR's. I did the plog for the flight the night before and only needed the winds aloft which Matt supplied. I found a nice seat on the train and updated the plog on the train. But I got more than a few funny looks when I whipped out the CRP-1 flight computer and the nav charts...hahahahaha.

I arrived in Haguenau on time with no problems and checked through all the paper work and paid for the annual. Christian was a nice guy and he helped me fuel her up with MOGAS and I took her for a quick circuit by myself. The circuit was good except for the landing. She's a very slippy plane, not loosing her speed much. I got her on the ground (she sits very low on the ground) but was way too fast and as soon as the nose wheel touch the shimmy was awful. So I held off the nose for the longest time until the speed bled off.

With everything sorted paperwork wise, I took off, opened the flight plan and took off. The first thing I did wrong was not lean the mixture enough. I was using too much fuel based on my plog and was contemplating a fuel stop somewhere. That was just as I was handed over to Dutch Mil. And that's when the fun started. Dutch Mil couldn't hear me and I swicthed back to Langen Info. They heard me but when I tried to reply, they couldn't hear me. They kept calling F-GFNP do you read me. I clicked on the radio but no joy. So I squawked 7600 on the transponder and looked for a field to land. As luck would have it there was a great big runway below me. It looked military to me, but screw it, this was an emergency. I throttled back, came in over the field looking for the windsock or signals box. Found the wind sock, no signals and set-up for the approach. When I landed, some people were on a quad bike on the runway!!! I taxied back to the main apron and such her down. I knew tha tthe alternator wasn't charging the battery, that's why all the electrics stopped working. I just hoped the flaps would when I was landing.

After landing, I walked over to some folks who were walking their dogs on the airfield. It turns out that I landed at a disused RAF base, now being used by the UK Army. Cool...everyone speaks English, and all is OK. They are letting me store the plane in the old hangers overnight and a nice guy, Sergeant Spike dropped me off at a hotel, where I'm writing this and I'm hopin that the weather is good enough for me to fly back tomorrow. If it is, I'll fly in without a radio through the Class F/G in Holland and get the plane seen to there. So pray for good weather. I'll take pics and post them of F-NP at the base and load them tomorrow. But right now, I'm off to bed.

Wish me blue skies tomorrow.

Proud New Owner

Good news everybody....after many emails and after an exhaustive search, I have finally found a pair of wings that I can call my own. I am the proud new owner of my very own airplane.


She's a Robin ATL, with the registration F-GFNP. Not the fastest bird in the hanger by any means, but she's solid, is perfect working order and easy to handle. What's more, she sips only 12 litres of avgas (around 3 US gallons) per hour, so she won't break the bank when operating her.



Originally the plan was to buy a decent C172. But after a tiring search, I found that the older ones were in bits and the better/newer ones were still commanding a high price. Testament to the quality and popularity of Cessna's venerable workhorse....but not doing me any favours in finding a cheap 1st time-buy. Until the Robin happened along. Besides, as I have flown more and more this past year, I've noticed that more often than not, I was flying either by myself or with only one other person in the cockpit with me. If I had a C172, that would mean I'd be burning 14 gals of AVGAS with load factor of between 25%-50%....not economical at all. And with the Robin being only approx 10kts slower than the C172, that small amount of lost time really doesn't compare to the amound of pure savings on each flight. You can tell that the man behind the stick works with numbers each day :-)


I'm in the process of getting all the paperwork together and the insurance organised. But I'm not in a mad hurry to be honest because the weather this weekend is SO bad. I will most likely have to pick her up later in the month when the sun decides to make an appearance.

