Flying to Chilliwack on Tuesday

Contrails over the northern twilight BA086 on Tuesday night

The Thames basks in summer sunshine ready for the Henley Regatta

I thought I might have enough time to get a quick lunch at Chilliwack but the restaurant there is very busy these days as it attracts a lot of locals as well as aviators.
So the place was packed when Heinz and I turned up in the DA42... We bought some pies and flew back to Boundary Bay...

BA086

I was booked on the 17:55 flight to London so it was a bit of a rush...
Strange thing was that my father ended up being booked on the same flight!
The flight arrived early at Heathrow terminal five, my brother Kenneth came to pick up my father, and I got the bus to pick up my rental car; a Vauxhall Corsa.

White Waltham

Phil was both surprised and pleased to see me at White Waltham... He'd just been flying in Condor G AWFP.
I worked on this Condor a few years ago putting a new skin on the underside of the wing centre section and doing other wood repairs on it. The aeroplane had been at an maintenance company who had quoted £14,000 for its repair, I did it for £5,000!
I knew my Condors well having rebuilt and operated a few of them.
Many people were amazed at the Boundary Bay Air Show I am told, they didn't know I could fly an aeroplane like that! Many people don't know that at one time I could overhaul and repair old aeroplanes...

Coincidentally Trevor turned up at White Waltham and so we went for a flight in the Luscombe.
A few nights ago chap at the next table to us in Speeds Pub back in Ladner was talking about the Henley Regatta... 'I'll fly over Henley On Thames next week' I thought, and so I did!
I flew up past Stoken Church and back and did a reasonable landing on 21 at White Waltham.
The Luscombe has no transponder and the radio was advisory rather than full ATC... Freedom to go that we don't have in the Lower Mainland.
Trevor flew with me at Chiang Mai Flying Club a couple of years ago, and then at Seattle - Boeing Field last year.

Winkfield

I booked into the Bed and Breakfast the the Old Coach House near Maidenhead, £40 a night, and then drove to see Walter in Winkfield.
We went out for dinner and I have to say that the price of eating out was shocking... I was told it is much more expensive here than in Canada but in fact it was the same!
I had fish and chips, the fish was a bigger portion than I often see in BC, and the salad bar was all you can eat, all for £4.99.
A pint of real beer was £2.50 to £3.00 so it actually is not more expensive at all.

Thursday was a busy day...
Flew up to Hinton in the Hedges in the Luscombe to pick up a Cessna 185A an flew back to White Waltham.
Was driven up to Horton Cum Studley to pick up the Beech Sundowner to return it to White Waltham... Had a scrap with a Nanchang near Thame on the way back.
Drove to Guildford and then went to the pub with old friends...
Friday... Drove to Wycombe Air Park and spent the day at the Aero Expo.
Another busy day today, Saturday.

On Saturday I went to see Walter who was preparing the Rolls Royces and a Packard for a classic car show...
If I'd known... but I'd already agreed to take someone to the Aero Expo instead.
There are always a lot of things happening on an English summer weekend.

In England you can choose 125mph or steam

...was my birthday and Roger Bade flew in to White Waltham to take me up in his Yak 12 (PZL 101)... What an experience, it takes strong arms to fly this aircraft which is very like an enlarged Auster.

In the afternoon I took the Beech Sundowner down to Headcorn and was surprised that Farnborough Radar gave me a service all the way!
The new ACK350 encoder reported my altitude as being 300 feet when I was at 1,500 feet so I went back to Mode A.

At Headcorn I met familiar faces from my past... What impresses me these days is how we have all aged... I remember Chris building his hours in the Turbulent to do his commercial pilot's licence, and now he has retired from his airline job!

Monday 28th June

I checked with Benson Radar and the encoder showed me at 200 feet rather than 2,000 feet as I flew up to Turweston to get the encoder fixed.
I borrowed a car to drive to nearby Hinton in the Hedges to retrieve my sunglasses from the Cessna 185A there...
Flying back to White Waltham I called Benson again and this time the encoder didn't work, I recycled the new Garmin Transponder and the altitude was up and down and wildly different to the steady 2,500 feet I was maintaining... I'll take it back and get a replacement ACK350 in the morning...

Norman Pealing turned up in the evening... There was a special train being pulled by two steam locomotives due through at 19:58 and so we went an took pictures.

A typical 'Canadian image' at Blackbushe
An amphib and a sad Cessna in the weeds...

