UniformCharlie

On the road ...errr ... in the sky again (Saturday, 18 June 2005)

So we tried again. Strip beds, etc. etc. etc. Day's Rental was kind enough to let us take the car out to the airport. They would collect it later in the day. Thanks a million, Neil.

Weather looked acceptable, not brilliant, but feasible. However, one of our big hopes had vanished. Remember? On the way up we had headwinds. Hoping that the westerly winds would prevail we were dreaming of something considerably higher than 50 knots ground speed. This would allow us to "shoot" back to Germany. But no. Of course not. We were battling into the wind again. But one cannot be too choosy.

Met Chris who flies his PA-28, TW, ...

... oh blimey, just lost all the write-up about this day!!!!!  So here we go again:

Chris had taken me up the year before, a trip around Gower. That's what LP had planned to do, but the weather was against us. So it was very handy that Chris came walking along the apron as we were having a shouting match as to how to put the wings back on. Thanks, Chris, for your help!

We followed TW to the holding position for 10. There was a GROB in the circuit, an air cadet student pilot. They are really posh people, them air cadets. They wear white gloves! In fact, the whole flying community in the UK is quite prim and proper. ATC and especially instructors all in white uniform shirts with dark blue ties, strutting efficiently with their knee-boards and pilot cases long the aprons. Ohhhahhhh, I do like uniforms . My god, they do it in style! I am thinking of introducing this at ACL Worms. So, WW, how about shirt and tie when we are flying?  That would put you right off flying, wouldn't it?

Although visibility was ok, when we turned out over the sea over Mumbles it was quite a different story. The sea and the sky melted together in a mushy haze. No horizon. Hardly any reference. So we kept along the coastline to Cardiff. But eventually there was just the sea. With our eyes on the compass, the GPS and the sea - out of the side windows - we made it to our next reference point, Minehead. You really can't miss it. But it's quite amazing, how your eyes can trick you. You think there's a shoreline in the distance and all it is, is a shadow of a cloud on the water. So, here we are, Minehead:

With it being Saturday with beautiful weather - once over solid ground again - there were loads of people about on the road. Very satisfying to see all the cars on the M5 going down south, the two lanes were chock-a-block and we were flying past them!

We were again handed from one frequency to another, along Yeovil and Yeovilton, where I probably made one Flight Information guy's day with my .... let's say unconventional ... RT work. He was still laughing when he suggested to LP ... after hearing what type of plane we were ... that we touch down outside one of those lovely country pubs we were flying over at the time.

As we were trundling along, we were at the same time looking out for these horses and the guy with the big willy which are carved in the hills of Dorset. Couldn't find them although we did leave our intended course a bit, looking for them. Next time!

Down towards Bournemouth it was a lady ATC who let us cut across her zone .... ehrmm that sounds odd  ... well, what I meant was, that we could fly through the bottom corner of the Solent CTA. We reported at Sandbanks ...

... and later abeam The Needles, the westernmost point of the Isle of Wight:

The next stretch was one of the prettiest parts of the whole trip:

Lighthouse between New Milton and Lymington

The Solent with two boats having a race.

Portsmouth

Jetskies going wild

Beach near Bognor Regis dotted with sun-worshippers

26.6.05 21:32