The only two snags I have with her are the transponder and the engine. The transponder is a mandatory issue...i.e. she needs a Mode S in order to fly uninhibited in Holland. And the engine because the current one is a little under powered. Eventually I'll swap her for a Rotax, which sips a similar amount of fuel but packs a bigger oompf. But the engine can come later. She already has a GPS, albeit an 1st generation one. So I'll look into getting a new GPS at some stage. But that's not a necessity for the moment. I think I'll focus the initial 10-20 hours just getting to know her and she how she handles, and then work on the add-ons later on. So now hopefully the family and friends who complain to me at Christmas and Birthdays about "buying the man who has everything" know what they can buy me....something for "NP" :-)

Keep your fingers crossed that the weather clears up over the coming weeks so I can go pick her up, and I hope I'll see you all soon so you can come and take a spin in her with me. Hopefully this will keep the "mid-life crisis" at bay for a wee while longer.

Blue Skies

Flying with Pendair

Since we all forgot to bring a camera, I'm afraid there are no photo's for you to see. Next time....I promise.

Anyway, I had to go for my biennial Medical Examination to get my new medical cert. It expires on the same day as my birthday, and given the fact it took the pen pushers in the Dutch Transport and Water Inspectorate an inordinate amount of time to process the last time, I booked myself in good and early at the medical examiners office this time and went for my check-up yesterday.

I hold two medicals, one for each of my licences (JAA for Europe and FAA for the U.S.). And since I'm flying to Florida for a holiday and intend to do lots of flying there, I would have had to find a flight surgeon when I got to the U.S. or find one here before I left. Thankfully, the same place I get my JAA medical can do the FAA one....and as with everything when it comes to Europe vs. U.S.A, the European medical was four times more expensive!!!

For those of you who care dearly about me, you'll be glad to hear I got a clean bill of health. I was even told that my hearing is as good as that of an 18 year old.....I guess it's true. If one of your senses is bad (in my case my eyes) something else compensates :-)

I had planned to go flying yesterday evening also. I met two of my friends in the office on Monday and chatted to them both briefly. I asked them if they were free on Wednesday evening, that they'd be more than welcome to come fly with me. Well, both of them jumped at the chance.

I arranged to meet Liat and Paula at the airport at around 18:30. I planned to get there myself a little earlier. I wanted to take the plane up by myself before taking anyone on board. It had been a little while since I flew and I wanted to get my hand in on my own and just relax and get ready for the main flight. The guys in Polder told me that they'd all be gone home by the time I'd get there. They'd leave the plane outside and the logbooks etc inside for me. Wouter asked if I wouldn't mind tucking the plane in for the night. Of course not Wouter....it'd be my pleasure.

I pre-flighted the plane and taxied out to the runway. I was to take off in the direction of the sun, which is never a good thing because it affects your visibility when the sun is low on the horizon. Power checks done, a quick look at the windsock which was completely limp (my best friend Matt has a saying, "Happiness is a limp windsock", my motto is, as long as it's only the windsock that's limp) and I lined up on the runway. Full power and off I went.

I was flying PH-PJL (Julie) tonight, and it's been a while since I was last flying this girl. It's funny, I've either gotten used to flying the lighter C150 or she was feeling a little heavy on the controls. It wasn't just when you climbed, but also when turning, with a little play in the ailerons. But nothing to worry about. I entered downwind and started getting ready for the first touch and go. I didn't get the speeds nailed properly and ended up being far too high and far too fast. I floated down the runway after trying to sideslip a little and I ended up giving up that attempt. Power to full, climb away and take the flaps back in. I was soon back in the circuit and started to visualise the steps I used to use when learning back in San Diego. I throttled back, brought in the flaps and aimed for 80 knots, imagined the blue building I used as a marker to turn onto base leg, then more flaps and 70 knots, then turned final with the final stage of flaps and 65 knots. I was still high (partly due to the fact that I'm so used to doing circuits at 1000ft, and in Holland they do them at 700ft, still not used to that. I sideslipped again a little, got the plane lined up straight and then nailed the landing. It was a little bumpy, but I was on the ground.

