Date: 08/12/2013
Time: 12:50 - 13:35 (GMT)
Aircraft: EuroFOX - G-UFOX
Sandown Again
It seems like ages since we had our own plane and
Colin and Jac have had theirs. So it is rather surprising that it has taken
this long for the four of us (C, J, Ian and I), who have flown regularly together,
to have an opportunity for all of us to fly out together in our own planes.
Today is the day.
The plan is to go down to Sandown. We don't have
an awful long amount of time as Colin has the night shift, so we we will go
the quick way to the east of the Southampton zone. For the outbound journey,
Ian is going to fly Jac in the EuroFOX and Colin will fly me in their Eurostar.
After
adding a little more blanking to the starboard radiator, we fuel and prep the
planes. Colin takes off on 26 and we climb into the overhead and wait for G-UFOX
to take off. We then head south in relatively
close proximity in the hope of a (pre-planned) photo opportunity. First, Ian
flies to our left to let Jac get some pictures of her plane. I manage to get
one shot of our, before a cloud bank materialises in front of us - Ian turns
to the left and we turn to the right to avoid the cloud bank and each other.
Unfortunately, we lose each other.
There appear to be two layers of cloud - a low layer
with murk below it and a higher layer. We continue southwards between the two
layers - there are sufficient gaps to see the ground to keep us legal VMC.
Approaching
the Isle of Wight, we hear G-UFOX calling Sandown. We join and land just after
them. We are directed to park just behind them.
We go into Carla's new café for the obligatory tea
and bacon butties - lovely.
For
the return journey, we swap planes and pilots - Jac is taking Ian home in the
Eurostar and I'm taking Colin in the EuroFOX. After checkover, we take off first
on runway 23. We then turn northwards and climb slowly, waiting for the others.
We gain height to cross the Solent and continue climbing to about 4000'. However,
the gap between two cloud layers had gone and we had to descend to about 2000'
to be safe. We follow the now familiar route up to Butser Hill, then past Colemore
and Ropley. Approaching the Black Wood we descend for a deadside join and land
on 26.
Ah - lovely.
Return to 2013 Index
Return to main Index
After
adding a little more blanking to the starboard radiator, we fuel and prep the
planes. Colin takes off on 26 and we climb into the overhead and wait for G-UFOX
to take off. We then head south in relatively
close proximity in the hope of a (pre-planned) photo opportunity. First, Ian
flies to our left to let Jac get some pictures of her plane. I manage to get
one shot of our, before a cloud bank materialises in front of us - Ian turns
to the left and we turn to the right to avoid the cloud bank and each other.
Unfortunately, we lose each other.
