Mutley's Hangar Big VFR Adventure
LEG 10: EGTK-EGNX (Kidlington-East Midlands)
This next flight took me to East Midlands Airport in Nottingham, just north of Birmingham and next to the Donnington Race Track, home of the British Grands Prix from 2010. After a quick change around at Kidlington I hopped into a C172 that was sitting on the tarmac and got clearance to depart from runway 01.
The winds must have shifted in the last 15 minutes as I landed on runway 19.
The strange looking foreign aircraft were still there, and showed no signs of life. I quickly fired up the C172 and taxied out to the runway and took to the skies, which were still perfect for flying. With bad weather forecast for the weekend, I wanted to get to East Midlands as soon as possible. To get a much better view of the scenery I climbed up to 4,500 feet, which I think is probably the best height for viewing the scenery. You are high enough to see a lot of it, but not too high that it is difficult to make out what you are looking at.
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The route I chose had a bit of everything; built up areas, green fields and roads to follow. I hope the screenshots can get across just how stunning this scenery is! The only downside is that the scenery has very few 3D buildings on it. When at ground level everything is very flat, but once in the air things become 3D.
As we approached the airport we were assigned runway 27 land. After passing over what looked like some old mining sites the weather in the distance began to deteriorate as we could see forks of lightning shooting down to earth. I think it’s about time we got down on terra firma! |
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Whilst on downwind we were given clearance to land, so all that was left to do was fly the pattern, cross over the M1 just before the threshold and make a nice gentle landing before heading off to the parking area for a rest.
So that's Volume 2 done and dusted with. It was completely different from the mountainous regions of Wales, but there was still plenty to see. Following the motorways is just like in real life with lots of fields around them with pockets of population around the motorway junctions. This volume had a bit of everything; drama thanks to the ATC, fabulous urban scenery around Birmingham and the great countryside scenery as I made my way to Nottingham. |
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All that’s left to do is fly through Volume 1 and make my way back to Mutley Field! I hope that you are still enjoying the screenshots, it’s a tough job deciding which ones to include in this article, but all the shots I have taken can be viewed here
LEG 11: EGNX-EGNE (East Midlands-Gamston)
Once again this would be a short flight of other 30 miles, but
the stunning scenery and dusk effects made it a very enjoyable
one.
As I arrived on the tarmac at East Midlands there was a flurry
or early evening cargo flights rushing to runway 27 eager to
depart. I studied the weather forecast and noted that we would
be flying into a strong 20 knot headwind more or less all the
way, which would enable us to make a straight in landing on
runway 03 at the un-manned Gamston airfield.
A quick look up to the skies didn’t fill me with confidence that
we would get to our destination nice and dry. The skies were
dark and miserable, but the adventure must continue. Fortunately
the cloud ceiling was at around 4,500 feet, so we were able to
fly VFR at 3,500 feet quite easily.
So off we taxied to the runway and waited for a TNT A300 to depart, before we gracefully lifted off into the skies whilst fighting the crosswind. The first area of interest was the Donnington Race Circuit which came into view immediately after take-off. The circuit is built in what can only be described as a bowl, and when the aircraft are taking off from runway 27, the spectators have something else to watch from the hills by the famous Craner Curves.
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After passing over the race track we turned northwards to intercept the 030 radial towards Gamston VOR. As we climbed to 3,500 feet we passed through some turbulent air, but fortunately the ride was very smooth once we were in cruise. Below us passed many fields and roads, along with the odd sewerage works and all the time the sun was dropping below the horizon and flooding the fields with a golden glow.
Around 10 miles out from Gamston I tuned into the Unicom frequency and announced my intentions to land on runway 3 and began the descent down to the runway. I had planned to start the descent when we were 7 minutes from touchdown at 500 feet per minute so that we would be able to glide straight into the runway.
Fortunately this time is worked out, many times before this method hasn’t worked for me, but today was a
good day. There are no buildings at Gamston so after landing I pulled off the runway and parked up on the grass, ready for the next flight across the Norfolk Broads to Norwich.
LEG 12: EGNE-EGSH (Gamston-Norwich)
Things are beginning to pick up pace now as the
adventure comes ever closer to its conclusion and
the weather over here in England is improving as
summer gets closer. After watching the Australian GP
in the pilots shack this morning I finished my
breakfast and headed out to my Cessna 206 which
would take me south past Lincoln towards Fenland and
then turning east towards Norwich and the Norfolk
Broads. The weather was fantastic today and allowed
us a cruise altitude of 5,500 feet.
There was no traffic at Gamston this morning so we
were able to make a quick departure from runway 3
and make a 180 degree turn to bring us back towards
our chosen course. A quick look back after take-off
showed that there must be some terminal buildings
there in real life as the VFR scenery has them
showing up nicely, I guess the guys at Microsoft
thought Gamston didn’t need any buildings.
We quickly climbed to 5,500 feet, our light fuel load allowing us a climb rate of 1,000 feet per minute. The scenery outside quickly changed to farmland as we progressed along the A57 towards Lincoln and after a while we were able to make out Waddington Airfield, unfortunately XH558 was parked inside a hangar. After Lincoln we didn’t see many densely populated areas, just miles and miles of green farmland. I’ve never realised how much of England is fields until this adventure; it’s proving to be very educational! |
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When we reached Fenland it was time to make a turn to the east to take us towards Norwich. The tower assigned us runway 27 for landing, which mean that we would have to fly a right handed traffic pattern. This would allow is a much better look at the surrounding area before we landed. The outlying area was as I remember from several holidays to the region with lots of flat farmland with waterways running through them, just a shame I couldn’t pick out any narrow boats enjoying this sunny weather.
Upon reaching 1,500 feet I turned base and then made
a turn to finals, bringing the C206 down nice and
gently on runway 27. I taxied to the terminal and
was assigned a parking spot next to a 737, which
looked huge compared to my little run-around.
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Click to enlarge image