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What a fantastic location.. Arran - my first big trip after obtaining my licence 3 years ago and slowly building my experience before adventuring with the ‘big boys’.. This is precisely why I wanted to fly a micro-light aircraft.
Over 30 micro-lights and 3 days of the best weather, scenery and hospitality I have ever encountered and a tail wind all the way there! Wow !
May 29th we departed from Oxton around 11:30am to Headon for 12:00noon to meet up with five others making 7 in total - two Quick’s - one GT450 - one Quantum 503 - one Quasar 503 (my flex..Grace) one Kiss 400 and one Blade 912.. The Kiss owned by Paul and Dave in his handsome yellow Blade 912 departed together up country for Bagby preferring the inland route and the remaining five of us set off with great excitement around 1pm towards the West Coastal area…..Our first stop being Rossall Field – where we received a very friendly welcome and the chance to gloat over a shiny new bright red Quick-R with analogue instruments… The perfect combination for me…one day maybe! We refuelled and drank a quick cuppa tea before setting off on a most memorable flight straight up over Windermere and Coniston Water climbing to 5k to clear the high stuff at the end of the valley followed by ten adrenalin filled miles with nothing but rough rock below … my fellow fliers pointedly mentioned that this was the only time I didn’t make a sound on the radio..(not like my usual chattering self!) …. Then into Kirkbride for what can only be described as the friendliest and most helpful airfield you could wish to encounter - free hangarage for the night , fuel a plenty, a lift to our B&B at Bolton wood House (also amazing hospitality..I would advise anybody staying in the area to book in here…a lovely farm with great views for £25 including tea and a breakfast that would feed five ! and I am not joking and a generous packed lunch that will reduce your climb by 200-fpm... We were given a lift back to the airfield the next morning by a very friendly MT-03 pilot who was undergoing training in G-YELO (and yes its bright yellow including the gerry cans.. class or what...)
I would like to take this opportunity to thank Andrew Lysser , head of ops, for looking after and making all the arrangements at Kirkbride and also for demonstrating the MT03.. his passion for flying and his fellow pilots is admirable and the MT03 is simply awesome - if you’re in the area this is a must visit place !
Next morning fuelled up and onto Arran with a good 30mph tail wind @ 5k my trusty old Quasar Grace was hitting 100mph ground speed with the bar in - I was already aware that a westerly of this magnitude would make Arran a challenging landing and this in mind I had 3 alternates that would be immune to the dreaded rotor the 3k Arran peaks are famed for... again I was not prepared for the breath taking and dramatic scenery of Arran, The Mull, Bute, but to name a few and landing turned out to be far easier than anticipated (apart from a Eurostar that ignored radio, pushed into our troop who had landing numbers and proceeded to damage his wing when landing - poetic comes to mind)...
The last of our group to set out was Rob Magan - a very skilled pilot for whom I have great admiration .. he and his fiancee Colleen set off on the Saturday morning from Headon in their trusty purple Quick 912-s at around 10am and arrived just in front of us @ 12:30pm making a non stop journey from Nottingham to Arran in 2:30 minutes - unbelievable but true !
Thanks To Jimmy for great radio work and such enthusiasm and also to Donald, firstly for being so friendly for repeatedly running us to and fro for more gas and refusing to accept any payment for services rendered.. for providing avgas for the 4 strokes @ only £1 a litre and also running us to our digs in Blackwaterfoot where we were dropped off only to find that a gerry can had fallen over in the back of the pickup soaking all our gear in petrol !! God only knows what Linda the landlady @ the Greenan guest house thought when I turned up with my fellow Oxton Pilot ‘Free Hand Gary’ as he has become affectionately known due to his track drawing skills . I was sure we would be turned away but no .. with a concerned look she immediately offered to wash all of our gear even lending me a clean pair of her sons socks …. so again ‘thank you Linda’ (and also thanks for posting my Flycom helmet bag back that I carelessly left behind)... as soon as we were sorted out by Linda we were back to the Field for yet another of the highlights -an evening fly to Bute. For this leg I was a passenger with ‘free hand gary’ allowing the three Quicks to travel together at their intended speeds… and giving me time to do some camera work from the back seat … I caught a beautiful surreal shot of Martin Mossely, our CFI, over the Arran peaks at sunset as the evening mist was forming around Arran.
After landing at the air ambulance strip at Bute we settled down for a fantastic meal.. this is a great base to tour the islands as you can camp with permission and there is a good pub that serves food just a ten minute walk away. We then headed back to the airfield just as the sun was setting- weary and high on the days events now looking at the moon shining across the water from the Mull of Kintyre… we had a smooth landing and tied the machines down for the night ..and trekked down to Blackwaterfoot Inn for some of the excellent Arran ale and a fitful night’s sleep.
