Netherthorpe to Duxford (IWM) - 22/9/2013

[Aircraft Aviation 2]

Hello everyone,

 

Last Saturday we flew down to Duxford (Imperial War Museum) from Netherthorpe in the club's C172N after it had been kitted out with new avionics. Namely, a Garmin GNS 430 unit had been fitted alongside a Mode S transponder and new audio panel, bringing the 172 somewhat into this century.

 

It was a fantastic experience and I loved navigating with the GNS 430; what a wonderful piece of kit.

 

Weather was fantastic, although a large amount of fog down south caused us to delay our departure until 1015Z.

 

The crew before departure:

 

G-ROLY, our faithful C172N:

 

Roly's cockpit, a wonderful mix of new and old:

 

Garmin GNS430 & new audio panel:

 

No doubt a day to watch for carb icing; very humid air confirmed by plenty of skin condensation:

 

Pre-Flight walkaround:

 

View from the office:

 

 

 

 

Engine started, warming up the GNS 430:

 

GNS430 self test, note the half left deflection on the CDI and half up deflection on the glideslope:

 

Taxiing out:

 

 

 

 

Power checks:

 

 

Turning to line up runway 24:

 

 

Full Throttle:

 

 

In the air:

 

 

 

 

 

Airbox clarity GPS - I don't know why they have this installed since there is no antenna for it:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Playing with the GNS 430:

 

 

Bottesford Disused, our first waypoint:

 

Flight crew:

 

Grantham:

 

 

GNS430 tracking to Conington (before CDI button pressed):

 

GNS430 tracking to Conington (after CDI button pressed, note CDI now comes alive with GPS green indication):

 

Bang on track, back up to 2,500ft:

 

Up to 3,000ft, leaning the mixture:

 

 

The Wash in the distance:

 

Lowered cloud base visible over Cambridge:

 

GNS430 now tracking to Wyton:

 

 

River Nene:

 

 

Slightly to the right of track:

 

Accompanying CDI indication:

 

 

Settled at 3,000ft:

 

1.89nm out from Wyton:

 

Pointing at something:

 

GNS430 now tracking to Duxford:

 

Duxford is somewhere below the cloudbase:

 

 

 

Cloudbase much lower now:

 

Descending to 800ft QFE, positioning downwind at Duxford for runway 24 lefthand:

 

Downwind:

 

Duxford to our left, American Hangar & Airspace clearly visible:

 

 

A1 stacked with traffic:

 

 

Turning to base:

 

 

 

Final:

 

 

 

 

Duxford tower warned us of a large amount of birds on and around the runway:

 

 

This landing was, by far, my best landing ever. Roly did not even make a sound when the gear kissed the ground; nice and straight too!

 

 

American Hangar:

 

Taxiing for parking:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Sally B:

 

 

Parked next to the beautiful B-17:

 

Refuelling service, very prompt and professional:

 

 

 

This time it's not me wearing the dodgy shorts!

 

Cloudbase starting to lift and break, albeit slowly:

 

Piper Arrow landed just after us, turns out the pilot used to have a share on Roly:

 

 

 

 

50 Litres uploaded in all, at the nice cost of £102.

 

 

A few snaps around the IWM:

 

 

 

 

Piece of aviation history:

 

 

 

 

The fastest concorde that ever flew, G-AXDN - Fairford to Bangor USA in 2 hours 56 minutes:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

G-AXDN Cockpit:

 

Richard Branson's famous balloon capsule:

 

Standing under the SR-71:

 

Time to head back to Netherthorpe; climbing up to inform the tower:

 

 

Back in Roly:

 

 

GNS430 set-up:

 

 

Lining up with RWY 24:

 

Full Throttle:

 

Duxford's runway is perhaps the smoothest I have used so far, immaculately maintained.

 

Back in the air:

 

I have absolutely no idea where I have disappeared to in this photograph (no joke!):

 

Cloudbase still fairly low:

 

 

 

 

Up North the cloudbase was non-existent and so we climbed to 3,500ft:

 

 

 

Higher still:

 

 

 

We landed safely back at Netherthorpe at 1500Z, unfortunately the camera ran out of charge after that last shot!

 

Thank you very much for viewing, I hope you have enjoyed the photos.