I took off for the last touch and go, and half way down the downwind leg the tower asked if I could do a 180 and go land at the opposite end. Sure, since I was the only one in the circuit. But this was a right hand circuit (a bit unnatural for pilots who are used to doing left hand circuits all the time) but I judged the heights and power settings perfectly. I came just over the threshold lights and landed nicely.

Touch and Go's over, it was time to pick up the girls. They were waiting for me in Martinair's restaurant. It's a really nice place and they have a veranda you can sit out on and enjoy some beers after a long days flying. The girls were enjoying a glass of Chardonnay and proffered me a glass, when Liat remembered that I was flying and it probably wasn't a good idea. Paula was worried because she hadn't brought any ID with her. It was not a problem though because she wouldn't need it.

We walked to the plane, I strapped them in and game them the safety briefing. Liat was going to be in the front today. Paula will join me up front the next time. I started up Julie and taxied out to the runway. Power checks done, we lined up and took-off heading West towards Lelystad and then South towards Amsterdam. I called the guys in Schiphol tower and was told to Squawk 0060, not above 1,200ft. Even though it was a glorious day, the air pressure was quite low and the QNH was only 998mb. But there wasn't a cloud on the sky and the wind was almost negligible.

On the way out there, I let Liat have a go at flying. I started her off with some steering. She soon got the hang of it and when we would climb or descend I told her to push or pull back. She did very very well. We were soon near the Amsterdam Sector, I called ATC to let them know and they cleared us to enter. I dropped altitude a little bit and slowed the plane down so the girls could get a good look at the city.

It seemed that in the beginning they were trying to get their bearings because they didn't really spot anything at first. Then I showed them the New Metropolis (looks like a ships hull sticking out of the water) and Dam Square. Paula was shouting "Ooh, the Bijenkorf". I wonder if that's were she likes to shop :-) We then flew down Overtoom, Paula trying to spot her house and over Vondelpark and up to Rembrandtsplein. I got to thinking if anyone down below was looking up at us with wonder and awe, and what must they be thinking. After about 20-30 mins of sighseeing, we then headed back. I had wanted to go towards Naarden, but with the light fading, and the fact that the Cloggies don't allow VFR (Visual Flight Rules) flights in the dark, we had to get back by sundown.

I let Liat take the controls again, and she was a natural. She even climbed and maintained an altitude, and descended and maintained, all with the greatest of ease. She seemed to be having lots of fun. So she flew it for most of the way back. Before getting near the airport, I was reminding the girls that the plane could not do aerobatics, but that I could show them something which would not stress the plane. I showed them the Dutch Roll (which is essentially what sideslipping is when you're too high on final approach) and a quick negative G. That got the biggest laugh of the night.

Minutes later we were soon on final approach and a little bit of a bump on landing (I've had worse in a KLM 737) we were home. We taxied back to Polder and the girls help me push the plane back into the hanger. That was the most difficult part of the night I'd say, but with lots of pushing and pulling and the girls watching the wings on either side, we soon got Julie back into her bed for the night. When we were done, we could hear someone taking a plane out for aerobatics, so the girls went out to watch. I think they want a piece of that action the next time they go flying. It was the perfect ending to a great evenings flying. I'm looking forward to taking them up again soon.

First flight of 2008

OK, so I'm a little with updating the blog after my flight last Tuesday. James and Victoria came over to spend New Years with us here in Amsterdam. And since Jim is signed off on the Piper, I thought it would be nice to show him what the little C150 is like to fly. I booked a plane with Polder and checked the weather the night before. The weather was expected to have a high pressure right over the Netherlands, and sure enough when we awoke, there was only blue to be seen in the sky...not even the whisp of a white fluffy cloud anywhere.

