Bembridge

<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><IMG BORDER="0" SRC="1x1.gif" HEIGHT="14" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" WIDTH="14"><B>  </B><A HREF="id117.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Isle of Man"><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="6ce78a00.jpg" border=0 width="120" height="160" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></div> <bR> <div> <B>Bembridge</B></div> <div> <A HREF="id117.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Isle of Man"><U>Isle of Man</U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="id139.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Check outs and Bimbles"><U>Check outs and Bimbles</U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="id150.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Shobdon"><U>Shobdon</U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="id151.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="First Passenger"><U>First Passenger</U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="id154.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Back in the 40"><U>Back in the '40</U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="id152.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Flyer Magazine Bash"><U>Flyer Magazine Bash</U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="id153.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Kemble"><U>Kemble</U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="id155.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Shotteswell and Goodwood"><U>Shotteswell and Goodwood</U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="id156.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Night Training 1"><U>Night Training - 1</U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="id157.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Night Training 2"><U>Night Training - 2</U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="id158.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="A Touch of HEVN"><U>A Touch of HEVN</U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="id159.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Night Training 3"><U>Night Training - 3</U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="id160.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="On to the 10"><U>On to the '10'</U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="id161.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Getting used to the 10"><U>Getting used to the '10'</U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="id162.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Abbeville"><U>Abbeville</U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="id163.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Duxford"><U>Duxford</U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="id164.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Hazy Sunday Afternoon"><U>Hazy Sunday Afternoon</U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="id165.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Avranches"><U>Avranches</U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="id166.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="A little Jodeling"><U>A little Jodel-ing</U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="id203.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Sywell"><U>Sywell</U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="id204.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Compton Abbas"><U>Compton Abbas</U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="id205.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Back to Bembridge"><U>Back to Bembridge</U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="id206.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Rochester"><U>Rochester</U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="id207.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Sleap"><U>Sleap</U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="id208.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="A look at Leicester, more Jodelling and "><U>A look at Leicester, more Jodelling and back to Sleap!</U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="id210.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="A Bonus Bimble"><U>A Bonus Bimble</U></A></div> </td> <td valign="top" height=390 BGCOLOR="#CCCCE4" TEXT="#080000"> <div> <I>Bembridge</I></div> <bR> <div> 17th April, 2005</div> <div> Sunday lunchtime. I’d just popped in to the club with my newly-arrived licence in hand to sort out some paperwork – membership forms etc. and to see if I could book anything. My plan, such as it was, was to do something “safe” for my first trip – go to Wellesbourne for a couple of circuits then just bimble about the local area for a bit. All very familiar. </div> <bR> <div> I hadn’t even got through the door when my old(!) instructor came up and said “Do you want to go to Bembridge? Everyone's going for lunch!” After taking 0.2 microseconds to think about it… “Yes!” There was a brief rearranging of passengers in two other planes, and suddenly I was preflighting the Katana, with another club member brave enough to sit in the RHS and help with the navigating and radio. </div> <bR> <div> <IMG SRC="65ac2ec0.jpg" border=0 width="450" height="492" ALIGN="LEFT" HSPACE="10" VSPACE="0">A very lightweight route was quickly drafted ("Go South; Miss Southampton"), along with a list of people to talk to. I’d been as far as Newbury before, with a transit through Brize, so that bit was straightforward. The only strange bit was going from Enstone instead of Wellesbourne, and changing to Brize Zone instead of Wellesbourne Information. Maintaining the same track would take me to the top of Southampton’s zone, where I’d either get a transit or route around. In the event, Southampton wouldn’t even talk to us, so route around it was. We slipped down the channel between Portsea and Hayling islands (neatly avoiding being cooked by the radar at Portsdown Hill) by which time I was talking to Bembridge Radio, and made a centre line join for runway 12. </div> <bR> <div> The circuit is interesting at Bembridge because it is around the coast (not that you should be looking at the beach Anyhow, this was the first time I'd seen the sea from the air, yet alone flown over even a small bit of it). The runway is concrete, and much smaller than either Enstone or Wellesbourne. It also slopes downhill. But there is a 2-light PAPI which I found very helpful. </div> <bR> <div> Annoyingly we missed out on lunch at the Crab & Lobster ‘cos we arrived after they’d stopped serving, (the on-the-nose head wind meant we only made 79kts ground speed!) but we got some sarnies at least. Still, there's an excuse to go back! </div> <bR> <div> The route back was almost identical – up the channel between Portsmouth and Hayling Island, head North for a while to stay clear of Southampton (who still wouldn’t talk to us), The weather by now was getting noticeably claggy, with the approaching warm front, so we stuck with 2000 ft as a convenient altitude. Then cross to Popham, back up past Newbury, Wantage, another transit through Brize, and a right base join for 08 back at Enstone, just in time for tea and cake! </div> <bR> <div> The wind at Enstone was 10kts straight across the runway, which is probably the crosswindiest(?) landing I’ve made so far. Interestingly, if I was still waiting to do my QXC, it would probably have been a no-go day thanks to the front. What a difference a bit of paper makes! </div> <bR> <div> Total time was 1h15 going, and 45 mins back, giving me my first two hours in command.</div> <bR> <div> <A HREF="http://www.airliners.net/open.file/165586/L/" TARGET="_top" TITLE="http://www.airliners.net/open.file/16558"><U>http://www.airliners.net/open.file/165586/L/</U></A></div> <bR> </td> </tr></table></body>