Date: 20/03/2011
Time: 12:00 - 12:35 (GMT)
Aircraft: Ikarus C42 - G-CDHR
Draycott Farm
Slightly different lineup for today's venture - Roy Clarke is joining Colin, Jac and I for a double slot. The plan is to go to Draycott Farm, which is just inside the Lyneham zone. In fact I have actually already flown there - well sort of - I went with my Dad there for a lesson in radio controlled aircraft. Had one of the best rides on my bike ever to the airfield today - felt confident and really enjoyed myself.
Unfortunately, despite the general weather being
OK, the visibility is rubbish. On the reports of other pilots we decided to
go and have some tea and bacon baguettes. Eventually, it looks like it has improved,
so we finish our preps and make an exploratory start. Jac is flying Roy in G-CERE
and I am flying Colin in the C-42. We take off on 21 and it isn't that good.
We stick to about 1500', but once again it isn't a defined cloudbase, but just
a contouring level of murkiness. We go up the valley past Bourne Park, past
Rivar Hill then on to Marlborough. I then call Lyneham as we have to enter their
zone. 
Then
north to try and find the airfield. Colin spots it when we are directly overhead
it! We continue past to the north and then turn round to land on runway 18 -
bit of side-slipping required. There is a fair hump in the middle of the runway,
so I'm glad I got it down before getting to it.
Not
an awful lot of amenities for visiting pilots - a reasonable sized summer house
(shed) with a kettle in it and the signing in book. We go in search of a tap
to fill the kettle and have a chat with a couple of the locals. Whilst drinking
tea, we are amused by a tractor pushing a large container along over the ground.
It turns out to be driven by the guy who runs the airfield. We also watch a
radio controlled plane going through it's paces.
Soon it's time to make a move home. Roy flies Jac in the C-42 and Colin take me home in the Eurostar. Hmmm - the visibility still hasn't improved. My GPS has a weird fit by being slow to update, we we fly home the proper old-fashioned way (despite the reset fixing the GPS).