IFR trip Turweston - Hannover - Oxford

Hi. Just thought people might be interested in the trip I did last Thursday to Hannover and back.

I needed to attend meetings in Hannover (EDDV) on Thursday last week. The aircraft was at Turweston (near Silverstone Grand Prix circuit) and was to fly over to Hannover and back that night to Oxford (home base). The entire flight done IFR at FL270/280 which is the most efficient for the aircraft. My typical process is to find an efficient route the day before (if I have time). I managed to find the below route at FL270 which was incredibly direct.

DCT ADMIS UM183 REDFA UL620 ARNEM UP147 RKN UL980 OSN OSN7P

It is fair to say the forcast for the trip was not encouraging on the Thursday morning. The GRAMET taken wfor a little earlier than my planned flight time was poor indicating lots of convective activity along the route.

In practice, with RADAR and appropriate monitoring of the actual weather and RADAR picture at the destination, it is often possible in the right aircraft to time your flight to overfly the bad weather and arrive during gaps between convective activity. This is what I chose to do. It is greatly assisted by the ADL-120 inflight datalink product which allows almost real time RADAR downloads.

So I had checked the RADAR data on the ground and saw that my arrival should be clear. Turweston is a visual airport but as with any in the UK, you can pickup your IFR join in the air. I was given my clearance on the ground and instructed to call London immediately on departure while already heading in the right direction OCTA.

Once established in the climb heading out over East Anglia, I downloaded the Hannover RADAR picture:

Which confirmed it was clear. During climb to FL270, which for London was very quick and almost uninterrupted, I was in heavy rain but picked up very little ice (perhaps 1-2mm). Given that I was in IMC all the way to FL270, it was surprisingly little however this ice is typically confined to a small altitude range – in this case about 8-10k. I ran the RADAR all the time I was in IMC to ensure that I didn’t stray into any CB or TS. At FL270 I was just on top.

While there was some turbulence in the cruise until the tops lowered over the channel, in reality this was no worse than encountered on the typical burger run at 2500 feet in summer. I was initially vectored then given direct REDFA (at the FIR boundary). Handed over to Maastricht when just over the Channel then given direct all the way to OSN (Osnabruck VOR) which is the start of the STAR for Hannover. At these altitudes, that sort of long direct (in that case nearly 200nm) is very common as soon as Maastricht takes the flight.

One more quick update 30 mins or so before landing to confirm no terrible weather had struck Hannover:

Then vectors to the 27L ILS for a straightforward landing. The airport has a very nice little terminal for GA, but typical big airport security to get back to plane.

A nice flight. 1:35 in the air with an average groundspeed of 274 with a peak of 342 kts over Osnabruck.

Log of flight here where you can see track, altitudes etc: Link

The return was also likely to be interesting that night given the system in between me and the UK.

I got another nice route from Rocketroute at FL280:

Left on the RNAV Overlay SID and headed for home. The downside of the strong tailwind I had flying over that morning was a much reduced groundspeed this trip. I averaged only 183 knots with a peak of 220. Naturally this means that the entire trip there and back was much longer than it would have been without any wind that day.

Once handed over to Maastricht I got a typical DCT REFSO (which is mid Channel) for another very long direct leg. If you take a look at the log shown below, you can see a lot of tactical diversions to avoid CBs starting at the Dutch coast. I was well on top but there was a lot of convective activity poking above the cloud deck. This was not stuff I wanted to fly through.

Straight over London for a self positioned Localiser to runway 19 at Oxford.

Trip tracking log here. 2:23 flying time for the return.

It is worth thinking about why this trip was possible. Firstly I had full fuel on both legs which gave me very significant range and on both occasions I did not leave cruise without confirming that the destination weather was suitable. I had on board RADAR so I was less concerned about being in IMC in with convective weather around. I was quite confident I would be on top particularly on the way back. Also with onboard de-icing I knew I could climb or descend through most ice conditions likely with the forecast.

Overall, it was a straightforward flight other than the weather headings I had to request coming back while weaving around the CBs. Not point taking photos in IMC so not exactly a visual treat this trip report!