Tuesday 6th September … LAA certificate arrived and we had a Force 2-3 from around South to Southwest giving me a tricky little crosswind as well as the ‘wrong’ runway at Jersey ? Had hoped for 26 as it has a steep cliff at the end and so provides a nice run off in case of engine problems just after take off .. But wind favoured 08 which has a road, trees, petrol station !
The SATCO approved a quiet test slot of 1600-1700 local as we had only 2 planned Airbus 320’s due in .. Easyjet and BA from Gatwick …
CIAS were all on hand to provide their usual great guidance
The airport Fire and Rescue laid on the FULL compliment ! 3 massive tenders and 3 landrovers !
the scene was set !!
First hop was ok .. Lined up nicely .. Tail up almost immediately .. Aileron into wind and only a slight bit of drift … Aim was to get to around 4′ high, fly level and then power down and land .. Ideally BEFORE the end of the runway ! Second hop got a little higher by mistake but flare was nice and straight and down
I then hit a snag as I had been trailing the brakes through extensive taxiing and braking on landing .. Eventually the right brake said I’ve had enough and just way too HOT .. So stopped working !
called the tower and advised I was having small problem and parked on a Blus Island vacant stand – stand 6 ! Fire crew came up to assist and brake cooled after a few minutes .. Crew pushed on the leading edge as I braked and checked it as indeed stopping
off we went again for third hop ….
Big wing drop on this one .. Perhaps it was cross wind, perhaps it was me not applying sufficient power and easing off too early .. In any event the starboard wing was going down and heading into cartwheel territory ! pushed power and the wing lifted immediately .. Nice straight and level was restored
nice straight flare and power off to gentle touchdown .. Those (in the know ie pilots) at the club were hearts in the mouth moments !
I returned to the club and shut down for a chat with the engineers in CIAS .. Nice calm advice and settling … Then out for fourth hop
this was a very smooth affair … And nicely settled on the runway
So taxi back .. And await the A320 from BA to land and wait for wake turbulence to clear … Lined up .., Full throttle … And she just flew into the beautiful blue sky … Steady as a rock ….
One tight bad weather left hand circuit and time to sing at the top of my voice downwind !!! nice tight left base over the beach in st Ouen and roll out onto final
Touchdown 17:15 local
Jersey Sherwood Ranger 
well done David, we saw you flying on the BBC, SWAB looks great in the air,
James tlac
Many thanks James .. Especially from an expert like yourself .. Means a lot … She flew straight off the ‘plan’ . Absolutely beautiful … Had an interesting 5-8 knots of cross wind and ironically the same yesterday for her second flight ! I re rigged her on Saturday to double check incidence and dihedral and the rigging needed a very small amount of tweaking … Took longer to take the wire locking off and put it all back !
She is such a joy to fly … Can’t stop singing !
Hi
Great to see you got yours flying this month too could you drop me an email so I can ask you a few questions
Andy
The Spirit of Goole http://www.thespiritofgoole.co.uk
David, how are you getting on flying off the test hours, are you keeping the blog updated so we cab follow your flying results/data
hope all is well in jsy
James
Hi James .. Been a very busy few weeks as work has gone through the roof and an unexpected trip to the UK then lots of wind ! Still .. It’s given me chance to get some ground snags sorted and today was a big step forward as I finally located my RPM problem .. All good stuff for the blog and I intend to keep it going definitely through all these key stages
Thanks for responding
Kind regards
David