Flounder's FlightSim Pilot Reports: February 2009

When I returned to the suite I found the yellow envelope waiting. Eagerly I ripped it open, knowing that this was my pass to freedom and taking up my simming once again. Several things struck me as I read:
"...we'd visit my own country..."
"...Woodford as it is smaller..."
"...wind farms that are being built..."
"...Talla...Solway Firth...Gretna Green...elopments...Dumfries...Galloway...rugged by English standards...Scottish Highlands...the Firth of Fourth...Grampian Mountains...Kinloss..."
I wondered, "What on earth is he talking about and what language is he speaking anyway?" It's like watching English Premier League Soccer with my kids and no one can understand the announcers!

Anyway, the envelope included my TooMuchFS namebadge and a couple-hundred pound notes so I headed back via taxi to the Lisbon airport. Quickly I found a flight aboard a Jetstream-41 and with that I was headed to Jolly 'Ol England.

Enroute I decided that since we needed to fly low, yet wanted to get done in a reasonable amount of time and did not have to haul any passengers or cargo what better plane to fly than a Supermarine Spitfire. Remeber that FOTM back-when, whan Alastair took us to the South Island of New Zealand and I got to borrow Chuck Yeager's P-51 Mustang? This would be very similar I imagined - only without the mountains! EXCELLENT!

... I knew I should have taken the A-320 flight! Finally, after crossing over Brest, France and Cardiff, England I arrived into Manchester to collect my plane and flightplan. Wouldn't you know, six years of waiting for Alastair to take us to England and he picks the biggest snowstorm in history. Sunday night Alastair's Mum fixed dinner and Monday morning I was ready to take to the skies! Weather was not a great improvement but at least it wasn't blowing snow!

I headed northest, following the M60 and M67 toward Leeds. From there I turned more northward towards Bradford, then over the Yorkshire Dales and Carlisle. I admit that periodically I opened the GPS just to be sure I was near my waypoints but for the most part I was skimming the treetops at 250-300 knots!

I was a bit concerned about the weather, the rain/snow mix with pretty limited visibility and I really didn't want to stray too far off coarse from my route or get above the clouds. Therefore I hardly noticed passing right between Langholm and Lockerbie! I passed west of Edinburgh (we've been here for FOTMs-past) and then very near Dundee as well. For the return trip I planned on clearing up the weather and flying over Inverness and the famous Loch Ness (maybe I'll see something in the water?)

Finally passing over Wick and Kirkwall I was over water and heading for the Shetlands. I stayed low, skimming the waves until I was 3 miles from Sumbaugh, then I pulled up, dropped in some flaps and the gears and turned to finals. Another memorable FOTM was already over but I hoped that the return flight would be more scenic.

You'll read in next month's PIREP the haste with which I had to depart the Shetlands and head across the pond. The short story is that I arose early and hopped into my custom Aerostar700 as planned. I headed back to mainland UK passing near the Orkney Islands and over Inverness (as featured in Tony's "Wind up yer kilt" FOTM back in 2003). Then I was VFR down the length of the famous, Loch Ness. Man! This is one long lake - or shall we call it a rift?
Suddenly, THERE! IN THE WATER ... Naw, just kidding with you. No sea monsters today.

Having flown the length of the lake I headed for Dunberg, then turned southeast. This was actually some of the most scenic areas I had seen this month! This was a great flight!

With only light breezes and clear skies, setting up and landing into Glasgow was pretty easy. Alastair, thanks again for this scenic and challenging Feature Flight - another winner!