We set off for the airport and arrived to find that the sun hadn't quite burned off the fog and low lying clag over the airfield. So while we waited, I went and preflighted PH-HIL (or Phil as I call it). The checks all done and a quick check on the satellite image with Wouter to comfirm the clouds progress during our flight and plan our way back home, we were all set. Jim strapped in, as did I, but then when we started her up the ignition would catch, but she would then splurt and stop. I primed her a few times, but the same thing happened. I didn't want to keep priming in case I got an engine fire on start-up. So I got out and asked Wouter for advice. "Inject the primer as you're keying the ignition....she should start then for you", and sure enough she did. With the radio check and call-in done, we taxied down to the active. The engine hadn't warmed the cabin up yet, so the windscreen was misty, but I knew with the cabin heat turned to "On" and the engine run-ups to come, we'd be fine.

Sure enough, we were soon lined up and ready to go. Jim had his camera at the ready and was already snapping away. When we got up though, the cloud was patchy. I could see vertically down, but every now and then the low cloud would necessitate us dive under it. Eventually though we got a hole and climbed up through it, knowing that it was crystal clear out over the city and still being able to legally stay within the VFR minimums with the ground in sight. I dialled up Schiphol Tower after we'd departed Lelystad and they asked to give them a call when we were approaching the CTR. They asked me to squawk on 0060 Mode C and to remain at or below 1200ft. I elected to pootle along at around 700-800ft since the cloud was above us at arpound 900-1200ft and I didn't know how deep it was. Better to stay in VFR than to do something silly and knowingly fly in IMC just to get to VFR on top...besides, doing that is illegal.

After a little while we were over the city, I had already given the call to Schiphol. We did some orbits of the city, with Jim snapping away. I tried to point out some places to him, but since I was busy concentrating on flying, I wasn't able to help him so much. As ever, the turbulence over the city from the heated rooves and buildings always makes for interesting flying, as does the lack of safe places to land in an engine failure, so my eyes are always on the engine instruments to check they're OK.






Soon though, we were ready to fly back. Knowing that the cloud was moving East to West and was currently over the field but soon disappearing, I was still a little worried that it would still be as low as it was when we left. I flew overhead Almere and followed the roads (map of the Earth flying...hahahaha) and canals back to the airfield. I showed Jim the HUGE aerial they chose to plonk right on the departure end of RWY 23. It's 600ft high, you can't miss it, but it just bugs me that nobody thought about smal aircraft when they decided to build it there. Listening to Lelystad Radio, I could tell that the circuit was getting busy again. I asked Jim to keep an eagle eye out for traffic. When I heard someone call out overhead BRAVO (a reporting point) I knew we were close, so I asked him again. It was Jim who spotted the plane, and when he showed me, I was able to position myself behind it. I kept hearing this plane saying they were doing a 360 because the runway was occupied, and I started thinking to myself if that's even legal, never mind if it's a good idea. Personally, if I know someone is bearing down on me in the pattern, I'd execute a go-around rather than mess up everyone elses day. Afterall, there was a mid-air here only a few months ago. I wouldn't be surprised if there aren't more given the way some pilots fly. As always, I am grateful for learning at Gillespie....if you can handle Gillespie, then you can handle any other airport.

Soon we were downwind, I saw two ahead of me, one turning final, one ahead of us on downwind. Jim saw someone on short final. So I extended my downwind a little bit to give spacing between me and the guy ahead. Landing checklist done, selected the last stage of flaps. I got a little too low, powered up a little and then brought us in for the flare. The flare was a little wobbly, but the landing was nice and soft. And off at the first exit.

All in all, a nice first flight and landing for the New Year. Jim...the next time, you're taking me up over the UK ;-)

Hang gliding

Matt and I were just talking on the phone about how his club have increased their prices.....again!! I however have been talking to some of the guys here in the Kiev office about my flying antics and have been invited to take up hang gliding. Apart from the rent of the equipment and the initial lessons, it's pretty damn cheap to go fly. And it doesn't matter how much a barrel of oil will cost ;-)

The guys were telling me that the mountains in Crimea are a favourite of the hang gliding community here in Ukraine, but in the Autumn you can get winched up into the winds aloft and manage it that way, particularly in Kiev were the hills are smaller.

