18 Mar 11 - G-AVKI - a few manoeuvres for the camera

Had a quick flight today to (finally) get some decent photos of G-AVKI in the bag. My father-in-law David is a keen photographer and we've been threatening to have a 'photo shoot' for a while now!

I was very aware of not falling into the 'air display' mentality - there have been no end of pilots killed over the years by trying something too low, too daring or just plain stupid to impress. I kept it simple, a few loops, rolls, chandelles and fly-by's. All went well and we got some nice pictures. The loop/roll images were taken with a big ol' lens - no way was I going to try sub-1000' for anyone!

14 Mar 11 - Good weather, a few basics, visiting Neil Spooner and Priory Farm...

Well, what a good day I've had in the Nipper! The weather God's were smiling - at least initially so I headed off in KI with good friend Flatty along for company in his Rans S6 microlight. I started off over Honington with a couple of loops and a roll then we headed off together across the Wattisham MATZ to visit Neil 'Flat Spin' Spooner, owner of much-modified Nipper G-ONCS at his strip near Colchester. Just before turning at Colchester, I couldn't resist doing a quick loop for Flatty so positioned myself ahead of him at the same level on a reciprocal heading but allowing plenty of separation. Great fun but I wish he'd had a video camera!

Visiting Ardleigh in KI actually my first farm strip landing in a Nipper and I do so love landing on grass, so I was really looking forawrd to it! I know I'm spoilt with a couple of Km of concrete at Honington, but the grass is always greener on the other side! (groan...).

Neil was very welcoming, and we quickly had the cowls off both machines. G-ONCS is very much more modified than KI and I'd have loved a spin to see the difference; full inverted systems, electronic (easy start) ignition and a very well sorted cockpit only scratch the surface of the work Neil has put in. It's fair to say he's passionate about his Nipper!

I asked if we could put the aircraft side-by-side and Neil was happy to oblige.

With Neil Spooner and G-ONCS at Ardleigh

Photo's in the bag, Flatty and I decided to quit while we were ahead as the sun had gone in and the sky was a horrible grey. Neil couldn't resist the temptation and so decided to follow us up for some photo's followed by aerobatics over the boxted disused near Colchester. well, I must say, it was a treat to watch someone putting a Nipper through its paces at fairly close quarters. I think it's fair to say that Neil is a much more accomplished aerobatic pilot than me - I was very impressed!

In formation with G-ONCS and a smiling Neil Spooner overhead Colchester

A nice pic of Flatty & me in formation, taken by Neil

All too soon, Neil had completed his routine; we said our goodbyes and Flatty & I headed North to drop in at our favourite local strip, Priory Farm. Once again we would be crossing the Wattisham MATZ, however this time the cloud was patchy and low. Bless 'em though, the Controllers cleared us through at 800' on QFE while we kept a close lookout for Apaches in the circuit and a Tornado on air-test out of Marham. We were forced to head northwest towards Bury to avoid some real clag and having lost Flatty in the murk, I pressed on to Priory Farm. Priory Farm is a lovely grass strip oriented North - South, run by Goose Farmer and vintage aircraft restorer Bob Sage. On calling up, Bob mentioned there was someone interested in Nipper's on the ground so I requested permission for a couple of loops in the overhead. I have to admit to being a tiny bit nervous as I knew there was a very aerobatic Silence Twister on the deck and this would actually be the first time ever that anyone would be specifically watching me - definitely not the time to cock it up!

I did my HASELL checks, lined up on the runway and did a couple of neat(ish) loops before descending to join downwind for 01, landing over the hangars. We only had time for a short stop really, just long enough to chat about planes and drink a coffee.

Once again we readied for the off under graying skies; I had planned to do a few aero's at Honington before landing but once airborne it was pretty murky and the horizon was indistinct so I gave it a miss - why ruin a great days flying?

I've got the aero's bug again! Can't wait to do more, although I think I'll try to combine landing away with aero's some more before I have to wave goodbye to KI later this year...

Finally, with the sun shining and the temperature well above freezing, all that hard work in the winter seems worth it!

