This last weekend I was planning to do my first navigation exercise in G-OWST a Cessna 172S with fuel injected engine. This machine can really climb and is different in that it has a fuel pump and no carburettor heat control like a typical Cessna. Another “anomaly” with the aircraft is that it has 5 underwing fuel drains (on each wing) and 3 under engine fuel drains. Unlike your regular Cessna that has 1 on each wing and 1 under the engine. I had to ask the question, evben though I knew the response; “Should I check all the fuel drains?” – guess what, Yes I should – Unless of course I am prepared to take the risk!
The plan was to fly from Blackpool, start track over Inskip and then head off to Clitheroe. From Clitheroe, turning to Lonf Preston and then to Kendal, returning to the VSP (Visual Reporting Point) overhead Fleetwood and back again.
The following map shows my planned and actual route!
The flight was hampered by the fact that I needed to achieve a certain height (around 3000′) to enable me to be legally clear of objects on the ground and the terrain generally. As the cloud base was coming in lower than I had anticipated, I decided that it wasn’t a good idea to reduce my height even though it looked as though I could make it with height to spare. “Plan the flight and fly the plan!”.
Having identified the M6 as I flew over it, I decided that I could still work my way up to Kendal and a quick check on the map showed that I had sufficient height to be clear of any nearby objects. The trip to Kendal was a little turbulent but allowed me to get there safely and in good time. I then tried to follow the track that I would have been on had I flown the original plan, turned towards Kendal and decided that I would try and follow the plan agian back to Blackpool.
Turning at Kendal, the next challenge was the late afternoon sun that was really low in the sky. As I started to cross Morecambe Bay I became concerned that the cloud base was closing in on me again and that I had to maintain greater than 2000′ altitiude to avoid the restricted area over and around Heysham Power Station. At this point I decided that another diversion would be wise and headed back inland where I could see gaps in the cloud cover allowing me to maintain height and avoid the power station.
Once on a westward track towards Fleetwood, Blackpool Radar asked me to divert north to maintain separation with a 737 that was leaving Blackpool Airport. I was asked to Squawk 0425 and then some minutes later given the clearance to return to my original track.
I started heading south and reported “west abeam VRP Fleetwood for rejoin” and was handed back to Blackpool ATC (aka Blackpool Tower) where I was asked to squawk 7000 again.
With the BUMFICHH checks out of the way, I set the aircraft up in landing configuration (once I had reported being “west abeam the big tower” aka Blackpool Tower (not ATC)) and then turned in on finals.
This was the first time I had flown this particular aircraft “solo” and I was quite surprised at how difficult it was to get it to descend. Once I had the right indicated airspeed it still seemed to be floating quite happily at the set height, so I reduced the engine power further than I would normally have done.
The landing was nice and smooth and I left Runway 10 at Taxiway Delta, crossed Runway 25 and then using Taxiway Charlie, headed back to the flying club.
A very pleasant flight – but must try my little navigation exercise again!
