“After a night of freezing rain, this is what we showed up to. Almost an inch of pure ice on almost every surface of the plane. Even the antennas were completely cased in ice.”

It struck me because today is a glorious flying day here in sunny Swansea. I realised it has been a while since I’ve looked around the UK airfields. What a perfect day for getting up in the air. The images below show the view this afternoon when I took the screenshot. If you click on the image, you’ll go to the airfield website which includes the webcam for an up-to-the-minute view.

Cambridge	Cotswold (Kemble)
Dunstable, Bedfordshire	Glenforsa. Isle of Mull
Gloucestershire Airport	Headcorn
Hollym, Withernsea	Jersey
Kirkwall	Lydd
Northumberland	Oxford
Portmoak near Kinross	Sumburgh, Shetland Isles
Shoreham	Shropshire
Wellesbourne	White Waltham

You can see older views of many of the same airfields in the following posts:

• April 2011: Nothing is so Beautiful as Spring
• December 2010: UK Snow Day on Webcams
• January 2010: Snow on the Runway, Ice on the Wings

I’ll have to look at them by airfield instead of date and see how they have changed!

Dear November 666 Echo X-ray,

This past year has not been good for flying, for either of us. If I’m honest, the past two years have been pretty grim. Keeping up-to-date and flying takes a lot of time and both Cliff and I have been so busy, it’s difficult to make time for you. And then when I’ve wanted to fly, you’ve invariably been in the wrong place: sunning yourself at Málaga airport when we had a weekend free in Scotland, passing the time at North Weald when we were sitting in Málaga and so on and so forth. I’m not trying to put the blame on you, but from a logistical point of view, it’s been a bit of a nightmare.

I haven’t actually flown at all in 2010. Twice this year, I managed to align the stars such that you and I were in the same country at the same time with spare time to go on a trip and both times, the weather has been such that you didn’t want to go. Sure, I could have put in the time to get my instrument licence but I didn’t want to complicate things. Anyway, it’s not just about the weather.

Meanwhile, you started to act starved for attention, insisting on regular maintenance even though we weren’t flying – or even wanting extra maintenance because we weren’t flying. You’ve not made a big secret of it. Engineers who I barely know have told me that you need to go flying more, that you are feeling neglected. It has been clear for a while now that our relationship isn’t fulfilling your needs.

Sometimes it is difficult to make a change. I’ve felt for a while like I was stuck in a rut but it was just too much effort to do something about it. Sometimes people stay in a relationship not because it’s good but because it’s convenient.

After all these years together, I was used to you and your quirks. I loved taking you to new airfields, showing you off. Every pilot was jealous that you were with me, it was a buzz. But in the end, we weren’t going anywhere, we weren’t doing anything. Our relationship was based on nostalgia, not passion.

There’s no easy way to say this. I think it’s for the best if we don’t see each other any more.

It’s not someone else – no one could ever replace you! I will enjoy being without a commitment, I think. It’ll be nice to be able to try out a number of different planes, a few lessons here, a few hours there. A lot more convenient and a lot less pressure. I’ll be hanging out at the clubs to see what I think, maybe have a fling with an aerobatic plane. But you probably don’t want to hear about that.

It’s not you, it’s me. I know you want a commitment, someone who wants to fly you all the time. And that’s not right for me, not right now. Maybe someday.

So, it seems like this is goodbye. I’ve loved being with you, don’t you ever forget that. Do you remember the time the autopilot broke right as we were flying over the Alps with my mother in the back-seat trying to work out what was happening? Or how about when I took a wrong turn and you ended up half a foot deep in mud? And then that time when I missed the runway and we took out a landing light at Oxford. Yeah, good times. We had a lot of good times.

Well, I guess this is it. I’m sure you’ll be really happy with your new pilot. He seems a nice bloke, down to earth. He’s really crazy about you.

You take care of yourself, OK? And if you find yourself at a loose end, give me a call. I’d love to get together for a quick circuit or two, find out how you are doing.

I’ve got to go. I just, I got a bit of dust in my eye. I’ll be fine. You go on, get flying. You’ve been on the ground too long.

