Gyroplane Training 
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Web by: Rebel Systems Training Days April 7 - 22 2001 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 May 26 - June 2 2001 April 1 - 11 2002 |
Day 22 Another windy day dawned. Oh well! I had a 75nm cross country all planned and ready to go, so at 1100 we set off in the VPM into 18 knot westerlies. (25 aloft!). Roger prefers to come as a passenger to make sure you meet the designated turn points. He says that on your own who is to say whether you made them or not. This keeps the pressure up on your navigation I must admit. Anyway, I tracked us south to the first t/p at Lazonby, having mistaken the prior town for it initially but the road system was wrong, so quickly corrected and continued a further 2nm to the correct town. Although the river and railway go to the appropriate place Roger was quick to point out that he would be disappointed if I was using them for navigation, instead of track. He did admit that there was nothing wrong in using them but he wanted to see track navigation with road/rail for confirmation of location. From Lazonby slight course change on to Appleby. No problem with hitting that t/p then turn to the WNW for a track between two close forested areas with the Oasis center in one of them. The wind was right in our face, and a quick calculation showed it at 25 knots. We were picking up a lot of turbulence from the hills to the west, and some quite strong wave that had us up and down quite a bit. Roger felt the turbulence was quite bad, but just a normal day in a microlight for me! Anyway, my track took us to a road island SW of Penrith, before turning north to make a T junction on a minor road. I knew that this one was going to be difficult. A rain shower ahead suitably drenched us, and made the rotors a little unbalanced. We needed to avoid a high energy radio transmission area, HIRTA, that would have messed with the instruments so gave that a wide birth. Talking of which Roger said if you wanted a DIY sterilisation then just fly a little closer!!! Missed the T junction. Some of the features that came up were wrong, and I knew that I had overshot by 2nm. I felt bad that I had missed that. Ah well, nothing I can do to redress that now. Roger likes throwing new destinations at you to recalculate in the air, and so it was, given the excuse of the overrun, that a new destination was given as direct to Kirkbride airfield. A quick calculation gave me a new track for 12nm and I reselected a transit point to take me directly there. I decided that the VRP at Wigton would be the way I would go, as it was nearly on track, and 10 minutes it came up on the nose. A quick sanity check that all the roads matched those for Wigton on the map and I was happy that I was where I thought I was. A quick track NW from there took us to Kirkbride. Join left base and in. I judged the base too tight so ended up running a little longer that Roger would like: He likes you to land on the numbers. A couple of minutes on the ground then up again, and reselect track for Great Orton. Easy one to line up on due to the windfarm, and 5 minutes later we were at that t/p. From there north to the t/p at Gretna, with a dog leg course to take us clear of the marsh "badlands". Used the wind from our left shoulder to push us down the desired track. From Gretna, a call to Carlisle to let them know we would soon be there, and given right hand downwind join for 25. ESE from Gretna for 10nm, with 25 knots of wind behind soon got us there. Down wind join, called downwind, and finals. Much better approach and landing. Good! Roger, because he can, called hover taxi back which was granted and he took control doing what he likes doing... I called the nav at 1 hour 40 minutes, and it actually took us 1 hour 38 minutes. Of course I calculated it that accurately Roger. Well, not really as it was a hard one to judge with a strong blustery wind, but a good "guess"!!! It was a very good exercise. I am annoyed that I overrun a t/p, but knew I had very quickly, and I would have gone back to it. Roger was happy that I quickly spotted the mistake, and knew where I was anyway. His revenge was to throw the change in route at me in the air for me to recalculate and follow. For those that don't realise Roger has a 914 in his VPM, that has a non lockable throttle. This means that both hands must stay on the throttle and stick, leaving nothing free. The radio is strapped to the left leg, leaving the only option for a map to be taped around the right leg. This makes navigating more challenging as you might expect. Another route planned for tomorrow as the weather is again looking unusable for single seat work. This one doglegs around Cumbria, but only for 58nm this time. Looks ok, with no minor road T junctions to find, just small villages. We'll see... I |