Pooley’s Dawn-to-Dusk Competition

Background

My flying career started at about 14 with a trip in a glider and has progressed through gliders, light aircraft and on to military jets since. My principle is that if it flies it has to be fun and, as a CAA FI and X rated examiner, I founded a flying club for overseas Servicemen in 1991 at Gutersloh in N Germany while flying GR3 Harriers. The club aircraft was a PA28-B and the club eventually merged with a similar club at RAF Laarbruch, again in Germany, before returning to Wyton as the Pathfinder Flying Club. The club trains military personnel and civilians to gain their CAA/JAR licences and I instruct and examine there when time permits. Although my day job is training the future warriors of the Harrier Force to operate over the high tech modern battlespace, at weekends I fly a 1946 Cessna 120 G-BTYW for pleasure. I share G-BTYW with 2 other keen enthusiasts from the local area and a third who lives and works in Hong Kong.

Last winter I had just returned to the Harrier Operational Conversion Unit (OCU) for a flying refresher course after ground tours in the MOD and the Joint Force 2000 Implementation Team (the convergence of the RN FA2 Sea Harrier air defence and the RAF GR7 Harrier ground attack forces). While completing the course and prior to assuming command of the OCU I was gazing through Flyer magazine and saw an advert for the Pooley’s Dawn-to-Dusk competition. I was immediately bitten by an urge to compete.

The idea of attempting a record number of full stop landings at different ICAO airfields in the UK and in a tail-wheel aircraft seemed to me to be a challenge of credit and innovation - touch and goes would not be a big enough challenge. However I am not an attention seeker and therefore sought to benefit those less fortunate than myself and get some, at least, sponsorship for the flight that could be donated to promote flying in the civilian and military worlds. In addition, you may mistakenly think that there are 2 different flying communities (military and civil) out there - particularly if you read some of the letters and editorials in Pilot. I wanted to do something that might close the gap in the mindset of the uneducated but vocal minority and to show that we are all just users of the airspace and should get along fine if we talk to each other.

Thus my concept was born and planning began!

Planning

I purchased new 250,000 maps of the UK and lay them on the floor, not a popular move with the wife! However, looking at the big ‘picture’ it was clear that the most military airfields were down the A1 (not really a revelation to me) and the majority of close civil airfields were also down the A1 and along the M25/3. My initial plan identified 63 airfields so route planning commenced.

When joining so many points in a string, the quickest and most time efficient route may not be at first apparent so about 15 different routes were studied until a viable route was identified. The first draft was a flight from RAF Leeming to RM Chivenor broadly following the A1, M25 and M3/A303 routes down the country.

As I fully intended to conduct the flight as a Private flight I would have to pay for all flight costs and so to make it possible I had to seek landing waivers from all the airfields concerned. In addition, I needed to confirm that they were happy for the flight to take place, their opening times, the times that unlicensed movements could take place, the availability of fuel etc. I elected to fax everyone with a questionnaire and ‘begging’ letter on 20 May. An example of the fax sent to each airfield is attached at Annex **.

Military airfields posed a different problem as military insurance limits are different and PPR thought to be more complex - not so. First I confirmed the military insurance waiver by applying through the civil aircraft usage desk at RAF High Wycombe and then wrote to all the OC Operations on the stations on which I wished to land.

I was concerned that I would not get the responses I sought but within days virtually all of the civil and military airfields came back with a resounding YES. Unfortunately, restrictions from the airfields led to another series of re-planning to cater for operating hours or availability. I had decided to attempt the flight on a weekday to minimise disruption or potential conflicts with traffic on the ground or in the air. It clear that my busy OCU job may stop me conducting the flight and I needed to reconsider the timing - this delayed the attempt to the beginning of Jul or Aug as I was away on detachments the rest of the time.