So in a few weekends I'm hoping to pay a visit to the hang gliding club and see if they''ll let me join and learn to fly them. I'll let you all know what it's like to fly without an engine as soon as I try it out

Mid Week Jaunt

Earlier in the week I decided that should the weather behave itself, then I would try and go for a bimble during the week after work. I kept a close eye on the weather forecasts and the weathermen were predicting that it would be good Tuesday, crap Wednesday and getting better towards the weekend. Well, since I'm of to Kiev again on Saturday, that left Tuesday evening the only reasonable window to go fly.

A quick call to Polder to book a C150 for the sortie and a double check of the weather in the morning confirmed that it looked good to go flying. Although, looking out the window during the day suggested otherwise. But true to form, and just as the weathermen predicted, it started to clear-up....woohoo.

I left the office a wee bit earlier than normal and made my way to Lelystad. Reuben, one of the instructors as Polder was still there as he had a theory lesson to give, so he gave me the books to PH-ALI. He and I rolled her out of the hangar and I taxied to the fuel pump. I filled her tanks up, did the pre-flight and settled into the cockpit to get ready.

The wind was pretty strong at this stage, but Reuben was pretty sure it was good to go. I felt OK about it too, that is until after take-off. The wind on the climb out was really strong and pushed me hard to the East on the climb-out. I decided that since I was on my own for this flight, I'd use the time wisely and do some slow flight, stalls, emergency procedures etc since I didn't have anyone else to worry about getting air sick and stuff. So I played around in the sky, even doing some steep turns. After about 20 minutes of that I headed back to see what the wind was like for the landing.

When I got into the circuit it was blowing a hoolie. I had to crab in the downwind leg, took forever in base leg before turning final, and then crab like mad in the final too. Even after touchdown, the plane was being blown about on the roll-out. Retracting the flaps and power on, I took off to see if I could improve the landings. Gradually the wind got less and less, which was a good thing from calming me down, but bad from the perspective trying to nail the crosswind landings.

I have to say that I have never experienced wind as strong as that before and it was blowing 90 degrees across the runway. When I landed and went in to Reuben to pay the bill he asked how it was. I told him about the wind and he reminded me to fly them flapless and faster approach, as the play is more manoeuvrable at higher speeds and less likely to get blown about. I'll file that away for the next time it's windy. But a good evenings flying and nice to be back in the air.

The joys of AOPA membership

OK, so I know there's a lot in the GA community (certainly this side of the pond) on the benefits of being an AOPA member, assuming there are of course any.

Well, I've now found one.

Picture this.....I'm flying back from Minsk (Belarus for those geographically challenged) back to Kiev (Ukraine for same said folks) yesterday and I'm first off the plane into, what I hope, is a small queue at Immigration.

To my horror there's hundreds waiting in line for Passport Control, and from past experiences, this is at least an hour long wait.

Having waited for my flight which was delayed by two hours, I wasn't in any mood to hang around for Immigration. But I remembered two things....

1. They have a special lane for "Air Crew", and
2. I have my AOPA Air Crew card on my which has my photo and "Air Crew" written on it.

"Dare I do it?" I ask myself. Well, they can only say "yes" or "no". So when I go to the desk the Immigration Officer isn't there. "Fear not" I say to myself....I can see the office where they all congregate. So I walk up, knock on the door, produce my AOPA card and explain that I'm "Air Crew" and that there's nobody at the air crew desk. The guys looks at my card and says "No Problem"....and marches me to the front of the queue.....SWEEEETTTTT!!!

I handed my passport, quick review, stamp in the passport and I'm whisked through. Has to be the fastest I've EVER been through an Immigration line anywhere.

I must add however that I'd never have the balls to try this in the EU or US because I know they're more stricter/savvy, plus they can read English, unlike here in the CIS (ex-Soviet Union)....but I'm defo trying it wherever I go in the CIS.

