Date: 8/2/2015
Time: 11:35 - 12:30 (GMT)
Aircraft: EuroFOX - G-UFOX
Kidlington.
It's the usual four of us today and (due to the
wind direction) we have decided to go to Kidlington.
First
off, I need to change yet another ignition module bracket that has broken, whilst
Ian does the daily inspection - a good division of labour. All done fairly quickly
and the Aldous's are ready too, so we are soon warming up and taxiing round
to 03. It's my turn for the outbound and I take off and head to the north -
it's a nearly straight due north flight to Oxford. The visibility isn't great
and there is a pronounced inversion layer. However, there is little cloud, so
we can easily climb up above it - it is also very calm up there and allows hands-off
flying. Up past Thatcham and then on to Didcot,
which has an eerie bank of cloud ghosting above it, but a nice view anyway.
Progress
is a little slow and we are fighting a headwind - this may be a bit less lower
down, but I would rather be higher where I can see. Then we go up the west side
of Oxford and after listening to the ATIS, I contacted Kidlington. I was told
to expect a right base join, which is what I have done previously. But then
heard him tell someone else that I was coming straight in - at that point I
was turning base, so couldn't have gone straight in anyway. Then as I was about
to turn final, he told me that a Citation was coming in and I had to go-around.
THEN he said something else (possibly to someone else) that suggested he had
changed his mind. I asked for confirmation and yes, I had to do a go-around.
In the mean time, Colin and Jac came in and landed after the Citation, so effectively
overtook us, whilst we rejoined from the deadside. No problems on the second
time round and knowing that the turn-off is down the far end, I land long. We
were doing 25 knots on the taxiway and then parked up next to G-JT where the
marshaller was just finishing with them - they themselves next to the intruding
German Citation.
We
go into the arrivals and then through to operations. Here we went to book-in
and to add insult to injury, we couldn't as they were still dealing with the
German Citation pilot who was gabbering away on his phone. Typical! So we went
into the cafe. It seems they don't have a cook at weekends, but we did manage
to get some paninis heated and some teas.
Ian
has the return journey. After warm-up we are off on runway 01 again and circuit
round to the south. Again, we pass Oxford to the west, only a little lower than
on the outbound. The visibility has improved a bit. The route is pretty much
the same as the outbound, except when we get to Greenham Common, Ian chooses
to have a little deviation to the west - just for fun. Join and circuit to land
on 03 again.
Another good flight day.
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First
off, I need to change yet another ignition module bracket that has broken, whilst
Ian does the daily inspection - a good division of labour. All done fairly quickly
and the Aldous's are ready too, so we are soon warming up and taxiing round
to 03. It's my turn for the outbound and I take off and head to the north -
it's a nearly straight due north flight to Oxford. The visibility isn't great
and there is a pronounced inversion layer. However, there is little cloud, so
we can easily climb up above it - it is also very calm up there and allows hands-off
flying. Up past Thatcham and then on to Didcot,
which has an eerie bank of cloud ghosting above it, but a nice view anyway.
