Say again ...

...Questions via the radio should not always be answered exactly.

Tower: Aircraft in holding pattern, say fuel state?

Aircraft: Fuel state

Tower: Say again?

Aircraft: Again....

After this the tower controller switches off his radio and climbs down the stairs to drink coffee the rest of the afternoon.

Take off over Bournemouth Helicopters

19.12.11


The time had come for a trip to Exeter, but the weather localy wasn't looking promising. After a lengthy consultation with TAFs METAR's NOTAMS and loads of other acronyms we decided the visability was 7000m and the cloud base was 1700 feet so we could go flying. A bit of rain all the way and a few random clouds to dodge but nothing to worry about. 
My GoPro was set up on my head set (see previous post 'Still waiting...') to try and get a different view point for the shots. It proved to be successful however it was a bit high and every now and then when turning my head sharply to the left it would thud against the canopy. This being said, it does help to show where I'm looking and how much you have to move your head when flying. All I need to do now is get a good film editing program and get the videos on here! 

Following the coast to Exeter

The flight was pretty uneventful apart from having to dodge clouds. We did however make some very valuable decisions dudring the flight. The most notable was the decision to not follow my flight plan in the areas of high ground but instead to fly due south and pick up the coast. This would lead us to Exeter without any question but also meant we were away from any clouds and could not get lost. Find the coast go left = Exeter. Find the coast and go right = Bournemouth. Fool proof. Apart from having to dodge the occasional restricted zone it was plane sailing...I mean flying.

Another valuable experience was the loosing of Radio capabilities. It sounds all very dramatic and had the potential to be very dangerous however there are protocols in place in the world of flying to deal with this. We had left Bournemouth airport and got handed over to Bournemouth Radar. Aproximately 8 miles from 'the zone' is the Yeovilton AIAA (Area of Intense Aircraft activity) so I called Radar and requested a frequency change. She advised us that Yeovilton were closed so we could stay with her or swap to Exeter Radar. We stayed with her for a further 20 mins till we could hear her but she could not hear us. I swapped to Exeter Radar and tried to get them. No joy. The hills in the way and our low altitude because of cloud was playing merry hell with our coms abilities. The next option was to swap frequency to London Information (Distress and Diversion Area Control) on 124.75 who cover basicaly all of England, Ireland and Wales south of 55 degrees North latitude and North of 55 degrees North latitude and Scotland is coverd by Scotland Information. This would be normal practice however we couldn't even get them. So the next plan of action was to go through the list of frequencies again till we got somone. The biggest worry was that Bournemouth would get concerned that she couldnt raise us and contact Exeter who wouldn't be able to raise us who would contact London who also wouldn't be able to get through. So we tried again with as much safe altitude as we could due to the cloud and nothing. the next action was to turn off the radio, trip the circuit breaker and reset it. Turn on the radio and try again, however we could hear broken coms from other aircraft so the radio was less liekly to be our issue and more terrain. We could have squawked 7600 for radio failure however the rdio hadn't failed. Our best option was to follow the priorities of flight - AVIATE NAVIGATE COMMUNICATE (in that order of priority). To the coast we went and continued for a further 5 mins till we got through to London Information. They informed us Exeter could hear us but we couldnt hear them so Exeter were happy we were safe and could see us on RADAR. We continued till London Information asked us to change to Exeter Radar frequency and change our squawk code to 0410. And that was that.

Arriving at Exeter

 Into Exeter, pay for the landing (£21!) have a pee (most expensive pee I've ever had!) then back in and head home via the coast all the way. 
All in all it was a very enjoyable flight mostly because of the challenging weather conditions and the radio issues. All very valuable experience.
Onwards and upwards!