Flying Over the UK

I’m an experienced pilot; how hard can flying over the UK be?

Well, I want to tell you about a flight I took one summer.

I would fly with my children from Oxfordshire to Lossiemouth in a Shropshire Aero Club PA28. We would meet some friends and show the children around. I desperately wanted to make a long overdue visit to the Tornado GR4 Gate Guardian to honour the memory of the Tornado GR4 Aircrew.

It couldn’t be that hard, could it? I mean, I have flown over the UK for years.

So, after a check out in the aircraft, the following week, we were off on our 325-mile three-hour journey:

Through the Manchester zone

• East of Edinburgh

• Into Perth for fuel

• Up the coast to Aberdeen

• Then West into Lossie

The mantra that helped me get ready for this flight was the one we use here at Astral Aviation Consulting:

• PREPARE

• PLAN

• PERFORM

Planning for a Flight

A PA28 is not a Hawk; it can’t outclimb mountains or go DCT at 40,000ft.

As I was flying through airspace I had not flown through before, it took me a while to wade through the relevant bits of the Aeronautical Information Publication (AIP) and apply them to my route.

Being a bit of an over-planner (too much time spent with navigators), I planned it well in advance. I went over it several times to check if I had missed anything.

I floated my plan past a friendly examiner, Matt Lane, to get a second opinion when we flew together at Pilot Flight Training (London Oxford Airport) the week prior; he made some suggestions, which I incorporated.

Preparation for a Flight

The day before, I printed out and annotated the map book I had made just in case the ‘kit failed’. Groan, I know, I know ...

I also made sure I had my iPad and power pack charged, SkyDemon (SD) updated, headsets, pre-flight checklist, clothes and food packed; then added 30 minutes to my planned timeline for the inevitable morning faff.

Contingencies and Diversions

I knew the weather would be rubbish around Carlisle and over the highlands.

In the worst-case scenario, I knew I could turn around (unlike a Tornado, a PA 28 can turn in almost its wingspan) and stay the night at one of the (many) diversions I preloaded into SkyDemon just in case.

Perform During the Flight

The extra time for the morning faff was needed (ever tried getting an 11-year-old out of bed before 9 am? It’s not a quick process.

But despite this, we were airborne on time.

I barely used the paper map, but what the planning did was help cement in my mind the route of what I needed to do and when.

This meant I didn’t over-rely on SkyDemon and could get my head out of the cockpit more.

I got the front seat passenger to do the squawks and change the radio freqs (the other was the inflight catering manager!).

The London and Scottish radio and Warton Lower Airspace Radar Service (LARS) controllers were excellent and helpful in providing me with service and weather information.

The prep and planning meant that the trip pretty much ran on rails despite the weather.

Learn During Every Flight

So, what did I learn during this flight over the UK?

• Prepare – Plan – Perform really did come into its own—excellent tag line for Astral Aviation Consulting.

• Having a one-stop shop on the Astral Aviation Consulting website for helpful General Aviation resources made the whole thing so much easier and

• The weather in Scotland is still rubbish in the summer.

Happy flying!