I also decided that for flight safety reasons I would need assistance on the flight. Military crew duty periods are 12-14 hours normally yet this flight would be a ‘duty’ period of 15 hours and I needed the crew co-operation and monitoring that another pilot would bring to ensure the flight was stopped if fatigue crept in. I requested the help of my co-owner Chris Parker who flies for Virgin airlines - he readily agreed. The Virgin schedule was then massaged and Jul/Aug was decided as the month with the cut off of 11 Aug - the closing date of the competition.

In Jul a crack was discovered in the aircraft’s exhaust that had damaged the plug and cylinder inset - these needed some rapid repair work. Jonathan Baynton, another co-owner, and our very helpful friend and engineer Jerry Parr (Sibson CAA engineer par excellence) came to the rescue and sorted it all out in the nick of time and the aircraft passed inspection 30 Jul!! Time was running short.

Personal phone calls were then made to all of the airfields that had not responded to letter or fax, mostly military satellite fields or those without resident operations units - poor address research. It was clear that the route would require another re-plan to account for the opening times of civil airfields and the first refuel stop. The military airfields all had domestic fire cover and so early weekday landings were not an issue but we needed more airfields at the end of the day and the Leeming to Chivenor Plan would get us into timing difficulties with the landing widow for civil fields. Yet another plan was produced.

Then schedule and work issues required the plan to be shifted to the weekend or 8 Aug. Some crystal ball gazing with Paul and Julian from the Wittering Met Office on 30 Jul revealed long range weather forecasts favouring Saturday 5 Aug with potential cross wind and weather problems on other days - great reliable British summer. So 5 Aug it was and all the airfields were phoned to confirm acceptance.

A new plan was devised for the weekend attempt starting at our farm strip with Cottesmore as the first point of call then Wittering, Fenland, Conningsby, Wickenby, Sturgate arriving at Humberside on their opening time of 0630 local. Humberside were also extremely helpful, as we had originally planned to avoid international airports; they agreed to accept us and fit us in with scheduled departures. Sherburn-in-Elmet came to the rescue allowing us to land before official opening and agreeing to provide us with fuel before 0900 - thanks Cas! Weekend landings were difficult for the military airfields and so a couple of days of begging ensued. All but one airfield was able to accept, the odd one being Barkston Heath because no domestic fire cover or alerting service was available and it is used at weekends by model aeroplane clubs. Happily Denham was added, at very short notice, to maintain the number of airfields planned.

Thus, the plan was finalised and posted to the Dawn-to-Dusk co-ordinator 1 Aug iaw with the rules the plan was sent prior to the flight and the Denham amendment recorded in writing and sent on Friday 4 Aug. My operations staff provided NOTAMs and other navigation and planning information during the afternoon of the 4 Aug. The detailed plan was complete with 54 airfields between the official dawn 0449 local and night 2128 local.

The evening of 4 Aug was spent producing a personalised log table on Microsoft Word that would be used during the flight. All essential information was logged and tracks and timings transferred from the maps and a guesstimate of 10 minutes turn-around time was entered for each open airfield. I had got fed up with IT by then and needed a long sleep to prepare for the following day. Thank you to my 15 month old son for allowing me an undisturbed nights sleep. We had decided to plan all the route still air and apply the maximum drift technique for headings if we were unable to see the destination and point at it. An explanation of this very useful technique is attached at Annex **. The full plan and logs are attached at Annex **.

Against the background of planning I produced and circulated sponsor forms to help raise the money to contribute to the RAF Benevolent Fund, the Guild of Air Pilots and Navigators and the Air League. I was concerned that I would fail in my goal and so kept the sponsorship local and accepted that I would raise less than might be possible - a balance of risk and reward. Furthermore, I elected to play down the media aspects of the flight although I have the contacts - the flight is not a stunt but a very serious challenge.

Saturday 5 Aug

I love my wife, while I had been planning she had made packed lunches, flasks of coffee, chewing gum safety packs and all the support paraphernalia was packed ready to go. She even got up at 0340 to make me a cup of coffee and see me off - I suspect it was the elation that it would soon be over rather than another motive.

