Leg 50: better late than never!!

[simi_av8r 0]

woo, well, we made it. The penultimate leg of this world wide challenge that we all know and love as the Mutleys' Hangar ATWC2, and that means both me the baton, is now in Santander!

Some minor troubles in getting across the Spanish / Gibraltarian border ensued, and the SpAF refused the use of their lovely CASA 295 for this trip, so i was forced to dig deep and find a replacement at short notice.....alas, my quest for a transport was nearing death at the 11th hour....until this turned up:

So, after a good few beers in, what can only be best described as the best bar in Gibraltar (and owned until 2001 by my uncle!) "The Edinburgh Arms", the race was on to persuad the lovely owners of 'Lusty Lindy' to loan the aircraft to ATWC2 for this one flight only. With my exuberant wit and charm to win them over, it proved no mean feat and I landed the left-seat for our flight north to Santander. The only compromise was that our co-pilot would be the owner himself...more of him later!

So, onwards north and to the sunny resort of Santander. Weather reports showed 6/8ths cloud hanging around FL135 for most of our flight, with gusting winds predicted above FL090. Flight plans confirmed and filed, we set about checking the old bird over. Happy with what i saw, and all systems working, we were cleared for taxi.

Lined up and calling for t/o clearance

......and rotate, gear up!

into the climb out, farewell Gibraltar! Straight onto the radios and calling in with Malaga Center

A short while later, some turbulence on the way up, and we're leveling out at 12500

....checking our progress on the GPS...

It seems that the weather forecast was, for once, spot on....and just look at those exhaust trails, you can easily see that this baby is in her mid-40s!

some time later, and we've been vectored slightly north west of our course by the SpAF due to some sort of exercise...?

...Madrid controllers advised climbing to FL175, and to level out, still no information as to why we're off course.

..finally, our co-pilot tells us that his plans, before we commandeered the aircraft, was to act as the UK contingent in a standby tanker role in some sort of NATO exercise with the SpAF...

there he is, the co-pilot, blame that man if this all goes Pete Tong!!!!

well, i guess we'd better get the lines dangling!

20 minutes later, and having not shed a single drop of our nectar, we're stood down and allowed to carry on with the flight!

Lines withdrawn....now ain't that a pretty rear end?

back onto course and descending down to 12000' and vectoring onto the approach...

and in good time too, although we're against a cross wind coming in from the coast now!

cleared for a straight in approach having played ball with the wishes of the SpAF!

the cross wind really played havoc with my approach, but i managed to get her down...sorta

flaps deployed, speedbrake out, and brakes on bring us to a stop quickly

and we're soon taxiing to parking....i always knew we'd make it

...for some reason, i cant for the life of me find any parked up and cold shots, but there we have it folks, safely landed in Santander and i'm peckish, i'm thinking tapas and sangria......anyone want to join me?

i'll be off then.............Rob, its over to you!

[rob16584 42]

Great flight Simi, and what a fantastic aircraft to use!

I'm going to have to come up with something special to end this fantastic ATWC2

[wisemanp 0]

Nice one Simi, some great shots with an interesting story to back them up. I was glued to the screen!

[mutley 4,498]

Superb Simi, great choice of aircraft and a nice diversion, good to see the ATWC 2 (almost) came to the rescue for NATO!

Really enjoyed the shots of Lusty Lindy and your narration, excellent! :biggrin:

Cheers

[hurricanemk1c 195]

Classic tanker Simi!

Loved the leg!

(PS. I'm back from hoidays!)