Flying around the Maltese Islands

So I few months back I went up to my boss and asked ’I’ve been working really hard… Can I get a raise and a month off?’
‘You can take 4 weeks’ was his reply.

So there I was end of September away from busy London on a sunny beach in Malta, sipping my beer, thinking… ‘I wonder how this rock looks from above?’

A few Google searches later and I contacted a local flying school to see if I could rent their aircraft for some local flights. Here’s how it all went:

Flight #1: Proficiency check
One of the local flying schools uses a 172s, 152s and a Tecams for training flights. Having only 1 hour experience in a 172 I felt brave and decided to do the check in it. Big mistake!

Turned up at the airport in mid day heat, which in the beginning of October was still 30deg+ with a completely clear sky but slight crosswind. Went through the airport security and met my instructor. We had a friendly chat and talked about the various taxy ways, procedures, notams and things we will be doing. This being my first time renting from somewhere else than my base airfield I had loads of basic questions…
Do I use my 172 check lists or yours? Use the ones in the aircraft
Do I need to ask permission for startup to ground? Yes, in the format ‘XXXXX with information C, QNH … request startup for local flight’
Where can I buy charts? I’ve just printed them for you, here they are.

My biggest concern at that point was ATC. Never before have I been in such big airport and with full ATC, atis, ground, tower and radar and was not sure how to properly deal with them. Hey I’ve only had my licence for less than a year!
The instructor also explained that the airspeed indicator is in mph and not knots and I’ll have to add 10 to all the speeds, for example as glide speed becomes 75 instead of 65 etc… At the time I thought, hey this is not a big deal. But it was… as I kept on forgetting this when I was in the circuit.

Picture of the GA apron:

So off we went to the aircraft and did the usual checks and started the taxying.
On the ground I made a few rookie mistakes such as not reading back the departure clearance correctly and not switching on the transponder (transponder ALT was in the ‘memorise’ part of the unfamilair checklists).

‘Cleared for takeoff runway 05, Golf – Charlie Lima… errr… Niner – Charlie Lima’
And we were off to an area where we could climb to 3000 feet. We did some stalls and then some steep turns. At one point I even got a ‘very nice’ comment from the instructor.

Then we went to do some circuit work. And that’s when my problems started. I was hot, a bit tired and kept getting my speeds wrong/confused. In addition my lack of experience in the 172 meant I kept flaring too low and messing up my landings. This was probably because I more used on the 152 in which one sits a bit lower and sinks a big slower. It could also be that I was having a bad day.

Whatever the reason, my first landing was a bounce and my second landing was slightly better but still pretty poor. The airport got pretty busy at that point with some big jets landing and we were put on holds, which meant the instructor was running out of time. He asked me to do the final one
as a glide. On downwind he cut the power and I set the speed, probably incorrectly in knots instead of mph, and yes you guessed it… I was short and wouldn’t make it. After adding a bit of power I managed an ok landing. But I was really annoyed at myself.
After shutdown the instructor told me he would like to see a few more circuits before signing me off. This didn’t come at a surprise at all, in fact if I was the instructor I would have told myself to quit flying and try taking gardening as a hobby. But still I was pretty demoralized with the outcome and additionally the 172 was booked for the remaining of the week. So I had no choice but to book the ‘few circuits’ on the 152 on the next day.

Flight #2: Few circuits
Again an absolutely beautiful clear day. This time I booked it first thing in the morning to avoid the heat. Quick chat and coffee with the instructor where I asked him if the airspeed indicator reads bananas. I was assurred that on the 152 it’s knots but the alt was in inches of mercury… heck isn’t mercury carcinogenic I said? heh nobody gets my humour nowadays…

At the flying school’s phone rang to which the instructor picked up and said ‘Malta school of flying, how can I help…. pause… err… no we don’t organize BUS tours around the island. But we can take you flying if you want… it’s faster’. I decided to nickname their 152 ‘The bus’ from then on.

And at that we were off for our 3 circuits. This time there wasn’t any problems. 2 nice landings and an okish glide. The instructor signed my log book and told me I could go for a flight now if I wanted (the 152 was free the entire day). Unfortunately I promised my son and GF to take them to the beach so my flight would have to wait.

Here’s a picture of ‘The bus’ with legs:

Flight #3: First local flight
After 2 weeks of being in Malta without a single drop of rain, of course the night before I was going on my first flight around the islands, there was a huge thunderstorm.

Malta does not mess around when it rains… It does it properly. Streets in my area turned into rivers and we’ve even had a short power cut due to the lighting, not to mention the frequent loud thunder kept me awake. In the morning it was cloudy and the TAF said something like PROB30 8000 TSRA BKN100CB. Spooked by the thunderstorm at night I was about to cancel.

I called the club and felt a bit reassured as they said on that day the CBs would be easily visible and can be avoided. I figured I’m not really going that far I could be back on the runway in 15min tops so I decided to go. It was a good decision as I didn’t see another drop of rain for the entire stay.

While I was on the hold about to turn to do my usual runups I heard someone with a weird callsign (I don’t remember what it was). At that point I looked up from my checklist and spotted a red arrow on the runway in front of me!
By the time I found my camera it had already departed. There was an airshow few days before and I think I saw the last arrow depart back to the UK. I never tookoff behind a red arrow before! I don’t I think I’ll ever have another chance of seeing one up so close!

