The Mighty Warrior 9, the Weather 1……………….

I failed to get onto the Shetlands and Unst into the log book….. I ran out of time as the aircraft needed to be back by Friday evening due to bookings…………the compromise of the rental market. I therefore debated with myself whether I should do a trip report and finally decided that on balance fellow pilots might enjoy a report even if just to look at the pictures.

SO, I had an itch. I wanted Unst in the log book. A few years back I did the Stornoway trip with Charles and it worked out reasonably well so I pinged an email to see if he would like to do another trip but up the East Coast this time. Affirm, came back the answer. Email sent early May and trip dates agreed for 26-29 May.

A few obstacles presented themselves before the trip could commence. My IMC rating needed renewal, my medical needed renewal, Charles needed a currency check and most importantly I needed an aircraft we both could fly. I made enquiries to see if we could use the Archer we had used for Stornoway and while the initial response was favourable, I am still waiting for a final yes/no from the Archer owner. I guess the lack of response is a no?? So I made enquiries at one of my flying schools, Perry Air and they came back with a yes, we could use their Warrior which given it is their work horse was an unexpected but pleasant surprise. Omega Aviation sorted out my IMCr revalidation and ping, operation Unst was a go.

A tip for shared flying, make sure all parties contribute to the planning and that each takes responsibility for their own weather calls and interpretations there of otherwise it can be very tiring for the one or two that end up carrying the others on these trips. Ensure you are current with RT and the operation of the aircraft otherwise, again, it becomes less fun or relaxing for the person that ends up in the right seat. Sometimes stating the obvious is not always the obvious to some.

So……………………

Leg 1 – Shoreham to Breighton.

Leg flown by Charles.
Time – 2hrs 10 (chock to chock)
Fuel – 69.2L
Fuel cost – £1.58 pl

Charles suggested that we leave the evening of the 25 May to be better placed to launch the next day and make better use of the flyable weather windows as they presented themselves. Good call I thought and arrived at Perry Air late afternoon expecting that the aircraft had been booked. I clearly need a lesson in communications 101 as it turned out that what the email had said was that we would launch IF the aircraft was available. Hmmmmmmm. Typical, the aircraft was late back and we finally had wheels off at 17:40 (UCT). Fortunately Breighton stayed open until sunset which was 21:15 (Local). My only concern was that if we needed to divert due to runway closure or such like, Humberside would not be an option but this was soon solved by Charles who found another airfield that had a sunset closing time. It was to become clear on this trip that one of the main differences between us was that I only wanted to launch if I was happy that I had sufficient back door options should problems arise on the first plan of action whereas Charles preferred the “lets launch and deal with problems as they arise”. Nothing wrong with that but for me, I take a “what if” approach when I do my planning.
Due to the late arrival at Breighton, we were presented with a “where to stay” issue. Turns out that there is no local accommodation in the immediate area but one of the local pilots took pity on us and took us to a hotel in Goole. Sorted we thought, until we tried to get back to the airfield in the morning. Eventually Reception managed to persuade a taxi to collect us and take us to the airfield. £16 for the ride but hey, no complaints if it got us back to the airfield.
Fuel at Breighton is self-service and landing for £5. Free if you up lift fuel which we did but Charles still popped a fiver into the honesty box. The hangar doors were starting to be opened as we taxied out and I caught a glimpse of some wonderful looking aircraft. I will do this as a day trip again so I can breathe the beauty of the variety of aircraft based there. Grass runway in beautiful condition. Thank you to the Breighton folk who helped us with bits and bobs for our overnight stay. Much appreciated.

Leg 2 – Breighton to Perth.