Love,

* Sylvia *

After much discussion, Cliff and I have decided to sell the Saratoga II TC. The plane was snapped up by a Dutch pilot who was looking for a cruiser and loves Pipers and I’m sure he’ll be very happy with the Saratoga. Meanwhile, I’m looking forward to exploring different options and hopefully spending more time flying and less time worrying about maintenance and paperwork issues.

I was thrilled to find a lot more photographs there as well as trip reports from his visits to Japan, Israel, Beirut and the US. Of course, he took plenty of photographs of interesting aircraft at all of these locations.

I mailed Zeitler and he kindly gave me permission to share his photography with you. I’ve added quotes from his website and links to further photographs in the set on the right of each photo:

Where? Reims, BA112 – France
When? 27-28 July 2009

The Meeting du Centenaire – “Meeting of the Centennial” – was announced as a big celebration of the first airshow held at Reims in August 1909, celebrated at the location that is today the airbase BA112 of the French Air Force. Additionally to this reason it was also the last meeting at this airbase which is due to close in 2011.

• Meeting du Centenaire
• Static_Display

Where? La Ferté-Alais / Aerodrome de Cerny
When? 31 May – 01 June 2009

Though the airshow season is not over yet, the event at La Ferté-Alais can surely be rated amongst the top shows of the year. This is not only due to perfect weather, but also due to a perfect mixed of some of the finest flying that you can imagine of aircraft from all eras.

• La Ferte-Alais
• Warbirds
• Modern_Jets

Where? Araxos and Kalamata AFB, Greece
When? Spring 2007

Very secretive and mostly inaccessible the HAF (Hellenic Air Force / ???????? ?????????) possesses a very interesting and mixed fleet, including some of the most appealing aircraft around Europe – either way because of the uniqueness of the type or just because of their striking camouflage.

• HAF – Corsairs and Buckeyes
• T-2s_at_Kalamata
• Wallpapers

Where? Japan – Kyushu and Okinawa
When? December 2008

The parachutists were a real surprise as there were being dropped out of the special coloured C-1 that we saw earlier in the static display. So we also got nice photos of this aircraft, and of course the Blue Impulse with their T-4 were performing at the end of the show.

• Japan 2008 Trip

Where? Midland, Texas – USA
When? 02-03 October 2004

While being at the FINA CAF Airsho (2004 report) I hade the possibility for several flights in historic aircraft, including one in a Curits C-46 Command to go on a photo mission. While up in the air, a Mitsubishi Zero, 2 P-51 Mustangs, 3 B-25 Mitchel and a Gruman US-2B Tracker joined on our wings and provided excellent photo opportunities.
Going up in the early morning gave some excellent photos, and the flight in the Gruman Tracker was also an unforgettable experience during these few days in Texas.

• The CAF high above Texas

Where? Edwards AFB, California
When? 17 October 2009

Flight Test Nation 2009 astounded 225,000 visitors from across the world as they got the opportunity to see some of the nation’s newest aircraft along with various historical ones. Commemorating the 50th anniversary of the X-15, FTN-09 was the first Air Show hosted by Team Edwards since 2006.

• Edwards Flight Test Nation
• ED Aircraft
• Flight Displays
• Static Display

If you like what you see, head on over to http://www.flying-wings.com where there are many more photographs and interesting essays to go with them.

You can also sign up to his newsletter for notifications when he updates. I’m certainly hoping to see more of his photography in 2010!

Yeah, it’s heartbreaking. I think I just lost all my English readers.

I have a whole set of bookmarks for watching airfield webcams. Funny, it seems that it’s somewhat quiet on the runways at most of the UK airfields. But as I am resigned to not flying anyway, I have to admit that some of the views today are just beautiful. Just linking the webcams doesn’t show you what I saw (and you have a high chance of seeing nothing but black sky at the Scottish airfields at this time of year!) so I’ve taken a set of screenshots to share with you. Simply click on any image to get to the live webcam page for each site.