01 Feb 2011 - Permit arrived, just need the weather to play ball now now!

Awesome service from the LAA. Paperwork posted Saturday morning; Permit to Fly in my hand Tuesday morning! All I need now is some decent weather...

28 Jan 11 - Check flight - Done!

Well, the weather gods were smiling today - so thanking them for the opportunity, I decided to head down to Honington and do the check flight. I'm pleased to report that it all went perfectly; I'm not sure if it's quite the done thing but as I was up, I did a few loops to celebrate. It felt really, really good!

Now I just need to wait for the paperwork to be processed and I'll be back in business. Excellent!

26 Jan 11 Permit re-inspection - done!

Good news, KI's re-inspection was spot on (inspector very pleased) and she's now signed off ready for the check flight. If I'm lucky the weather might co-operate this weekend; if so she could be fully legal again mid-Feb so fingers crossed!

17 Jan 11 - Almost ready for Permit

Well, it's been a bit of a slog to organise all the bits and find the time, but G-AVKI, Tipsy Nipper number S102 is almost ready for Permit. The most recent task was replacing the main and nose U/C suspension rubbers which went well using the special tool designed by Neil Spooner of 'Nipper Flat Spin' fame. The rudder's ready to go back on after reaming the upper hinge, the engine's been rebuilt following head refurbishment, the ailerons are back on with no play and the sticking oil pressure gauge has been replaced. There have also been a multitude of other little jobs too which all seem to take more time than you'd expect!

Just need to chat with the inspector now and arrange a date for inspection. It'll be nice to get airborne in the Nipper again - can't remember the last time I was upside down... Should be fun!

All hoisted - ready to swap the main u/c suspension rubbers

Yours truly - looking very pleased with myself

Lifting the nose to change the nose u/c suspension rubbers

10th November 2010 - All is not lost...

Just a quick update - after some discussion with Adam, it would appear that I'll be flying G-AVKI for a little while longer. I'm currently sorting out a few issues that cropped up on the Permit renewal but expect to be flying her again in early 2011. Should get a few hours on her before she leaves for good this time and I'm very much looking forward to it!

My last aerobatic flight (for a while at least...)

Well, I've enjoyed dipping my toe into the field of aerobatics but for now I've come to the end of the line. As with many things it comes down to cost v enjoyment. Aerobatics doesn't come cheap, although I think I managed to do it for as little as possible! However, since I started on this journey last september, I've also done two flying tours in my Shadow. The first in June was Fly UK which took me to the north of Scotland and back, the second in September took me to france for 5 days. Limited funds dictate that I can afford to do either aerobatics or touring and I've chosen to go with touring for now as I've found that although aerobatics is great for the duration of the flight, touring is fun throughout the whole experience.

My last flight in Nipper G-AVKI comprised loops, rolls, chandelles and most fun of all - spinning! I landed (as ever) with a big grin on my face and as I shut down I can't help but think how lucky I've been. It's been a blast...

10th July - rusty!

I've had a busy few weeks since I last flew the Nipper, not least of which was taking part in FlyUK 2010 in my Shadow which was great fun.

This Saturday, I flew the Shadow to Marham, strapped Adam in so he could try it out and then took KI up to blow away the aerobatic cobwebs! I didn't do anything particularly taxing or impressive and unfortunately wasn't able to fly over the runway which was frustrating. It's very difficult to assess yourself without a line feature below. However, I did the usual loops, rolls, chandelles and a spin, all of which went well. As before, the thing I need is continuity, but I suspect that I will only manage a few flights between now and mid-August due to family commitments.

For the record, Adam really enjoyed flying the Shadow; I think he wants one!

04 June Finally - stall turns and some bloody fast spins!

I've flown KI 7 times since my last post on 25th May (including twice today) but haven't updated the blog as to be honest, I haven't really done anything notable. That changed today as I headed up through a grotty inversion layer into beautiful clear skies above 4000'. Finally conditions were ideal for a decent attempt at mastering the stall turn, so continuing up to 6000' (just to be extra safe) I did the HASELL checks and gritted my teeth...

