Date: 20/10/2007
Time: 14:15 - 16:15
Aircraft: Ikarus C42 - G-CDRO
Round IOW
This is one of the flights I have been looking forward
to for as long as I have started training. I don't yet feel brave enough to
land on the Isle of Wight (also known as the Pile of Sh1te) and I'm not too
sure that I will have time to do so anyway, so the plan is to fly around it.
My
PLOG plan is already pre-prepared and once I have checked the plane out, I'm
off. The idea is to keep relatively low before Ropley, in case I do veer too
far south towards the Southampton zone - this way, even if I do stray into it,
I will be safely below it. An airspace bust this early on would be embarrassing.
Despite initially climbing slightly too high and then dropping down, it all
goes well, and I find Ropley station exactly where I expected it. Now I can
safely climb on the way towards Butser Hill. The visibility isn't perfect, but
is OK and there are scattered clouds; some of which look quite dramatic.
After
Petersfield, I turn due south to go past Rowlands Castle, Havant, Emsworth and
then over Hayling Island. My Parents and also my brother and his family all
live on the Island, so I am obviously interested to see what I can see of their
houses and also the sailing club (Mengham Rhythe Sailing Club) that we are members
of. However, confidence keeps me up at a safe altitude and I head out over the
Solent, gaining height towards Bembridge/Brading Harbour. From up here the boats
and shipping look like toys on the very blue water. Safely over, I turn east,
to pass between Newport and Cowes - no point trying to go around Cowes as it
is too built up. At the river Medina (that splits the island down from Cowes
to Newport) I have to descend to below 2000' to go below Southampton airspace.
From up here, you can see the surprising amount of relief the island has with
a ridge running west to east.
The
views around the Needles (the west-most point) are fantastic and I venture out
over the sea around them. Then turning round them and back along the south facing
coastline down towards St. Catherine's point at the southmost tip of the island.
However, due to the clouds, I head back towards Bembridge before reaching it.
Back across the Solent and a nice view of Southsea and also the Spinnaker Tower
near Portsmouth Historic Dockyard. 
Reaching
Hayling, I go along the coast (descending) and into Chichester Harbour entrance
- a yellow biplane is doing aerobatics in he middle of the harbour, so I give
it a wide berth. I turn inland up Mengham Rhythe, past the sailing club and
Tournerbury Farm, then north up the centre of the island. Then basically backtracking
along the same route to Popham. Fantastic!
Bit of a coincidence - later that evening I phone
my family and apparently my brother (Sid) and my Dad had been doing some maintenance
on Dads boat and were sat on it waiting for the tide. They were watching the
yellow biplane and then saw a white one coming directly up the creek and one
of them commented "I wonder if that I David?". The time was spot-on, so we can
only deduce that it was! Spooky huh?
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My
PLOG plan is already pre-prepared and once I have checked the plane out, I'm
off. The idea is to keep relatively low before Ropley, in case I do veer too
far south towards the Southampton zone - this way, even if I do stray into it,
I will be safely below it. An airspace bust this early on would be embarrassing.
Despite initially climbing slightly too high and then dropping down, it all
goes well, and I find Ropley station exactly where I expected it. Now I can
safely climb on the way towards Butser Hill. The visibility isn't perfect, but
is OK and there are scattered clouds; some of which look quite dramatic. 
