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 :-)

6th March 2010 - Nice flight before a 3 - 4 week lay-up

Had a nice 35 minute flight today; nothing too adventurous, just loops and rolls at the western end of Marham airfield. Managed to cock my entry up on one, too slow and not committed so locked the controls, chopped the throttles and let things sort themselves out! I found the aircraft in company with a Harrier which had diverted in after a birdstrike - remembered to take some pictures this time though.

Spent the best part of 3 hours getting the Ellison carbuerettor off; it will be winging its way to America on monday for a refurbishment as there have always been issues with the engine 'bogging down'. Enough's enough so I hope to be flying the Nipper again in April. In the meantime I should be getting a couple of flights in the CAP soon and will of course keep flying my Shadow.

Clocks go forward soon; I can't wait!

Loops & Rolls in cloudy, hazy and freezing conditions - I really wish that spring would begin!

I managed 30 minutes today, but suspecting that conditions might not be ideal, I had decided to fly to Marham in my Shadow microlight. On landing I was pleasantly surprised to be greeted by co-owner Adam which was nice as he was supposed to be otherwise occupied today.
I wish I'd thought to bring a camera because a visiting Tornado GR4 from 617 Sqn was parked in the same rubb hangar as G-AVKI - talk about little and large!

After a quick look around and B/F I strapped in and was away, or so I thought... The engine quit at the hold, so out I jumped and spent a few minutes getting the engine running. Grrr, very frustrating!
Second time lucky and I lined up on 24 at the intersection with 01/19 before climbing away to the NW. There was quite a lot of medium level cloud but I managed to find a reasonable space. Conditions were hazy and I was a little bit twitchy about the engine so only did a few loops and rolls this time. I'd forgotten to wear my lined Craghopper trousers and it was bloody freezing up at 5000', so with my knees shaking from the cold I followed Marham Aero Club's C150 G-JAGS in for a landing after half an hour total. Not thrilling, but at least it was something and the manoeuvres went well. Roll on spring, summer and those long, long evenings! One thing that I found out today, Adam isn't taking the plane away until August, so I'll get an extra 2 months of hopefully decent weather to get myself to a reasonable standard at Basic Aero's. Fantastic!
After Adam did a few circuits, the engine cut yet again as he was backtracking 24! I'll tweak the idle next time I have some time free and we'll see if that sorts it out.
I had a lovely flight back in the Shadow and gave it a good (non-aerobatic) thrashing in Honington's empty skies before landing just before sunset. Not a great afternoon, but not too shabby either.

05 Feb 2010 - An impromptu lesson; spins and loops in a Citabria

Well, the weather in East Anglia today was rubbish, which meant that unfortunately I had to drive to a meeting at RAF Halton near Aylesbury instead of flying (as I usually do). On the drive down though, I couldn't help but notice the skies becoming clearer and the cloudbase lifting significantly. Hmm (think I), perhaps I could squeeze in a lesson after my meeting? A quick phone call to friend and instructor Colin McInnes and would you believe it, he's free and the aircraft is available - result!
I decided to use this opportunity to polish up my spin recovery technique...

Taxiing out to Halton's 'Chipmunk runway' I felt quite rusty (it being 4 months since my last Citabria flight), but Col's excellent tuition saw me lifting off cleanly and then heading for clear skies near Aylesbury. Climbing to 5000' I did HASELL checks and then asked Col to demo spin entry and recovery. I then span twice and did a couple of loops just for the fun of it!
I've said it before, but I really like the Citabria, its roomy and solid feeling and spins (and recovers) very nicely. I had a big grin on my face now, which I promptly wiped off by failing to get the Citabria to spin at all on my next attempt! Full left rudder but without pulling the stick fully back resulted in a mushy descending turn... Yuk! Best I have another go then! Success - I do like to spin it's great fun!
The landing was a little 'touch and go' though as the only available runway was directly into a very low sun. I must say that I was very grateful to have Colin in the back, his excellent advice resulted in a nice landing. I had a great flight of 50 minutes and achieved everything that I wanted from it. Not bad on a day that I hadn't expected to fly!

31st Jan 2010 - Cocking up the stall turn...

