Plog Blog

I was forwarded an email yesterday and thought it might be of some interest. The story relates to a Socato TB20 "Trinny" owner running into trouble flying at altitude in the US. The email is long so I have placed it on my website as a text file here for you to read.


Here is the evidence of of what happened after the event





The story is a sobering and salutary tale. The TB20 by the way is a French-built 4-seater that has no pressurisation or de-ice capability. If you had been the pilot, what would you have done differently?

London Ashford Airport, UK (formally Lydd Airport to us light aircraft flying folk) really is starting to come alive.  It now has an ATC service and new tower (although the Lyddair pilots were always very helpful when executing their tower duties), new terminal facilities, a revamped runway and plans for an ILS, NDB, and DME to be installed very soon. 

I have fond memories of Lydd as it was one of my early flights as a PPL from Norwich Airport. It all seemed very exciting at the time.  I had never flown that far South in the UK before, and I had never taken my sister and her family flying before either. 

We had to make an unscheduled stop at Southend Airport en-route due to a nauseous nephew sitting in the back, who had been eating sticky buns before the flight… all very unpleasant!  When we finally reached Lydd, we were made to feel very welcome.  They were very helpful on the radio…..  'G-**** park next to the PA-31' after a few seconds of hesitation and my inexperienced RT, the man in the tower said 'that's the blue one on your right'.  I am not that much better at aircraft recognition now, although despite being a woman, I can park an aircraft!

Anyway, back to the point.  I have heard that London Ashford Airport will be holding an Airshow in September.  Like their landing fees, it doesn't seem that expensive when compared to its South England rivals, and boasts to be a good family day out.

If anyone has flown into London Ashford recently, let us know how you found the new facilities.

Hi fellow PPL's,

I have a little problem!  Is there anybody out there who is flying my way?

Anybody going on the RAFCCA rally to Mallorca and want fill an empty seat in order to lower costs?

Let me know if you are...

Spurred on by the buzz I got from being back in the Maule saddle and given the weather at the moment is typically Winter-like, I thought I would give the IMC rating a go.  The IMC is a "mini-IR" rating add-on for UK PPLs and can only be used in UK national airspace.  The added bonus is that you get some off-seasn hours in plus ar eback int he school environment where you can polish up that positive attiude and currency you may have lost since passing.

A quick search revealed my old club at Wellesbourne is now charging ｣130/hr (over $200) for a Piper Warrior 3.  A friend learnt with another school at Coventry, this being a non-for-profit and voluntary run affair.  They have a Cessna 172 Reims Rocket with a powerful 210hp engine burning silly amounts of fuel for only ｣105/hr.  Guess which school won out in the end?

However with the lower cost comes the unfortuante situation surrounding Coventry Airport.  Recently bought and then sold my the resident low-cost operator Thomsonfly (TUI), there are a couple of bug-bears.  Firstly is that the GA Apron has been marked out and all the spaces given the the larger commercial flight training opreation next door.  This now involves a walk covering about 25% of the airfield.  Secondly is that the resident air traffic controllers seem unable to cope with any level of traffic, preferring to hold everyone off, even with light traffic still miles and therefore minutes away from landing.  Safe yes, expediant no.

With the frost that morning we ran late, which all led to a rushed lesson (there is too only ever one instructor tasked for the day).  The aeroplane itself is quite smooth and stable, a nice change from the more hands-on Maule.  The abbreviated lesson went okay until the base leg where again due to traffic, we orbited three or four times.  The landing highlighted the classic mistake of not pulling back and holding off enough in the flare, thereby tapping the nosewheel still with plenty of lift left to dump.

So things to do next time.  Get there early or book a later slot.  Give the duty instructor a rest by find out which of the instructors will be able to work with a regular slot. Get a proper VFR checkout on the Rocket, master the aircraft and learn how to start the engine kindly.  The latter will be useful for trips, touring and perhaps even stripping (if they will allow me) when the Maule is u/s.  Unfortunately the weather charts at the moment are suggesting a cancellation fro this weekend with a deep low, i.e. very windy conditions.

Ok, here is airport number 4.  The picture was donated by a friend that I meet at University.

Somebody at work has accused me of being an airport spotter!!!  I like to think of myself as an enthusiast!  So if you have any more airport photos, please feel free to e-mail them to me.

Well I have tried but have thus far failed.  I have in the past studied
instrument flying through using Microsoft Flight Simulator, going on
jollies with IR-rated mates and of course there's the stuff your PPL
instructor does that you shouldn't be doing.  Getting your head past
the first few chapters therefore is a tough task because the material
is relatively straightforward.  Where the danger lies is a) switching
off and continuing this skimming approach into the tougher stuff.  The
sketchy knowledge displayed itself last Saturday when on the ILS into
Coventry, I got disorientated.  I realised what the problem was a bit
too late, but didn't have the confidence to countermand incorrect
advice from the right-hand seat.

Swotting up on the theory is
vital and the 6 Ps definately applies here.  "Prior Preparation
Prevents Poor Performance".  Okay so I missed one P out but I leave you
to imagine what word that is and where it might go.  I am doing the IMC
on the cheap so there's no groundschool.   So I have concluded that
there is still room for the spoken word in learning and so have ordered
a computer-based training (CBT) course on CD at ｣89 from OAT Media a division of Oxford Aviation Training
and past winner of a Flight Award.  If I am honest to myself, a CBT
course means, as in a classroom, you can switch-off when it gets boring
and switch on when you need to know something.  Lazy?  Probably, but
the only cure for that is to back up in the air and get the bug back.  I will let you know how I get on.