Lots of choice: autogyros, microlights, Tiger Moths, aeroplanes and
parachuting all on the same uncontrolled airfield

A glider from Lasham had forced landed at Popham and was towed home

What shocks me about England today is the unhealthiness of the people, it's like being in the USA!
There's fewer fit people, and few slim women...
Too many chips and fatty foods and too little exercise.
There's a sharp contrast between people on the street and those actively involved in flying and other activities.

Travelogue

Tuesday was spent at Turweston sorting out the encoder... A new one was fitted and the same troubles occured so wires were repositioned and another ground wire fitted and after a whole day the system worked correctly.

Wednesday I drove to Hartley Wintney with a stop for a cup of tea at Blackbushe which is a different place to the one I knew 36 years ago.
At Hartley Wintney I had lunch with Jean who is now 87 years old... I have known her and her late husband for a very long time since my Blackbushe days working on aeroplanes in cold draughty T hangars...
I left there to drive to Salisbury, but kept going all the way to Dawlish in Devon where in 1973/74 I lived at my grandparents, worked for £21.50p take home pay inspecting blades for jet engines, and learned to fly at Exeter Flying Club at £11.64p an hour dual. I found a B&B at £64 a night...
Breakfast was good in the morning, served by a Thai lady :)
After a walk around the town and the sea front I got in the car and drove to Paignton to take a ride on the Dart steam railway, and then I drove to Buckfastleigh for a cream tea, and then over Dartmoor, through Exeter and on to Sidmouth where I found another B&B for £60 a night and had a bite to eat in the Anchor pub.

Friday morning I drove to Lyme Regis where I had a walk along the Cobb, and then visited the museum... I drove through Crewkerne before I realised the signs had taken me away from the town, I had intended to have lunch there... But instead I found myself a cup of tea and a muffin in Yeovil before continuing to Salisbury and on to Old Sarum to meet up with Mark McLelland who has a microlight school there. I met Mark in Chiang Mai when he was instructing at Nok.

On the road to Old Sarum from Salisbury (New Sarum) I found a B&B at £43 a night and then went into Salisbury for a walk around the cathedral followed by a green curry dinner at a Thai restaurant, I talked to a South African immigrant family there.

The B&B's owner made me porridge in the morning... I can't eat so many fried breakfasts... I like my oats in the morning!
England is a very social place, it's easy to strike up a conversation with most people.. Saturday morning was no exception and we got into a discussion of philosophy over the breakfast table that delayed my departure...
I drove to Old Sarum Aerodrome where on a bright Saturday morning there's a lot of action... I would love to see the same enthusiasm for flying in Canada!

It's not easy to tear oneself away from one active place to go to another, but I did and drove to Popham where I had a late lunch stuffing myself with a baked potato filled with cheese and onions...
I spent some time chatting there, and saw Jed and John arrive in their Austers and so I went to sit and have a cup of tea with them.
People age, and it's been six years or more since I've seen many people here and it is interesting... I should come here more often, if not to live here again.

Saturday night I stayed at Walter's and in the morning we took one of his grandsons for a flight to Sandown on the Isle of Wight.
Sandown looks a bit run down, it's sad as I think it has excellent prospects if the right people own it.

Monday was mostly spent at White Waltham in the expectation of flying, it was a 'hang around the airfield' day!

Tuesday was busy... I drove to Hartley Wintney to meet up with Jean Chamberlain for morning tea... She liked the Thai music CD's I'd left her to try and so I left them with her.
From there I went to Weybridge to meet Norman for lunch at the revamped Hand and Spear pub where we both had good English food :)

Tuesday afternoon I drove back to White Waltham to take the Sundowner to Walter's own strip near Horton Cum Studley.
This field was a lot smoother than White Waltham to land on...

Wednesday was my last day... I'd booked the new Tecnam Twin at Wycombe to give it a try... The sky was overcast with a bit of drizzle in the morning and so it didn't look promising.

Edited: I wrote a bit about my flight experience in the Tecnam Twin but I have deleted it as it was not an entirely positive experience.
I have learned that whatever I write on this website can be interpreted many ways and an honest write up of anything like this does not go down well.
As far as the aircraft was concerned it was a positive experience, as far as CRM was concerned there were a few differences of opinion.
I turn on a landing or taxy light before starting the takeoff roll for visibility of our aircraft for both other aircraft and birds... I was told in no uncertain terms that this was not done at Wycombe Air Park as if what I was doing was seriously wrong. This was one of many minor instances of 'differences' without explanation... I myself never do anything without a good reason and an explanation, this is part of good CRM.

I liked the Tecnam P2006T and would rather have one of these than a DA42.

I drove to the Sheraton Hotel at Heathrow to drop the car off and took a bus to Terminal 5 for the long flight back to Canada... The weather had cleared nicely...