Where have you been? What have you seen?
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By ConcordeBA
#1882653
In February 2021 the ASOT 1000 festival in Utrecht, NL; was postponed until at least September 2021. The Coronavirus Pandemic, which has dominated the world since the late parts of February 2020 continued to grip the world. I last visited the Netherlands for ASOT950 in February 2020 and did not expect the chain of events that have unfolded since.

I gained the Instrument Rating in mid-Summer 2021 and if the CAA turned my license around quickly, in which case they did I would potentially fly myself to Amsterdam Schipol for the celebratory event. It would mean a flight out to the Netherlands on Friday and flying back late on Sunday evening. On the eve of my first PIC IFR flight to Newquay in August, the Netherlands announced further restrictions till the day of the event in early September, it was at that point that the ASOT 1000 festival was further postponed till February 2022.

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So I canceled my booking, to allow someone else to use the aircraft. But as those dates fast approached I got spontaneous and wanted to use the aircraft. After much deliberation, my friends who joined me on my Newquay trip fancied the short but quick night stop in Liverpool, something I’ve wanted to do for a long time.

The full write-up is located here, at least until I can work out a format to post on the forums as requested. https://www.theflyingvlog.uk/planning-liverpool/

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Once again the weather for both sets of flights was completely non-eventful so this wasn’t much in the way of a challenging IFR trip, but nevertheless, it was my first night-stop using the Instrument Rating. Doing what the Instrument Rating was designed for, going places, and what better place to do the first night stop; Liverpool.

I also logged my first PIC RNAV approach, which went better than anticipated. I always struggled flying RNPs in training but I suspect this was down to the fact that both Lydd wasn’t an easy IAP to fly and Cambridge, the chart wasn’t very clear.

The timing was once again an important factor, but this time I think the lack of clear NOTAMs or my lack of clearly reading them came into play to force an unwanted delay to our schedule. All in all, a successful night stop that meant a plan for the future was slowly coming together and my confidence was being built up.

renzokuken, kingbing, StratoTramp and 1 others liked this