F1 IS GO!

AUGUST 2014 | LIGHT AVIATION 63

(Above) G-AWWO at Bodmin, now sporting new Kevlar/carbon spats.

G-AWWO SPREADS HER WINGS

G-AWWO SPREADS HER WINGS

From the Scillies to Aberdeen and places in between, Bill Brooks has enjoyed a busy year in his unique 912ULS-powered Jodel Ambassadeur

Our Jodel, G-AWWO, with Rotax 912ULS engine conversion, has been flying for over a year now, and in 100 hours of flying has already given us some

great adventures. With the fuel consumption averaging 14-15lph of 97 octane Mogas at 85-90kt, we have been able to afford some long trips. In car terms that’s over 30mpg at 100mph with a 320kg payload. The fuel capacity of 110lt also gives over seven hours’ endurance and a 630 nm range, a very hard act to beat.

As well as the modern engine, ‘WO is equipped with an MGL Voyager EFIS, which is an amazing piece of kit if used to the full, with the range constantly updated according to the flow meter and GPS groundspeed.

MARLBOROUGH – PEMBREY – SCILLIES – BODMIN – MARLBOROUGHJerry Ashton, who runs Pewsey Precision Engineering, supplies us at P&M Aviation with some machined parts. He also happens to be the secretary of the Classic Motorcycle Racing Club (CMRC) so, armed with some tickets for a meeting at Pembrey on the Easter Saturday, we set off with an Easterly wind across the Bristol Channel to South Wales. Pembrey is a fine airfield with a tarmac runway and while it’s in a danger area, which may put some pilots off, it’s generally not active at weekends and it’s easy to get a slot to fly in. In WWII, a German pilot, Oberleutnant Armin Faber, got somewhat disorientated after a dogfight and landed his

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(Below) The MGL Voyager produces flight log files which can be viewed on Google Earth

OCTOBER 2014 | LIGHT AVIATION 29

G-AWWO SPREADS HER WINGS

FW190 there, believing himself to be in France! Since the type was new and a serious threat, it was taken to Duxford to see how it would measure up against a Spitfire.

It’s about a mile walk from the runway to the race circuit, where we watched all kinds of classic two-wheeled machinery blasting round – Manx Nortons, AJS 7Rs, Gold Stars, Aermacchis – and savoured that wonderful smell of Castrol R on the breeze. Unlike

other flat airfield circuits, this one has been developed with banking ideal for viewing the action, and wife Judy and daughter Phoebe actually enjoyed it for a whole afternoon!

We decided to stay in Pembrey village for the next day and walked to a really good country park in the dunes and woods on the coast, which is a redevelopment of the old explosives works. In amongst the dunes there are still some bomb storage bunkers

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A beautiful Matchless G80

classic 500cc racer

“The Isles of Scilly are one of those ‘must do’ destinations for the flier” Plaque to Amelia Earhart, first woman to

cross the Atlantic by air, at Burry Port

with railway sidings, which now act as home for bats, with one bunker also having been converted into a dry ski slope. The beach is seven miles long and one mile wide, which is evidently ideal for the kite buggies. We stayed near St Illtyd’s church at Burry Port; as well as shipwreck victims, there are several Polish airmen’s graves including an aircraft crew which must have perished together – so young, so poignant. Also at Burry Port, by the harbour, there is a plaque commemorating the arrival of one Amelia Earhart, who crossed the Atlantic as a passenger in a Fokker floatplane in 1928, only a year after Lindberg. They also thought they were in Ireland!

The Isles of Scilly are one of those ‘must do’ destinations for the flier, so once we were sure of the weather, we booked accommodation at the Bell Rock hotel on St Mary’s. Years ago we arrived with nowhere to stay, the night approaching and no way to get off the island. Even more years ago I paid for accommodation we could not reach because of weather! With better forecasting now it’s possible to be reasonably sure and book up one or two days in advance. With a high pressure easterly still blowing, lifejackets on and raft at the ready, next day we crossed the Bristol Channel to Ilfracombe and followed the coast to Land’s End and the Scillies.

Approaching the islands is surreal, with white sands (some of the beaches consist of multi-coloured miniature seashells) and turquoise water. Until the Bronze Age, the islands were

En route for the Scillies, 5,000ft, 96kt IAS, 112kt GS along the coast of Cornwall, straight and level. Note twin throttles linked by torque tube and friction clamp. I tried to produce a clean panel with logically grouped zones.

30 LIGHT AVIATION | OCTOBER 2015

(Left) Judy and Phoebe on beautiful Tresco in glorious spring sunshine

(Above) A bounce and go around at Nympsfield – note the steep ridge, ideal for soaring and the hump in the middle of the airfield. Approach was from the West (right of picture).

