GT & Gunny's Apron

Have not flown since the 25th July, weather here in the UK is absolutely pants! On Saturday the wife and I thought we would visit the micro-light fare at Popham. To be honest the way the weather was, they should have called it off, as when we arrived in the morning, nothing was flying and most people were either hiding behind plastic bags or sat in there cars with very large dogs, oh sorry, that right dear, the seaguls were flying , and the rain was flying in our faces, so there was some flyin… Continue

When I looked at the weather this morning it was blowing around 10kts, and I thought it would calm down, by the time I got to the airfield at five that afternoon, and yet again I was wrong. It was about 13kts and gusting 15kts…. I thought fuckit, lets get the old girl out and lets crack these cross wind landings. Rob felt the same as I did, and so, that’s what we did. If you ever fly into Plaistow’s, we have four runways 12 & 30 and 15 and yes you guessed right runway 33. Today as there w… Continue

I arrived early at Plaistow’s this morning and was rigged Gunny in no time and by 0910hrs we were up and away in circuits yet again. However, today the man that operates the wind decided to turn it 180 and throw it down runway 12. This approach is a right bugger, as from base you follow the electric pylons until you come across a shit load of trees, then you have to bank left to line up and then fly the 500yrds or so to the threshold. You are often buffered by the rota from the trees on the rig… Continue

Today, was yet another sunny but windy day here in Bedfordshire, and as usual the conditions were to breezy for me to go solo (feeling glum) : - ( However, I had three tidy landings in winds of 10kts, gusting 15kts, and only made a few problems for myself, by not correcting the bar earlier on the final approach. After 40 mins Rob called the training off due to the conditions. Hopefully, better conditions on Thursday and Friday. Happy Flying GT

For the last two weeks it’s, done nothing but bloody rain, rain and bloody rain. Therefore, both Gunny and I have been well and truly grounded ,,,, bar hum bug! However, the old weather tart on GMTV, said cloudy and dry for the south east meant, “happy days” for me. I arrived at Plaistow’s earlier than usual has I wanted to give Gunny a good clean. After a few hours work Gunny was looking the absolute dogs bollocks, if I don’t say so myself. ....Time for a brew, I thought, so it was off to the… Continue

For the last two weeks every time I arrived at the airfield for my flight training the weather as turned out to bloody diabolical, too windy, cloud too low, too much rain, too much bloody English crappy figgin weather….. oh…how low I felt “Shitttt!!!!” Last night, the weather bird said scattered showers, low cloud, …. ooooh Bollocks! Bugger it, I will get up early, get my arse down the field and get Gunny rigged for a 0900 slot….. I arrived at Plaistow’s; the wind was 090 across the runway at a… Continue

Whilst dragging out the other flex wings at the front of the hangar to get at Gunny, this takes about 20 minutes, that is taking them out and putting them back in, at the moment I am scared to death that I might damage one, so I am really over cautious, but I think its best to do be that way. By the time Rob walked over to the hanger, Gunny and her wing were out on the grass apron and ready to be put together. OK GT, today it’s a bit of a funny one, I have Bill from P&M flying over in the… Continue

The weather in the UK today looked pants, however i had to sort out a few odds and sods at the airfield. When i arrived at Plaistow’s the weather had actually picked up, so i did what i had to do, and wheeled out the wing, (i keep the wing flat because there is no room anywhere to keep it rigged, and on a "T" Trolly") and the trike, and then some Guy called Brian, helped me put Gunny together, as it was a little breezy. Brian Told me that he had flew to Cyprus once, wow! some trip hey! With in… Continue

Today, I had to meet the inspector to, have the radio installation certified, all went well but the flycom intercom that the radio is connected to is playing up, I can receive but the transmission is very quite. I will write to Dave Grey at flycom and ask him if there are any switches in the box that can sort the problem out. So after that, I had to wait for my slot with Rob. After a few hours, it was time to take Gunny up for a spin, this would be my first flight in control of her. The weathe… Continue

I finished a night shift at the fire station and over a cuppa in the kitchen I texted Rob to see if there had been any cancelations for today, with a few moments Rob had replied and said it would be possible to get up around 1800hrs, if that would help. Sure would was the reply. Today I also chased up the permit to fly from the BMAA. The nice people said that they are still awaiting for its return from the CAA. So I rang them too. The assistant assured me that it would be sent out today to the… Continue