White Waltham	Aboyne Airfield
Wellesbourne Airfield	Fife Airport
Shoreham Airport	Bembridge Airport
Glenforsa	Cambridge Gliding Club
Gloucestershire Airport	Oxford Airport

Great wintery scenes: I think the CAA should make it mandatory for every airfield to have a webcam! I started to look to see if I could find any more but it’s already dark in Scotland and looking at black webcams isn’t quite so much fun.

Enough airport hopping. I guess I’ll just have to move away from the computer and look out the window instead. The view from here is very similar to this webcam, set up a few miles up the coast.

It’s a tough life, but somebody’s got to do it. ;)

The airshow featured F16 Fighters of 132 Wing Royal Norwegian Air Force, who flew in from their base at Bodø, north of the Arctic Circle. They returned to the Wing’s Second World War home, to commemorate the 65th Anniversary of the “birth of today’s Norwegian Air Force” and celebrate their close bond with the local community since 1942.

13th September 2009 – Spirit of North Weald Community Day Fly-in | North Weald Airfield History

There was no landing fee for the day so the place was packed, aircraft parking went right the way down the field. Many of North Weald’s regular visitors, including aircraft from the RAF’s 72 (Reserve) Squadron flew in so there was a wealth of interesting planes to coo at. Unfortunately, N666EX was in the hanger for maintenance.

As we arrived there were four planes on the runway, taking off one after the other. We watched the some impressive formation flying by this group of Bulldogs and a Pup. G-IPUP, G-JWCM, XX630, and a fourth plane (whose registration I missed) circled North Weald offering for plenty of photo opportunities.

According to my flyer, the Norwegians were represented by: Norwegian Air Force Chief of Air Staff, Major General Stein Erik Nodeland, Brigadier Per-egi Rygg the Commander of 132 Wing and 5 Norwegian veterans who flew from here in WWII, along with the Mayor and community representatives from the City of Bodø.

The real guests of honour were a group of Norwegian veterans who were stationed in North Weald during the second World War. They boarded the Falcon to be escorted by the two F16s for a circle of the airfield and then back home to Bodø. One of them made the comment that it was sad to think it would be the last time he would be flying from North Weald as he had many fond memories of the place.

The Norwegian Airforce attended with two F16s, a Falcon and a de Havilland Vampire. I fell a little bit in love with the Vampire. The pilots were pretty cute, too.

The F-16 is a single-engined, supersonic, dog-fighting aircraft designed to be flown VFR. I like to think that I could fly one if I was given a chance to sit in the front seat. To be honest, I’d probably just sit there staring in awe if they did let me climb in. It took them quite some time to prepare the F-16s for flight. Meanwhile, we had a fly-over, Battle of Britain style.

“The distinctive silhouette imparted by the wing planform helped the Spitfire to achieve legendary status during the Battle of Britain. Despite a public perception that it was the RAF fighter of the battle, the more numerous Hurricane actually shouldered a greater proportion of the burden against the Luftwaffe.”

Lucky us, we had both a Hurricane and a Spitfire. Now I have to admit, I can’t tell the difference between the two. Luckily, they flew so low that I could easily see the registration and identify the planes that way.

The lower plane on the left is LF 363, Hurricane (Mk IIc) which was believed to be the last Hurricane to enter service in the RAF. LF 363 currently wears the colours of Hurricane Mk1 P3878 ‘YB-W’, the aircraft of Flying Officer Harold Bird-Wilson of No 17 Squadron during the Battle of Britain.

The grey plane is P5915, a Supermarine Spitfire. They were so close and so fast, it was difficult to train the camera on them, let alone get an in-focus shot. I have a few more misses than clear shots but I was very pleased with this one of the Spitfire as he passed straight by me before they flew off into the distance.

Meanwhile, the engines had started on the F16s and they started rolling away.

I heard later that there was some damage to the runway. Apparently, the first F16 to take off heated up the tarmac to melting point and then the second one lifted the surface.

The original briefing was was to do two fly-by’s of the airfield, flying out to Brookman’s Park VOR and back before escorting the Fan Jet Falcon back to Norway. Unfortunately, there seemed to be some issues with getting clearance from Stansted.

The F16s had to stay under 1,500 feet which is a lot lower than it sounds when 17,000 kilos of machinery are flying past!

