Tue Aug 09, 2016 11:32 pm
#1475996
Another suspiciously nice day, another new airfield in the logbook! Took the C172 from Sywell to Gloucester, and on the way back (as the flight was otherwise quite short!), I decided to do a bit of aerial sightseeing around South Wales and Forest of Dean/along the Severn. There was quite a lot of traffic, especially the non-engined variant out and about, making use of the nice weather and thermally clouds - a few TCUs were reported and spotted around Birmingham Coventry.
The route to Gloucestershire Airport was pretty simple, avoiding the odd gliding and paradropping site. It's basically the same route I've done before to Kemble and Shobdon, from Sywell. A useful Traffic Service from Brize helped with some traffic sightings, and Gloucestershire was pretty busy (it turns out there was a fly-in that day!). Having learnt at a Class D field, and been flying from an AFIS field, it was a bit weird having full ATC in Class G.
I had read the detailed briefing pack for Gloucestershire, but then got cleared for a straight in approach onto Runway 27, which didn't seem to be included in the pack! Personally, I'm not a fan of straight in approaches, as you don't really get a chance to suss out the airfield, or get the aircraft configured before final. I'm still not sure if I did the "right" thing, as a straight in approach seems to put you flying pretty low over Cheltenham, and a bit close to GCHQ! If I'd have positioned west of Cheltenham, then i'd have been doing a base join, contrary to the issued instructions. Tower didn't complain, although their radar was inop...! Also got to see one of the Van Air LET L-410s departing, as I was taxiing in.
For the return flight I decided to cross the Severn into Wales, route down towards Newport (sort of along the Severn), over the Forest of Dean. Then, routing towards Abergavenny, along the edge of the Brecons. They looked a lot more dramatic from the windscreen, which sadly the GoPro on the side window didn't capture! The cloudbase was a little too low to fly over the Brecon Beacons sadly - a case of the old Cumulus Granitas getting in the way. After Abergavenny, I routed back towards Ross-on-Wye, and then tracked almost direct back to Sywell.
Much quieter on the way back, although the TS from Brize did get terminated quite quickly, as they clocked off at 1700L. It's worrying how many airfields close at 1700L on a gloriously sunny weekday - as I was refuelling the 172 at Sywell, a biplane arrived having been to two other strips in the area, attempting to find fuel, but all were closed/closing.
I've overlaid my track from Skydemon on both outbound and return videos.
Enjoy!
Outbound:
Return:
The route to Gloucestershire Airport was pretty simple, avoiding the odd gliding and paradropping site. It's basically the same route I've done before to Kemble and Shobdon, from Sywell. A useful Traffic Service from Brize helped with some traffic sightings, and Gloucestershire was pretty busy (it turns out there was a fly-in that day!). Having learnt at a Class D field, and been flying from an AFIS field, it was a bit weird having full ATC in Class G.
I had read the detailed briefing pack for Gloucestershire, but then got cleared for a straight in approach onto Runway 27, which didn't seem to be included in the pack! Personally, I'm not a fan of straight in approaches, as you don't really get a chance to suss out the airfield, or get the aircraft configured before final. I'm still not sure if I did the "right" thing, as a straight in approach seems to put you flying pretty low over Cheltenham, and a bit close to GCHQ! If I'd have positioned west of Cheltenham, then i'd have been doing a base join, contrary to the issued instructions. Tower didn't complain, although their radar was inop...! Also got to see one of the Van Air LET L-410s departing, as I was taxiing in.
For the return flight I decided to cross the Severn into Wales, route down towards Newport (sort of along the Severn), over the Forest of Dean. Then, routing towards Abergavenny, along the edge of the Brecons. They looked a lot more dramatic from the windscreen, which sadly the GoPro on the side window didn't capture! The cloudbase was a little too low to fly over the Brecon Beacons sadly - a case of the old Cumulus Granitas getting in the way. After Abergavenny, I routed back towards Ross-on-Wye, and then tracked almost direct back to Sywell.
Much quieter on the way back, although the TS from Brize did get terminated quite quickly, as they clocked off at 1700L. It's worrying how many airfields close at 1700L on a gloriously sunny weekday - as I was refuelling the 172 at Sywell, a biplane arrived having been to two other strips in the area, attempting to find fuel, but all were closed/closing.
I've overlaid my track from Skydemon on both outbound and return videos.
Enjoy!
Outbound:
Return:
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