So after another:
‘Cleared for takeoff runway 23, Golf – Foxtrot Victor… damn it… Niner – Foxtrot Victor’
I was off. I had my Dad as a passenger, and he loved it. Now that I wasn’t stressed about impressing the instructor I was really enjoying the views. My dad kept on pointing and naming the places we passed over (he lived on the Island all his life)… I didn’t even need the gps, I could have followed his directions! Unfortunately my dad is not great at taking pictures…

This is west point VRP (also the most bit of the islands)

Xlendi bay in Gozo which looks much better when it’s sunny, really :)

Marsalforn also in Gozo:

This the Island of Comino, which almost fits all in one picture. There is one hotel, a camping area and a small tower (barely visible on the far top left) and that’s pretty much it. Almost nobody lives on it.

The instructor the day before gave me a print out of a restricted area that was notamed. The area was rather large, covering parts of Gozo, bits of Comino and the tip of Malta and was active for 3 months! I wondered what the reason was and the instructor told me that Angelina and Brad Pitt were shooting a movie in a bay in Gozo and didn’t want to get aircraft in their shots. Restricting an area with a diameter of about 4 miles up to 2000 feet for 3 months felt like a bit of an overkill to me for just some movie. But hey maybe I’ve spent too much time living in London, where they would never be able to do something like that.

Flight #4:

Yes that’s me wearing flip flops :)

This time I took a friend, Karl who used to be flight attendant working with a local airline.
So I started going through the usual startup checklist at which point I heard something along the lines:
“Ladies and gentlemen, please stow your carry-on luggage underneath the seat in front of you or in an overhead bin. Please take your seat and fasten your seat belt. And also make sure your seat back and folding trays are in their full upright position…”
At which point I looked at him, and he shurged and told me “Hey you should pay attention to the safety brief, even if you’re a frequent flyer.”

And we took off for another great local flight.

Here is a shot of Portomaso, the highest building in malta (only 22 stores I think)

The two ferries are the connection between the two main islands Malta and Gozo. The picture is taken when I’m over the third island Comino, which is in between the other two, The blue patch on the right is a place called ‘Blue Lagoon’

A better picture of Blue Lagoon and on the top right, (boats coming out of there) there is the Gozo marina ‘Imgar’. Unfortunately I could not get much closer due to the restricted area.

This is a little known bay (at least to tourists) called San Blas in Gozo:

And some more pictures of Gozo:

Back over Malta, Dingli Cliffs 800 feet high:

The 152 I was flying was as old as the ones I fly in the UK but somehow it felt different and better. It was perfectly balanced on cruise and it climbed very fast whenever I wanted it. It did not want to bank over to one side or the other nor did it squeak and rattle at every single bit of tarmac imperfection. The engine seemed smoother, quieter and more responsive. I don’t know what it was but it’s likely that the 152 has seen less use and better weather than my busy flying school in the UK. It was really a joy to fly it.

It might not have the latest avionics… but when did you last see a 152 without cracks in the panel?

When we were getting back to land, my passenger asked me if we could fly around Filfla as he’s never seen it from the air.
“Niner – Foxtrot Victor, request direct Filfla’
“approved Niner – Foxtrot Victor”
We got over it and we commented how it’s crumbling away. Filfla was used a practise bomb target during WW2. Unfortunetley the camera ran out of battery at that point… so no pictures! here’s a link on wikipedia
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Filfla

Being the first landing in a light aircraft, Karl mentioned that the landing feels much smoother than on an airline and asked if that was due to the springy wheels. I said it’s possible but didn’t tell him that it was the best landing that I’ve ever done.

Flight #5:
My girlfriend is afraid of heights and hates flying. After getting my licence I’ve asked her numerous times if she fancies coming along. Her replies ranged from ‘No way’ to ‘I rather have stomach surgery in the woods with a stick’. After a while I stopped asking…

So I was really shocked when she asked me if I could take her for a flight around the islands. When asked what changed her mind her reply was “Well if I’m gonna be in a plane crash might as well do it where the water is warm and blue”. Hmmm fair enough.

So the next day we’re both sitting on the tarmac with her not speaking a single word and looking really frightened. I kept on asking her if she still wanted to do this and she kept on nodding. At one point I was about to cancel the whole thing as I was fearing that she might lose it when we’re in the air. So at the hold, I turned to her and told her that she doesn’t need to do this, and if she still wants to take off we can turn back and land in a few minutes. This seemed to work as she relaxed a bit. And at that we were off.

As soon as we were off the ground she was back to herself, snapping pictures and making jokes. I must have felt more relieved that she did! Here are some pictures she took.

Fields in Malta. Not a long of places you can land if you have an engine failure. The fields are really small, most less than 50 metres, with stone walls marking the perimeter.

Gnejna Bay in Malta:

This shows the three Islands in one pic :). Left to right, Gozo, Comino and the north tip of Malta.

Angelina and Brad were filming in the creek on the far right. This was as close as I could get without entering the restricted area :)

Here is Gozo’s best beach called Ramla il-Hamra (translates red sand).

And this is me turning on long final over the Malta harbour:

At the end of the flight she even said that she really enjoyed it and might do it again after all! There is still hope after all!

Before I left I went to have final chat with the instructors at the club to thank them and tell them that it was my final flight as I was heading back to the UK. To my surprise they told me that the 152 was sold to a UK club and it was also it’s last flying day before being shipped/ferried!