The postman arrived, several letters hit the floor, “bugger”, none of them were from the BMAA, no flying gunny today… When I arrived at the airfield, the weather was shit (as usual). Rob and I moved the school GT450 out, walked around a while, well said Rob, what do you think, are we up or what GT?, well the wind is still the cloud base is about 900ft, com’n lets go.. We scrambled into the GT, and soon screaming down RW15, up we climbed to about 800ft but the cloud base was a little to low, so… Continue

I was just leaving the doctors, when the old dog and bone rang " Hi tossa, get your arse down here and lets put your bird together", I’ll be there in 40mins mate. When i arrived at the airfield Rob had removed all but my trike, OK GT, lets get your trike out and lets rig her up. within 20 mins the wing was rigged and ready for hooking up to the trike, and Rob talked us through the procedure and again in no time at all G-CFGT was rigged. Rob then set about checking the whole aircraft over, soo… Continue

It was a lovely sunny day as I drove out of our close towing the trike trailer, I was filled with both excitement and apparitions, all that money on one item, am I doing the right thing, we could have had a new bathroom and a kitchen…. “TAKE THE SLIP ROAD ON TO THE M1 NORTH” screamed the SatNav! I don’t know how I had got to the M1, must have been on autopilot. Ah fuck it!, its done now, so I turn on the cd player and turn up one of my favourites by Free “Alright now” . Three hours later I arri… Continue

It was raining when i lifted my head off the pillow, and thought "Bollocks", no flying for me today! However as the morning progressed the rain came in and out. I texted Rob and said i wished that i had bought a Boat... Pop down if you want, could do with an hand to sort some stuff out, ... OK, see you in 40 mins mate. As i drove onto the airfield, the rain started to filter out and a smile grew on my face. Soon after we were airborne, and flying the circuit, i was on finals, looking good, i w… Continue

I rang Rob at Exodus this morning to ascertain if the planned cross country lesson was on. His reply was, the wind is constant at 20kts, but things could improve, why don’t you pop down to Plaistow’s and we shall take it from there. As I rolled up at the airfield, Rob was up flying around in the GT450 with John who was carrying out pre GFT.. he looked good and I thought as he landed, Wow only if I could do that, as his landing looked smooth and controlled, even in windy conditions as we were cu… Continue

After 3 weeks away from flying, I was eager to get airborne, but more so to continue to land the GT450 consistently. My circuits were good, my approach is good, the works, but when it comes to doing the business, things just go to pot. I have tried most things to get things right but alas; I am not consistent enough to get it right time after time. My instructor said, to fair, the weather I have been learning to fly in has been windy, and I have not had many calm days, but I should be able to… Continue

What a bloody Nightmare… I took three days leave to have three days flying, and what blooming waste of time, as no matter what I did, whilst trying to land I fucked it up… On the 2nd April I arrived at Plaistow’s with a big smile on my face as I was about to ordered my new GT450 and to continue good things i.e. landings, .. things were going well, I made a couple of good ones then off we went and completed a few engine failures and on the return, and after setting the QFE, lining up, someone re… Continue

Today, I arrived at the airfield and met Stev (the guy that took the footage of my landings in the Quantum), we had a coffee and waited for Rob to return from the fuel run. Soon after that Rob came bounding into the office “Morning GT, morning youngun I said, sarcastically, fancy a coffee boss, I replied, love one said Rob… with that Stev said I’m off now guys and with that he went and left Rob and me to discuss my next flying lesson. Today GT we will be learning how to do Forced Landings Witho… Continue

I did it, by jingo, I did it, for the first time I actually landed the GT450 with out any help from Rob, I fill fantastic…. This morning I rang the airfield to see if there were any cancellation, and by chance there was a slot at 17:00 hrs said Rob, I’ll be there boss… Today I was determined to put to bed three areas, these are: 1. Maintain circuit height at 800ft 2. Fly a perfect circuit 3. And land the fucker…. I DI’d the GT450, whilst Rob was up in the fixed wing and waited for his return… Continue

Having studied and successfully passed HPL, Aircraft Tec and Air Law I am now studying Air Navigation. How on earth can you learn something that you can not practice? At the moment I am still learning circuits, so the introduction of learning this subject is somewhat like trying to learn to ride a horse by correspondence.. However, I will speak to Rob (Inst) and get some ground school, because at the moment, I feel I’m wasting my failing brain power trying to make sense of this subject… and fo… Continue