Better conditions

I had a nice flight today, still a little bumpy and enough to spill the Pims (if I had one!), but good visibility and not many aircraft in the sky.

The take off was longer than usual due to the hot temprature (air less dense so the wings generate less lift).but we were sill airborne in less than 200m. I throttled back at 300ft to save wear on the engine and make it a little less noisy for those living below the climbout path.

I continued the climb on the western edge of Redditch and then turned on course to Shottewsell when clear. We climbed to 1,500ft and had a good view of Coughton Court as we tracked south west toward Stratford on Avon. I turned south a little more to take us close to Long Marston so we could see what was going on, b ut needn't have bothered. There was one flexwing in the circuit and that was it! I remember when microlights used to swarm around Long Marston like bees in a honeypot, but that was fifteen years ago!

We soon had Shotteswell in our sights, although it usually takes a thorough search to identify it from all the other fields around it. There are some noise sensitive areas around there so you need to make sure that you don't overfly the villages and farms. I came in quite high on the approach, but a nice sideslip soon has us dropping at a rate of knots. I kicked in left rudder to straighten just as we got over the hedge and then rounded out over the runway and held off until about halfway down, as I remembered the first bit being a bit bumpy. We touched down halfway and taxied to the hangar to see who was around, unfortunately, being a Sunday evening, there was no one!

After half an hour of enjoyng the peace and quiet in the sunshine, we made off for our retun journey. This time Lewis was flying and I could enjoy the view. 30 minutes later we landed back in our home strip. Another enjoyable flight!