I had a smashing little flight today in clear blue skies over Marham. I thought that I'd have a go at stall turns but couldn't quite get things right! Diving to 110mph, I pulled up to the vertical, fed in a bootful of rudder and round she went, but instead of a neat 'inverted U shape', it seemed to mush over backwards a bit, despite my checking forwards at the vertical. Mind you, it proved the value of having done U.P.'s on Thursday! I basically braced all controls, let things sort themselves out and when it was settled, had another go. Loops, rolls and chandelles all went well, I just need more practice on stall turns. I guess, like all things aerobatic, practice makes perfect! Hopefully I will get up again next weekend if the weather's ok. Can't wait for the clocks to go forward - roll on spring!

28 Jan 2010 - Unusual positions and half Cuban 8's

Well, what a great day today was! With good weather forecast for much of East Anglia I decided to fly my friend's Aeroprakt Foxbat over to RAF Wyton, where I'd been invited for another lesson in the Grob Tutor with 5 AEF. I arrived bang on time having taxied past the lines of Grobs, parked up outside the flying club and made my way to the teabar, there I got reacquainted with Stu Rawnsley and watched the mandatory safety video again. After a quick cuppa I was fitted out for RAF flying togs and was introduced to my instructor Neal Adams, a very experienced ex-F4 Phantom pilot. We discussed the sortie and then walked for our aircraft. Neal isn't a QFI so I wasn't allowed to do the take-off this time, but he very quickly relinquished control once airborne (rather to my relief!).
We climbed to 6000' in-between Sutton Meadows and Chatteris and Neal demonstarted some 'unusual positions' and their recovery. It makes 'normal' unusual attitudes look rather tame I must say! My favourite 'U.P.'was pulling up well past the vertical and then recovering from various power settings. Lots of fun and I think I made a reasonable job of it all things considered (not perfect but safe).
Next on the agenda I pulled us into a standard loop just to get my eye in, and then Neal demonstrated a half Cuban 8 which was great fun. I don't think I'll be able to do this in the Nipper as there's quite a bit of negative G during the roll element. I shall ask my fellow Nipper fliers on the forum!
Sadly, UP's plus 1/2 Cuban 8's had made me a bit queasy so I only attempted 2, but it really was very satisfying and great fun. I flew us down to short final and then Neal landed. All-in-all, a very good lesson. Thanks again 5 AEF - you're absolute stars.
After a good de-brief with Neal over a cuppa, I jumped back in the Foxbat and flew back to Honington with a big grin on my face. Wyton even offered me runway 33 which was damned decent of them! On the way home, I got vectored out of the way of a KC 135 tanker near Mildenhall which is quite unusual. I never get tired of buzzing round the MATZ though, you never know what you'll see; I watched a pair of F-15's landing at Lakenheath on my way out!
With time in hand, I put the Foxbat to bed and pre-flighted my Shadow. 3 types in one day; why not! I had a nice half hour flight and chucked the Shadow round quite a bit to see how my new micro camera performed. It looks pretty good so I've put together a short video (below).
Well, that was the end of a great days flying; hopefully I can get up in the Nipper this weekend. Fingers crossed...

Sunday Jan 17th - a bit frustrating but got up in the end!

I managed one flight today but the weather had deteriorated by late afternoon with quite a bit of cloud at around 2000' along with haze and a low sun. Had to climb away from the field to the NW and ended up doing some unco-ordinated loops, rools and wingovers. Still, every little helps and maybe next time I'll get clear blue skies so I can try and tie the manoeuvres together.
Of considerable frustration was the engine which twice cut out on the ground. Not a drama you might think, however it's no fun when you have to jump out away from any chocks and try to handswing the prop! I tried the 'behind the prop' technique for the first time today and this worked fine (and felt pretty safe) so another deposit in the experience bank...
I should hopefully get tomorrow to tinker with the engine and then check-fly it along with more aero's; ah, the joys of operating on a PTF! I could never afford a C of A machine and it would break my heart to pay someone to do what I'm perfectly competent to do!
Mind you, the airfield's open tomorrow so I'll have a bit more to worry about than a C152, Chipmunk and glider... Tornado's in the circuit focus the mind wonderfully I find!