Can you imagine being an Easyjet pilot flying into Stansted as these planes thundered below you?

It’s hard to portray the speed with which the F16s hurtled past us. F-16 pilots must go through special training to deal with the high-G effects.

The US Air Force has lost 12 pilots and 16 aircraft to gravity-induced loss of consciousness (GLOC).

F-16 Fighting Falcon:

Sharp turns can induce loss of consciousness when gravity pulls blood toward the lower extremities, carrying oxygen away from the brain. After about 5 seconds of pressure, vision is progressively lost from peripheral vision to central vision. When blood flow is allowed to resume, vision is smoothly and rapidly recovered. Cerebral failure and recovery is much less graceful and predictable . After about 5 seconds of blood flow stoppage to the brain, GLOC occurs suddenly and lasts from 10 to 30 seconds (average about 13 seconds). When consciousness is regained, it is usually accompanied by brief seizure-like activity and a period of confusion,which lasts about 12 seconds. During this 12 seconds, the aviator is unable to function effectively.

The Norwegian Airforce de Havilland Vampire took off with the F16s and the Falcon but after the initial fly-by it broke away. The Falcon, escorted by the F16s, continued to the Brookman’s Park VOR and on to Norway. The Vampire circled the airfield giving us great views of one of the most beautiful planes I’ve ever seen. It was soon joined by a second Vampire which is based in North Weald. There are very few Vampires still flying so it was a great treat to see them flying past in formation.

I got to see the Norwegian Vampire on the ground after the display – it had a Mickey Mouse sticker on the side and a Norwegian flag lying on the dash. I wasn’t sure which of these was the pilot but the way the man in green leaned on it like he owned it, I suspected he was the one that flew it.

Flying has taken place on North Weald’s still very active airfield since 1916; with more than 50 units from seven nations (UK, USA, Norway, New Zealand, Canada, Czechoslovakia and Poland) operating from RAF North Weald prior to the station’s closure in 1964. They hope to arrange a series of fly-ins at the airfields leading up to the 2012 Olympic, each featuring a nation who had squadrons based at North Weald.

There was plenty to do on the ground. Part of the field was set up as a “village green” with a bouncy castle and rides and military displays. It was very much a family event, with kids of all ages having a good time with barely a glance to the sky. I also got to take a closer look at some very details model aircraft from the North Weald model flying club. I have only ever seen them in the distance, usually thinking “is that a plane?” before watching an impossible spiral climb and realising that it’s unlikely.

All in all, it was a wonderfully pleasant day out.

I took hundreds of photographs but I managed to narrow it down to my favourites on Flickr. So if you have a moment, take a peep at the full set of photographs so that I don’t feel quite so guilty for spending all week sorting through them: Spirit of North Weald – a set on Flickr

When I was a little girl, we used to go on a lot of long car journeys. The adults were not as sympathetic as I felt perhaps they should be and my attempts to make conversation (“Where are we going again?” “Are we almost there yet?”) were largely scorned. I learned to occupy myself by staring out the window and imagining stories the neighbourhoods that we were driving past. I would make up entire histories for the people that we passed and intersect my life with theirs.

“That man walking the dog is named Walter. He is a repair man and last month he came by the house to repair our refrigerator. He told me about his wife, Zelda, who goes to the gym three times a week.”

I’m a grown up now and it shows. Sometimes when Cliff is flying, I stare out of the window of the Saratoga as we fly over some of the most beautiful neighbourhoods that I’ve ever seen. But these days when I look at the houses, I don’t make stories for the occupants.

These days I rewrite my own history and imagine myself living in those wonderful houses – complete with arguments with the neighbours about the damn cement mixer right at my back fence.

As we fly over the Cotswolds, I find the most amazing houses that must be a joy to live in although I wouldn’t like to think about the upkeep of the gardens. Still, if you can afford a house like that, you can afford a gardener, right?

And I do feel that a wide selection of barns and sheds and guest houses would increase my quality of living. I don’t play tennis myself but my good friends inform me that there is no such thing as too many tennis courts.

