31 - Where do you want to go today?

<body topmargin=0 leftmargin=0 marginheight=0 marginwidth=0> <table cellpadding=0 cellspacing=0 border=0><tr> <td valign="top" colspan=2 height=90 BGCOLOR="#006699" TEXT="#080000" background="045085a3.jpg"> <div> <FONT SIZE="5" COLOR="#FFFFFF" FACE="Arial" ><B>Golf Mike Bravo going around...</B></FONT><B>    </B><B> |     </B><A HREF="index.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Golf Mike Bravo going around..."><U><B>home</B></U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="index.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Golf Mike Bravo going around..."><U><B><IMG SRC="03b0e0e0.png" border=0 width="14" height="14" ALT="up" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></B></U></A><B>   </B><IMG BORDER="0" SRC="1x1.gif" HEIGHT="14" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" WIDTH="14"><B>     </B><A HREF="id111.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="30 QXC"><U><B><IMG SRC="02f0e0e0.png" border=0 width="14" height="14" ALT="previous" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></B></U></A><B>  </B><A HREF="id113.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="32 Revision"><U><B><IMG SRC="0300e0e0.png" border=0 width="14" height="14" ALT="next" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></B></U></A></div> <div> </div> </td> </tr><tr> <td valign="top" width=210 BGCOLOR="#FFFFFF" TEXT="#080000" background="046d2e83.jpg"> <div>     <IMG SRC="623a0780.jpg" border=0 width="160" height="120" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></div> <div> <A HREF="id61.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="1 Trial Lesson"><U>1 - Trial Lesson</U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="id62.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="2 Effects of Controls"><U>2 - Effects of Controls</U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="id63.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="3 A trip to Henstridge"><U>3 - A trip to Henstridge</U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="id64.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="4 Straight and Level"><U>4 - Straight and Level</U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="id65.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="5 Or not!"><U>5 - Or not!</U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="id67.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="6 Up, down and around"><U>6 - Up, down and around</U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="id68.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="7 Stalls and Slow Flight"><U>7 - Stalls and Slow Flight</U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="id69.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="8 More stalls and PFLs"><U>8 - More stalls and PFLs</U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="id70.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="9 Into the circuit..."><U>9 - Into the circuit...</U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="id71.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="10 Golf Mike Bravo Going Around. Again!"><U>10 - Golf Mike Bravo Going Around. Again!</U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="id72.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="11 Circuits and spice (and Things Not N"><U>11 - Circuits and spice (and Things Not Nice)</U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="id73.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="12 More circuits (and brain fade)"><U>12  - More circuits (and brain fade)</U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="id74.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="13 Developing a flair for the flare"><U>13 - Developing a flair for the flare</U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="id75.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="14 Close But No Cigar!"><U>14 - Close But No Cigar!</U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="id76.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="15 Still no cigar"><U>15 - Still no cigar</U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="id77.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="16 Solo"><U>16 - Solo</U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="id78.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="17 Getting the hang of it again"><U>17 - Getting the hang of it again</U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="id79.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="18 I Follow Railways"><U>18 - I Follow Railways</U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="id80.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="19 Head in the Clouds"><U>19 - Head in the Clouds</U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="id81.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="20 Second Solo"><U>20 - Second Solo</U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="id82.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="21 Reach for the Pie!"><U>21 - Reach for the Pie!</U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="id84.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="22 Into the Zone"><U>22 - Into the Zone</U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="id85.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="23 Back to the Circuit"><U>23 - Back to the Circuit</U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="id86.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="24 Another Navex"><U>24 - Another Navex</U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="id87.