3 - A trip to Henstridge

<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><A HREF="id41.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Lesson31"><U><B><IMG SRC="03e0e0e0.png" border=0 width="14" height="14" ALT="down" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></B></U></A><B>     </B><A HREF="id62.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="2 Effects of Controls"><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="id64.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="4 Straight and Level"><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> <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> 3 - A trip to Henstridge</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> <A HREF="id112.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="31 Where do you want to go today?"><U>31 - Where do you want to go today?</U></A></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> </td> <td valign="top" height=390 BGCOLOR="#CCCCE4" TEXT="#080000"> <div> <I>3 - A trip to Henstridge</I></div> <div> 28th Mar.</div> <div> Or, how we spent three hours waiting for the weather to clear, and why it's a Good Thing there's no intercom in the back of a Warrior. Oh, and we did some flying too...</div> <bR> <div> This was Sunday, I just didn't get a chance to write it up before, and even now I shall try to be brief since I have an early start in the morning...</div> <bR> <div> Sunday morning, 9:30 am, Enstone club house. The clocks had gone forward the night before and, to be honest, they needn't have bothered. We weren't going anywhere. Not even the birds were flying; the cloud base was much too low. Lesson 3 was to take place during the club flyout to Henstridge for lunch. The key word there was "lunch". This gave us a realistic latest departure time of 12:30 in order to arrive before the kitchens closed. So we sat and we waited, and nattered, and had improvised quizlets, and drank improvised flat whites (the coffee machine being out of regular filter gunk)</div> <bR> <div> Come 12:00, the weather was improving noticeably, and by 12:30 we were off. This time we were in a PA28 Warrior (third plane in three lessons!), which is what you get in a flyout when you're at the ar$e end of the pecking order. Because this one is not a regular training aircraft, Alistair handled taxi and takeoff duties, and gave me control at a suitable altitude. The exercise was then basically to keep the plane correctly trimmed and going in the right direction, maintaining height and missing the clouds. The route was basically 270deg towards the Severn valley, then follow the valley down to Bath, and then South to Henstridge. Ian was navigating in the back (didn't seem to make any puking noises, so I guess things were okay ) and Alistair worked the radio. The key things were that we got there without having to make any course adjustments (and I wasn't watching the instruments much, honest!), and kept it reasonably well trimmed -- I found it much easier to trim than the Katana. In fact the only course deviations laterally or vertically were to avoid clouds. The weather started to close in again as we approached Henstridge, and we'd got down to about 1500 ft by the time Alistair decided it was time to take over and fly it the last few miles.</div> <bR> <div> At Henstridge we had a nice lunch provided by the caff. I had the big breakfast, but there was also curry, bacon butties etc available as well. Entertainment was provided by a couple of girocopters doing circuits, or somesuch (although at no point did they actually leave the ground!)</div> <bR> <div> For the trip back, I was just being a passenger in the back or the Warrior, and Joe was flying. Now there's no intercom to the back of the Warrior so I have no idea what they were talking about "up front". (I heard later that the air was blue even if the sky wasn't!) Let's just say that ignorance is bliss, combined with a blind faith that "they are experienced and must know what they are doing". So what happened? Well, remember that descending cloud base on the way in... It was touch and go (sic) whether we turned back; in fact Alistair in the Katana about 15 mins behind us did turn back and was stuck there for a good hour after. (it's probably best to let Joe explain it in his own words at this point! )</div> <bR> <div> Eventually though we were clear of it, and had some nice views of Bath, the Severn and the Cotswolds. In fact the sun even came out at one point (yay!) I was able to follow our progress on the chart (still getting used to how things look from above), and soon we were back for tea and cake! (actually, the flat whites had now become long blacks since the milk had also run out!)</div> <bR> <div> Next week: Possibly a "normal" lesson...</div> <bR> <bR> <div> <A HREF="id41.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Lesson31"><U><IMG SRC="116a0780.jpg" border=0 width="160" height="120" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></U></A> <A HREF="id42.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Lesson32"><U><IMG SRC="117a0780.jpg" border=0 width="160" height="120" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></U></A> <A HREF="id43.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Lesson33"><U><IMG SRC="118a0780.jpg" border=0 width="160" height="120" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></U></A> <A HREF="id44.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Lesson34"><U><IMG SRC="119a0780.jpg" border=0 width="160" height="120" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></U></A>  <A HREF="id46.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Lesson35"><U><IMG SRC="11ba0780.jpg" border=0 width="160" height="120" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></U></A> <A HREF="id47.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Lesson36"><U><IMG SRC="11ca0780.jpg" border=0 width="160" height="120" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></U></A> <A HREF="id48.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Lesson37"><U><IMG SRC="11da0780.jpg" border=0 width="160" height="120" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></U></A> <A HREF="id49.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Lesson38"><U><IMG SRC="11fa0780.jpg" border=0 width="160" height="120" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></U></A> <A HREF="id51.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Lesson310"><U><IMG SRC="120a0780.jpg" border=0 width="160" height="120" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></U></A> <A HREF="id51.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Lesson310"><U><IMG SRC="121a0780.jpg" border=0 width="160" height="120" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></U></A> <A HREF="id52.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Lesson311"><U><IMG SRC="122a0780.jpg" border=0 width="160" height="120" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></U></A> <A HREF="id53.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Lesson312"><U><IMG SRC="123a0780.jpg" border=0 width="160" height="120" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></U></A></div> <div> Click on the thumbnails to see a bigger version.</div> <bR> </td> </tr></table></body>