22 - Into the Zone

<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="id82.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="21 Reach for the Pie!"><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="id85.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="23 Back to the Circuit"><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="558a1780.jpg" border=0 width="161" 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> 22 - Into the Zone</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> <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>22 - Into the Zone</I></div> <bR> <div> 2nd October</div> <div> Once again I found myself unable to do solo consolidation. This time it was because of the weather. The forecast was for scattered showers becoming heavy, and 'brisk' gusty winds (220/35 at 2000 feet). Wellesbourne had reported gusts of 25 knots across the runway, which was definitely out of limits, but the visibility was good, and it should be okay for a navex. </div> <bR> <div> <IMG SRC="5fe900b0.jpg" border=0 width="400" height="267" ALIGN="LEFT" HSPACE="10" VSPACE="0">Last time we did Nav 1. Navs 2 and 3 are the same exercise flown dual and solo, but they need to be flown conseculively, ideally on the same day or weekend, and anyway I need to get in a few more hours solo </div> <div> consolidation first. So it was to be Nav 4. There was a choice -- a or b -- comprising slightly different routes over basically the same course. Route a was Wellesbourne to Grove to Badminton to Alcester and </div> <div> Wellesbourne. Route b was Wellesbourne to Welford to Thornbury and back to Wellesbourne. B was slightly longer than a, but a simpler route. Both required transits from Brize Norton and Lyneham (which was the main point of the exercise), and there was very little to choose between them, so I chose B.</div> <bR> <div> With the route planned and checked, and the aircraft pre-flighted, we were ready to go. Even before taxying to the hold we could feel the wind gusting. Alistair said he would handle the landing at Wellesbourne, since the wind was outside student crosswind limits. Taxying around to the hold, we needed to hold the ailerons into the wind in order to prevent a wing from lifting. Power checks complete, then a brief wait for the aircraft on final, and we're off.</div> <bR> <div> In the air, Alistair just gave a simple instruction: "Take us to Wellesbourne, whatever altitude you like". Inevitably, I climbed to our normal 2200 feet! We changed frequencies to Wellesbourne Information and listened in for a while, picking up the runway in use and local QFE. On contacting them, they reported a heavy rain shower heading their way from the Sout West. It didn't take much effort to spot: a big black brutish thing, and we adjusted our course to avoid it. Looking at the cloud, we were confident that we'd get our touch and go in before the rain hit, but we abandoned the idea of climbing into the overhead to start the navex. Instead we'd just climb straight out and onto course (as a result the timings would be out for the first part of the leg, but we could compensate for that). As it was, we clipped the edge of the rain during our approach to the downwind join, causing us to be thrown about somewhat.</div> <bR> <div> We bumped around the circuit and got lined up on finals. When the FISO announced the wind speed, it was obviously outside student limits. It was gusting heavily ant the plane was swaying about, and I was fighting it, and starting to feel rather green, then the wind changed and we lurched rather dramatically. Immediately, "I have control", and Alistair flew it to the ground. As soon as Alistair took the controls the plane became much more stable, a very graphic demonstration that fighting the turbulance actually makes it a lot worse, despite one's natural tendancy and instinct. Of course that doesn't make it any easier to do.</div> <bR> <div> Our route to the South was clear, and we climbed back to 2300 feet. As we drew abeam Moreton In Marsh we were 2 minutes late on our estimate -- easily accounted for by the fact that we'd been climbing whereas the flight plan called for straight and level -- and adjusted our ETAs accordingly. We changed frequency to Brize Radar on 124.27 at this point, and asked for a transit. We'd listened out for a while on the various frequencies since it had been NOTAMed that not all of them were active, and had called on the only frequency that had had any traffic. Anyhow, when we made contact the controller asked us to change frequencies to Brize Zone on 119.0 as this one had a lot of traffic on it. So we changed, and got... the same controller! Anyhow, we were asked to report passing Charlbury before reaching the zone, which we did and were duly given a transit not above 2500 feet and a squawk code, along with a Flight Information Service. The transit was uneventful, and we ticked off the landmarks as we passed them.</div> <bR> <div> Back outside the zone, Brize suggested we freecall Lyneham Zone on 123.4. We called them and requested a transit an Flight Information Service. We were given the FIS and asked to call again when approaching the zone. We were now approaching the turning point at Welford -- very easy to spot -- and checking the clock, we were exactly on time for our revised estimate. We made our turn, restarted the clocks and informed Lyneham of our new heading and next turning point. There was another large rain shower now blowing across our track and we altered our course to go around it, but just being in the vicinity of it made the air very turbulent again, and instinctively I started to over control... Then we literally dropped 300 feet in a matter of seconds, and I was going green again!</div> <bR> <div> After climbing back to our original altitude, Lyneham gave us our transit clearance at 2000 feet on their QFE, but we'd have to divert from our planned track and cross South of Calne. We plotted this diversion freehand on the chart and kept a look out for the new visual references: the Kennet river, Marlborough and the stone circle at Avebury. Once inside the zone we were able to spot one of the many horses that are carved into the hillsides. Past Calne we could turn back towards our original track, and aimed towards Chippenham and the M4. Crossing the M4 we could see a wall of black out to the West and North, and it was obvious that there was no way we were going to get around or past it to reach Thornbury. Moreover it was heading our way!</div> <bR> <div> To continue on track meant going over the high ground of the Cotswolds, and they'd soon be engulfed by the rain storm, so our only option was to scuttle along the base of the hills, past Kemble and Cirencester, turning North to Bourton-on-the-Water. By this time the rain was just about upon us and we were very pleased to be past the gliders of Little Rissington, so we cound head away from the weather and directly back to Enstone. With a strong Westerly wind, we hurtled back and had completed the downwind leg in the blink of an eye. We turned final early, knowing our groundspeed would be very low, and sure enough, even though our airspeed was still good, we made very slow progress towards the runway.</div> <bR> <div> Down on the ground we just had time to refuel the plane before the weather that had been chasing us arrived with a vengeance, and we ran into the clubhouse for coffee and cake, happy to be on the ground.</div> <bR> </td> </tr></table></body>