The Met Office at Wittering provided forecasts and on the day a briefing - yes that’s right - a briefing of actuals and TAFs at 0400! The AIS Internet site provided confirmation of the NOTAMS, Royals and Red Arrow transits etc. Unbelievably we were ready to fly. Not only that but the weather was a dream - a slight ridge with good visibility and a slight westerly drift (10 Kts therefore max drift would be 10 divided by 1.5 (our speed in Nm/min) = 7 degrees) slackening in the afternoon. What a perfect day - Go for it!

At 0420 I left home to meet Chris at the strip near Rutland Water where we keep the aircraft. Chris had arrived before me and had readied the aircraft in the light of his car headlights. By 0440 it was getting light and we checked everything one last time before climbing aboard and starting our faithful Continental. Late the night before I made a couple of track errors which we picked up and corrected when we cross checked the maps with the logs that final time - don’t assume check! At 0451 our wheels left the ground and the real adventure began.

As the flight was my brainchild it was my first leg 13 landings in all. At each airfield Chris was to get out of the right-hand seat and take a picture of the aircraft against a suitable backdrop that would identify the airfield. After Sherburn it would be my turn to occupy the right-hand seat and so we would swap at each refuel point. Staying in the left-hand seat meant that you didn’t get the leg stretch and you did get the banter about the landing!

As the definition of the ground became sharper the lights of RAF Cottesmore came into view. A downwind left-hand join was carried out for Rwy 23 and a stop made on the runway a quick photograph and we were away in only 2 minutes. The sun was up by now and the wind calm, the first activity on the ground and the next stop Wittering; join right base, blind calls down and off again in 2 minutes- we were making time up on the route. As we set course for Fenland the first doubts started about our compass. Having flown in the area for many years it was immediately apparent that it was wandering badly. In the back we had brought a standby handheld radio and a GPS for heading checks of the E2 compass but I was determined not to use either unless we were in dire straits. The approach to Fenland brought the next learning point. We had decided to do gliding approaches with sideslip to minimise noise at the airfields prior to opening times. At Cottesmore and Wittering the landings were easy on huge concrete runways at Fenland I allowed the speed to get to 80 mph in the side slip and the extra 20 mph over landing speed could not be lost it time for a safe landing at Fenlands short strip. The result was a go around and teardrop to the reciprocal runway; fortunately there was no wind or we would have lost time in the circuit to land into wind. Thus our planned noise abatement failed but we didn’t make the same error again.

The approach and landing at Coningsby was without incident but we had to make a sharp left turn after take-off to avoid overflying a campsite at Tatershall Castle - tents have little sound proofing! Next came Wickenby and Sturgate similar wartime airfields with pleasant surroundings and characteristic towers. As we approached Humberside we called 10 minutes before opening time, conscious that we were approaching through

their climb out lane for the prevailing wind. To our surprise we were cleared to approach and land on the short while the early morning F27 lined up on the main. Before his take-off we were down and away again saving several minutes on the plan. Our route took us past Brough, who had regrettably declined our movement on the weekend, and Holm-on-Spalding Moor old Buccaneer factories. We passed York and approached a quiet Topcliffe for the same camera routine. With practice our time on the ground was reducing and we were making time on the plan while elapsed times in the air were nearly spot on. At Leeming we were watched by waking firemen and I wondered if the police had informed the staff but all was well. Likewise Dishforth, Linton-on-ouse and Church-Fenton received our wheels without incident. We were now early at Serburn and a call revealed only an early club member in the clubhouse but engineers in the hanger. I am well aware that engineers start well before the pilots and was relieved by the welcome when we arrived on the ground at 0802 (18 minutes up on the Plan).

Small problem though, all the club aircraft to service and refuel before ours, at least an hour. Cas, the CFI, to the rescue, it is always a bonus when the pilot in charge is on your side and in seconds new priorities for fuel checks etc were set. We were refuelled, ‘we’ll invoice you and good luck’ the call and off we went - what fantastic co-operation. Thanks to all at Sherburn and to any club members who may have been inconvenienced. The bad news was that even with help we had eroded our flex/‘lead’ to 11 minutes. The good news was that our fuel plan was proving to be quite accurate and at reassessment a shade pessimistic - just the way it should be!

