Aviation filled day off....

[eng]

Was given a trial flight voucher by my parents for my 40th last year and given the weather being pretty good now I decided to use it. I booked for today at noon, and was pleased to wake up to some good weather again in Glasgow.

First stop was at work to get a new ID sorted and on the way in I saw this parked on the GA stands at Glasgow -

Onwards to a very hazy and murky Prestwick, my flight was looking somewhat iffy. After an hour watching the general movements (not many today) and hoping the murk might burn off I went to the Prestwick Flight Centre anyway. Had a chat with the instructor, she did say that due to the haze, it was thin and sitting at about 1500ft with scattered cloud but only a couple of miles clear visibility, I could re-book if I wanted to, or we could do some circuits.

Now, I've flown a good few times in light aircraft and gliders, had some time in various commercial aircraft/heli sims, and a licensed aircraft engineer to trade, but never actually done circuits and go-a rounds, let alone at an airfield with a massive runway like Prestwick. Decision made in an instant! I think the instructor expected me to want to go sight seeing until I explained myself. Anyway a brilliant 45 mins was had doing 4 circuits/go-a rounds from about 15-20ft and finally a full stop landing, most of which was flown by myself much to my delight. Today's trusty steed was a rather elderly Cessna 152, an absolute joy to fly though, so easy to handle -

I stopped at the Mound, a well known spot for the spotters, after my flight for a quick bite to eat before heading home, as by this point it was roasting and it seemed a shame not to hang about and see if anything interesting rocked up. I noticed a Tucano parked up during one of my circuits earlier. Wasn't disappointed when Ascot 21 showed up and performed a pretty neat tactical landing with a steep drop in from quite a height -

Note the spanking new Bristows Coastguard building in the background to house the 2 new S-92's that have replaced the sorely missed HMS Gannet Seaking HAR.5's.

All in all a pretty good day

Eng

Edited June 9, 2016 by eng