Clear of Cloud

Permit to Fly

Great news, HI received her Permit to Fly from the LAA yesterday.  She's now fully finished and ready to go (ish).  Now that we have a permit, Pete's going to do some shakedown flying just to make sure he's happy that everything is in order.  Next up on the list of things to do is to get me trained up!

I've got my instructor lined up but trying to get our schedules in synch and get the weather to co-operate will be a challenge but then isn't that what flying is about.  

Time to go flying I think.

A Beacon that Couldn't be Bettered

I've been putting off buying a PLB (personal locator beacon) for a while for a couple of reasons: one, I don't need one right now and two; I couldn't afford the one I wanted. 

Originally, I wanted a McMurdo Fastfind Max-G, which was the guts of £400.  They've come down but they are still well over £320.  Then, recently McMurdo launched a lower cost PLB, the Fastfind 210 (About £230).  It's a slightly lower specification device but it is a lot of safety equipment for the money. The big differences between the two are that the MaxG runs for 48 hours and is buoyant while the 210 runs for 24 hours and is not buoyant (though it is waterproof to the same level as the MaxG)

I would be happy enough with the 24 hour runtime as I would expect a recovery from any situation that I foresee myself in could be effected in that time. The buoyancy issue is more significant. In the case of a ditching the last thing I want to do is get wetter, crying, as my life-saving PLB transmits in vain from the depths of the Irish Sea.

McMurdo do make a buoyancy pouch for the 210 to make it float, so one of those plus tethering the PLB to your person got mitigate the floating issue to some extent.

That was where I was at in my decision making. Today, I bought a PLB. The MaxG? No. I got the best PLB there is, the Fastfind 210...discounted. I was offered a brand new Fastfind for under £200 and I couldn't refuse it. Is the Fastfind 210 the best beacon, perhaps not but the PLB you own and have with you when you need it is infinitely better than any higher spec one sitting the shop.

Contracting Horizons, Spectacular Visibility.

M. from the flight school gave me a call the other day to see if I wanted to go flying this weekend. He and P. were planning a flight to Haverfordwest and they were looking for me to make join the crew - I think more for my local knowledge, than my aviating skill, which is a bit rough around the edges at the moment.

By Sunday, the flight's ambitions had shrunk to Cork. Cork, I had never been to Cork Aiport, not quite as adventurous as Wales but it would be fun. By Monday, P. had to cry off, so with only two sharing the plane we planned for a shorter trip.  Kilkenny became the new target.

We put in a quick phone call on Monday to confirm that the airport was open but all we got was disappointing news.  Only 400 meters of the runway was available.  Neither I nor M. felt we could get the C172 in and out safely so our horizon contracted even further - if it is possible to "contract further".

We settled on Kilrush Airfield in county Kildare - a short bimble but any flying is better than no flying.

M. flew the leg down and it was remarkably quiet out.  No sign of any traffic and very little activity in Kilrush when we floated in. It seems that family commitments take precedence over flying on bank holiday weekends.  There was a little bumpy air around with the easterly breeze, rolling off the mountains. The visibility was fantastic though. I still haven't figure out how far south we could actually see but on the route home we could definitely see Kingscourt in Cavan and, we think, the Mourne Mountains.  I don't think I've ever seen visibility that good and certainly not after a prolonged warm spell.  A few days of the glorious weather we've been having normally means quite a lot of haze but not yesterday.

Yesterday was spectacular..... if only we managed some more flying