Newton

Anything could happen now, A340 man at the helm and lots of banter passed on previous landings. Well he picked the leg and regretted it when he saw the length of Sandtoft and the crosswind. While the wind was well within our demonstrated limits the runway looked short and narrow, the Bloodhounds, Piston Provosts and the other old hardware on show distracted us. Nonetheless, after only a small bounce we were down with plenty of space - bigger than it looks Sandtoft. Things went from bad to worse, smaller than it looks Netherthorpe. The C120 will land very short but taking off on 85 HP is another matter. As we approached I used my Pooley's guide ands the aircraft manual to check that we could get out - even plus 20% for the dry grass and 30% for mum we should be ok. We landed and took the photo before taxiing to the hold, and across the runway. There was a C150 doing checks and just as we called to line up he called in turn and taxied forward. The C120 was heavy and it was good to see another similar type get airborne from the grass strip that looked very short even compared with the farm. The hedge at the end of the strip looked tall but we were over it with feet to spare now off to Gamston. We joined right hand down wind and landed without incident, although one aircraft almost entered to backtrack before a quick call from Gamston Radio. Another photo from a parking place and a quick explanation of the flight and we were off again. From now on we would explain what we were doing on initial contact because some had not had the word and we didn’t want to look like landing fee evaders. Nonetheless we were up on time and averaging 4 minutes on the ground not 10 as planned and we departed from Gamston 23 minutes ahead of planned EET but about on planned flight time.

Waddington passed in a blur of co-operation and Cranwell North was in sight. I had spent particular effort with the glider sites to avoid conflicting and the risks associated with mixed traffic and winches - my advice to powered aircraft pilots is to avoid glider sites and Cu cloud 200-1500 ft below the cloud base like the plague and look out! For glider pilots my advice would be paint the gliders black! My experience of operating close to glider sites helped immensely as did the CFI of the club. We had decided to attempt the glider airfields only if 2-way communications were gained well in advance. Forewarning Cranwell worked well and we were able to land and depart with minimum hassle for all. Cranwell South and Newton passed without note and Chris was happy that the runways were getting longer and there were more of them - minimising cross wind issues.

Our arrival at Nottingham was well oiled by the staff there but our departure to Leicester less professional. We had pre-briefed a left turn out and direct track to Leicester but a moment of complacency with the compass to ground feature confidence checks almost led to embarrassment. We had been flying headings with big feature navigation for confidence checks - we should be heading just to the left of the power station, lake or field etc. This was the first leg without a big feature and lots of small urban areas, hairs on the back of the neck began to itch. We had only a small buffer from East Midlands zone both laterally and vertically and elected to cross check on the GPS; isn’t it amazing how slowly GPS acquire satellites when you need them! After what seemed like an age we realised that we were approximately 10 degrees of heading and about to graze the East Midlands Zone. A quick course correction and the big features were back in use and the GPS back in the bag. The moral of this is that it is always best to have 2 systems (DI and Compass) to cross check only one is less than ideal and 3 is perfect - if you have 1 is it right? If 2 which is right? A third and you know which is right!

Once back on track we could see Liecester and the aircraft could fly to Sibson unaided (our local fuel and club). We arrived at Sibson to be met by Jerry Parr - the ginger beer (rhyming slang). It was 1145 and we were 45 minutes up on time. With Jerry to help refuel, we had time for a cold drink and sandwiches before we launched again - Patrick and Jerry ensured a smooth turn around and our thanks go to them. I took the controls and we departed 46 minutes ahead of EET and 5 minutes before my wife and family arrived to welcome us for lunch! They watched the parachutes for a while before they discovered we had been and gone. I discovered a number of messages on my answer phone when I turned it on at Compton Abbas many hours later - I have since explained that the phone has to be switched off in the presence of fuel and at all times in aircraft. The messages cannot be repeated here but the gist was ‘where were you you B’tard’ quote curtusy of Black Adder.