Next day an unhurried start to heading back as we planned to cross country and track back down the east coast. Before heading back to the mainland we decided to add a few of the islands to our logbook but to be honest I was feeling a little off colour and as I had only had a couple of pints the night before it was certainly not that.. First we called Gigha, a small island that was simply irresistible and after getting permission to land we were greeted by the handful of locals complete with a little girl with flowers …one of them joked that they thought they were being invaded! After twenty minutes of chatter and a few group pictures we saddled back up and headed back to Bute so that my partner in crime the ‘Mighty Trev’ and I could add the Bute landing to our logbooks.. After landing the others decided to try a beach landing and to be honest unless its an emergency its not my cup of tea so I gave it a miss and rested under my wing on Bute.. by now I also had a stinking head ache and felt in need of some rest and a couple of Paracetemols . The flying brotherhood soon returned having also made the wise decision to skip the beach landing and we decided to push on up to Strathaven for fuel, 2 stroke oil and of course the legendary hospitality of Colin Mackinnon. As we flew down the corridor over the mainland I was starting to feel progressively worse and to top it off I was being hit by tremendous rotor from the hills and a 20mph head wind. I limped in last being in the slowest machine and virtually collapsed as I tried to climb from my trike - I was dizzy, sick and could barely stand. Colin immediately helped me, proclaiming ‘my first victim…I knew the First Aid course was going to be useful !’ I was taken to the First Aid room where I was quickly diagnosed as having sunstroke..for the next eight hours I was quite ill and looked after extremely well by Colin and his wife. He then proceeded to make arrangements for all of my fellow pilots to stay in their fantastic luxury caravan (needless to say, being ill I was given the double on-suite room with king size bed all to myself while Trev Freehand and Martin were squeezed in like sardines) I was informed in my quiet paradise that the brotherhood had decided to make the most of being stranded and adventured out to a curry house and for a few beers as I drifted off to sleep…I suddenly woke at around 10pm feeling much better all on my own at Strathaven and starving ! All I could find in the caravan was an almost empty jar of honey - damn !!! I decided to walk down the field to see if there was anybody around but I then realised my clothes were in my trike and all I had on was a pair of boxer shorts and a flying suit …I considered trying the hanger door but then thought that I wouldn’t want to set an alarm off so decided against it .. I got as far as the clubhouse and realised I was still quite weak so headed back to the safety of the van and phoned Freehand who was by this time decidedly slurred in speech.... ‘hmmm- don’t worry m8’ he shouted down the phone ‘I’ll bring you some grub back’... I sat trying to think of anything other than food for the next 4 hours .. but could only think of curry and tasty stuff ! At 2am a police car turned up at the end of the road and Trev Freehand and Martin stumbled up the field giggling like schoolboys ! very pleased they had managed to persuade two female police officers to give them a lift home. In Freehands words ..’he put on his best puppy eyes’ I’ll leave the banter to your imagination…(the boys seemed to think they’d pulled two policewomen but in truth I think they just took pity on them !!!) Freehand proudly slammed a bag on the table and said ‘told you I’d sort you some grub mate - found a late night Sommerfields’ I opened the bag.... a beef & tomato pot noodle, a can of redbull and a banana and yes another pot noodle for breakfast !- course Curry Pot Noodle would’ve been A1) this is what happens when you ask a drunk pilot to buy you food and even worse I was so hungry I ate it and I soon felt better as I closed the door to my room with soft king sized bed, stretched my legs and listened to the complaints from my buddies as they tried to get comfortable !
The next day we were all up with the sun, me now feeling great after being bed ridden since 12pm the previous day but the guys were a little more on the quiet side..
The day I fell ill we had originally decided to head for the famous Eddies on the east coast just up from Eshott and then onto Holy Island on the east coast but now the time window had narrowed and we realised it was time to head home... another perfect morning and our engines are running - we have opted for a non-stop run to Bagby,153 miles and just within mine and Trev’s endurance having 2 strokes with 47 litre tanks. We planned for alternates just in case we encountered headwind over the high ground and set off on our way..
Just after Carlisle, Freehand realises it’s a bad idea to have a hot curry n beer before a 150 mile leg with @ 55 mph Quasar ! Needless to say the rest of his journey was less than relaxing (we did suggest bicycle clips but we got no reply). Trev & I were getting slightly concerned as we hit the high ground as we had a 5mph headwind component and this needed closely monitoring.. Trev being in front started to climb to 5k to clear the intense military area and found there was a tail wind above 5k so we used this to our advantage. Although the air was so cold I was wondering whether to take my chances with the high energy jets. The next 3 hours melted into the rising sun and the scenery… before I knew it, it was time to call Leaming Radar …they simply advised us to stay above their airspace and report over Bagby which we did. We had an un-eventful and smooth landing and by now with the cold my bladder was bursting so I decided to exit as fast as possible to beat Freehand to the toilet. I was greeted by a large friendly guy grinning as if he knew my predicament.. he pointed to the toilets and I found to my horror that the urinal was separate… I had wanted to listen to Freehand groaning outside.. ahh well you can’t win ‘em all.. the chap who had seemed so amused by us all introduced himself as Tim and proceeded to join us.. I decided to treat everyone to the legendary Bagby English Full (that I have never yet managed to finish) prepared by the gorgeous Petra - who I am sure does no harm to Bagbys attendance! I also paid the £2.50 landing fee for all as this is always certain to put a smile on Martins face.. our new found friend Tim then very kindly offered to do the 2 stroke mo gas run for myself and Trev and also gave me 800ml of vsx2 as I had now run out of 2 stroke. Tim is just another excellent example of pilot brotherhood and we enjoyed his company immensely ( if you’re reading this Tim remember to drop into Oxton in your Flash 2 and say hi -if you’re v lucky Colin Bodill will be around in his Gazell - his flying stories will make your toes curl..)
Suited, booted, fuelled n fed, Trev now suggested that as we were close we may as well drop into Beverley n say hi.. We all agreed but Martin had to head back as he had students waiting at Headon for tuition, so we were down to 3 .. it was a lovely flight dropping into the relaxed atmosphere of Beverley.. Freehand fell asleep at the table so we gave him a nudge and decided to head off on the last leg and home. We were all very QT on the radio reflecting on the days events-Trev took over comms with Humberside and they dropped us down to 2k over the Humber Bridge. I pulled alongside Trev and gave him a wave and we slowly went our separate ways. As I saw Oxton appear on the horizon behind Southwell a big grin and an overwhelming feeling hit me.... how privileged I am to have such friends and to simply Fly ! until next time - fly safe and be excellent to one another....G-MWZP Grace
Regards Ses.................... aka Mark > G-MWZP
Post Edited (Mark (Ses) Sears) : 02/06/2009 21:03:32 GMT
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