Shobdon

<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="id139.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Check outs and Bimbles"><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="id151.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="First Passenger"><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="53fa0780.jpg" border=0 width="160" height="120" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></div> <bR> <div> <A HREF="id116.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Bembridge"><U>Bembridge</U></A></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> <B>Shobdon</B></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>Shobdon</I></div> <bR> <div> Sunday 31st July 2005</div> <div> Another dull, wet weekend. Yesterday I had booked the Warrior just for some local flying, but I had only just started taking the covers off when the sky went black and the heavens opened! It then rained continuously for the next two hours, effectively putting paid to that trip. Today was better, and although low in the morning, by afternoon the cloud base had lifted to around 3000 feet. So I booked the aircraft and headed off to the airfield.</div> <bR> <div> I'd checked the NOTAMs at home via NotamPlot, and pulled the current 214/215. So on arrival I made a cup of coffee (mostimportant!) and settled down to plan the route to Shobdon and back. With the covers off the aircraft and folded, there came the first snag: No check list. A more experienced pilot would no doubt be able to rattle the whole thing off from memory, but this was only my third trip in the Warrior and I'd much rather be sure I hadn't missed anything. So over a cup of coffee, one of the lads and I had a good poke around the place to see if we could locate it. Sadly not. Fortunately about that time Alistair turned up and said "I have a personal check list you can borrow; just make sure I get it back when you return." Cool.</div> <bR> <div> Alistair's checklist was a small wire bound A5 booklet with laminated pages. I'm thinking it might be a good plan to get hold of one of these for myself for just this kind of situation. Anyhow, the external checks revealed  about 80% full tanks, which would be fine for this afternoon's trip. A look under the wings however shwed the port side outboard fuel drain to be dripping. It was dripping directly onto the tyre, and had evidently been dripping for some time looking at the state of the grass under it and the bulge in the rubber where fuel had been running down the tyre treads. I called Alistair over to have a look, and he said that these fuel drains were known to leak if they weren't reseated correctly, and a good waggle should stop it, which it did. The swelling on the tyre was also deemed not to be a problem, as it only affected the tread and not wall of the tyre.</div> <bR> <div> The 214 showed 2000ft winds as being VRB05, while the windsock showed the surface wind as being light and from the North. A phone call to Shobdon for PPR  gave the runway in use as 08, with a right hand circuit, and the lady on Enstone Radio gave our departure runway as 26. The route I'd planned involved heading North to Stratford and then direct to Shobdon. This neatly avoided the hills and the red squiggly bits on the chart.</div> <bR> <div> <IMG SRC="729900a0.jpg" border=0 width="400" height="266" ALIGN="LEFT" HSPACE="10" VSPACE="0"></div> <div> At long Marston there was a fair, the tents and marquees making the airfield easier than normal to spot. Turning towards Shobdon, visibility was such that Worcester and the hills beyond were indistinct. Progress however was slow, suggesting that the wind was stronger than forecast. I kept a steady altitude of 2600ft, although a tendency to drift to the left needed regular monitoring and correction. Since Shobdon has an NDB, I took the opportunity to play with the Warrior's ADF, and tuned it in. The ADF is an aged-looking device with an analogue rotary tuning knob -- rather line an old fashioned radio -- and a frequency range selector. I tuned it in, such that the signal strength needle showed maximum, but the ADF needle just wandered around any which way except ahead. Ah well.</div> <bR> <div> Abeam Bromyard I contacted  Shobdon Information for joining instructions. The runway in use was 09, with a right hand circuit. For noise abatement, the circuit is quite wide to avoid Pembridge, and with a dog leg on base. I elected to join downwind, landing on the numbers. I then backtracked to the intersection and crossed the north side grass runway to the visitors parking area. After shutting down and paying the landing fee (£8), I enjoyed a slice of cherry pie and ice cream in the late afternoon sun.</div> <bR> <DIV ALIGN="LEFT"></DIV> <div> <IMG SRC="72a803a0.jpg" border=0 width="640" height="314" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></div> <bR> <div> When it was time to leave, Shobdon Information had closed down and all calls were being made to Shobdon Traffic. I followed the taxiway round to hold B. Off the grass the taxiway was narrow, with hedges to the sides, giving the apprarance of a farm track. Power checks were done at the hold. With one aircraft ahead vacating the grass, I lined up for departure. The runway at Shobdon is quite small: 842m by 18m, marked out in the centre of the tarmac. The outer sides are quite rough and certainly not usable. It seemed that the take off run took quite a lot of that 842m.</div> <bR> <DIV ALIGN="LEFT"></DIV> <div> <IMG SRC="72b80340.jpg" border=0 width="640" height="308" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></div> <bR> <div> Departure from the circuit was straight out, and once over Leominster I tuned in to London Info for a listening watch. I climbed to 2700ft and set course direct twards Enstone. At Pershore, someone had planted a field to look like an RAF roundel, with a red hbeart in the centre. I tried to take a photo, but sadly I was too far away and the haze such that it didn't come out. Oh well. Landing was at 17:55, knocking 10 minutes off the outward journey time.</div> <bR> </td> </tr></table></body>