I had to be in Dunfermline (just north of Edinburgh) for Friday and Saturday. Of course, the first thing I thought of was flying myself up in the CT rather than just catching the usual shuttle flight up and letting somebody else log the time!
As ever, the weather determines everything, especially in mid-October, but as the date grew near the forecast was looking surprisingly good. I decided that I'd go down to Redhill on the Thursday morning and that, if I hadn't been able to set off by lunchtime, I'd simply continue down the road to Gatwick to get a commercial flight.
As it turned out, the conditions at Redhill were perfectly OK. There were showers forecast in northern England, but it didn't look too bad so I decided to give it a try. After loading up the CT with my normal flying kit, plus luggage and laptop, I filled it with the full 130 litres of fuel in case I had to divert to Norway and taxied out to start the journey.
I'd decided to go around the eastern side of London, so headed out past Godstone. I tuned in to Thames Radar who looked after me for the stretch up over the Dartford bridge and on towards Stapleford. A quick chat with them had me through their overhead and on towards the Brookman's Park VOR where I turned north to pass through the corridor between Luton and Stanstead.
One of the things which I've found with all the long trips that I've been doing in the CT is that it makes life easier when talking with ATC if you have planned your route using VORs and NDBs as waypoints. That's what GA aircraft always did before GPS, and largely still do, and it's what ATC units seem to be most comfortable with. If you tell them that you're routing from LAM to BPK to BKY then they know exactly what you're doing. That means you won't be asked to explain precisely where the obscure GPS waypoint that you might otherwise have selected is! Your GPS should also be able to give you the distance to go to the VOR or NDB which makes position reports easy, as that's the equivalent of the DME distances which GA pilots quote. I find that having fewer requests for position from ATC makes for a more relaxed trip, and that using the GA routings and language which ATC is happy with helps to achieve this.
Once clear of the corridor I was able to climb as I left the London TMA behind. There was scattered cloud from around 2,000' up to about 4 or 5,000'. The visibility below it was a little murky, so I turned on the cabin heater for the first time and went up, eventually reaching about 6,000' as the TMA allowed. The air up there was much clearer, and it gave me a great view of the countryside too. It also meant that I was well above the ATZs of the airfields I was passing, so could fly overhead without deviating from my course or getting in their way. I talked the RAF base at Wyton as I passed, then a little while later flew directly overhead Fenland. The next call was to RAF Coltishall. They had an aircraft flying a display routine up to 9,000', so they asked me to divert around their zone, but apart from that it was a very straightforward flight. I had decided to break the journey with a stop for something to eat, so after talking to Humberside Approach I soon found myself on final for the grass runway at Beverley, just north of Hull. Mike Cowles and I had been there in March in the Jabiru, so I knew the airfield. I also managed the only landing I've ever done where I genuinely couldn't tell when the wheels touched down. If only I could remember how to do that every time!
There were only two people at the clubhouse, but I had a friendly welcome, a nice ham roll and a welcome cup of coffee. I didn't stay too long though, since I wanted to press on to avoid the threatened showers.
The navigation was very easy for the next part of the journey since I simply followed the coast all the way to the Firth of Forth. On the way I passed some interesting spots, like Robin Hood's Bay which marks one end of the famous coast-to-coast footpath. I also went past the industrial cities of Middlesbrough and Newcastle, keeping about a mile off the coast to remain clear of first the Teeside and then the Newcastle zones. They weren't too busy, so it was no problem getting the radio calls in, but they did want position reports as I passed their various VRPs so that they could keep tabs on where I was.
Once clear of Newcastle I was handed on to Scottish Information who looked after me all the way up to Edinburgh. The coast was beautiful, although I could imagine how desolate it must feel in winter storms. By that stage I had started to run into some quite heavy showers. I was able to dodge around most of them, but did have to spend some time flying along in the rain at 1,500' or so. With a radar service from Scottish I knew about the occasional other aircraft in the area, which was reassuring given the less-than-ideal visibility. As I got near Dunbar I had to fly out to sea to avoid the restricted zone around a nuclear power station since the cloudbase wouldn't allow me to go over it. That took me right up to the edge of a very heavy shower, but I squeezed past and then found that the skies ahead were suddenly much clearer. That meant that the last thirty miles or so gave me some great views of Edinburgh and the Forth bridges to the west as I flew across the mouth of the firth. Once I reached the northern shore, I turned west and within a few minutes was landing on the nice hard runway at Fife/Glenrothes airfield.
