Struggling with the sun on our return flight from Lydd

VFR from Lydd to Headcorn in the Cessna 172 G-ATWJ

Our trip to Lydd was only a short one. With the airport closing at 19:00, we were asked politely by air traffic control if we could plan our departure no later than 18:45. This meant that we only had time to pay the landing fee and get a drink and a snack from the vending machine next to restaurant which was closed.

There weren’t many signs of life at Lydd airport at that time of day so we didn’t hang about and made our way back to the aircraft. After completing the pre-flight checks, it was back to the main purpose of the trip, to practice the procedures at an airport with full air traffic control service. It had been a while since I had listened to an ATIS broadcast and I had forgotten how useful they really are.

After obtaining the latest ATIS information, I called Lydd approach on the radio for my taxi and departure clearance and after completing the checks on the engine made my way to the holding point for runway 21.

We were given clearance to take off before even reaching the hold and with a relatively strong headwind almost straight down the runway, we were off the ground in no time at all. Just before making our right turn after departure, the ATC controller asked us to confirm our cruising altitude and to report when passing the town of Tenterden.

At this stage, I remembered one of the biggest challenges of flying VFR at this time of day when the sun is close to setting. With the sun setting in the west and our route taking us north west, as we reached our cruising altitude of 2,000 feet it became incredibly difficult to see anything ahead of us.

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The sun made it really difficult to identify the small towns between all of the green fields and only spotted the town of Tenterden when we were about 1 mile from reaching it. Before we had even got there, I think the controller at Lydd wanted to finish his day and go home, as there was no known traffic in the area, he terminated the service slightly early and suggested I freecall Headcorn.

On changing over frequency to Headcorn, I could hear on the radio that there were a few aircraft in the circuit already and another two aircraft plus myself inbound to join. With this and the visibility in mind, I decided to alter my track slightly and head slightly further to the north west allowing me to position and join early on the downwind leg for runway 28 with a left hand circuit which would give other joining traffic a gap ahead of me.

Joining the circuit was uneventful but with runway 28 at Headcorn pointing towards the west turning onto final approach created another challenge as the sun was fully in my eyes. Guiding the plane down to the ground safely was not easy and I was fully prepared to go around at any point. The approach was stable though and was pleased with my judgement as we touched down bang in the middle of the grass runway.

We vacated the runway, completed the after landing checks and taxied back to our parking stand and shut down the engine at the end of another great day of flying.

Watch the video on my YouTube channel:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I0MuPPpKz-8