Conington was next and we landed there without incident, my special thanks to the A36 pilot who was held for ages at the intersection while people carried on around him. Wyton passed without note and we were off to Cambridge, a busy airfield at the best of times. Approach knew nothing of our quest and so a rather lengthy and not very standard radio call followed in which we explained our task. Fortunately I had all the fax returns from Cambridge and as soon as Mr Bywater was mentioned all door unlocked and we were straight in on the grass and out on the main causing as little disruption to the Instrument traffic as possible. Another quick turn round of 3 minutes and we took off for Duxford. Duxford were fantastic clearing us to Fowlmere as soon as we were safely airborne and as we approached 500 feet we were set for the approach to Fowlmere. Our original plan was to fly Bourne to Cambridge and then Duxford to Fowlmere and it was here that I made the log error that we picked up in the map/log cross check in the morning - never assume check.

Fowlmere is an airfield of special note. The grass runway was cut to perfection and looked like a field of turf. The ground was as smooth as a billiard table, only outdone by the dreamlike voice on the radio, we intend to go back as soon as possible to check out the club. A quick hop to Bourne, quick backtrack on the runway and we were off to Little Gransden. I had driven to Little Gransden many years ago and met Mark Jefferies while

discussing Yak 52s - another past colleague Steve Noujaim had pointed me there to look at Yak 52s. I knew that there was intense gliding activity to the NorthEast and so we gave the site a wide berth. Again little Gransden passed without fuss and we set course to Cranfield. A late NOTAM had activated the Cardigan Balloon site so we flew to the north along the motorway bypass though judging from Cranfield Radio some did nor give such a wide berth to the area. Cranfield cleared us to join via the brick-works and we were in and out after a quick hold clear of the runway to allow an AA5 to roll. As we set off for Henlow it was clear just how busy Cranfield is and that its ATZ is smaller than its area of cct activity - beware!

Henlow was our first challenge in obtaining landing and joining instructions. The Grob 109 activity was moderate and we were requested to join via Blue Lagoon. No problem there but it was clear that the radio operator did not expect us. Nonetheless we were cleared in and joined short finals behind a departing 109. The 109 suspected and engine fault and turned down wind right hand for a close cct to land and we overshot into the cct left-hand to land. The 109 pilot was quickly clear and we were able to land. After another explanation as to the nature of our flight were allowed to continue but, for one moment, I thought we might end up with a stop and lengthy debate - thank you to all concerned for being flexible. We skirted Luton with GPS backup - learn from your mistakes and never be to proud to resort to any assistance that might help in or out of the cockpit!

Panshanger is amazing, what a great bunch and what a bizarre place to have an airfield - our thanks here must be to the residents of the housing estate whose houses make up the perimeter fence. I recommend you go there but pay particular attention to Pooley’s guide limitations and give the guys a ring first or we might loose an extraordinary airfield! We were able to wave at all the kids walking around as we turned early to avoid overflying the houses at the end of the strip. Next stop Elstree - again no snags but pay attention to the limitations and the departure and recovery routes - I was not used to flying over built up areas like this! We left Elstree’s rather lumpy and undulating runway at 1439 and we had gained 1 hr 19 mins on EET. Our next stop was Halton, more gliders, for fuel. We landed north of the winch lines and the faced the long taxy to the pumps. After a quick discussion we agreed club rates for the fuel and filled up, unsurprisingly we were making up fuel in parallel to time. I had allowed 30 mins for fuel stops and we managed 24 mins at Halton - another gain and a total of 1 hr 17 early. It was now clear that we would have time to complete the route if all went well with the aircraft and our challenge was to be able to land at each airfield.

