A friend of mine owns a Piper Arrow and takes me up from time to time. I sometimes recreate my flights in X-Plane, so this page will give some of my flights here in the UK with some nav instructions also. All flights originate at Blackbushe EGLK as this is where N38273 lives.
Blackbushe to Henstridge (EGHS)
Blackbushe-North Weald-Stapleford-Blackbushe (or the M25 great circle route)
After leaving Blackbushe (EGLK) we headed North, then East to avoid the Heathrow traffics area and landed at North Weald (EGSX). This is a great airport, with old WWII RAF buildings and a nice cafe. It is home to a large number of Yaks as well as European Fliers DC3 (check out www.eurofly.co.uk/dakota ) After that a quick hop to Stapleford (EGSG) which is a grass strip, then head south and overfly London City Airport and head back towards Blackbushe (EGLK) via Biggin Hill and the Ockham VOR.
EGLK-Thruxton-Compton-EGLK
Leave Blackbushe (EGLK) and headed West and dropped of a fellow pilot at Thruxton (EGHO) who picked up his PA28 which was in for repair. Thruxton is actually a popular motor racing circuit, though we did not see any racing going on. We then headed over to the Compton VOR to practice an instrument approach for a small field strip next to the VOR, and then back to Blackbushe (EGLK)
EGLK-North Weald-Turweston-Kemble-EGLK
Leave Blackbushe (EGLK) and went along the M25 clockwise again to North Weald (EGSX). After that we went to Turweston (EGBT) where you have to perform a 'dog leg' to avoid overflying a lawyers house when landing as he gets annoyed. After that we headed down to Kemble (no ICAO code).
Kemble was the home of the Red Arrows display team. It has about 17 hangers which are now various repair shops. There is an old 747 at the East end of the airfield, just off the touchdown point for Runway 27, which is there being dismantled as it is too old for upgrades, so the company which owns it will get a discount on a new 747 I believe. Prince Charles uses Kemble for his flights as it is near his highgrove home, though he is not allowed to bring his BAe 146 in becouse he crashed it in Scotland I think. In one of the old hangers there is a large square building actually inside the hanger. It was here that the RAF kept all its money !! There is a big steel door which the current owners have placed a sign saying "do not lock this door, we do not know the combination". The runway is so wide at Kemble (1833m x 46m) that our little squadron of 3 planes took off in formation, what a great site that was !!! Back at Blackbushe (EGLK) we did a couple of night time touch-and-go's. Everything looks so different at night, I found it hard to get my orientation as all you can see are the road lights and the bright flood lights of football pitches.
EGLK-Duxford-EGLK
Blackbushe (EGLK) to Duxford (EGSU) via Westcott NDB (WCO 335). This was a great flight in that it shows the freedom of flying first hand. Duxford is a museum housing one of the prototypes of Concorde as well as hundreds of other aircraft and a great new US museum which has a B52 bomber, a B29 and some other US jet fighters. there is even a section of the Iraqi supergun there. It would have taken around 3 hours to drive there, but it took us about an hour. We then came back to Blackbushe (EGLK).
EGLK-Lasham-Compton Abbas-Henstridge-Thruxton-EGLK (17 April 1999)
A short hop from Blackbushe (EGLK) to Lasham, which is primarily known as a glider site, but they do repairs on heavy jets as well. Before we got there a 737 had landed. We saw a DC8 (looks like a 707) take off, that was quite a site to watch. We then headed over to Compton Abbas which is a grass strip atop a 900 ft hill with great views down the valleys below, a watched a Dove practising some display flying for a CAA observer. After this we went to Henstridge to refuel and saw a clutch of auto-gyros. We then headed of to Thruxton and after that met up with another PA28 around the Kingsclere transmitter (I'll have to put that in to the UK/X-Plane scenery sometime) and thern went back to the 'bush (Blackbushe) as everyone calls it.
EGLK-Thruxton-Dunkeswell-Popham-Thruxton-EGLK (18 April 1999)
Blackbushe (EGLK) to Dunkeswell via Thruxton for a pub lunch. We passed over Boscombe Down where it was snowing. Our return journey we spent a minute in a big white cloud at around 3,000 feet, which was a little worrying as we could not see ahead of us, luckily Leon has an IMC rating as so is allowed to fly in clouds. After that we visited Popham, where you have to fly in at an angle to avoid a petrol station at the end of the runway, you do not straighten up for landing until you are over the runway ! We had to to a go-around (as did the rest of our 'squadron') due to a slower airplane also on finals ahead of us. We returned to Thruxton and then back to Blackbushe.
EGLK-Abbeville (France)-EGLK (1999)
My first Channel crossing by light aircraft. We went via the Midhurst and Seaford VOR's and direct to the Abbeville VOR. The cloud cover was about 2,000 to 4,500 so we flew at about 5,000 over the clouds, what a great view of the bright white clouds and their fluffy textures. The flight took around an hour or so and we dropped down to about 1,000 right over the large estuary and then to the airfield. We were there to watch an air race which one of our Blackbushe pilots was in, he didn't win though. Our return leg was similar though the weather had changed slightly with cloud tops around 3,000 and a broken cloudbase around 1,500 over England. An interesting flight, just remember to bring a lifejacket !
EGLK-Thruxton-Meppershall-Turweston-Thruxton-EGLK (4 September 1999)
Blackbushe (EGLK) to Thruxton yet again on a hot sunny day which meant a lot of haze, and a lot of gliders to keep an eye out for. We met a few friends and headed of to Meppershall, picking up another plane enroute so we had 4 aircraft up in a loose diamond formation. Nearer the airfield we flew in a line (horizontal) so anyone coming the other way would be a bit surprised and would have to go up or under! Meppershall is a small fram strip with no tower where they do repair work. The 4 of us circled the field then in a line did a low level flypast straight along the grass runway. At the end is a small hanger and those inside came out to watch our little display. Then we landed along a bumpy strip. Shortly after a Pitts Special took off and did its own flypast. I'm sure the pilot was thinking to himself 'anything you can do I can do better'! After that we had lunch at Turweston after overflying Silverstone and seeing a motorbike race in progress, and then back to Thruxton and then back to the 'bushe.
EGLK-Leicester-Turweston-EGLK (? November 1999)
We were planning on crossing the Channel to go to either Alderney or Holland, but the weather was poor so we flew North to Leicester. It was a nice quiet airport with lots of planes in the hanger. Then over to Turweston and then back to the 'Bushe.
EGLK-Welshpool-Thruxton-EGLK (? November 1999)
This was quite a nice flight as we went to Wales this time. Enroute we flew over RAF Lyneham and past Gloucester/Cheltenham. We arrived at Welshpool around an hour later. It is located in a valley which is quite fun to fly in, seeing the mountains pass by above you !! Whilst ahving a nice egg and bacon sandwich a Jet Ranger helicopter made a smooth landing right outside the cafe, and we all acted as if it was an everyday occurence. For our return journey we climbed to 4,000ft so we could get over the bad weather, we overflew RAF Brize Norton (I think) and then on to Thruxton to uplift fuel, then back to the 'Bushe for some night flying. A fun trip.