So gradually students and hirers have started to finally drift over to us to see what we can do for them to keep them flying. And those that have, have been delighted that we can offer them the chance to not only get into the air again, but to give them a real push to get on with their training.

Daren came to us less than a week ago. He had not been flying Cessna’s, and had not flown anything for months. Within a few days, and flying with his old instructor John Howells he was checked out on the 172, which is a type that he would like to fly more often now, and he passed his skills test, which means he has now completed everything he needs to do to complete his PPL. Well done Daren.

Daren Rose with John Howells

John Howells and Josh Thomas after his First Solo in our Cessna 152

If you are already a member and you win, then the prize is an hour in the Cessna 172 on your own with partner or friends if you are checked out in it, or if no then it is an hours flying in it to get a check out, and it includes the meal for 2 at AV8.

Click on this link to find the entry form

The first step of this process was for me to go to Leicester and brush up on my aerobatics with Dave Biddles who used to come as high as 5th in competitions flying an Aerobat and beating such exotic machinery such as Pitts Specials.

Fancy flying upside down in a Cessna?

The Cessna 152 Aerobat is not designed for aerobatics. It was designed as a stable very safe training aircraft, and so whenever you try to do anything unusual like spin it for example, it is trying to come out by itself. It is difficult to roll as the ailerons are very small, and by comparison to real aerobatic aircraft, the rudder is tiny. All this makes it very hard work to do even some simple things. The washout on the wings also contributes to this overall stability and difficulty in doing aeros.

However Dave is an expert, and he showed me the best ways of getting the best out of the aircraft, and he showed me some things that I did not even think were possible with an Aerobat, and they reminded me of doing Lomcevaks in a Stampe many years ago. To those who start doing aeros with me, I will show you what I mean once we get into the course.

At the moment I am in the process of getting the “No Aerobatics” restriction removed from my licence. I have never needed to do this before, but after my few days with Dave, everything we needed to do this has now been done except get the actual licence in my hand.

Once that is done, we have to apply to AOPA in order to do their courses, and once that is done then we can offer the full Basic course for now. For more advanced courses it may be better to go and fly somewhere with more aerobatic aircraft, but it may not be necessary. The Aerobat will actually perform all the Standard manoeuvres.

For anyone wanting to just experience what it is like doing aerobatics, then I am happy to oblige. We do not have the exotic expensive machinery, but you can still experience the thrill of being chucked around, and even have a go yourself at some of the simple things.

Chris

Rhodri was a bit nervous and under-confident when I first flew with him. He was worried about the circuit as he had been having difficulty landing and tended to land very flat. He had also picked up a few odd habits, and insisted on flying the circuit by reference to various landmarks around the airfield. I pointed out that unless he could fly in relation to the runway, he is going to be totally stuck if he flies to another airfield. We tidied up his circuit and explained why certain things were done at particular times. For example turning onto base leg when the landing area was back in about his 8 o’clock, and reducing power when it was at 45 degrees on the base leg, and then trimming for the approach so all he had to do on final was to keep it straight, and have the landing area about 1/3 of the way up the screen, keeping the approach speed constant. Then I taught him how to round out, fly level and hold off, trying not to land, and suddenly it clicked. A few more circuits and he was away on his own on a blustery day and although his landing was not perfect by any means, it was safe.

Now we have to get him through the rest of the syllabus in as little time as possible to negate the time he has wasted on the circuit getting nowhere.

Here is a video of his flight.

Watch the video on YouTube

This aircraft has been at Kemble for a while, being operated by the Flying Club Kemble. This club has not been operating for about 6 weeks, and we have come to an arrangement with the owner of the aircraft to take this aircraft into our school, so it can continue to be operated here at Kemble, and obviously this is available to any members of the Flying Club Kemble who wish to come and fly with us. We also hope that we will be able to use their instructors, so anyone who has been flying with them can hopefully continue with us and still use their old instructor.

If we get too busy for one aircraft, then we will be able to take on the other Cessna 152 they were operating as well.

I tried it out quickly with a few aerobatics which you can watch here from the link below.