Not sure whether it's just familiarity (and currency) with the aircraft, improved handling on my part or a combination of the two, but stall turning seemed to go very well today - unlike my previous abortions. I can't promise that a hypothetical observer would have given me top marks for appearance, but I managed to get the Nipper vertical, throttle back, apply full right rudder with a reasonable amount of opposite aileron and round she went. I did this quite a few times in a row and all went pretty much the same. I was literally whooping for joy during each one and felt genuine satisfaction.

I think the stall turn has been more challenging than the other manoeuvres I've flown because it isn't as natural feeling - I can't explain it any better than that (sorry!). I can honestly say that I can loop and aileron roll all day now, with a Chandelle at each end of the runway for good measure. My 1/2 cubans and reverse 1/2 cubans are ragged and inconsistent but I'm having lots of fun trying to get them right!

As for spinning, I have discovered that the Nipper is awkward to spin consistently, particularly to the left. In a spin to the right (with the engine), you have to be dogged in holding pro spin rudder; initially, it turns in gently and even with full back stick shows a tendency to come out, but if you persevere, it suddenly tightens up and you get one hell of a rate of rotation which is much, much faster than the Citabria. I still don't know why, but spinning is my favourite manoeuvre, maybe because it is just so instantly gratifying and quite dramatic!

Suffice to say, I'm still loving aerobatics. My goals for the future will require another lesson as I'd like to try flat and inverted spinning and also barrel rolls. I'm REALLY looking forward to that!

Oh, and I really MUST sort out a camera mount and get some video to post!!!

25 May learning, improving and my first unintentional spin!

Had 35 mins of good aero's today overhead Honington (also had 30 mins yesterday too, but nothing remarkable to report!).

Anyway, I've finally realised why I go all skew-wiff on the half cuban. I haven't been centralising the rudder before pulling through into a the loop - simple really. Also managed to get it into a spin without trying. Felt it flick to the right from the reverse half cuban. Too much rudder input I think. Opposite rudder stopped it and I dived away, although I pulled on quite a bit of speed - although not quite to VNE.

Still haven't tried stall turns again though as I want a min height of 5000' and the cloudbase has been around 4000' these last 2 days. We shall see what the rest of the week brings...

Lots of fun today!!!

23 May a good ferry flight from Marham to Honington

Had a good ferry trip today; climbed to 5000' over Marham with gliders below and span, rolled, looped etc so that majority owner Adam could watch. Mind you, having watched him earlier, I realise I'm just a speck at those heights really!

I then headed north to Penteney Lakes and rendezvous'd with Flatty in his Rans S6, G-MZKE. Off we headed to Honington and Flatty got some cracking shots of me in flight - see below. Did lots & lots of turn back circles as it's quite difficult trying to fly the Nipper in formation because of the disparity in speed between our two types. Over Thetford, Flatty called Lakenheath to tell them he was descending and so I called climbing as I wasn't ready to land just yet... I quickly reached 5000' and did some more basic aero's before descending deadside to land on 27. A great little flight in perfect weather. Hopefully this week will let me explore and improve - should be fun!

Here's a very short video of me closing on Flatty's Rans and zooming away.

21st May - First spins in the Nipper and a really nice flight

Had a really good flight today, although KI was a pig to start! I took off on 01, just after Cessna 150 G-JAGS and climbed into the overhead. Following all my spin practice last week, I thought today was an ideal opportunity to spin the Nipper - I can't imagine I'll ever be more spin-current than I am now. After climbing to 6000', (allowing an extra 1000' for the unknown), I applied carb heat, slowly closed the throttle and did some practice stalls. Well, I just couldn't stall the Nipper! With the stall warner blaring away and about 30mph IAS, all that happened was a gentle nod and mush. The slightest check forward of the stick had me flying instantly, so with that in mind, I felt ready to try a spin. Throttle back, enter the stall (well, sort of!) full right rudder and she tucked in nicely. unfortunately (or fortunately depending on your point of view), KI would only do 1/2 a spin before pulling out, even before application of opposite rudder - how begnign is that! Back up to 6000' and I tried a spin to the left with the same result. Not as thrilling as I'd expected and not a patch on the Citabria, but fun nevertheless. After that I had a great chuck about with the usual loops, rolls, chandelles etc etc. Total flight time was 50 minutes, partly because I had to follow G-JAGS in and JAGS was flying massive 'GA-type' circuits. A little surprising really as it was being flown by a couple of Tornado pilots. Mind you, I expect they get all the excitement they need from the day job! Next week KI will be over at Honington, I have the week off and my mission will be to nail the stall turn, something that has eluded me on my few attempts so far...

