Date: 26/08/2012
Time: 18:25 - 19:25 (17:25 - 18:25 GMT)
Aircraft: Ikarus C42 - G-CDRO
Isle of Wight
- Challenge Complete
Today should have been an earlier and longer flight
but for Chris Evans' blooming Carfest event. Supposed to be a car event in the
nearby Laverstoke park; close to the downwind leg of 21/03. But on Thursday
night I found out they were having air displays too. I was going to phone the
airfield on Friday morning when a notification of air display was shown in the
NOTAMs, but found a note had now appeared on the Popham website saying that
they would be using runway 21 with a left hand direction - seemed fair enough
and would keep our traffic away from the display area. 
But
then things get worse. Airbourne cancelled all their instructional and trial
flights and blocked-out all other booking slots. Then the Popham website note
was embellish with "Limited private flying until 0945 local then flying
displays by Sea Fury, Blades, Tornados, Black Cats, Arbarth Extra, BBMF and
the Vulcan until 1630 local." for Sunday - implying that the airfield was
effectively shut between. I suspect that things had snowballed with more display
aircraft joining in. But it was very frustrating with the lack of information.
The most worrying thing was that the display pilots information said that they
had an Restricted Airspace Temporary (RAT) - they didn't! Whilst they had been
practising, they also had told local pilots that they shouldn't be using Pophams
frequency.
So we decided to go later on. When I got the the
airfield we went out to watch the BBMF fly past over Popham and then over to
the display area. Chris was doing a great service on the radio to keep it under
control. Whilst fuelling the aircraft, the Vulcan also flew over - and impressive
aircraft. This was the end of the days display, so we could now proceed with
our flight. 
We
had met Roy and agreed to fly together down to Isle of Wight (Sandown) together
with Colin and Jac in two aircraft. I had already called Carla the day before
and found that we didn't need PPR. I called again before we left and found that
the cafe was still open - great! On the toss of a coin we decided that Roy would
fly the outbound leg and I would do the return to Popham.
Once the Vulcan had finished we could join the exodus
and depart from 26. Given the time restriction we are routing direct via Ropley,
Butser Hill and Hayling Island. We initially were following Colin in G-VI and
then overtook them. At the Solent they regained the lead and called for a straight-in
approach whilst we chose an overhead join.
Once landed we taxi towards the tower where we now
have to park, since Britten-Norman have taken over airfield management. Carlas
cafe has also been resurrected on this side of the airfield. We sign in in the
cafe and have a cuppa and a gorgeous slice of carrot cake (thanks Carla).
My
turn for the homebound flight. 
After
a quick checkover we lineup on 23 after a few landing aircraft. We take off
and continue in the same direction from climbout. Jac says she is going direct
to the Needles, rather than round the coast. However from my location that would
take my over the radio mast, so I head further south - then even further south
due to some low cloud. Onwards, and I'm considering turning early past Yarmouth
up to Hurst Castle, but then the other go round behind us out to the coast,
so I sort-of follow from the front towards the Needles. Then north over the
New Forest for a smooth flight back to Popham. Lovely.
So that's my final letter for
the AlphaBet Challenge - Challenge
complete with only a few more days to go!
Return to 2012 Index
Return to main Index
But
then things get worse. Airbourne cancelled all their instructional and trial
flights and blocked-out all other booking slots. Then the Popham website note
was embellish with "Limited private flying until 0945 local then flying
displays by Sea Fury, Blades, Tornados, Black Cats, Arbarth Extra, BBMF and
the Vulcan until 1630 local." for Sunday - implying that the airfield was
effectively shut between. I suspect that things had snowballed with more display
aircraft joining in. But it was very frustrating with the lack of information.
The most worrying thing was that the display pilots information said that they
had an Restricted Airspace Temporary (RAT) - they didn't! Whilst they had been
practising, they also had told local pilots that they shouldn't be using Pophams
frequency.