Leg flown by Malcolm.
Time – 2hrs 15 (chock to chock)
Fuel – 66.81L
Fuel cost – £2.09 pl

The object was now to push as far North as the weather would allow. Initially I thought we would get to Perth and at best Inverness. I decided that Perth would be a good place to stop for fuel which would give us better options if we could not get into Inverness. I wanted to stop at Inverness as I had friends there that I have not seen in years and if we were going to get stuck due to weather they could play tourist guide.
I elected to fly through all the class D airspace rather than routing around it as I usually do and Durham and Newcastle were great. Joined up ATC and it could not have been easier. Straight through the overhead of Durham and Newcastle asked me to route a little east of their overhead which I was happy to do. It did, however, confirm the first niggle with the Mighty Warriors equipment. G-KL please confirm your altitude – 3,000 ft. says I. You are indicating 3,200 but as the error is within the safety tolerances we will allow it. Charles had Farnborough chirp him on his leg by telling him he had bust controlled airspace as he was indicating 2700ft when in fact he was at 2,400 ft. Other issues with the equipment was the Nav boxes 2 the led lights were a bit iffy so you did not know what frequency was being set and the com 1 box and nav 1 box was next to useless as the audio just gave a lots of noise.
Weather was better than expected at Perth so we decided to push on to Inverness and reassess the weather again and hopefully say hello to Maggie May and Al.

Leg 3 – Perth to Inverness.

Leg flown by Charles.
Time – 1hrs (chock to chock)
Fuel – 30 L
Fuel cost – £2.28 pl

Charles elected to fly this leg and it was a straight forward leg. Sporting wind on arrival with a latish change of runway keeping him on his toes. I did not get to see Maggie May as they were full of cold and given the improvement in the Weather, on Charles suggestion, we decided to push on to Wick.
Inverness has come a long way from the last time I was there in terms of security etc. Much more GA orientated and was not a painfully experience as it had been in the past. Well done Inverness.

Leg 4 – Inverness to Wick.

Leg flown by Malcolm.
Time – 55 min (chock to chock)
Fuel – 26 L
Fuel cost – £2.02 pl

Again a straight forward trip. A sporting departure routing through some moderate rain showers with an arrival at Wick with another sporting crosswind and a heavy rain squall right on final. I made two basic errors. While I used the GPS to line up on the runway I should have intercepted the localiser and flown that instead, and I should have asked ATC to put the runway lights on bright. I eventually picked up what was the PAPI’s and lined up on those until I broke through the rain on short final and just shifted across to the actual runway. Good fun and lesson learnt.
Far North Aviation took care of us and their service was impeccable. They organised accommodation, played taxi etc. and where just great. We did have to use a formal taxi the once at a princely sum of £4.
The weather was not good the next day and while it was possible to have got on to the Shetlands I saw no point as it would have either been IFR or scud running. The objective for me was to see the scenery.

Leg 5 – Wick to Wick.

Leg flown by Charles.
Time – 50 min (chock to chock)
Fuel – not refueled
Fuel cost –

In spite of the weather, Charles wanted to try to a fly around the Orkney’s. Alas mother weather was not having any of it. He still achieved one of his wishes and that was to fly around John O’Groats.
The rest of the day was taking in the local sites of Wick which included a tour of the Distillery. That was interesting as I have never done a tour. However, as I am not a big drinker and seldom drink spirits, one tour was enough for the duration of my remaining life. I did chuckle at the irony of beating Charles at darts later on in the evening given that I hit the wall more than the board and that he was by far the better player. He did redeem himself by beating me at pool.

When you see something unusual, a picture is in order – Charles actually looking at weather.

Leg 6 – Wick to Inverness.

Leg flown by Malcolm.
Time – 1 hr (chock to chock)
Fuel – Charles has this info
Fuel cost –

The intention on this day was to do the Shetlands and then work our way back down South to Oban. Again. Mother Weather was not having any of it. The Shetlands were scrapped and we routed down to Inverness. I got a rebuke from Lossie for not calling my onward frequency. Wick transferred me to Lossie who then advised me to call Tain Range. As I had had enough of the radio I decided to go non radio. Down South, the controllers don’t care if you call the next station or not. About 15 minutes later Lossie call me (I still had their frequency in the box) and was put on the naughty mat for not calling Tain Range. I apogised and told them it was “my bad” and dully raised Tain who were absolutely fine with everything. I actually did not mind the rebuke because I was in the wrong and it showed that they were showing an interest in my progress and I probably put them under undue stress thinking something had happened to us. This caring nature of the Scottish ATC was to be a theme throughout the rest of the trip. The arrival into Inverness was interesting. It felt like we were stationary on final approach due to the wind. Refuelled and went to the main terminal for a cuppa and to assess the weather. The Loch routing was out the question as the clag was on the deck and lots of rolling storms moving through.

