And Solo Lydd!

With what seems to be a rare break in the weather in this country I've embarked on what can only be described as a lunge for the finish line.

On Tuesday I managed my first solo land away, Lydd having been chosen. I was flying the same route as previously but was actually in charge of an aircraft by myself! The day was CAVOK if a little windy, although that was almost straight down the runway at both Blackbushe and Lydd.

Is that a nuclear power plant in the background?

The outbound route felt good. Navigation worked well and I was spotting landmarks and timing went well. The RT was proactive and smooth. I did struggle to lose height coming from the dead side through the circuit for runway 21 with the strength of the wind but it ended up as a good landing. On the way back I had a little 'diversion' way to the east of Biggin - too paranoid about straying into Gatwick's airspace I think or the wind was stronger than forecast at 2000'. A sloppy cross wind landing rounded things off at Blackbushe but I got back and didn't bend anything. It was a fantastic experience and I look forward to more.

Today I flew dual navex to Shoreham. The weather wasn't bad - relatively calm with patchy sun and clouds at 4500'. Another approach over the sea here which is part for the circuit for runway 02. Once again outbound wasn't bad with the Shoreham landing being a bit timid and made my classic mistake of dropping below 70 kts on final. Bad! Coming back I got a bit behind everything with a more complicated RT for Shoreham - Tower and Approach. I got a bit flustered for the long leg but with some prodding from Barrie managed a decent landing. Shoreham has a lovely art deco terminal building which has been used for Poirot. It was sadly under scaffolding on today's visit. There was time for a nicely presented cup of tea though.

 You'd think I'd have taken a happier pilot selfie! Probably the £31 landing fee.