2010 - Mainly in pictures - Part 3

One of the flying highlights of 2010 was undoubtedly my first and so far only trip across to France.

This had been in the offing for some time and it was great to eventually get it ticked off.

G-BSOR approaching Cap Gris Nez

Lovely French beach and not a soul in sight!

G-BSOR flying low over the French countryside to the south of Le Touquet airspace

G-CEDI on final approach to 02 @ Abbeville airfield

G-CEDI & G-BSOR on the ground @ Abbeville

2010 - Mainly in Pictures - Part 2

2010 was a great year and on occasion I even took the pictures to prove it.

G-CEDI & G-BSOR on the ground at Compton Abbas after the first leg of the day's intended route

Now that's a nice looking aircraft.

How says roads don't have an impact on the environment.

After leaving Compton Abbas we headed off to Spamfield @ on the IOW. Spamfield usually takes place on the same weekend as the IOW music festival.

Newport & the festival site Festival site in close up

On to the Spamfield event @ Sandown airfield (now almost closed) on the IOW. This is pretty much the biggest gathering of microlights in the UK.

Spotty or what....................................................................Very colourful

Its a Shadow with attitude, you have got to appreciate the irony!

On the other hand this shiny aluminum offering really does have attitude!

Coming back across the water to the mainland you get the chance to fly over am amazing selection of bays, coves and inlets around Hayling Island, Thorny Island, and Chichester Harbour

2010 - Mainly in pictures - Part 1

Thought you might like to see some of things we did and saw while puttering about in G-CEDI in 2010.

Flex wing on the ground at Colemore Common on a very cold January morning in Jan 2010.

Mount Caburn fort - just to the East of Lewes

G-CEDI reflected in a rainbow ring - I believe this is called a Brocken Spectre

Les & I had the great privilege this year of being able to take part in the first ever Wootton Bassett microlight flypast. We were in the 2nd wave of about 48 aircraft. It was a great privilege and a worthy cause...well done to the organisers and everyone who took part. The rally point was Kemble airfield which has a massive tarmac runway with a eastern threshold that was long enough to easily accommodate nearly 50 machines!

Aircraft moving out to start lining up for the departure of the 2nd wave

You realise just how small our machines are when you see them up close and personnel to the likes of this 747.

With nearly 50 aircraft flying in quite close proximity there was plenty of opportunity to get some air to air shots

End of part 1, lots more to follow.

G-CEDI - 2011 The plan so far

Well what a start to the New Year, to say it didn't quite go to plan would be a major understatement.

The idea had been to take her out for a quick buzz around the block on Monday 3rd Jan before putting her away in order to carry out some routine maintenance and a number of mods i.e.

• External fuel filler capability
• Split doors
• New (comfortable seats) from the Nynja

Well she started up OK after only a little persuasion. Warm up seemed fine, all the dials reading normal etc. Nothing in the circuit so we lined up on 06 and hit the throttles. Everything seemed absolutely fine till we had just crossed the airfield boundary at about 300 feet when the engine started spluttering and losing power. I throttled off and reapplied power. Although the engine didn't stop there wasn't a lot of power there so checking my height again, 300ft still I performed as tight a 180 as I could and headed back to the field this time coming in on runway 24. Although it was tight I'd managed to get on the centre line, cut the throttles and glided in. Once on the ground the engine ran smooth and clear, strange. OK time to return to the hanger and have a good look round to see what had happened!

Unfortunately this was were commonsense deserted us. After taking the covers off and test running the engine for a good 30 mins and not being able to find any specific problem we decided the problem was probably caused by carb icing. Not wishing to risk all quite so soon we decided to carry out a number of test runs down the runway to see if the problem returned.

After two uneventful runs and much debate we decided to give it another go, big mistake. After further warming up and additional checks and a plan of what we would do if the problem reoccurred we lined up on runway 06. Full throttle everything fine, wheels off and still looking good. Unfortunately at around 150 - 200ft the problem reoccurred. We had drifted slightly to the left on take-off so our initial plan to land straight ahead had to be dumped. Once again I put the plane into a sharp left hand turn putting us right on the edge of a stall. The engine was still delivering some power and I was able level out and head back towards runway 24. After a quick assessment of the situation I decided that we weren't going to reach the field this time so I put her down pararell to the runway about 50m to the west of the strip in a ploughed field.

Although I would certainly have rather made the runway under the circumstances I couldn't have wished for a better landing. Straight in on little power holding off for as long as possible, main wheels first quickly followed by the nose wheel, full stop in less than 30m.

Of course on the ground the engine seemed fine again....bloody typical. From what we could see there was no damage to the aircraft, not even a bent front wheel, amazing considering the state of the soft ground.

Now we had the fun prospect of getting the plane out of a very muddy field and back to the airfield. Bearing in mind that the flight was less than a minute it took over 3 hours to move the plane 50m across a ploughed field , though a barbed wire fence and over a couple of ditches. I would like to say it was a fantastic bonding exercise and great fun but basically it was very hard, dirty work but we managed it.

After a quick wash down we were even able to fold the wings and get her back in the trailer before the light eventually failed on us.

G-CEDI - 2010 The Year that was!

Well 2010 was a great year but unfortunately I was so busy I didn't have time to tell anyone about it.

In brief:

• Still Flying G-CEDI
• Sold G-MVCC
• Started competition flying, 3 events
• Held a open day at the airfield for friends and family
• Took part in the Wootton Bassett fly past
• First flight across to France

Obviously lots more besides but hopefully I'll get the chance to post a few more items in 2011.