What are you all up to today? - part 3

KFC seems to be popular tonight. We've just had three kfc orders in a row. I thought Friday night was supposed to be fish and chips! What happened to that tradition?

KFC seems to be popular tonight. We've just had three kfc orders in a row. I thought Friday night was supposed to be fish and chips! What happened to that tradition?

I think the origins of that tradition were couched in religion, Malc! Best leave it there! 

Another bright sunny day here.  Off shortly to take the grandtwins for their weekly swim.

Changed our flying day to today, as tomorrow looks grey and cold.

Flew down to Nottingham (just under East Midlands' zone). A lovely airfield and a nice cafe.

Write your comments here...As a matter of interest, Ian, how far could you fly on a perfect flying day, obviously allowing for the return or would you just refuel at your destiation? Do you have to avoid any area?

Interested enquirer

Wherenext......our aircraft holds 100 litres of fuel and burns  about 13 - 14 litres per hour.......so its endurance is far more than my bladder! That's quite high and a typical light aircraft would maybe have 2 to 5 hours endurance.

You can get fuel at most airfields (it's a more refined fuel called Avgas, as opposed to Mogas used by cars) and currently costs anything from about £1.30 to £1.80 per litre. Some of the smaller airfilelds aren't always staffed up every day of the week though. Some have self-serve fuel pumps.

You can fly pretty much anywhere, with some restrictions. Some of the big airports around London are surrounded by Class A airspace, which means that only certain aircraft can enter (typically, commercial flights). Other airports are surrounded by class D airspace that you can enter, but only with permission of air traffic control.

Much of the country has open airspace, with very few restrictions.

To give an example, we flew down to Nottingham by skirting aound Doncaster airspace, then I contacted East Midlands (didn't have to, but only polite) as we dipped under the outer edge of their airspace, which at that point extended from 2500 ft upwards. I then contacted Nottingham Airfield to check their joining instructions i.e. which runway they were using, what the circuit direction was and anything else they wanted to tell me.

To answer your question, you could, if you wished, fly the length and breadth of the country and dodge around all controlled airspace, if you wished. You wouldn't even need to speak to any air traffic controllers, if you wished. Most pilots do though, in order to get a 'basic service' at least - the controller will then usually tell them about conflicting traffic (although with a basic service, responsibility to 'see and avoid' remains with the pilot).

Hope that helps.

Changed our flying day to today, as tomorrow looks grey and cold.

Flew down to Nottingham (just under East Midlands' zone). A lovely airfield and a nice cafe.

Write your comments here...As a matter of interest, Ian, how far could you fly on a perfect flying day, obviously allowing for the return or would you just refuel at your destiation? Do you have to avoid any area?

Interested enquirer

 

Wherenext......our aircraft holds 100 litres of fuel and burns  about 13 - 14 litres per hour.......so its endurance is far more than my bladder! That's quite high and a typical light aircraft would maybe have 2 to 5 hours endurance.

You can get fuel at most airfields (it's a more refined fuel called Avgas, as opposed to Mogas used by cars) and currently costs anything from about £1.30 to £1.80 per litre. Some of the smaller airfilelds aren't always staffed up every day of the week though. Some have self-serve fuel pumps.

You can fly pretty much anywhere, with some restrictions. Some of the big airports around London are surrounded by Class A airspace, which means that only certain aircraft can enter (typically, commercial flights). Other airports are surrounded by class D airspace that you can enter, but only with permission of air traffic control.

Much of the country has open airspace, with very few restrictions.

To give an example, we flew down to Nottingham by skirting aound Doncaster airspace, then I contacted East Midlands (didn't have to, but only polite) as we dipped under the outer edge of their airspace, which at that point extended from 2500 ft upwards. I then contacted Nottingham Airfield to check their joining instructions i.e. which runway they were using, what the circuit direction was and anything else they wanted to tell me.

To answer your question, you could, if you wished, fly the length and breadth of the country and dodge around all controlled airspace, if you wished. You wouldn't even need to speak to any air traffic controllers, if you wished. Most pilots do though, in order to get a 'basic service' at least - the controller will then usually tell them about conflicting traffic (although with a basic service, responsibility to 'see and avoid' remains with the pilot).

Hope that helps.

 

Write your comments here...

Very interesting Ian I've always wondered about the rules regs etc regarding light aircraft

We are away in the van at the moment and have woken up to a very frosty morning although we left the heating on low last night so nice and warm in here. Just having a cup of coffee then we are going a walk in to the town. We have relatives who also have a motorhome joining us today so we are looking forward to that

Enjoy your break Francis, we're off soon, looks a bit chilly for our trip but looking forward to meeting up with some of our family too. Must get on with packing now, have a good weekend all of you. 

Hardest frost of the year so far at home. Just been out for an hour's walk with OH &Flyte in glorious sunshine. Had confirmation of our next booking, so off on Wednesday for our X-Mas/New Year trip.

Enjoy your break Francis, we're off soon, looks a bit chilly for our trip but looking forward to meeting up with some of our family too. Must get on with packing now, have a good weekend all of you. 

Are you going off in the M/H brue? Looking at the weather reports for next week it appears that it's going to get a bit warmer, but of course that could mean rain! Much prefer cold clear days to wet windy ones.

Yet more points.