All pilots who fly near the Chilterns need to be aware that the ridge is the busiest one around for ridge soaring and general gliding in all forms of craft. We escaped the area to Benson before heading back toward a very busy Booker. As we crossed the ridge I spotted a remarkable crop circle but was too slow for a picture - we had listened to Booker with gliders, left and right circuits and helicopters all adding to the stress of GA. In the event we joined the flow easily and achieved yet another quick turn around before setting off to White Waltham. As we approached White Waltham from the North we were advised that all turns were left and that the cct was busy - indeed it was and complicated by one aircraft turning right - not us! The landing at White Waltham was interesting and we could have logged at least a couple of touch-downs; I hasten to add that this was not due to pilot skill but because we chose the bumpiest line on the runway! White Waltham made a pretty picture that Chris deleted later by mistake.

The next stages of the flight were quick and complex with only minutes between landings at Blackbushe, Farnborough and Odiham. Neither Farnborough nor Odiham were aware of the movement despite calls on the previous day but quickly checked and proved excellent in their assistance. Once again our communication with the glider unit at Odiham was essential but the real challenge lay at Lasham. I had always been told to keep clear of Lasham and a beautiful day for gliding demonstrated why. There were a number of NOTAMS active for glider competitions and we had seen a number being recovered from fields along the route. It appeared that they had all arrived at Lasham like moths around a candle.

I had arranged to land after 1800 when gliding was complete but we were now 1 hr 10 mins early, would they let us in? We could but ask and when we did we were faced with confusion and the advice that there were up to 100 gliders in the air. Once the initial dust settled, we were still 5 miles out, the CFI advised the radio operator that our landing should be permitted. We then received and exceptionally good brief on activity and deconfliction instructions and the position of as many gliders that the ground could see. The information was invaluable as was the call for an immediate orbit on short finals to let a glideer above us in, we hadn’t seen him (high wings again), and there was no immediate risk of collision but it would have caused problems on the landing strip. We wondered at the number of gliders on the ground and I got out to check how we should depart and to thank our host in person. Once I was back aboard we launched soon after a tug and cleared the area promptly. Many thanks passed to Lasham and the glider enthusiasts there that day. As we approached Popham number 46 we had a few minutes to reflect on the flight so far - 46 airfields wow! It felt like the home strait and Popham slid into view, dodge the petrol station, the Little Chef and the flex-wing on the hold and land. There were some bemused faces in the bar area when I jumped out took the photograph and set off again, perhaps they’ll get to read this someday.

Our next concern was the Wallop, Thruxton, Upavon and Netheravon loop. Middle Wallop had a kite festival, Thruxtan is always busy, Upavon a gliding school and Netheravon a parachute school. We were well before the kite flying stopped but we elected to have a look. At 1.5 miles it was clear that we couldn’t dodge the large red Chinese kite or the myriad of sport kites so we broke off to go to Thruxton - our first failure but safety was paramount. As we called Thruxton we were asked to hold over Andover for a practice jet display by a Hunter and Venom/Vampire. We watched with interest, I as a display supervisor for the GR7 display and Chris as a pilot in the Fighter Collection. The biggest trick is to keep them in sight to avoid any potential conflict when they depart the field, therefore Chris watched the display aircraft and I looked everywhere else!

Thruxton was uneventful post the display and we soon had things under control for Upavon. Prior to going near the Salisbury Ranges you should check with the recorded messages and status on Salisbury Ops on 122.75. We gave them a ring - 01980 674710 - the day before and got a PPR number plus full brief. Upavon was again very very busy and we received comprehensive briefing on where and when to land - invaluable. As Lasham, I got out to give my personal thanks to the club there and to check on preferred departure routes - ‘straight ahead to the range boundary and left to Netheravon which was just there’ - navigation over! We sneaked into Netheravon between parachute drops talking on 128.3 (DZ Ops) and ran out of the range.