I probably don’t have the right mindset for living in a mansion like one of these, though I sure would like to give it a try. When I was a kid, we had car engines lying around the back yard. Splintered motorcycles leaned against oak trees, just in case there were any useful parts yet to be harvested. A bright orange VW beetle rusted away in the long grass.

If I got a big house like this, I’d probably end up in the same state:

If by some miracle, anyone actually recognises a house in this series, do let me know and I’ll forward a full-size photograph to the owners as a thank you for some exceedingly nice daydreams.

When we finally got our fuel, we were informed that he had not brought the card swiper with him and one of us would need to accompany him to the office to pay.

We spent just over two hours simply trying to refuel. It would have been more sensible to leave Málaga and land at another nearby airfield just to pick up the fuel for our journey.

On the bright side, while we were waiting a friendly mechanic passed by and volunteered to remove our winterization plates which was a bit of luck!

One good thing about being banned from taking off is that I get to take a lot of photographs. As much as I grumble about Málaga, it sure is pretty…

Did you miss me? I’m home!

We did a lot of travelling but I had a great time. It was the kind of trip you can only really consider with a small plane as we zipped around all over. One of the great things about general aviation is the view – I took over 600 photographs!

We’ve been having cloudy and rainy weather on the Costa del Sol which made for some gorgeous views when we flew out of Málaga. It’s usually very murky and hazy so it was a real treat to be able to see the coastline for miles.

The clear skies stayed with us as we passed the Pyrenees which were still covered with snow. Absolutely stunning.

We stopped to refuel in Périgueux where I was surprised to see this lovely little house right off of the runway. It’s very pretty there but I don’t think I could stand living that close to an active runway.

We continued to Strasbourg, this time opting for the small grass strip at Neuhof as we didn’t need customs. Everyone at the airfield was very friendly and the runway was well looked after. As you can see, Neuhof is wonderfully placed right near the centre of the city.

After a wonderful Easter break, we continued to England where the weather was less impressive. We were rained in most of the week but the weather cleared up just enough for for our weekend trip to Newcastle upon Tyne.

Friends of ours have a wonderful cottage in the middle of a sheep farm which borders a field with llamas in it!

View Larger Map

The rest of the weekend was great weather and I did local area flying and circuits at Eshott. It’s a bit of a bizarre place with short asphalt runways tucked into what was once a large airfield. But everyone was very friendly and I’m definitely feeling more confident about my short field landings now.

From there we went to Wycombe Air Park where I was surprised to see big beautiful birds floating over the airfield. It turns out they are red kites which are abundant in the area having been re-introduced after having been hunted to extinction in England in the nineteenth century. I was full of regret that I was flying and in a rush so I couldn’t get a photo of them hovering. I was initially thinking about how I could possibly get back to Wycombe to take photographs as one flew directly over my right wing. Then I started thinking about bird strikes and what a mess a big bird of prey like that could make of my plane. I do want to get photographs of them but I think I’ll be doing it from the ground.

I travelled by train to London to meet a group of writers that I had previously only known online. We spent five hours sitting in the sun on the south bank of the river Thames, drinking wine and talking. As one person commented, it was not so much an introduction as a reunion. They were all wonderfully supportive and enthusiastic – I’ll post about the experience separately but it really has revitalised my plans to keep flying around the British islands!

Equally exciting but in a less positive way was the flight to Turweston where I became confused and tried to land at Silverston instead:

View Larger Map

You may need to click through to see the two runways. The map shows Turweston in the southwest and Silverstone race course in the northeast – it’s not my fault the latter looked more inviting for landing on! I wasn’t using the GPS for this flight but boy, was I glad that Cliff had keyed in our destination, as a glance at the screen made it clear that I was going to the wrong place!

Then it was time to reverse our initial flights. From Turweston we returned to Strasbourg – this time into Strasbourg Entzheim as we were coming in at night and needed customs.

The long runway also came in handy as we were picking up Cliff’s son and all his worldly possessions as he’s unfortunately moving back to Hull which is nowhere near as pretty. *grumble*

Fully laden, we made our way back to Málaga via Périgueux.

We arrived back at home to sunny weather yesterday in the early evening. Now I just need a fortnight to recover from my holiday!