Follow the yellow brick road...

Departing Barton just before 11:00, the destination of Welshpool was firmly set in our minds. Despite a last minute report from another departing pilot that rain in the Low Level Route was hampering visibility, I decided to check it out for myself. It turned out that it was fine to proceed down the route, a transiting zone between MCR and LPL Class D airspace. Arriving overhead Oulton Park on the far side, we headed towards Oswestry, and then on towards Welshpool. The flight went without hitch; the only problem was the ever-wondering DI, which had to be realigned with the Magnetic grid ring compass on a frequent basis of not longer than five minutes. At least the FREDA checks were getting done on a regular basis!

Although initially quite a tricky place to spot, landing at Welshpool was straightforward enough, with long finals to RWY 22 established and short finals called adjacent to the town of Welshpool itself. I found myself singing along to the Wizard of Oz's 'follow the yellow brick road' whilst on finals, absolutely bizarre lol... After landing, I was amazed that the fuel was a self-service pump station, something which I had not yet seen in the UK with the high levels of CAA safety legislation. With the fuel now costing an alarming £1.41 per litre at Barton, I brimmed the tanks with a cost of only £1.32 per litre. This also guaranteed a free landing, as we had took on more than 50ltrs.
This was only the second time, which my little princess had ever been up in an aircraft, and I was amazed at how calm she remained, even when I decided to execute a few steep turns. She seems like a natural born flyer, and to be honest, it’s a real pleasure to take her up. A short two-mile walk later, and we were in the town itself for a spot of picnic style alfresco lunch at the canal side. We headed back after spending half an hour and experiencing a lengthy de-tour, searching high and low for the perfect ice-cream lol.

A walk around the hangers led to the discovery of a few remarkable aircraft. One of my favourites, an ‘N’ registered Piper Seneca V was looking stunning in her red and white livery. There was also a heap of commercial traffic, due to the fact that this is ‘apparently’ the mid Wales airport. We also saw one of the funniest signs i have seen in a while. It featured a man preforming illicit acts with a sheep, whilst warning people to take care due to lonely Shepard's. Seeing though we were in Wales, we found this very amusing! After watching a few of the locals do some 'touch and go' CCT’s, we boarded VA and headed to the skies. We saw some fantastic views of low level clouds forming over the peaks of Snowdonia. A short hop later and we were joining the downwind for RWY 27L back at Barton. A greaser of a landing is not the word, it was simply perfect… A mirror image of the day, which also had been perfect, due to the combination of great flying and fantastic company. The day had also allowed me to gain another two hours experience as PIC.

Princess Airlines

The day I had been eagerly awaiting, had finally arrived. I would finally get to take my Jacqueline flying. Although the original plan was to fly up to Kirkbride, a number of factors on the day, mainly the hazy conditions, meant that this was no longer feasible. A last minute change of destination to Caernarfon in North Wales, meant that the day was still feasible. Having never been flying before, it was understandable that Jacqueline may have been a little bit nervous. But her relaxed attitude the night before, suggested that she was not too scared. Arriving at Barton earlier than ever, left us plenty of time to do an extended set of external checks and a pre flight briefing. I felt that it would be a good idea to get her involved as much as possible, so I talked her through the walk around checks and explained them in great detail, had her check the fuel levels in the wings and the fuel condition at the drain points. I also felt that it would be beneficial to talk through all of the instruments and their in flight functions. It worked, she said that this helped her feel more relaxed.

Sitting at the end of RWY 27L, the full EFATO brief was given. The ‘go’ or ‘no go’ moment. The take off was obviously going to be the crucial moment. Would she like it or wouldn’t she? It was smooth, very smooth. Leaving it until it was perfectly ready to leave the ground seemed like the best idea. The intercom was filled with a yelp of happiness, a clear sight that she was not scared. Expecting to do a few CCT’s first, I was pleasantly surprised when I she said ‘I love it’ whilst we still in the upwind. Departing immediately, we headed over to Wigan, and the Point of Ayr via Woodvale and Birkenhead. The haze was bad, but the confidence which I had in the compass after the last flight, meant that the conditions were not too much of a problem. Jacqueline took the controls for a ten minute session, managing to execute a number of turns. Arriving at Caernarfon, an overhead join brought us down to CCT height. A smooth landing on the tarmac further helped to settle any remaining nerves. We walked to the beach for a picnic and a sit looking at the sea rushing up and down the shore. Surprisingly, the calls for departure came not from me, but from Jacqueline. It seemed that she could not wait to get back into the air. After an hours delay for fuel, we departed Caernarfon for Mona.

With a fire in a storage factory immediately under the downwind leg, I decided to do a tighter then normal CCT at Mona. With over 2000m of perfectly groomed RAF RWY, I opted to keep the flaps up and carry out a flapless landing, something which I had not done since the days of landing at Brown Airfield in Californai. The approach was fast, but I brought it back and greased the landing. After a quick brew, we departed for Crossland Moor, retracing our initial route, we crossed the coast at Woodvale and tracked inland. For a bit of fun, I climbed to almost 5,000ft and executed a steep descending turn to the right. Thinking this might have been a little bit too extreme, I was amazed when she said ‘wow!’. With Jacqueline on the controls, we flew over Conway and Llandudno. Landing at Crossland was as always, interesting to say the least. Being a warm week, there was a lot of sink directly over the quarry. With it being such a lovely evening, it was very pleasant to sit outside in the sun with a cool drink.

Landing back at Barton was uneventful, apart from the large volumes of traffic in the CCT. Taxiing back to the hanger and shutting the engine down, brought a perfect close to a perfect day. This has been one factor in what became a truly amazing weekend, which left us feeling very very close. If I wasn't sure before hand, then I was now, this girl is perfect and I love her so much. For me, it had been a fabulous day, I had gained some more invaluable hours, completed another four flights and passed the 50 hours PIC point. Jacqueline said she had an amazing day and is looking forward to our next flight. Excellent...