Nanchang CJ-6 flight from White Waltham to Duxford
Another quick post. Although this one doesn't do the flight justice!
I've always had a fascination with military aircraft. So whenever I get the chance I travel to The Imperial War Museum Duxford - home of one of the largest static aircraft displays in Europe. It's located at a WWII airfield - home to squadrons of Spitfires. In fact, Spitfires and Hurricanes are still restored there.
Saturday I had the opportunity to fly with a colleague on a Nanchang CJ-6 warbird from White Waltham airfield to Duxford. I've blogged about this aircraft before. Its a Chinese military trainer. The highlight was the opportunity to land at Duxford.
We had planned to depart early Saturday but the weather conspired. It was warm - about 20 degress - which combined with the damp ground and minimal wind to create a fog. Although it cleared about midday at White Waltham the tower at Duxford reported very limited visbility. Now the Nanchang is suitable for visual flight rules only so visibility to about 5 miles is a must. So Sean and I enjoyed the sunshine and talking to the many aircraft enthusiasts at the club (they vary from business people to commercial captains).
At 1pm we got the all clear at Duxford so off we went. I wanted to capture video on the way so there were no aerobatics this time. It's a 30 minute trip and Sean had the route well planned using a combination of landmarks and VORs. We had to thread the needle as it were of controlled airspace between Luton, Stansted, and Heathrow. But he's good as right on schedule we landed at Duxford. The Nanchang is painted in military livery so drew a lot of attention from the crowd when we landed and taxied. No pressure Sean!
We enjoyed the day looking at the aircraft then at 5pm we climbed back aboard and took off for the return flight. In fact the conditions had deteriorated with very marginal visbility. Basically due to the combination of haze and a low sun. So we were both kept very busy on the lookout for other light aircraft. Two we had them approach out of the haze "fish bowl" at about 4 miles and disappear shortly afterwards. Sean was well on top of it though with a combination of constant radio communication with the tower requesting traffic reports, and a close vigil.
We landed and then had a few beers to celebrate the trip. Thoroughly enjoyable. Here's the video.
I've always had a fascination with military aircraft. So whenever I get the chance I travel to The Imperial War Museum Duxford - home of one of the largest static aircraft displays in Europe. It's located at a WWII airfield - home to squadrons of Spitfires. In fact, Spitfires and Hurricanes are still restored there.
Saturday I had the opportunity to fly with a colleague on a Nanchang CJ-6 warbird from White Waltham airfield to Duxford. I've blogged about this aircraft before. Its a Chinese military trainer. The highlight was the opportunity to land at Duxford.
We had planned to depart early Saturday but the weather conspired. It was warm - about 20 degress - which combined with the damp ground and minimal wind to create a fog. Although it cleared about midday at White Waltham the tower at Duxford reported very limited visbility. Now the Nanchang is suitable for visual flight rules only so visibility to about 5 miles is a must. So Sean and I enjoyed the sunshine and talking to the many aircraft enthusiasts at the club (they vary from business people to commercial captains).
At 1pm we got the all clear at Duxford so off we went. I wanted to capture video on the way so there were no aerobatics this time. It's a 30 minute trip and Sean had the route well planned using a combination of landmarks and VORs. We had to thread the needle as it were of controlled airspace between Luton, Stansted, and Heathrow. But he's good as right on schedule we landed at Duxford. The Nanchang is painted in military livery so drew a lot of attention from the crowd when we landed and taxied. No pressure Sean!
We enjoyed the day looking at the aircraft then at 5pm we climbed back aboard and took off for the return flight. In fact the conditions had deteriorated with very marginal visbility. Basically due to the combination of haze and a low sun. So we were both kept very busy on the lookout for other light aircraft. Two we had them approach out of the haze "fish bowl" at about 4 miles and disappear shortly afterwards. Sean was well on top of it though with a combination of constant radio communication with the tower requesting traffic reports, and a close vigil.
We landed and then had a few beers to celebrate the trip. Thoroughly enjoyable. Here's the video.
Labels: video
posted by Marty at
Monday, April 16, 2007
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