First Passenger

<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="id150.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Shobdon"><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="id154.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Back in the 40"><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> <A HREF="id150.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Shobdon"><U>Shobdon</U></A></div> <div> <B>First Passenger</B></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>First Passenger</I></div> <bR> <div> 7th August 2005</div> <div> First non-pilot passenger anyway. The weather was nice and sunny, and I picked up Matt from his house at about 3pm. During the drive up to the airfield, we discussed various safety aspects of the flight and what was going to happen. At the airfield we went over the route we were going to take, using the big chart pinned to the wall, and then we went over to the aircraft to perform the preflight.</div> <bR> <div> <IMG SRC="72cc2270.jpg" border=0 width="450" height="295" ALIGN="LEFT" HSPACE="10" VSPACE="0">Outside, there were the beginnings of a barbecue being started up, and it was tempting just to hang around in the sunshine and wait for the food. But there was flying to be done, so on with the preflight. The plane had already been flown in the morning by its owner, so the 'A' check had been done, however that didn't stop me doing another one. The plane needed fuel, and Alistair volunteered to taxi it round to the pumps while I was sorting out a headset for Matt.</div> <bR> <div> Fully fuelled, we went through the startup checks, started the engine and taxied round to the hold. The wind was Northerly, 7 knots, so as well as a crosswind we could expect a bot of turbulence from the trees to the North of the runway. The route I'd planned took us East past Upper Heyford and then South to Didcot, across to Grove and the White Horse, then back through Brize to Enstone.</div> <bR> <div> Take off from 26 and climb into the circuit. It was bumpy as expected during the early stages of the climb, but it settled down and as we left the circuit we climbed to 3000ft. It soon became apparrent though that even out of the circuit it was quite bumpy -- thermals -- as we went over different ground textures we'd hit updrafts or downdrafts that made altitude holding quite difficult. This was not really the ideal conditions for a first flight, so I cut short the original plan and we went out to Silverstone, then back to Bicester, across to Blenheim and back to join the circuit crosswind.</div> <bR> <div> Again it was bumpy in the circuit, and turning final over the pig farm it started to get distinctly squirly. Anyhow, the landing itself was fine, and we taxied in and parked up on the grass. </div> <bR> <div> By this time the barbecue was over, and instead of saving us some, they'd stufed every last bit (except for a solitary piece of chicken) down their faces. Typical! Anyhow, Ian Melville was still around, an we spent some time looking around the parked aircraft before leaving for home.</div> </td> </tr></table></body>