Probably the best €30 I've ever spent :-)

Unlimited Aerobatics

Whilst Matt was getting used to being back in the saddle and was happy doing Dutch Rolls, I went up for some unlimited aero's in a Yak.

A colleague of mine in Ukraine took me out to Chaika aerodrome and introduced me to the folks who run the school there. My instructor, Anatoly, had pretty bad English, and his was the best. I also met the folks in the ATC tower, which looked like something that you'd find in a Western tower back in the 1950's. Still, they had planes and that's what I was here for.

I climbed into the Yak 52 into the back seat. It's a two seater and the pilots sit in tandem, like in the Citabria I learned my aerobatics in. However, the Yak 52 is a tricycle gear, so no need to worry about flying a taildragger. BUT....it has a retractable undercarriage, so that would cover my complex aircraft certification then ;-)

One of the first things I noticed when I was being strapped into the plane....(first to the parachute and then to the seat) was that nothing on the instruments was in English and everything was metric. The altimeter was showing meters as was the ASI and the artificial horizon was a really old style gyro. But it had a g-meter top right and that's all I cared about today :-)

Anatoly strapped himself in and checked in on the radio. Oh....none of your nice David Clarks here....I was wearing a really old headset with an old analogue style connection to the radioset and they did not have any noise reduction at all. He asked if i was OK and said we'd do a hard routine today. My friend had told him I had done the aero's course and he seems pleased to have someone in the back who wouldn't get sick so easy. We taxied to the hold point. On the way over though, he gunned it over and the taxi was a boneshaking affair. I feared that the prop would hit with the ground as I'm used to taking it slow int he Cessna in Texel, but this guy just belted over the ground. A quick engine check and line-up on the over-grown grass runway and we were soon in the air.

He only climbed to 500 metres (1500ft in old money) and started a routine with knife edge turns right and left, then he did a barrel roll, aileron roll and loop. Afterwards he asked if I felt OK. I said yeah, fine. They he did a spin and asked me to recover. I recovered and he said, OK lets do some more aeros. We did a tail slide, wing overs, and I did a 6G loop with a figure of eight and inverted roll-out at the bottom. He gave me instruction throughout the manoeuvres and said I did pretty good. He then took control and did an inverted spin, followed by a hammerhead, tailslide and inverted figure of eight. I was sweating buckets by the time we'd finished and we only did about 25-30 mins. A quick dump of the flap and we were on final back onto the field (which needs a tractor or herd of cows to keep the grass down).

The only thing I don't like about the Yak is the fumes from the engine which make their way into the cockpit. The smell was so strong that I was getting dizzy when we landed. So what's next? Well, I need to now get a local medical and sit an exam in Russian apparently to be able to fly this beauty solo. So we'll see what happens. But what an afternoon.

Lunch in Texel

Well, finally the weather has broken and the sun decided to show his face this summer. The last few weeks have been really depressing, ever since returning from Ukraine I've been bombarded with rain and low clouds and haven't flown at all. It was getting pretty depressing, and even when the boys (my flight school buddies) were over for my 30th birthday party we were all complaining about the weather and had to scrub going flying that weekend.



But this weekend is different. I was chatting to a friend of mine in work, Joe Chapman, and saw that the weathermen were predicting good weather at the weekend. Joe was asking about my flying and I mentioned that is was supposed to me nice this weekend. After calling up Wouter in Polder and checking the availability of a C172, I let Joe know that we were a "go". I also sent an email out to the "Paddyish" Yahoo group to find other people who were interested in going flying with me. I've got a few replies and when I booked the plane I emailed them and asked if they wanted to come along.




With a full plane, and a plan in my head to fly over the city, up to Texel and back, we all met at Lelystad train station and headed off for the airport. When we got there, I got the keys to the plane, checked with Texel to see if the runway was OK. Since it's a grass runway I wanted to know if it was waterlogged with all the rain we had. They told me it was OK and so I went out to pre-flight the plane (PH-GYS...or Gijs) and strap everyone in.




