Kudos to Martijn Moret for finding this one!

This is how it should have been done

Well, after about 10 attempts which were cancelled due to weather, and 1 attempt which was cancelled as a result of a mixup with Special Branch clearance (*) we finally made it to the Isle of Man this weekend.  A mile stone on my personal progress checklist

Initially I had planned to fly out Thursday or Friday, however the weather Thursday was overcast and whilst it was CAVOK on Friday over the UK, the Isle of Man was under 200ft of cloud and sea mist for most of the day.  As a result we ended up doing a brief trip to Duxford just to make sure the plane was ok and to get back into the saddle not having flown for over a month.

By the time we got back from Duxford (around 6:30pm) the weather in the Isle of Man had improved, but now Vera wanted to come with me – and that requires another 12 hours notice to Special Branch before we could depart … so put the plane to bed and pray for good weather in the morning!

Saturday morning and the weather was perfect! CAVOK over the whole of the UK.  So 07:00 I’m up and filing flight plans .. by 08:00 still nothing from Special Branch giving “permission” to depart, so I’m on the phone speaking to a helpful Inspector at Thames Valley.  He wakes someone up who gives a verbal clearance – and we’re good to go!

Flight plan filed for 09:00 departure … but there’s a truck on the runway at Denham doing an inspection .. but 09:05 we’re rolling and away, heading North to Bovingdon, then West towards Wescott, overhead Oxford, then Wolverhampton, Hawarden and finally over the water to Ronaldsway (see this Google Earth flight map for the full route).

Journey time 1h 20mins – scarily quick considering the last time we went (by car) it took nearly 18 hours!

Upon arrival at Ronaldsway we were marshalled by the guys at Manx Flyers (bloke comes out, points at a spot to park, then comes over to say hello once we’ve shut down).

We park, and unload and find that they do have “the car” available .. so for £20 we now have use of a Ford Escort TD Estate for the weekend! … with just enough fuel in it to get us to a petrol station

As we walk out to the car park with bags, we spot my parents who had come to see us arrive … although the car park is so far away from the runway that all they really got was us taxying to parking .. but next time maybe

As none of us have eaten yet we decide to head to the airfield Cafe and I introduce my parents to the joys of a £5 jumbo airfield breakfast .. then we head off towards Douglas to do some window shopping before doing a little sight seeing / watch the first race of the 2009 Manx TT season; and then heading “home” to relax and have tea.

Sunday was definitely a lazy day, with a gentle stroll down to Laxey beach, an ice cream, sun

River Dee from the air

bathing, and then 4pm head up to Ronaldsway ready for a 17:00 departure.  In the end we’re ready by about 16:15 so the Tower confirm we can bring our flight plan forward, and we’re in the air by 16:35 following the same route back to Denham.
Journey time on the return was 1h 35 mins (head wind) – still considerably quicker than going either by commercial flight, or by road/train/ferry!

(*) – In order to fly to places like the Isle of Man, you have to obtain special clearance from the local unit of Special Branch / Anti Terrorist Unit before you can fly – this needs to be applied for at least 12 hours before the intended flight.  (or go from a designated “customs” airfield such as Coventry, Birmingham, Heathrow, etc – which aren’t overly GA friendly)

So rather than just giving up, I decided to take Vera to Duxford to see the Concorde prototype which is in the museum there.

A quick call to Duxford to PPR and try to get some circuits in is met with “you can’t train here unless you have an instructor, so you can only do a straight in approach and land” .. Shame but c’est la vie.

I tell Vera we’re going to go flying, and ask her if she would like to see Concorde .. this seems to go down quite well

Off we go for what should be a 30 minute flight (going the long way round, via Cranfield’s overhead at 3,000 feet).  We get to Duxford to find a fairly quiet circuit, and we’re given #1 to land.

As we line up on right base I spy a Cessna coming straight in, and he is now also given #1 to land – after a little confusion on the radio we decide it is safer to go around as even in an 80 knot glide we’re going to overtake these guys.  We then go around only to find another aircraft joining the circuit, and then we go around as they’ve lined up a pleasure flight to depart and we’re going to conflict with them .. so 20 minutes in the circuit and 3 go-arounds, we finally get to land!

The walk round the museum is as awe enspiring and amazing as I remember from my pre-PPL days when my instructor (Ches) first took me there to get a “day away” from circuits.

I take Vera onto Concorde and we look at the TSR21 and a decide we definitely need to come back and spend a whole day here in the not too distant future!