Boscombe was quiet with only a private yellow Tiger Moth to watch our arrival and departure to Old Sarum. I had not been to Old Sarum but Chris had another of the interesting fields with great views and places of interest on the ground. The old mound castle had an event ongoing and looked great - within a bike ride from the field I would guess. Our next stop was Compton Abbas and as we approached the ridge we mused about the time, fatigue and if we should press for home after Yeovilton. I had flown from Yeovilton to our farm before and knew it to take about 1 hr 15mins. If we refuelled at Compton, there was no fuel available at Henstridge or Yeovilton, we could make it home

tonight. We decided to refuel and plan before deciding whether to continue based on fatigue. After a word with a punchy Yak 52 on the break, he hadn’t spotted us on finals we landed and refuelled. The Yak pilot turned out to be a thoroughly nice chap and thanked us for bringing our presence to his attention. A cup of coffee and I decided to talk to home - it was then that the text messages arrived - where was I when I should have been at Sibson? Was I alive? We elected to get home that night and after a chat with some of the FIs about the 1 in 60 rule and max drift planning I agreed to add an annex to this narrative to explain the technique. I cancelled our over-night accommodation at Yeovilton and we launched into the lowering sun, course set for Henstridge.

While stationed at Yeovilton I had visited Henstridge with the intention of filling a life long, well since little Nelly, ambition to try an autogyro. I still have yet to do so but Henstridge was familiar and we arrived after a runway dash by a RAF2000. While waiting to depart we watched another runway flight by a Benson - I must have a go one day! West again to Yeovilton where we had to check carefully to assess the status of the glider club. At first it looked like they were about to mass launch but we could see the cockpit covers when we got closer - no overhead join for us at an active winch glider site! We recorded our last landing and started home in the evening sun.

It was 1937, we had started at 0451, we had achieved 53 safe and controlled tailwheel landings at 53 different airfields, we had burnt around 55 Imp Gals of fuel and we had achieved our goal. To be honest we were dumb struck. We set course for home and called Lyneham, then Brize then, well no one. I carried out our last landing of the day and we put G-BTYW to bed. No elation just a job well done and the feeling of achievement and satisfaction you get when you meet a personal objective but are not sure anyone else cares. We patted ourselves on the back and went home to our wives and jobs. I started seeking the payment of the pledges and life goes on.

Lessons Learnt, Re-learnt or Reinforced

Personally, the best thing is that there are challenges out there waiting to be met and competitions like the Dawn-to-Dusk inspire us to reach out and do something. For me the autogyro is next. We reinforced some lessons on safety;

Always add safety factors for your take off performance - use CAA Safety Sense leaflet **!! And then some if your are un-current or unfamiliar with the aircraft.

Fuel planning is essential and running out of fuel inexcusable, the GR3 Harrier could be committed to land on a carrier with as little as 800 lbs of fuel (some 300 unusable so less than 2 minutes flying/hovering time after a full sortie). Long Haul is equally fuel conscious for cost and diversion reasons. GA aircraft are too frequently running out of fuel and we cannot blame the gauges. Our fuel planning proved to be quite accurate and at reassessment a shade pessimistic - just the way it should be!

Being cautious should be a way of life for pilots, it is especially important when your life is on the line whether taking off from a short strip like Netherthorpe or flying over Serbia.

You need a supportive wife and you need plenty of time to plan an expedition like this one and don’t be shy about seeking sponsorship. Always get a good Met and Nav warnings brief before you fly and don’t be afraid to ask for help, on the radio or on the ground.

Fly big feature Nav and cross check instruments, if you have only one take a handheld backup or spare (radio, compass etc). Above all else KISS - keep it simple stupid!

Above all we should acknowledge that we are a large aviation community and we should communicate better to achieve better understanding. I have included a few military basic rules of thumb in the max drift technique but what about speechless procedure, no compass no gyro, and oval circuits. The constant sight line technique is not the only difference in military light piston technique. I would not say that any one technique is best but we should be aware of them all. Like a golf bag, you would not be given a different set of clubs and through the new or the old away, you would find those that suit you best and keep the rest just in case.