Leg 7 – Inverness to Dundee.

Leg flown by Charles.
Time – 1 hr 15 (chock to chock)
Fuel – Charles has this info
Fuel cost –

The only routing option out of Inverness was to the East to Dundee. A straight forward trip with a few bits of weather to be avoided and as the weather allowed Charles was able to cut corners. The approach into Dundee presented beautiful scenery. I have never been into Dundee. It was just lovely. Tayside Aviation handled us and seem a very busy flying school which was great to see. If I don’t quit flying I might fly to Dundee on commercial and try hire one of their aircraft to do another Scottish trip. We stayed at the Hilton and knew we were back in civilization when it came to paying bills etc. There would be no further flying this day due to the thunderstorms around Glasgow.

Leg 8 – Dundee to Gloster.

Leg flown by Malcolm.
Time – 3 hr 10 (chock to chock)
Fuel – 90 L
Fuel cost – £1.54 pl

This was to be the most challenging leg for me. It was Friday and the aircraft had to be back at Shoreham. Weather was moving west to east but I did not know how fast it would move. It was the only leg I did get stroppy on as I had no intention of launching until I was completely happy with my plan B.C and D. As it was we launched earlier than I had wanted and we ended up cooling our heels at Gloster. Some people don’t want to listen some of the time. .
I spoke to one of the local instructors about the Glasgow class D airspace and how receptive they are to transits etc. As the easterly routing was not an option due to the weather I did not want to get boxed in between weather, airspace and mountains. The two options I had were VFR on top or VFR under. I preferred the VFR under as it posed fewer issues than trying to get back down through the muck with regards to icing and thunderstorms. Anyhow, the Instructor suggested I call Glasgow Radar and speak to them about my needs. I did this and spoke to a lovely Lady Radar controller and once airborne she handled me again on the radio (pardon the expression). It was well worth the call as they lent over backwards to assist me as things got a bit tricky. I ended up having to detour past Prestwick and regained my track to Dumfries from there. Glasgow had advised all the onward controllers that I was picking my way through the muck and I had Scottish call me before I could call them and basically had my hand held all the way to Warton. If any of them ever read this report, a BIG thank you. You guys and gals were just great and I can’t tell you enough have much pressure it takes off a pilot knowing you have our backs. Just south of the Solway Firth the weather started to deteriorate to worse than I had expected and I had to go full IFR. Scottish had briefed Warton and the handover was seamless and I asked for and got an IFR transit of Warton and Liverpool. Liverpool were their usual superb selves. They were busy but took the “pop-up” in their stride and I sailed through there with not drama at all apart from being asked to switch off the transponder as by now it had gone out of limits. I don’t like flying in the clag for any length of time as I get claustrophobic so it was a personal stretch for me. We had heavy rains showers to dodge and blustery winds to deal with once out of the clag but the arrival into Gloster was no big drama. A quick side slip got rid of my excessive height and the rest of the day was waiting for the weather to clear through.

Leg 9 – Gloster to Shoreham.

Leg flown by Charles.
Time – 1 hr 5 (chock to chock)
Fuel – Not refuelled
Fuel cost –

Not much to say on this leg. Once the weather cleared through, a straight forward trip back to Shoreham with a gentle wind of around 15 kts on arrival. Wonderful.

Conclusion

Leg 8 was my most enjoyable leg. It stretched me as a pilot and I enjoyed in a rather masochistic way.
Ensure each pilot does their own planning.
Currency is king.
Always have a plan B and C before launching. While you can’t plan for every eventuality you can at least take the pressure off yourself by having briefed for alternative plans when Plan A goes wrong.

The dilemma I now face, is if I should now finally put away the headphones for good. If I am honest, I did not enjoy the trip as much as I had hoped I would. I love Scotland so that was not the reason. I have an idea why this was the case but I guess time will present the answer to my conundrum, until then, safe flying. Hopefully I will get to fly with Chris and Peter at some stage this year and see if that will help me take the correct turn at the cross road I am currently at. Thanks for reading. Constructive comments always appreciated.