The Mighty Duxford...

Having had glorious weather and CAVOK conditions for the past three weeks, It was obvious that the conditions could not last forever. This theory was based on the fact that after all it as only mid April in the UK! With conditions reported to be truing for the worst, remarkably the weather stayed as it had been. Game on…

The plan for today, Saturday 21st April, was to achieve two main aims. Firstly to attend the Cessna fly in day at the mighty Duxford, and secondly to fly enough nautical miles to allow the flight to count for my Commercial Pilots Licence qualifying flight. Although I am sure that there will be other flights which could subsequently count, it is hard to get 300nm in one day of flying, simply due to availability and the shear cost of flying! The CPL qualifying would also mean that another full stop landing would need to be made. Northampton Sywell was the choice in mind. With Vis reported at 5km, Haze was obviously going to be an issue. PAX wise, I had two, my dad and my uncle Dave. Careful not to over weigh VA for Barton’s shorter than standard RWY’s, I filled the tanks to just over two thirds, which I predicted would provide me with enough for the flight to Sywell, and then, regarding on the amount of holding necessary, even to Duxford, with still enough for almost an hour reserve. Crucially it would keep the weight of VA down to a safe 2100lbs. Having requested Barton’s longer RWY 27L/09R, I had 621M of grass to play with.

With these facts set in stone, we departed RWY 27L at Barton for Sywell at 09:30. An upwind departure and levelling off at 1000ft on the MCR ONH, put us straight on course for Warrington, the entry point for the low level corridor between MCR and LPL class D airspace. Emerging at Ashcroft, I turned eastwards, routing over Crewe and Stone. I had chosen a dam on Blithfield Reservoir as a VRP; little did I know just how amazing this looked from the air! Switching from MCR APP to East Midlands APP, the transition past EMA and BHX was made hassle free.

Although Sywell was not the easiest place in the world to find, the non-standard whiter centre line markings made it an interesting and quite simple approach. Joining overhead, I was amazed to see two micro lights already in the CCT with little regard to my 172. In the end, I gave them space and joined downwind very late, turning immediately onto base and long finals. I felt that this was the best option rather then orbit in the overhead, a position where more a/c were rapidly approaching, or block the CCT. I had the faster of the two machines and thought from, a safety issue that it would be better off on the ground in a crowded CCT of people without Radio facilities. A greaser of a landing was met with a rather rough ground surface. The micro light rally at Sywell was clearly under full swing due to the apparent sea of colours taxing across the ground.
After a quick brew, we re-boarded VA for a departure to Duxford for lunchtime. Only one problem, she wouldn’t start, not even a flicker on starter. With the battery fully charged, there was obviously another problem… Phoning the engineers at Barton, I found out that a sticking solenoid was the problem, so armed with an aluminium pole, I hit the solenoid. A turn of the key showed that the engine was now willing to play. Sweet. Thirty minutes later, we were on the downwind at Duxford. From the air, this place looks mighty, an awe-inspiring sight, visible for miles around. The RWY was also the longest which I had up to date had the pleasure of landing upon. Taxing to the GA park was interesting, especially crossing the end of the active grass RWY, which was being simultaneously used by a number of De Havilland Rapide’s and Tiger Moths. Taxing past the American hanger was awe-inspiring, simply due to the architectural wonder of the complex curvature building. After a picnic under the wing of VA, we toured the museum.

For those who have not had the pleasure of visiting Duxford, it is the home of the Imperial War Museum and what a home it is. There are seven hangers full of delights, a few of which house fully flying war birds, including the resident B-17 ‘Sally B’. The other hangers include a mixture of old and new, from the likes of the Stearman, all the way up to the mighty B-52 Stratofortress. My personnel favourite as always, was the impressive English Electric Lightning. The only interceptor ever to have been capable of achieving and maintaining vertical flight for an indefinite period of time. Spectacular. A missile with wings! The ground warfare museum is also of particular interest, to show the contrast between what its like to fight on the ground flying through the air at Mach 2.

With the afternoon quickly coming to a close, Barton was calling… Refuelling was novel; due to the fact hat it was achieved via a hoser truck and the fact that at £1.37 per litre, brimming VA was expensive to say the least! The radio was very unorganised on the part of Duxford, and holding times of twenty minutes were experienced by some departures. The flight back was uneventful and spot on in every way imaginable. Transiting Sywell through the overhead at 2500ft QNH, it was obvious that they were still extremely busy! Returning back to Barton via the route which took me to Duxford, I approached on long finals for RWY 09R. Orbiting 5nm off the airfield in order to let a late downwind joiner land first, the strong crosswind meant that a crab approach was very necessary, being almost 30 degrees to the RWY at one particular point, swinging her around and touching down fast, but securely.

The day been great, with no problems experienced apart from the solenoid issue. With the length of the legs and the overall flight being longer than usual, I had decided pre-flight, that the ‘word’ of the day would be compass. I therefore used primarily the grid ring magnetic compass, and visual references as a secondary method, merely in order to check that the wind vectors were correct. Pre-flight planning had shown that the wind, from the South West was 20kts at 1000ft, rising to 25kts at 2000ft. Clearly, this would greatly affect the original of our generally East-West and West-East HDG’s! Using the compass in this flight greatly increased the trust exists between me and this piece of kit.