G-AWWO SPREADS HER WINGS

connected; there are several tombs and even stone foundations of a complete village to see.

Tresco is always extraordinary, like Kew Gardens with the roof off. As well as the gardens there is an exhibition of ships’ figureheads called Valhalla. The islands are notorious for shipwrecks, a particular case involving Admiral Sir Cloudseley Shovel, who, in 1707, being uncertain of his position, led his fleet onto the rocks and drowned with 1,400 others. This disaster prompted a prize for determining longitude, eventually won by John Harrison, a self-educated carpenter and clockmaker, with his chronometer.

After a few more days a weather front came through, with a little rain the wind obligingly heading round to the West and giving us a tailwind home. We landed en route at Bodmin, a pleasant grass airfield where the natives are friendly. Setting off home, still with favourable winds, we did the entire trip on a miserly 77 litres – and if I can only find out how to book up weather like that again, I’ll be set up for life.

AN OVERNIGHT BOLT HOLEPhoebe was on a school trip for a few days in May so we sneaked off on our own to a very good overnight bolt hole – Bolt Head! This is a very nicely kept 600m grass strip next to a

large cold war radar defence bunker, which I understand is now the biggest imaginable wine cellar! It’s a short walk from here to Overbecks, an interesting National Trust property, museum and garden. It had been bequeathed by Otto Overbeck, who made his fortune with his patent electric rejuvenator. He was a chemist, botanist and artist, as well as inventor. Ahead of his time, he invented alcohol free beer, which did not sell, but used the residue from his process – which became Marmite!

From there we walked down to Salcombe as the sea tractor and ferry were not running. The small museum there has some pictures of Bolt Head airfield in the 1940s. We stayed the night at the Soar Mill Cove hotel, which is within a walk, has fantastic views and is affordable if you don’t eat there. The following day we enjoyed a walk along the cliffs to Bolt Tail, where in the distance we could see Burr Island with its exclusive Art Deco hotel of Agatha Christie and Poirot fame. We flew back along the coast, turning inland near Cerne Abbas, where there is a well-endowed man with a small brain and a large club to spot.

Other more local destinations included a couple of trips to inspect microlight repairs at Roger Targett’s (Nympsfield) and also to the Isle of Wight. Nympsfield is on a steep ridge ideal for ridge soaring, but also subject to turbulence in some wind directions. There is also a hump in the middle which I glanced off and bounced – the next arrival was not going to be pretty but unlike the gliders, I had the luxury of going around.

BONNIE SCOTLANDI had long intended to fly to see some friends at Torphins near Aberdeen. Insch airstrip is not too far away from them and, with the weather

“We flew back along the coast, turning inland near Cerne Abbas, where there

is a well-endowed man with a small brain and a

large club to spot”

G-AWWO SPREADS HER WINGS

OCTOBER 2015 | LIGHT AVIATION 31

(Right) Crathes castle and gardens, complete with painted ceilings with proverbs

written on the joists

Wayne chasing Woodsy out of the Hasst Pass

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a

looking reasonable, we set off on the Whitsun half term. A whole 40 minutes out, despite a good forecast, we ran into some clag at 1,000ft. Then I heard Cranfield on the radio giving a 300ft cloudbase. Not for me I thought, so we diverted into Turweston where we found a few other pilots, including a Yak display team, muttering about the weather. After an hour it appeared a little better so I rang Sywell, which had 1,500ft. I decided to take off and follow the M1; passing Sywell, the weather cleared to the East so we pressed on, missing our intended fly-in stop at North Coates to save time. We met the coast at Grimsby and followed it all the way up to Eshott, talking to Durham and Newcastle radars on the way. Some of this coast is spectacular, particularly Robin Hood’s Bay, while I gave the evil-looking flaming industrial area at Durham a wide berth.

Eshott is a fine airfield with a 600m tarmac strip and a very active microlight school and clubhouse, not far from Morpeth. After catching up with instructor Storm Smith, we set off North to Insch, passing East Fortune on the way. The thing that surprised me was the size of the Firth of Forth, about as wide a stretch of water I am comfortable over without a lifejacket. Conditions allowed us to climb to 3,000ft, giving us an easy glide to either bank. Then onwards

to Insch over the remote hills approaching Aboyne from where we could easily see the snowy Cairngorms.

