A mile of runway can take you anywhere
Hello all .. I seem to have a few viewers and I’d be really keen for any feedback .. good, bad, indifferent to help me steer what sort of content people would like to see … happy to carry on rambling but feel free to let me know ..
Just on holiday and drafting a story for Pilot magazine about the build .. got some nice air to air shots planned for those summer days ahead for the story 😎
So checked with my local friendly Chief Engineer , Bob …
The repeat form looks fairly straightforward …
Well .. the form is … it was a problem with the ‘part’ holding the pen !
Having sent the form off duly signed up I got a nice email from the LAA engineering advising that I hadn’t quite completed it correctly … on re checking I had managed to take the figures from the empty weighing page on the LAA Weight and Balance workbook instead of the page that brings all that together with the variable weight elements .. ie fuel, me, pax, etc !
As I was about to get on the boat for a rare holiday I thought this would be a painful delay as I would only have 1 week to complete in return before the permit ran out … and .. on checking the form it is easier to keep it IN permit than let it expire …
Anyway .. Jerry (Parr) from LAA engineering acknowledged my apologies for being a dummy and entering the incorrect figures (advised an apology wasn’t necessary .. which was nice touch) and accepted my correct figures via email
Got an email back that afternoon advising it should all go through later that day
Many thanks LAA .. very efficient service
WordPress have just kindly offered me the ability to set my default settings for GDPR
I do have a number of posts that have people either shown or named or both and it was all part of the general fun and sharing of the entire build. Now it all starts to look very serious ….
So .. my general override is that any picture blog words notes etc are there in good faith and not to be used for any devious or underhand reason .. but happy to remove if anyone is worried 😟
Now that said .. here is a little story about the utte stupidity that this law has engendered …. so .. there we were .. flying back from a sunny Luxembourg in a very old but solid PA28 … the bad weather everywhere West of Paris was set to clear around 13:00 local and we were set to arrive around 14:00 local … weather didn’t clear and in fact stayed pretty much until around 18:30 local …
Anyway after a divert to Beauvais on the way .. wait 2 hours and then a second divert on the next leg to Alderney because Guernsey dropped about 30 miles before we got to it .. we were standing in the small check in building on Alderneys small airport filling in the gendec
For those who haven’t visited Guernsey or Alderney .. they still use carbonised gendecs that you fill in by hand … have done for years so I can fill them in almost blindfold now.
I filled it in with the duty fireman telling me the landing was free (thank you local Jersey resident Charles Strasser for arranging that at 90% of UK airfields … to save diverting pilots worrying about cost of landing when making a divert decision …such a sensible and Very English arrangement) .. Beauvais will charge me 😉
Anyway .. gendec duly completed I handed it to the very friendly chap … he held his hands up and said I can’t see or touch it …. WTF …. I said to him .. don’t tell me it’s GDPR .. and yes, it sure was … what an utter load of Bxxxxxxx !!!!
So yes, .. the pilot has to tear off the top page fold it and put it in a secure box … And effectively it is not checked until someone comes and opens that box at the end of the day
Not unsurprisingly Guernsey and I guess Alderney are getting badly completed forms .. I guess I could have put D Duck and M Mouse had arrived from Botswana in a Boeing 777 and declared yes we did have goods and yes they were semi automatic …. the world has gone mad .. I for one would be more than happy that arriving at a non local field I am checked .. for the good of ALL
France wouldn’t put up with this crap … every airfield in France you are met by minimum 2 sometimes more, gendarmes .. armed to the teeth … and checked and smile and wave .. they are generally friendly … Beauvais had around 20armed troops patrolling the airport .. perhaps .. given the numbers of people traveling through that place and to a massive range of European cities it’s seen as a far greater threat …
The world we now live in …
So Will .. no 2 son .. had been saying it would be nice to get out and do some evening flying when the sun was going down …
Eventually .. one evening .. we had the chance to get her pulled out and ready just after 20:00 and the sun was just starting to head to the horizon and drop into the beautifully flat sea
We called up for pre taxi clearance and asked for a bad weather circuit first .. to try to get one squeezed in before the sun dipped … Jersey ATC are really really helpful and will bend over backwards to try to get me into a nice close bad weather circuit if they can .. if it doesn’t work out I always make it clear that I will happily pull away and or it or simply go out and wide into a normal circuit.. the mutual acceptance works so well and they understand the speed and manaouveability of the Sherwood well now so slotting in and around and in front and behind of much bigger faster jet or turbo traffic is really very neat.
The first bad weather circuit .. on go pro .. gave me one of my nicest stills fro it with the banking turn that Will performed caught beautifully against the setting sun.
The whole movie footage shows the Sherwood lines really nicely as the sun catches the various angles and tips ..