Tornado's grounded - time to play :-)

A quick 35 minutes in the overhead at Marham, the only movement there all day - Tornado's grounded due to volcanic ash! Loops, rolls, chandelles, 1/2 cubans & reverse 1/2 cubans. I was very conscious that it was just after most people finish on a weekday and that there were 4 Sqn's worth of Tornado pilot's down there probably tutting away at how poor my flying is! Still, luckily for me I'm not in a competition or trying to impress anyone - its all about having fun and improving, and I think I'm managing both. One day I'll try and get someone to video me; its very frustrating, I've never even seen KI do so much as a loop...

10 - 14 May - Spinning in the Citabria and ASK 13 Glider

Wow,

what a brilliant week I've had! I've only just returned from gliding at Halton near Aylesbury where I was taught to solo standard in the ASK 21 glider, I then moved on to the older but rather nicer flying ASK 13. Unlike the K21, the K13 will spin...

Flying the K13 glider with instructor Padge was great fun, although his spin entry technique surprised me at first, it put a huge grin on my face too!

Basically we would enter a gentle bank then ease back on the stick to the stall. Once stalled he applied full pro-spin rudder, full into turn aileron and full up elevator. With this input the k13 flicks on its back and enters a spin, easily recovered with the standard spin recovery technique. Massive fun!

The following day in very lumpy conditions I was signed off solo following a flight with instructor and friend Colin McInnes (there's not much that he isn't qualified to do!) and span to my hearts content on two consecutive flights. Here's a short video.

I also had 2 flights in the Citabria on Tuesday evening when gliding was finished; first with Col , just to get back in the tailwheel groove and check my spin recovery was still on the ball. Then, after a great hour with Col, I put good friend flatty in the back and we headed off for him to have a bit of hands on and for me to take him on his first ever spinning flight. Beautiful conditions with few clouds and great visibilty meant that climbing to 5000' was no problem at all. I'll let the video below show you how we got on :-)

All-in-all, a great weeks flying, in good company - my PFL's should be rather better too!

Here I am ready for solo in the K21 glider

and flying the Grob 109 motor glider

- didn't aero or spin these (the K21 doesn't spin and the Grob 109 is apparently lethal if spun!!)

1st May 10 - Excellent fun trying some new manoeuvres

Well, I had planned to fly to the Popham microlight trade fair in my Shadow last night, check out the show this morning and head back this afternoon. Unfortunately the forecast didn't look promising and I wasn't willing to take the chance of getting stuck a long way from home on a Bank Holiday weekend so I decided to give it a miss.

Anyway, as luck would have it, the weather at Marham was pretty damned good today. My partner in G-AVKI, Adam, said he was taking her up, so I thought I'd join him. We met up early in the afternoon at the fuel bowser and I'd arrived just in time to take her straight off his hands - perfect!

I taxied down 19, pulled off to the hold and completed my pre take-off checks, and then watched the gliding club chipmunk make a bouncy landing which he wisely decided to go-around from. Finally lining up on 01, I opened the taps and headed skywards. Well, it was certainly thermic, I got bounced all over the sky up to about 3000', although things smoothed out from there.

Thermalling gliders meant I couldn't practice aero's in the overhead so I headed for a blue patch of sky 2 miles to the west. After the obligatory HASELL check, I did a quick loop to get my eye in, and then had my first attempt at a reverse half cuban, which is a roll, from which you pull a loop once you're upside down. It didn't go badly at all, but I could have done with a line feature to check as I kept coming out all 'skew wiff'. It was exactly the same story with the standard half cuban (pull a loop and then roll off the top). Outstanding fun though!.