Watch the video on YouTube

I would like to tell you about a great story of a young aviator that will no doubt be a renowned name in the future

Jack Godwin is one of our students here at Cotswold Flying School Ltd
I believe his situation is very unique
Jack was only 15 when he came to us with his dream of becoming a pilot, it became apparent straight away that he was a natural pilot when he did every aspect of flying in some of his first lessons including the landing
I was also amazed to learn that Jack had his own business and web site, he was funding all of his training himself with proceeds from odd jobs and car washing in his village

After a mere 5 hours he was obviously ready to go solo but we needed to wait for his 16th birthday 30th November 2011
So in the meant time I was in constant contact advising him of future career paths as I have not only a military and civil Air Traffic Control background, but i was Ops Manager at Cabair College of Air Training for some time
We also prepared Jack with the necessary medical and Air Law exam. There were some strategic lessons planned just prior to his birthday to maintain consistency and after only 7.5 hours of training with us Jack was ready

The day finally arrived yesterday Jacks birthday, and he arrived with family members including an anxious mum
The weather was not perfect and there was a crosswind of around 14kts average with some stronger gusts but Jack flew with his instructor Capt Chris Puddy, a man with thousands of hours commercial and instructional flying
Chris put Jack through his paces and briefed him thoroughly on all possible emergency procedures
It was clear that Jack was more than capable of managing the crosswind and Chris jumped out after a few circuits
This was the moment,…..Jack taxied to the holding point and the F.I.S.O. at Cotswold Airport Kemble cleared him to take of at his discretion, luckily the circuit was devoid of other traffic so there would be no distractions other than the wind
Jack launched into the air compensating for the crosswind expertly, his R/T phraseology was also quite professional for his experience as I listened with a transceiver near the edge of the airside area near the restaurant
His circuit was very quick because of the wind carrying him swiftly on the downwind leg, and after 4 minutes he was on final approach. He lined up perfectly on the centre line and attitude and rate of descent looked very exact.
landing a little long but minor adjustments for the strong wind Jack touched down smoothly about a third down the runway. I heard his mum breathe a sigh of relief, but instructor Chris Puddy and myself were reassuring throughout and neither of us were concerned

Jack manoeuvred the aircraft to our hangar and declared that the experience was brilliant!

A post flight debrief in the bar (Jack only settling for a Full English Breakfast as his celebration/ at 2 o’clock in the afternoon) and we discussed the future plan for his completion of the P.P.L. course. We will have to wait another whole year until we can send Jack on his Final Licence Skills Test and I am certain he will be ready much earlier than that.

I have experienced only a handful of students in my 8 years at an airline pilot college, that I could easily envisage jumping straight into the right hand seat of a British Airways Boeing 777 after 150 hours of commercial training in light piston aircraft, and Jack Godwin is definitely one of them!

Even his Web site is very professional. http://www.jgservices.co.uk/

He also made the Bath Chronicle.
http://www.thisisbath.co.uk/Jack-flies-solo-ndash-16th-birthday/story-14082136-detail/story.html

He arrived back safely and then immediately afterwards, took Jack my youngest student up into the circuit. The youngest you can fly solo is 16 and he was 16 today. Normally I would not send someone on their first solo with the cross wind we had, some qualified pilots can hardly manage it, but he is very good, and a couple of days ago, with an even stronger cross wind we spend an hour in the circuit. He was good enough today, and his landings although not perfect were safe, so I sent him off on his first solo.

His mum was really worried but I consoled her and when he got back down, everyone was very happy. After doing paperwork we all went into the AV8 restaurant and had a drink and a bite to eat till it got dark. An hour after landing the wind picked up, and it started to rain, and the visibility reduced to a point I could not have sent him off solo even if there had not been any wind.

The route we took down on the Friday was Alderney (for cheap fuel) followed by an overnight stop at La Rochelle, then Saturday morning on to Carcassonne in SE France for fuel before hopping south over the Pyrenees, down the east coast of Spain, and out over the water to Majorca. A tailwind got us down to Alderney in an hour, and Doug White joined us for a cup of tea outside the airport in the glorious sunshine. His Cherokee G-LTFB was on the mainland having a 430 Garmin installed, so back to the apron with our duty-free and airborne again, keeping east of Jersey and then as straight a line as possible to La Rochelle. Visibility got steadily worse, heavy rain picked up, and the cloud got darker and lower, but we passed the worst of it south of Rennes and the rest of the flight was uneventful. Thankfully Charlotte was well-equipped with pink hi-viz and headphones, so at least there could be no problem anyone not seeing us on the ground!