We took off and headed straight from Amsterdam. I called the guys in Schiphol right away to give them notice I was coming. They asked me to squawk and told me to keep clear of the approach ends of the active runways. We settled in to the flight and were soon over the city and the girls in the plane were snapping away with their cameras (Joe forgot his camera). I did a few orbits of the city and descended a little so they could get a closer look. I heard the usual "oh, that's where I live" from the folks in the back. And I noticed again how much more unstable the air is over the city. All those roofs heating up at different rates causing a little turbulence. I then let Schiphol know I was leaving, headed North and contacted De Kooy for radar service to Texel. The wind was very strong and Marina in the front was beginning to feel sick. I asked if she wanted to go back to Lelystad but she asked would we be in Texel soon and I assured her we would, so she said she'd be fine.


A short dash over the water and then setting up for the approach a few minutes later and we were on short final for runway 22. The folks in the back couldn't see the runway until we were almost on the ground. The wind was coming from 260 and was blowing hard at about 22kts. I crabbed into the wind and then kicked the rudder to straighten before touching down. I was once again really chuffed with the landing. It was silky smooth, even with the crosswind. We taxied back and parked outside the restaurant.

During lunch we enjoyed the sunshine and the show of the local skydivers coming in the land and I enjoyed my uitsmijter. I have to say, food after flying, tastes even better....or maybe it's the satisfaction of eating well after getting yourself somewhere new :-) I even enjoyed the greasy spoons in the U.S. :-)

Anyway, with tummy's filled (and the tanks too) we walked back out to the plane to head home. I also love it when we get the looks and stares from people who "drove" over to the island with the ferry and knowing that we're going home in style in our Cessna....I know....I'm a snob, but sometimes it's cool being a pilot (heehee). I took off, turned East and contacted De Kooy again for flight following to Lelystad. I had a bit of a moment when the passenger sitting in the co-pilot seat got camera happy again and was taking photo's from every angel. At one point though she jammed her foot on the rudder pedal without knowing, the plane yawed left and I screamed at her to move her foot. Nothing bad happened as I corrected immediately, but she was a bit sheepish and all apologies. No harm done, but a new learning for me with carrying pax who are unfamiliar with light aircraft.

With a strong tailwind on our way back we were overhead Lelystad in now time. I tracked North and headed for "Sierra" before letting down and carrying out the prelanding checklist. Wouter called when we were in Texel to warn of wind shear, so I was on my toes. I turned on final, again with a crosswind and a smooth landing, although I floated a little because I landed flapless with the wind shear warning earlier.
After a great day flying, we decided to head into town to try out the new "Ice Bar" in Amsterdam. After a cool day we finished having a "cool" evening drinking vodka in -30C from glasses made from ice. :-)

Can't wait for the next weekend of good weather.

First flight in Ukraine....HOPEFULLY

This week brought it some excitement. I have finally been able to find out what the hell I need to do in order to get my PPL licence validated to fly in the Ukraine. Seems like the usual paper chase required with all Aviation Authorities, and a test to top it off (don't know if it's a flight test or written exam though). So with the help of the guys here, they'll help draft a letter in Russian so I can send it and copies of my logbook and licence to the Ukrainian authorities and allow me to fly here solo. Fingers crossed.

On top of that, we got to talking about airfields I could use etc when the paperwork comes through, and through sheer coincidence we came across an outfit in Ukraine on an airfield near one of my friends that sells completed Jabiru's!! They have a four seater Jabiru J400 for sale for €45k brand new, compared to $180k for a new four-seater C172.

So Oleg (my colleague) and I are thinking of taking a trip down there on Sunday to check out the company and the aircraft and maybe try to get a test flight in it before I decide if this is the right plane for me.

