Flight #9 - Shoreham - Birthday flight around the Isle of Wight

For my 45th birthday I had taken the day off work and while my girls were at school I booked 2 hours with my flying instructor (FI) so I could fly my wife for the first time. Looking ahead to getting my Pilot's License I need to know if my family will want to fly with me or if this will be a solo hobby.

We went for a birthday breakfast at a local hotel, and I went carb free so didn't inject insulin. We then headed down to Brighton to do some shopping. From there it was a quick drive to Shoreham to meet the FI. I had discussed with him the route I was hoping to take to show my wife what flying in a light aircraft is like. I wanted us to do a loop around the Isle of Wight to the west of Shoreham, then fly back to the east for a bit so we could circle around our house in Plumpton, then back for landing.

Here's the route...

My wife strapped into the back seat and commented on how roomy and comfortable the Piper Warrior felt. That was a good start. The FI had done the external checks so I did the Before Engine Start, Starting Engine, and After Engine Start checks and taxied us to the start of runway 25 which is grass. I did a smooth take off and soon we were climbing to around 2,000ft heading west. There was quite a lot of cloud at 2,200 ft so we stayed below that. 

The flight along the solent was just lovely - great views of Chichester then Portsmouth. We listened in to Solent radio to hear the Southampton Airport approaches, and after Cowes I brought us down to 1,000ft for even clearer views. As we approached The Needles the FI took control and brought us lower and lower until as he flew us around the needles we were at around 250 ft which is below cliff height.

Here's a video of that low pass around The Needles...

After that we flew at around 1,000 ft along the south coast of the Isle of Wight until we got to Bembridge and then the FI took us in a climbing turn up through a hole in the clouds. We flew east for a few minutes and then he brought us down through a hole in the clouds again. It was very interesting to see how he did this and learn about the techniques of precision climbs and descents like this.

I then flew us back to Shoreham as we needed to cross to the east for a quick loop around our house. As we got close the FI asked Shoreham Approach for permission for a "low level transit", which was approved. I wasn't too sure what this meant but in this case it meant diving towards the airfield and a very fast 150 kt flight at 30 ft (!) altitude over runway 07 then a "Spitfire" pull up and to the right - wow!

Wew then headed over the South Downs and circled our house in the beautiful village of Plumpton for photos...

Finally I flew us back to Shoreham for a bit of a blustery landing that was harder than I would have liked. I still need lots of practice to get my landing smooth. Here's a video of the approach and landing...

And here is a photo of my wife and I after the flight. She loved it, said it was calm and relaxing, and I have a green light to take my girls up sometime, which is fantastic!

Weather...
- METAR EGKA 201020Z 26010KT 9999 FEW017 SCT022 16/12 Q1018
- At 10:20 GMT on 20th (October) wind 260 degrees at 10 kt, visibility 10+ km with a few clouds at 1,700 ft and scattered clouds at 2,200 ft. Temperature 16 deghrees, dew point 12 degrees. Barometric pressure 1018 hPa

Blood sugar readings...
> 2 hours before flight: 10.1
< 30 mins before flight: 9.7
After 1 hour of flight: 9.1
Before landing: 8.8

Flying hours...
This flight: 1h 40m
Accumulated: 9h 55m