Ongoing Dry and Bright Summer in England.

Popham celebrated it's fiftieth anniversary with a very large Fly-In, many many aircraft flew in.
Trevor very kindly flew me there from White Waltham in the Luscombe in spite of my "Ball in the middle" remarks.
White Waltham is 22.5 miles from the house in Guildford and so this saved me 20 miles worth of petrol.

Fifty years ago Ted flew this Cub into Popham for the first (official?) landing on the airfield.
He still flies from Popham and so this time he did a fly-past in his Piper Vagabond.

I took a break to go to Thruxton to do some more circuits with Craig in the SF260.
Thruxton's free circuits for one landing fee is a very attractive proposition.

Tiger Moth Flying

Every second year pilots have to do a one hour flight with an instructor, it's something I am allowed to do as a CRI, Class Rating Instructor.
I am familiar with many types of light aircraft, and one day I will update my list... I have more than 150 types of aeroplane in my logbooks, single engine, multi engine, land and sea planes... I flew a Turbulent on snow (water) skis many years ago too.
The Tiger Moth will always be familiar to me.

John and I went off to do slow flight, stalls, and spins.
We did a Practice Forced Landing (PFL) and, as per the new requirements, we explored 'Partial Engine Failures' whereby you might be tempted into disaster.

St Athan

St Athan is also offering a circuit deal as they are training new air traffic controllers there.
So we took the SF260 there to do four circuits as we perfected the landings (straight!).

Many cowling hinge lines are at a converging angle and so you have to accept they go off to the right or left (depending on your seat position, side by side) and so you have to adjust for this.
Sometimes I have put a straight piece of tape on the top in line with the pilot's eyes, and perpendicular to the firewall. This gives a straight sight line for a straight landing.
If you find it difficult to adjust for the alignment of the top cowling, try adding a taped sight line.

I also have the requirement to reduce the manifold pressure to around 25", and the propeller RPM to 2,400 for noise abatement.
Many CSU/VP propeller pilots leave the engine at screaming RPM when actually with the performance available a simple reduction of RPM to 2,400 reduces the noise considerably.
(Cessna 185s are particularly noisy especially with a seaplane propeller, I do a similar procedure in these, and Harvards are notorious too).
This procedure is in the DA40-180 AFM where after takeoff the RPM is reduced to 2,400 with the throttle remaining fully open after takeoff.
Over square? Yes, but read the engine manual for Manifold Pressure/RPM limits.
Remember that since fixed pitch propellers do not reach the red line on takeoff these engines are already running over square on takeoff.

It's been brilliant weather lately, but we are facing drought.

Pembrey

Rich needed to get in a few hours, and to do his SEP Revalidation before the end of this month, and he lives in South Wales.
On Thursday after flying to St Athan and back I stayed at Popham for the last BBQ of the season, and then I drove the 3 hour 15 minute journey to Pemberton - Llanelli to arrive there after 22:00 at the Premier Inn.

After breakfast on Friday morning, followed by a healthy walk in the Sandy Water park, Rich picked me up and we drove to Pembrey, a World War 2 airfield that is famous for the convenient arrival of a Focke Wulf FW190 that the RAF wanted to evaluate.
Navigational confusion during the war was as common as it is today, even with our superb GPS!
It saved a trip for the SAS who were all set to raid a French airfield to collect one.
(The RAF pilot could have been me in a former life since I can fly everything! Indeed I used to fly G WULF in air displays.)

Friday's mission was to Swansea for fuel, and then a local flight as far as the former RAF Brawdy. (When I learned to fly this airfield was active with Hawker Hunters).
Saturday: Pembrey - Dunkeswell - Bodmin - Eggesford - Pembrey.
At Bodmin and old instructor discovered we had a lot of common friends from Tiger Club days, and I learned of the recent passing of John Harper who was a character from those days. Most of us who fly are of an age, and we will lose more and more old friends, so make the best of the friendships and acquaintances who share and who shared our mutual experiences. Time is precious.
Sunday: Pembrey - Swansea for fuel, then Swansea - Pembrey with airwork enroute: PFL, Partial Engine Failure, and circuits to sign off the SEP for another two years.

Old friends meet as we stop for a moment on our tour.

After signing the licence and logbook, and filling in the SRG 1157 form, I drove the 3 hours 30 minute journey back to Guildford.

As I write this there are showers on the way whilst another customer is trying to do his remaining hours today.
I was supposed to do his Instructor Flight this afternoon, but I do have all day tomorrow, so hopefully we can get it done then.

This weekend the LAA Rally is happening and so the CR-V will be employed again to drive up to Market Harborough to stay at the Premier Inn there for two nights. I have a visitor from Vancouver over at the moment and so the plan is to visit Bletchley Park on the way.
I booked two rooms (£397), and bought two non-member tickets £100 to the Rally with airside access, and one member ticket (me) at £25.

This weekend will cost me over £500!
I'm on a pension, £360/per month here, and they won't give me pension credit... So I earn a little money here and there that covers my expenses, but I still watch my resources slowly decrease... I can't be bothered to worry about it, Hastings Street doesn't exist in England thank goodness!
After my forthcoming trip to Canada and Thailand I will have to find a job to carry on. I treat every trip as if it's my last as I am 71 years old, and will I ever have the resources to do it again?
Britain aside, I have some reserves in Canada, and in Thailand, and so my UK pension can replenish my account here while I am away, I use the resources I have in the other countries for my expenses there.
The Canadian Dollar has sunk against the Pound, I've always said that as good as the Canadian economy gets, it's never as good as bad as the British economy gets. We should be glad here, as we're never as badly off or (until now) as badly governed as the Canadians are (degrees of Political Correctness). Of course President Trumps' aggression against Canada doesn't help.

In spite of what others accuse me of, the only way I can do what I do is by being very very careful with money.
One thing I have experienced in life is that money comes when I've needed it, most of the time, and it goes when I've tried to hold on to it! So I go with the flow, and in Buddhist style I live for the moment and make the best of it.
Not to forget that these past six years have been the most frustrating years of my life. I have fought against the current, and I am tired of swimming this way!
I have also gone with the current, let life flow, and had some great experiences as outlined in this blog.

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