By looking at the pictures on their website, it looks like the avionics are quite Spartan, so I would need to talk to them about having a transponder and GNS430 installed for sure. We'll see what the weekend brings.

I'm hoping though that maybe by the end of the summer I might have actually completed the mammoth paper chase that I'm half expecting and will be able to go solo in a Yak and do some aerobatics at the weekend whenever the rigour of life in Cisco starts to take its toll

From San Diego to San Francisco

Well, after 17 hours, 9 stops, 7 airports and 3 states later, Matt and I have finally returned safely to San Francisco and hung up our headsets. We left San Diego this morning together with John and Janis. They had hired a piper for Janis to practice her landings and we decided the night before to do some air-to-air work and try to take some photo's of each other in the air. We got some nice ones, but sadly it's hard to see us in the cockpit :-(


After some flying together, John and Janis said their goodbyes and peeled away and Matt and I continued Northwards towards Santa Barbara. We climbed up to 10,500 feet and flew right over LAX. We were mixing it with the big boys and could see some heavies taking off below us and even came face to face with a 737 climbing out. Pretty cool.


We had checked the weather beforehand and there was still the marine layer (clouds near the coast) hanging about, but we expected it to burn off by the time we got to Santa Barbara. When we got closer, we checked the weather broadcast at the station and they were reporting good visibility. But as we got closer, the clouds stayed put and even when we descended they remained thick. So Matt and I double backed and I found an alternate, Santa Paula. A busy little field in a tight valley. A boy was it busy. There was traffic doing both left hand and right hand circuits. Matt made a nice landing, even after the stress of the diversion and we found a place to have lunch. We spoke to some other pilots dining there and they gave us some handy tips. After an hour (and not much food eaten because I had lost my appetite) we fired up the engine and headed off again. Since the plane was heavily loaded and the runway short I did a short field take-off.


As soon as we took off the weather was much better and we climbed to get over the hills and head to the desert where it would be clearer skies. We then descended for another airport for a quick splash and dash as we didn't want to refuel at Santa Paula because of the weight and runway length. We elected to land at Paso Robles, an uncontrolled airfield with two LOOOONNNGG runways. For some reason the traffic was using runway 19 when the winds were blowing 280 degrees. So I chose to use runway 31, into the wind with less of a drift effect. A long taxi later and we refuelled and headed back off.

Last stop was to be Livermore. On the cruise up there we were back up to 125kts due to the tailwinds and were making excellent time. Traffic was pretty busy again and we had to keep our eyes peeled, but soon we were already setting up for the approach in Livermore. A gentle touchdown and that was us back to San Francisco. We'll take a break from flying tomorrow and have fun on the roller coasters and in downtown San Francisco. But it was a fantastic holiday.

What have I learned? Well, I've learned a lot of things.

Firstly, I have really enjoyed the teamwork Matt and I developed together and the Crew Relationship Management. Both of us enjoyed flying together and if something was misheard, the other was there to help out.

Secondly, good planning is definitely the order of the day. I really loved it when my planning ended up having us over the target/waypoint bang on the minute and the fuel calculations were pretty damn accurate also.

Thirdly, selecting visual references that are closer together rather than further apart, and the same with the radio nav aids. Some areas we flew were over plane desert with little or no reference points. GPS was great here, but we relied on it a bit too much in these cases.

Fourthly, good radio work will get you everywhere with ATC. The more confident you become, the easier and quicker ATC are at dealing with you. It makes both yours and their lives easier.

And finally....USE the guys in ATC. They were invaluable as an extra pair of eyes when trying to keep clear of traffic, and when we got into trouble at Santa Barbara they were a get out of trouble card that we had up our sleeve. The Flight Following service was fantastic. I use ATC in Amsterdam, but will not fly without them from now on.

A big thank you yo everyone, Bob, Ron, John, Janis, Kevin and Bud. I can't wait to see you guys again soon.