The people there were very welcoming and within minutes had the CT safely tucked away in their hanger; an unusual luxury for it!
The next two days both brought beautiful flying weather. Clear blue winter skies with bright sunshine and no winds. Frustratingly, I was stuck in Dunfermline with other things to do, so was reduced to gazing longingly out of the window. I also spent a lot of time checking the weather forecasts to see if I'd be able to get home on Sunday. Initially the news looked bad, with heavy rains and storms predicted. I thought I might have to leave the CT at Fife and fly home on a commercial flight then go back for it later, but by Saturday night it looked as if it might be OK as long as I left early.
So it was that I arrived back at Fife airfield at 8:30am on a cold frosty Sunday morning. Once again it was beautifully clear and sunny, so the first part of the journey at least looked promising. The CT was right at the back of the hanger, so there was a game of 'shuffle the aeroplanes' to play before I was able to get it out. I wasn't sure that the weather would let me get all the way back to Redhill so I filled both tanks again in case I had to divert. I had decided to do the trip non-stop this time, since it looked as if I'd be in a race with an approaching front to see which of us could reach London first. With a long flight in prospect, a final visit to the loo was called for before strapping in for the journey.
It really was a beautiful morning, and I had great views south towards Edinburgh as I climbed out past Glenrothes. I retraced my route down the coast, this time with no sign of the showers which had kept me low on the way up. The views were beautiful all the way down, passing small towns like Berwick-upon-Tweed along the way. I was cruising at about 3,000' and doing just over 100 knots groundspeed according to the GPS. Approaching Newcastle I dropped down to 1,400' to remain below their zone. As I passed the city they vectored a 737 coming the other way straight over me 1,000' above which gave me a great view of it.
I carried along just off the coast until I'd passed the Teeside zone and then turned inland and headed south. This was one of the most scenic legs of the journey since it took me straight over the North York Moors. I briefly forgot about the race with the weather front to spent some time finding an isolated pub I'd once stayed in on the moors, and then going to have a look at Rievaulx Abbey from above. I was pleased with myself for finding both of them. The abbey is a ruin, but it's a spectacular sight from the air and I circled above it a couple of times before I set course for the south again.
From there I had about 150nm on the same heading, all the way down past York, Doncaster, Nottingham and Leicester and on to Northampton. Apart from a call to RAF Church Fenton for a MATZ penetration and a couple of calls to airfields I was passing there was nothing to do except keep a good lookout and admire the view. I spent most of the time tuned in to London Information so that I could get an idea of what the weather was like further south. I heard people going to and from France, so I knew that things couldn't be too bad.
When I reached Northampton I felt that I was on home turf, since that's where I did all my conversion training for the CT, so I now know it quite well. That was handy as it turned out, since it was at that point that I hit the weather front. Visibility was still several miles, but it was obviously getting murkier ahead and I flew through some patches of light rain. Still, I didn't have far to go, and by tuning to Farnborough I could hear that there were plenty of people flying around the west of London so I knew it was safe to carry on. The weather got a little worse as I passed Aylesbury, but by then I was getting a radar information service from Farnborough to keep me informed of traffic.
Once I was past the ridge near Wycombe it began to brighten up again. I flew over Henley and down to the Woodley VOR, then on to the Bagshot mast which marks the south west corner of the Heathrow zone. From there of course you're pretty much home - a few more miles to Dorking and then back onto 119.6 for joining instructions. A straight-in approach to 08 had me on the ground in no time. The journey had taken exactly three-and-a-half hours - not bad for Scotland to London by microlight!
It was a great trip to do - going to Scotland is something a bit different from the other trips I've been doing, and it was good to be able to use the CT for a practical, rather than a purely recreational, journey too. I was lucky with the weather both ways, especially given the time of year, but it was worth the risk of having to leave the CT up there and go back a week later to retrieve it.
My next ambition is to go up the west coast and have a look at the Lake District!
Alasdair Arthur
October 2002