Ken Wood gave us a warm welcome at Insch. He had spent 23 years getting his Jodel 1050 rebuilt and into the air, a few frustrating years of which had been spent struggling with local CAA bureaucracy until he was reprieved by EASA, Annex II and of course the LAA. It’s been flying for four years now and looks very tidy. In the well-appointed hangars there were many aircraft including a Pegasus Quantum which

had been tipped by a gusty wind into a stream (sorry, burn) so I had a slight case of busman’s holiday surveying the damage, which did not look too bad.

We tied the Jodel down, tail to the wind, with the excellent Claw tie-down system which I carry. Each unit comprises three aluminium arms arranged in a tripod with angled stakes at each end. They are arranged so that an upward pull at the centre causes the three stakes to pull together like a claw, making a firm hold on the earth whilst being much easier to put in and take out than the corkscrew type.

Insch is a fairly remote place with stunning countryside, beautiful rolling hills, green fields and forests. Our friends picked us up and we stayed with them, hiring a small car from Aberdeen Airport for two days. We saw Crathes castle, a fortified house with two metre thick walls, and spectacular Dunnotar on the coast, which sits on an outcrop.

RUNNING BEFORE A FRONTAfter a few days of quite pleasant if cool Scottish weather, we saw a warm front approaching, so we ran before it, stopping at Perth for fuel. The weather caught us up again and we found ourselves racing it as we flew down the coast, flying through

“The thing that surprised me was the size of the Firth of Forth, about as wide a stretch of water I am comfortable over

without a lifejacket”

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G-AWWO SPREADS HER WINGS

rain passing Newcastle. By Durham we had outpaced it and were able to take a direct route over the spectacular North York Moors, dropping down to the flat vale of York. We landed at Rufforth East and John Teesdale very kindly put ‘WO in his hangar as the rain arrived, while we stayed in York for a few days.

Rufforth is quite close to York and once there, public transport is easy and the town itself small enough to walk around. There is so much to see there, including the Minster and the railway museum, while the Roman and Viking history is fascinating; we only scratched the surface and must go back. By Saturday a short ridge of high pressure arrived, so I gave John a flight

John making space for us in his hangar at Rufforth, all the flexwings are on skates and stack up like plates in a dishwasher. The

suspended aircraft is a Goldwing canard design from the 1980s.

TOURING TIPS

Here’s a few touring tips gained over many years by microlight and light aircraft – and I’m still learning!

l Know the weather and Notams before they get you. It’s so much easier these days, applications like SkyDemon or Runway HD on a mobile phone or tablet have revolutionised flight planning.l If conditions deteriorate, listen to Volmet and get a mental picture of what the weather is doing and where, in case you have to divert.l Divert before you run out of time, altitude or ideas. Use anywhere – big airport, airstrip or field. Most airfields will not charge for a precautionary diversion. If landing off airfield, be careful, practically all fields have at least one powerline somewhere.l If you have an IMC rating, you’re in practice and it’s legal to do so, often it’s safer to climb, especially if you can get on top of the clouds. Then you have time to consider your options. Otherwise, keep out of cloud. l If you get lost with no GPS, you can request QDMs or make a PAN call on 121.5.l Follow the example of glider pilots and take whatever advantage you can of the conditions e.g. fly low into wind, high downwind, slow down in lift and speed up in sink. On a long trip it may be possible to fly around an anticyclone, tailwinds all the way.l If possible fly in the morning and evening to avoid the worst of the turbulence. Above cloudbase it will be smoother. If it is rough, slow down, below Va you can’t overstress the aeroplane.l It will also be smoother over water but the engine may sound rougher. Do a mag check before coasting out, remember regular FREDA checks and relax.l If there is heavy rain, low sun or a strong crosswind at your destination, divert, wait for conditions to improve or choose another runway. There is no prize for landing first time either – go around if you don’t like it.l Practice forced landings to such an extent that if you need to do one for real, you’ll be confident in your abilities.l Be flexible if you can in time and destination. One of my best trips was when we ended up on the Isle of Man although we had been planning on going to the Scillies!

Pilcher Triplane replica, Cranfield 2003

from Rufforth before we headed home via Old Warden and the Shuttleworth Collection, in the process, finding ourselves in the circuit with a rare Miles Magister. Landing there (PPR) is free and the unique collection of historic airworthy aircraft must be seen, with some new additions like the Aeronca C3. The Pilcher Triplane replica I built and flew is in storage somewhere – it would be fun to get it out and hop it again.

Back to Marlborough on Saturday afternoon, we had travelled over 1,000nm in 11 hours’ flying and used 165 litres of fuel. The combination of the light, efficient, affordable airframe, sweet handling, great visibility, modern engine and avionics gives me only one problem – how to design something better! There are now two other Rotax-powered DR1050s being built, let me know if you need an engine mount, cowls etc! ■