I did this for a while and then thought I'd have another go at a stall turn... Oh dear! I don't know what I did wrong, but it all got horribly out of shape, so I did the 'unusual positions' recovery; chop the throttle, lock the stick and rudder and let things sort themselves out.

I landed after 45 mins with a huge grin on my face! Time was on my side, so after a sit down and drink I had another go. This time though there was more cloud about, so my manoeuvres were done in any gap I could find! This was a great 'chuck-about' flight; loops, rolls, chandelles, half cubans and reverse half cubans, as well as yanking and banking through the cloud valleys. Just brilliant! I did my usual side-slipping power on descent to land. Amazingly this flight was just 30 minutes, but it felt like longer, what a blast!

It looks like AVKI's engine problems have been well and truly put to bed and I now have real confidence in the machine. That, combined with warmer weather and longer days means that I really feel I'm making progress.

I've no doubt that to the trained eye my manoeuvres look ragged and poorly co-ordinated, but what the hell - I don't think I've ever had so much fun in an aeroplane! Roll on the next time (groan...).

I'll try to sort out my camera mount SOON(!) so I can take some footage; in the meantime, here's a picture of AVKI all wrapped up after 4 flights today.

The organisation that had been in our hangar has moved out, so for the moment, we're all on our own with loads of space - very nice it feels too.

Here are some diagrams of the half cuban 8 and reverse half cuban 8 taken from RD Campbell and B Tempest's excellent book - Basic Aerobatics.

28 April - A short, sharp flight, making progress of sorts...

I managed to get up after work tonight and once 2 Tornadoes doing circuit after circuit finally landed, I had the airfield to myself.

I took off on 19, climbed straight to 5000', did a quick HASELL check then went straight into a couple of loops and a roll. Back up to 5000', more loops and another roll, starting to string them together. Last thing, back to 5000' again and I thought I'd do a little sequence, so I did a loop followed by a roll to the right, another loop, a roll to the left, then a triple loop down to 3500' followed by a fast sideslipping descent to land on 19. My GPS logged 22 mins flight time, 30 mins overall. Not a bad little session if I do say so myself, and AVKI behaved perfectly; looks like the carburettor gremlins are gone for good - thank goodness!

What I really need to do is have a warm up flight like this one, come down for a cuppa and then have a go at something else, so on the next day that I have more time to spare, I think I'll have a go at stall turns. Not the easiest manoeuvre to get right though so wish me luck!

By the way, I'm still loving it :-)

27 April - no aerobatics but a long held desire is fulfilled...

Well, I've just got back from a brilliant hour flying 69 year old DeHavilland Tiger Moth G-ANFL out of Felthorpe near Norwich. The weather was perfect with a few clouds in a lovely blue sky and excellent visibility. My host was Ian Robins, an ex-RAF pilot, instructor and airline pilot who I'd met at Marham before Xmas and asked the obvious question when he mentioned his share in the Tiger (if you don't ask, you don't get!).

Meeting late this morning, I was quickly enlisted to help drag FL out of the hangar, Ian steering from the rear with a special dolly under the tail skid. He then sorted me out with a bonedome and showed me round the cockpit. So, wearing too many clothes for comfort in strong sunshine, I was very soon strapped into the front cockpit, gently perspiring and ready for the off. My good friend Geoff Ellis had come along to watch and take some pictures for me, and he very kindly volunteered to swing the prop. As luck would have it FL fired up on the first blade - I wish the Tipsy Nipper was as well behaved!

Ian had briefed me on taxiing, take off and circuit procedure, so once he had us under way, I was soon waggling the nose from side to side for all I was worth to make sure we didn't inadvertently run into anything. At the 24 threshold, Ian spun us round to face the correct way for take off and then handed control over to me.

Gulp! Well, here goes!

I opened the throttle smoothly, the Cirrus engine responding swiftly, then compensated for swing with a dollop of rudder before pushing the stick forward to get the tail up. I checked back and waited for flying speed; at about 55 mph she lifted off all by herself and we climbed gently skywards.

Underneath my mask I was sporting a grin from ear-to-ear. What a lovely flying machine!