 

Cheers,

 

Jack

 

[Andrew Godden 943]

Jack,

 

Another great flight and series of photos.  Makes my "flying" pale into insignificance.  It looks like it was Martin's turn for the classy shorts this flight. 

 

Cheers

Andrew

[brett 2,315]

More great shots of your continuing adventures.   Thanks for sharing, I really like seeing RW shots.

 

Must have been exciting landing yourself at such a historic airport.

[stu7708 244]

Great stuff Jack, and I see you've been practicing your pose too

 

One of these days I'm going to try and mirror your flights in FSX... just need to finish some other stuff first

[mutley 4,498]

Superb post Jack, you really enjoyed using the GNS 430 by the looks it.

 

Martin looks as happy as ever and even makes me look good in shorts!! 

[rob16584 42]

Great shots jack

[needles 1,013]

Wow Jack, you have certainly took the bull by its horns. An excellent diary of pics and comments. I won't mention the shorts, oh, I just did. Well Nuff said on that score.

Thanks for sharing your flying experiences with us, they are a joy to look at and to read.

Cheers and regards to Martin.

[hurricanemk1c 195]

Superb shots there Jack!

[brett 2,315]

Jack, I have a question if you don't mind. Heading from Wyton to Duxford you were at 3000', about 6-7 miles from Duxford is Class A airspace(5500'+ for fly over). Had you already contacted Duxford before entering the airspace for landing and approach instructions. I was just interested in how the radio calls are done in RW situations. Thanks.

[Aircraft Aviation 2]

Hi Brett,

 

Forgive me for being stupid, but I'm not entirely sure what you mean there!

 

As you have correctly stated we were overhead Wyton at 3000ft and thus if the Class A airspace (I assume you are referring to London TMA) was 5500ft+ we never entered it and thus no radio calls were required to enter the Class A airspace.

 

Regarding approaching Duxford, the general procedure at most UK airfields/airports is to call them around 5nm out, state who you are, aircraft type, position, altitude, POB, etc, and finish the call with "Request airfield information and joining instructions". Duxford will then acknowledge you, pass you the airfield QFE and active runway, and give you instructions on how to join the active runway's circuit.

 

There is no "airspace" associated with Duxford, only an ATZ (Aerodrome Traffic Zone) which extends as a circle with radius 2.5nm from the longest runway's centreline up to 2,000ft; these dimensions are typical of most UK airfield ATZs.

 

Sorry if I have misunderstood your question, please feel free to slap me in the right direction!

 

Cheers,

 

Jack

[brett 2,315]

Thanks for the info you have given me thus far, helps me get my head around all these airspaces and procedures, plus I have just learned about QFE which was cool. 

 

I charted your flight in a planner and saw the TMA 9 section, shown below, before reaching Duxford along your flight path. Not sure if this section is on your RW charts. I just wondered if you had to enter it at the required altitude restriction and then descend according to radio instructions. That was my basic question.

 

 

   

[Aircraft Aviation 2]

Hi Brett,

 

Thanks for the clarification, now I understand.

 

"TMA 9" on your map is part of the London TMA (Terminal Maneuvering Area) and is indeed Class A airspace. However, this particular part of the TMA is only above 5,500ft, and so if you are flying UNDER the TMA, you need not concern yourself with this airspace because you will not be entering it. You would certainly not have to "enter it at the required altitude".

 

On a more practical level, flight within Class A airspace in the UK requires an aircraft to be fitted with a Mode S transponder (which G-ROLY now has), to be flying under IFR (which we weren't), and also for the pilot to be qualified with a full instrument rating, which I do  not have. As a result, were I to climb to 5,500ft above Duxford I would be contravening aviation law and probably have my licence suspended! Not to mention, I could be endangering vital aircraft separation since London's Class A airspace is notoriously busy.

 

I hope this helps! Any more questions please feel  free to ask,

 

[brett 2,315]

Thanks for that, I never really bothered about the airspaces before and I am trying to learn a bit more. My thinking was totally wrong as I had it reversed in my mind.  Looks like I have a lot of reading to do.

 

[remingtonbox 18]

Cool! Set the 430 to North up... It will make your life easier.

[Aircraft Aviation 2]

Hi Remington,

 

The 430 was set to North up initially; I changed it since I prefer TRK ahead.