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="25 First Solo Nav: The going gets tough"><U>25 - First Solo Nav: The going gets tough...</U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="id88.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="26 Divers Diversions"><U>26 - Divers Diversions</U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="id108.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="27 Diversions, in a roundabout way"><U>27 - Diversions, in a roundabout way</U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="id109.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="28 Landaways"><U>28 - Landaways</U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="id110.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="29 Solo Landaway"><U>29 - Solo Landaway</U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="id111.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="30 QXC"><U>30 - QXC</U></A></div> <div> 31 - Where do you want to go today?</div> <div> <A HREF="id113.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="32 Revision"><U>32 - Revision</U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="id114.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="33 Finals"><U>33 - Finals</U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="id82.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="21 Reach for the Pie!"><U>21 - Reach for the Pie!</U></A></div> </td> <td valign="top" height=390 BGCOLOR="#CCCCE4" TEXT="#080000"> <div> <I>31 - Where do you want to go today?</I></div> <bR> <div> 18th March</div> <div> It was such a nice day today that I just couldn't stay cooped up in the office -- the urge to go flying (and get away from work) was just too strong! So I booked up a session and headed off to the airfield.</div> <bR> <div> Solo nav was the order of the day, with 1.8 hours still to do to reach the 10 hour solo requirement for the licence. The main constraint on the day was that the plane was booked out to another student at 3:30pm, and so we had to be back by then, but Alistair said that within this limitation I could plan to go where I liked provided I could get back in time. I decided this would be the ideal chance to plan a flight over my house.</div> <bR> <div> As far as route plans go, this one was pretty simple: Wellesbourne to Grove disused, with a transit through Brize Norton, and then a short hop from Grove to Didcot, keeping close to the railway line in order to stay clear of the Harwell restricted area. The return trip was simply the reciprocal course.</div> <bR> <div> The initial trip to Wellesbourne was flown under the hood, with a variety of direction and level changes. This contributed 0.6 hours towards my required 2 hours on instruments, and when I took the hood off we were already downwind for runway 23. We did a couple of touch and gos before parking up in front of the tower.</div> <bR> <div> This first session had taken a bit longer than originally anticipated, and so there was less time for the solo nav if we were to be back for 3:30pm. The route I'd planned should take exactly one hour (plus taxying etc), and I'd anticipated spending some time in the local area practicing steep turns to use up the remaining time. There was now only just time to do the nav portion. Oh well.</div> <bR> <div> <IMG SRC="620c26f0.jpg" border=0 width="450" height="367" ALIGN="LEFT" HSPACE="10" VSPACE="0">After taxying to the hold for the run-up checks and waiting for clearance to backtrack down 23, it was off. I climbed in the circuit to 2500 feet and departed on track from the overhead. Once away I changed frequency to Brize Zone and listened to them for a while before contacting them abeam of Shipston. I was asked to squawk 3702 and given a zone transit at 2400 ft on the Cotswold Regional QNH and a Flight Information Service. There were a number of other aircraft in the area, including an EFC member heading to Popham and some helicopters heading towards Cheltenham for the Gold Cup, all of whom were given the same squawk and transit at 2400 ft.</div> <bR> <div> My PLOGged ETA had me overhead Grove at 32 minutes, and it was there on the nose exactly on time. Because I was visual with Didcot Power Station and the railway line, I didn't follow the plan from this point, but just flew visually. As I got near to the power station, Brize reminded me to stay clear of Benson's zone, and so I did a neat little 180 and headed back towards Grove.</div> <bR> <div> Brize cleared me back through the zone at 2400 ft, and I was back onto the PLOGged heading. Looking at the passing landmarks, I was drifting to the left slightly and so had to make some course corrections. Sure enough, when I got back to Wellesbourne, the active runway had changed to 18. There was quite a bit of traffic in the circuit, and so I joined overhead.</div> <bR> <div> Back on the ground, Alistair met me on the hard standing by the tower, and we were straight off back to Enstone. We arrived a little late, with brakes on at 3:45pm, but fortunately the next student was still being briefed by Ben, so we hadn't really kept him waiting.</div> <bR> <div> Now I have just half an hour of solo time left to do, and 0.2 on instruments. I'm booked in over the weekend for a couple of mock skills tests, so I should be able to get the time in then. My real skills test has been provisionally booked for Easter Sunday morning, but since Mark, the examiner is out of the country at the moment, this will need to be confirmed in the next couple of days.</div> <bR> </td> </tr></table></body>