Date: 20/12/2014
Time: 13:15 - 13:45 (GMT)
Aircraft: EuroFOX - G-UFOX
Windy Old Sarum
It's been a busy morning for me and I don't get to the airfield until near midday. Ian has been industriously working on sealing the gap between the hangar and the door slide which has been letting in the wet at the front of the hangar. To be honest, the forecast was a bit windy, so I was in two minds, but now that we are here it doesn't seem too bad. After a quick query with Steve to ask what the condition are like, we decide to go to Old Sarum. We don't have masses of time left and also their runway is quite wide which allows you to land at an angle that is more into-wind, to counteract the crosswind element.
By the time we have prepped the plane, some low clouds have unexpectedly cropped up. My turn in the pilots seat for the outbound leg and we take off from 25 and head south west. The clouds aren't too bad, but don't allow us to climb to 2500'. There is also some light drizzle on screen. As we approach Alderbury, I give Old Sarum a call and for the first time we are allowed an overhead join (probably as there was no parachuting in this wind), so this will be unusual. Indeed it does look a bit different from this height and viewpoint, as I descend on the deadside and then circuit for runway 24. The wind is coming from the right and as planned, I offset my approach to be into wind. A little ponderous as the wind direction seems to swing around a bit and there was also some significant sink as we get to the threshold, but the landing goes OK.
There
aren't many people here, so we get to park up between the parachuting jump-plane
and the cafe. We get the obligatory tea and bacon butties, although I have to
wait for mine from a second batch, as the waitress wrongly gave mine to someone
else who promptly manhandled it.
By the time we leave, the clouds have cleared up again. Ian takes off (at an angle again) and circuits into the overhead, before heading south east. We follow the reverse of the outbound journey and head back to Popham.
Not the biggest trip, but very much appreciated, particularly in these conditions.