With a gentle right turn, I aimed us north, settling at about 1300' and we flew off towards Weybourne and Cromer with an IAS of 70 - 80 mph. I tried a few gentle turns, remembering to lead with the rudder (luckily the Nipper and Shadow both need a bit of rudder in the turn so this wasn't new ground for me) and she was delightful. After a short transit, we arrived at the Muckleburgh Collection near Weybourne and I turned us East, tracking the coast to Cromer. Ian stood FL on her wingtips and I had a go too, very nice! So far, I'd found the Tiger Moth to be a delightfully simple machine to fly - I wish I could afford to have one for those warm sunny days...

Continuing inland now, we routed north of Northrepps airfield (although I'd love to have dropped in if I could) and then I turned us south towards Felthorpe.

We'd agreed to do some circuits and so Ian demonstrated the technique for me, before handing over control on the climbout. I must say, I found circuits fairly straightforward despite power cables and trees which had to be avoided (!) although if I'm being honest, I didn't allow the speed to decay enough before rounding out, which meant we ballooned a little on my first 2 attempts. Number 3 was the charm though and I was very pleased with myself I must say - Ian complimented me on the landing too so it couldn't have been too bad! One more go around and then Ian flew a great short circuit, sideslipping us in for a touchdown right at the threshold. With that, we taxied in, shut down and jumped out. What a great way to spend an hour - I absolutely loved flying the Tiger Moth and it was every bit as much fun as I'd hoped.

Many thanks to Ian Robins and also Geoff for hanging around to take pictures and video. I think it'll be a little while before my feet touch the ground properly though!

The throttle body returns; alls well that ends well - after a false start!

Well, I got the throttle body back on 14th April - here's what I wrote in my e-logbook afterwards...

"Nightmare of a flight. Spent 2 - 3 hours refitting the throttle body, did several ground runs with no problem, then taxied to VAP for fuel and back, again with no problems. Had to taxi for 06, then took off from the Hockey Stick entrance. Slight hesitation initially which I thought might be carb ice as I'd forgotten to apply Carb Heat (idiot!). However, the engine quickly started 'hunting' and I was very worried that it might stop. Marham were excellent and let me land straight back on. Quite a pain in the arse, compounded by being 'worked' by Mil ATC. Engine fine on taxi back and shut down ok."

Anyway, that was then and this is now! I spoke to Adam after my flight and explained that I thought it may have been a carb ice related non-fault, asked him to check my installation and then do some egr's, followed by a check flight if he felt all was well. I'm pleased to report that he flew twice today for just over 2 hours, with not a hint of erratic performance. Phew!

Anyway, as I write this, I should be in Portugal on holiday, but following the Icelandic eruption, my flight was cancelled. Naturally, I had to get airborne one way or another so following Adam's text I decided to have a quick flight in the Nipper late this afternoon.

With nary a cloud (or contrail!) in the sky, I climbed to 5000' over Marham, and with gliders launching below me did my first aero's in what seems like forever. After such a long lay-off I took it easy, but it went very well indeed. I started with a loop, then introduced left and right rolls followed by multiple loops. Absolutely brilliant fun and the Nipper didn't miss a beat. I was in bit of a hurry so did a powered side slip to get down to circuit height ASAP.

When I landed I was definitely sporting the famous 'Nipper Grin'. I taxied in to be met by Adam, who'd been watching me from his garden! All-in-all, a very satisfying 30 minute flight.

Let's hope the weather holds :-)

Waiting for the throttle body...

Nothing exciting to report - KI's throttle body has been received by Ellison in Washington State and we should get it back early - mid April or so.

The clocks went forward last night and now evening flying is definitely on the cards; by the time we have the plane back in the air sunset will be around 8pm! Can't wait. In the meantime I've been flying the Shadow a fair bit and would have got up in the Foxbat except for a bloody frustrating puncture on the ORP at Honington last weekend. Grrr!

I've arranged a flight in a Tiger Moth for the end of April and am really looking forward to it - don't know if we'll manage some simple aero's but I'll certainly ask the question!

Hope to have something more to post about learning aerobatics soon :-)