Charlotte with jacket and headset

At La Rochelle, the nose oleo, which had looked under-inflated at Alderney, was now completely deflated. A squirt of nitrogen from “Aero Service Atlantique” the next morning soon sorted that, and then it was off to Carcassonne – a very nice aerodrome with full ATC,only 4 Euros to land, and fairly cheap fuel too. After lunch in the terminal, and the half-mile walk back to the GA apron, we were off again and routing SE. This is where it got interesting! Our groundspeed was at times 150-160kts, and that tailwind barreling into the north side of the Pyrenees made for a lot of turbulent air, compounded by a southerly wind from the Spanish side. As we got over the high ground, it did get quite uncomfortable!

Flying over the Pyrenees

The aeroplane was never out of control – but you never know if you’re going through the worst of it or yet to enjoy that. So, talking to Perpignan, we skirted as far east as we could without conflicting with a fast jets display over the coast, then overhead their field and directly south through a very convenient cutting in the mountains. From there, it was straight down to the Bagur VOR on the coast and out over the water to Majorca, routing in via Pollensa (where we’d be staying for the week) and E-W across the whole width of the island. The weather was again mirky, and most of the sea crossing was done on the panel. It was quite eerie the way Pollensa came looming out of the gloom!

These are the sorts of experiences you can’t pay for, though, like your first solo and your first solo trip abroad. The tops of the mountains were well up inside the ever-lowering cloud by the time we arrived.

Flying over the Pollensa mountains

But a bit of low cloud was never going to dampen Charlotte’s spirits, as she bounded across the apron leaving Gary to deal with the bags!

G-UFCC at Son Bonet

Gary-and-Charlotte-at-Son-Bonet

Midweek, we took a trip to Menorca for lunch, landing at San Luis – no landing fee, but no fuel either! It was another beautiful CAVOK day to be flying, and with only the weight of half tanks we got 4 of us off the ground fine despite the high temperature. Across the island the class A base is 1,000ft AGL, so we kept low, which this allows you to swoop around the mountains with them taller than you are high – an unusual feeling. Then out across Pollensa bay and Menorca is not far, San Luis being a few miles east of the main that you have to get clearance to cross when you’re not going to light anyone’s TCAS up and cause a missed approach (we had to orbit to the west for ages). The weather was a lot brighter than when we arrived at Son Bonet on the Saturday!

San Luis airport from the air.

The journey back was not exactly as planned. The intention was again to split the trip over 2 days, this time stopping at Les Sables d’Olonne midway up the west French coast – but checking the weather the night beforehand the storms were picking up and forecast to continue. The SIGMETs were giving the CBs tops at 50,000ft – so, definitely not clouds to be messed with in a 172! So we decided to delay our departure, and eventually the decision was taken to give up completely for Saturday, stay overnight in Palma, and do the whole return journey on the Sunday. So, having filled the tanks on the Saturday afternoon while kicking our heels at Son Bonet, we were back there and airborne at 7:15am on the Sunday morning and heading back to Carcassonne. This time, instead of routing round the Majorca mountains, we climbed straight up over the top (with a couple of lazy S-shapes to make sure we got the height we needed). The sea crossing was perfectly smooth, but it was again increasingly turbulent around the mountains. This time, with no fast jets to worry about, we just routed round the edge over the sea, the ground speed at times down to a painful-to-see 70kts due to the strong headwinds. From Carcassonne we did the longest leg of the trip, 3.5hrs, up to Rennes, maintaining 5,000ft till about 20 miles out and then diving in with 160kts on the ASI – which was obviously noticed by ATC because our departure clearance included a 130kt speed limit! The final leg was then an uneventful return to Kemble via Cherbourg (who cleared us through the overhead) and Bournemouth (who insisted we remain outside their CAS), overhead the “Womad” festival at Charlton Park, and blind calls to join left base for 26 hard. On shutting down, Stu had very kindly arranged an ice-bucket of cold beers to celebrate our successful mission!

Once I have put in his article, I am going to summarise the year so far, and catch up again. It is easier to keep up with things like this in the winter as there is less flying, and more time. I have not mentioned that I spent some time away in the middle of the year doing some ferry flights bringing a couple of Cirrus’es, a brand new Cessna 182 and a Socota Trinidad over from the States to Europe via Greenland and Iceland. Interesting stuff and I will post some photos later.