G-MVVT bedded down for the night at Sandown
G-MVVT bedded down for the night at Sandown
My longest cross country flight to date, to Isle of Wight, Sandown for the Wight Party (Spamfield 2002) organised by the microlight e-group on the Internet. Routed down over Bewl to Heathfield. The tall mast was much less visible than I expected, but was safely south of my track. Then to a waypoint between Burgess Hill and Haywards Heath, over a railway (good visual ident!) and on an almost identical track, to Midhurst, well north of Chichester Goodwood. The next leg took me West of Chichester airfield and over Thorney Island, where there is a disused airfield (which I didn't make out as I looked out over the water). The final leg of the trip took me over the sea (starting at 3,000 ft and climbing gently to a maximum of 3,500) to turn inland south of Sandown town over the high end of IOW and join the circuit from deadside on crosswind for the right hand circuit for 23. The strip slopes uphill on 23 initially and has a tree covered slope which generates considerable turbulence just before the threshold. I still aim for the beginning of the strip and needed a little power on the help the flare and hold. Not a bad landing though.
More microlights than I have ever seen in one place!
I was marshalled I with a number of three axis types, including two rather smart D Shadows with wheel spats and flash colour schemes, including coloured sailcloth. One was all over dark green (based at Plaistows) and the other was blue and yellow. Kilo Romeo from Cloudbase arrived shortly after me and the white CD (Uniform Alpha?) from Cloudbase later in the day. Both departed before the evening to return to Redhill. Several other Shadows were present, including a blue one which appeared to be a resident.
John Meldrum and Ashley Pottier
Lots of new 'hot ships' present at the meet, lots of Jabirus, two or three CTs (including one which sported an amazing all over cover for the night - Alasdair might want one), at least one Ikarus C42, a Zenair Ch701 (I think), a sporty French registered swallow tailed aircraft (though I am not sure that it was a micro), and a Eurostar (again, I think as I only saw it leaving). Among the other interesting items was a Renegade Spirit biplane.
After an excursion to the supermarket for breakfast materials it was time for the evening barbecue and entertainment. The queues for the food and the bar were good humoured despite the slow progress (some people were still queuing for food at 9:00pm). The barbie was above average and I suppose the band were competent of their type, but Gaelic flavoured folk rock is not my favourite music. The bar shut down at midnight, but unfortunately my neighbours (RANS S6 912) invited a few friends in to finish up the cans and listen to their portable music. They eventually gave it up after discovering a spillage in their tent. They initially couldn't decide whether it was urine or Stella Artois, but, as one of them was complaining later about something being 'sticky', I assume the latter.
Overall I slept better than I expected and was wakened at 6 am by the first departing trikes. A bit early for a Sunday I think; I hope that they do not spoil Sandown's relationship with the neighbours.
I left at 7:50 in improving weather, but was a bit optimistic; the cloudbase started to get lower than my comfort level toward Burgess Hill and I retreated to Chichester.
Coasting out from Bembridge
What nice people they all are there. ATC couldn't have been nicer or more helpful and the staff in the office even made me a cup of coffee (the cafe were still clearing up after their Summer Ball the previous evening). Bought more Avgas and a good book.
Left at 11:00 and had an uneventful flight back to Headcorn, retracing my outward route. The cloudbase was still a bit lower than forecast at Burgess Hill, but over 1500 anyway. Arrived back at Headcorn at 12:20