Film footage here
A nice landmark … 100th landing came up
A cloudy bleak looking day with low broken cloud …
Jersey ATC were stupendously helpful and tried their best to slot me in between a busy Saturday lunchtime sequence of arrivals and departures .. quite a few A320 Airbuses and wake turbulence avoiding
I did get a ‘Land and Stop’ request … which, to be honest, is not something I had heard before ! … so, on short final I asked if they wanted me back to the threshold and was advised no .. clearer touch and go …
I chatted with someone after this and we realised that ATC were making sure I had good timing separation from the preceding jet … I hadn’t realised I would have been inside the 3 minute departure window .. so could have landed, taken off and then flown into a whole load of wash at around 300’ … Good call tower !
(Land and stop would have been simply land and wait on the runway for the vortex to clear and then full power)
Some nice tight circuits and close bad weather circuits meant I could squeeze in a few every Few minutes
Nearly lost another cap by looking sideways and then leaning back in the banked turn and the peak just clipped the slipstream ! .. managed to arrive next to me inside the aircraft !
A colleague at work (David Buesnel) said he had seen me flying the other day and had taken some photos from the ground at one of the turning points in the standard right hand circuit off runway 08 .. Noirmont
At this point you can do some nice banked turns to turn onto downwind ..
Looks like it has retracts ! .. also looks like I am just unwinding the right turn with the ailerons indicating a left turn initiated …
May 9th and our brief 48 hour session of wall to wall sunshine and gentle winds evaporated and went back to a good old Jersey pea souper … BKN below 200 in the morning and didn’t really lift much all day.
Decided to pull her out of the hanger and get a good wash down, using the TLAC soapy bottle which really helps get a sheen when dried off.
It was about 7:30pm and the bubbles and bits were going well and at around 8:00pm started to hose off the bubbles. Also managed to get the streak of muddy bits from the underside that had inevitably spun up from all those landings.
I had leathered most of the water off when suddenly there was a break in the cloud and the sun beamed through .. albeit a very much setting sun !
Dried off as much as I could and called the tower for a “quick circuit” … 10 minutes later .. nicely warmed oil and lifted off into a brilliant dazzling sunset …
Pulled some lovely wing overs and headed off downwind and was asked if I could keep it tight and fast (a relative term !) and they would squeeze me in ahead of 2 Airbus 320’s …I had been debating doing one or two circuits so this made the decision easy … “Happy to stay in the bay” .. St Aubins bay is a useful holding area but quite close to the centreline so can set off inbound TCAS so each inbound has to be advised of me holding.
The Easyjet and then the BA landed so I ended up making my last hold as close as I could to a tight ish left base … as I trundled in the tower said it wasn’t going to work as the next Airbus was now only on a 5 mile final … hey great …. more whizzing around the bay … loads of tight orbits with the sun successively in front then behind then under then over ….
Another Airbus came in and then an inter island ATR came in low from the North from Guernsey ..
By now .. my “quick circuit” was approaching 40mins and it was pretty cold .. the sun was now well down and the tower had turned the approach lights on .. runway 26
As it was an ATR I had to have a 5 mile spacing for vortex wake turbulence .. so just eased right back to 50 and drifted slowly towards a shortish final
As I rounded I realised how dark it was and how cold it was 😊 .. wings folded and away safe and sound … nearly a night landing ha ha
Finally have some good weather and I’m not working all the hours in the world ….
Managed a normal full size circuit .. a round the island and then another circuit … 1 hour exactly
1.20 into this I checke the current trim post my aileron hinge replacement .. trim is fine
Got the aileron back on this evening 😊
You see how much had been lost off the bottom of the hinge … only about 3mm
Drill and sink the rivers to be as flush as possible or you will have gapping problems when aileron is fitted
Always time for a bit of auto glym whilst waiting for the Oratex iron to get to temp
Parts arrived from TLAC today ..
So got straight on and finished the neat die cut prepped parts .. haven’t done this for ages !
TLAC provide the die cut parts so it’s really quick to simply saw through the breaks and then grind and file and emery down to a smooth finish
Looking at the new part next to the damaged part you can see just how little was shaved off BUT not worth the risk as you can see the tolerances at the lower end of the hinge point has reduced by 50% ie about 3mm
Paul had advised that the original Loctite 246 two part glue would need warming to break the seal against the ply aileron end rub. I wasn’t looking forward to this as I thought it might damage the end rib but, in the end, it prized away really cleanly
I had forgotten how much this glue smelt ! A very popular move opening this in the dining room on the table 😊😊
Paul had promised to pop something in for me to bolster the tip to ‘important parts’ clearance and the white block would be shaped and fitted to the wing tip
Countersunk rivet heads to allow for close fit hinge at wing tip
Havent seen my trusty old rivet gun for a while ! Did every rivet with this 😊
Also getting the Oratex ready to cover the repair
Jersey Sherwood Ranger 