Getting back into the swing of things
Herne Bay, circuits and go arounds
Recently I’ve been looking at the lack of activity in my logbook and the recent lockdowns and suspension of GA flying is not the only reason for this. Back in August 2020, I had surgery on my shoulder which meant my medical certificate had been suspended and my recovery has been long and slow.
As my entire left arm had been extremely weak since my surgery, I have been very conscious about taking a safety first approach and not jumping back into the cockpit before I was physically ready. With the hospital opening up for face to face physio appointments, this really helped with my mobility and building up more strength to a point where I felt comfortable to operate an aircraft.
The next step was to re-instate my medical certificate, I needed to complete a medical test flight with an examiner. On top of this my type rating had also expired and I had not completed enough hours in the 12 months before expiry to revalidate by experience, so I also needed to complete a licence proficiency check, which felt like taking my skills test again. The good news was that I could complete both of these tests in the same flight. So with COVID lockdown restrictions easing in I managed to get a slot with my examiner Andrew towards the end of April in one of the clubs latest additions to the fleet a Cessna 152 G-BMCN.
It felt absolutely amazing to be back in the air again, and with no problems what so ever with my shoulder and passing the licence proficiency check, all I had to do was send a mountain of paperwork by email to the CAA, send the medical report to my AME and wait for him to re-issue my certificate. This was all done within a couple of weeks.
Although, I had a valid licence and medical, I was still extremely cautious about being too adventurous after nearly a year of not flying, and wanted to get back into the swing of things before venturing off on any longer land away flights or carrying passengers.
I decided to book the Cessna 152 on Sunday 9th May and get a bit of navigation practice, get refreshed with the checks and procedures and brush up on those take offs and landings. I am really glad I did this, as the winds were on the stronger side and Headcorn was busy with traffic, aerobatics, wing walking and skydiving. This meant that I had to be on the ball not drifting off course when navigating and for 2 completely different reasons, out of the 4 circuits completed back at the airfield I had to go around twice.
So the next question was where to plan a short navigation exercise?
Just after the lockdown restrictions had eased slightly, I had a day off work, so my wife and I took the kids for a day on the beach at Herne Bay, a place we have been to a number of times before and the kids absolutely love. But I have never seen it from the air. Considering Herne Bay is only 15 minutes flying time from Headcorn, it seemed the perfect location to get back into the swing of things.
I departed from runway 10 to the east making a slight left turn just after take off in the direction on Canterbury. When clear of the Headcorn ATZ, I changed radio frequency to Southend Radar for a Basic Service. Apart from having to take avoiding action when a PA28 got a bit too close for comfort when we approached the Ashford area the trip to Herne Bay was uneventful and with the visibility being so clear, there were no problems keeping on track despite the strong winds. I continued along the coast until reaching Whitstable before turning back inland heading back towards Headcorn.
As I got closer to Headcorn I changed to the A/G frequency where I requested the airfield information for my join and it was obvious that I was not the only one who had planned to go flying that day. The frequency was extremely busy with multiple aircraft all inbound at the same time. On top of that the parachute plane was dropping skydivers, there was aerobatic activity within the ATZ and model aircraft also being flown.
I managed to slot in on the downwind leg but things seemed to go a bit pear shaped from there. As I descended the approach became rather turbulent with the winds trying to push me off to the south. A bit of rustiness meant that I wasn’t happy with the approach and as I flared ready to touch down, I just kept ballooning. The aircraft just didn’t want to come down. I easily end up ballooning all the way down the runway, so decided the safest course of action was to go around and try again.
I am please I did. The second attempt was much more successful. Although the aircraft wanted to balloon, I was more prepared this time. Although not my finest ever landing, the plane touched down without too much of a bump.
The next circuit was another eventful one. I intend to land on this circuit and call it a day but as I turned base leg another aircraft decided to join on a straight in approach. Despite the radio call I made stating that I was turning base leg and a request from the A/G operator to give way to established circuit traffic, he still decided to proceed with his approach. This meant that there was very little spacing between us and slowing down as much as possible still didn’t allow for enough spacing. The aircraft also seemed to take an age to vacated the active runway too.
With the aircraft still on the runway, this meant another go around. At least it meant a bit more circuit practice and dealing with these situations is all good experience to blow away the cobwebs.
My last circuit was uneventful, and I saved the best landing till last. I was happy to finish the day with a landing that I was pleased with.
It was so good to finally be back up in the air again for the first time at PIC in just under a year and finally some sense of normality.
View the video on my YouTube channel: