Today I made the last flight of what was a pretty miserable flying year. My worst ever in terms of hours, due to a number of factors, with the most significant being the fact that our aircraft was down for maintenance from March until August!
But I did manage a few nice trips, and today I managed a very rare trip during the Christmas break. Or local airport is only open for a few days between Christmas & new year, so it can be hard to make that coincide with our winter weather breaks!
Today I planned a trip with two friends from EIWT Weston to EIDL Donegal, then EGAB Enniskillen before returning to Weston. I’d hoped to have some nice photos to post here, but in the end I spend most of my time working quite hard to find a safe way through the weather. So I’ve few photos and even fewer nice ones. I wasn’t going to bother posting because they are so poor, but in the end I figured I’d share anyway.
The day got off to a bad start when one of my friends that I was hoping to bring confirmed that he couldn’t make it. Some visitors that he was expecting, were now coming earlier than planned. So it was down to just two of us.
At 7:30am the weather looked good. The cloud base was 3500-4000ft towards the start of the journey. Sligo were giving 4000-5000ft and Donegal 3500ft. All with 10km Vis. There aren’t any METARs available in the middle of the country, so no idea what’s happening there. Nothing at all on the precipitation radar and no fronts on the surface pressure charts.
By the time I was taking off, Donegal had dropped to 1600ft and 9km. Sligo (close to Donegal) was still good. So I figured I’d see how far I could get. 1600ft and 9km is still doable, but the terrain around there isn’t really suitable to low level flight.
After about 20 minutes of flying, we were down to 1600ft. Most of the rest of the flight was conducted at about 1400-1500ft, but down to 1200 for short patches.
I transited the Sligo CTR as I wanted my friend to get a sight of Benbulben (mountain) from the air.
Unfortunately it was covered in cloud from about halfway up, so not much to see.
I picked my way through the weather, and to be honest, from early enough in the flight I though that I wasn’t going to make it to the destination. But the really bad patches were short lived and I kept making progress.
Given that I was flying low, I was able to pick up the latest weather. Now Donegal were showing 1400ft at 9km. This was a problem. Donegal is located within class C, and OVC 1400ft requires SVFR. (I need to remain 500ft above the surface and 1000ft below the cloud base). In all likelihood this wouldn’t be a problem, and just ignored on arrival. But I was concerned that they might not let me depart, especially if it deteriorated any further.
As I got to the Donegal Coast, my plan was to follow the coastline around. It’s the most scenic part. That happily coincided now with ensuring a route with no obstacles…the sea! As I followed it, the cloud base dropped further.
The visibility steadily dropped too, and I was now down to 1200ft which the clouds rolling off the mountains below me.
I decided that I had enough. I probably could have made it to Donegal, but I wasn’t confident that I’d get out again. If the next METAR shows 1200ft cloud base there was a good chance that I wouldn’t be allowed to depart. So I decided to turn around and head back to Sligo, where I’d just passed a few minutes before. Sligo was my alternate and was on my mind for some time. Now the decision was made.
Some photos of the coastline along Donegal as I pass back by it as I return to Sligo:
Some island in the Atlantic Ocean
Inishmurray just north of Sligo.
The Sligo coastline
A little lighthouse in the bay
Landing at Sligo wasn’t really necessary. But I wanted some time on the ground to think my plan through. I want some “quality time” to rethink my fuel calculations while not having to fly in difficult weather, and to consider the terrain between Sligo and Enniskillen. What was it like considering that I’d come most of the way from Weston at no more than 1500ft? If I tried but couldn’t make it did I have enough fuel to divert home again or would I have to come back to Sligo? With a few minutes on the ground I decided that the terrain was fine, and I’d plenty of fuel. But some things you can’t afford to make a mistake on, so best to do it when you can concentrate on the factors! Besides, Sligo is a nice place and a worthy destination in itself! After a little while on the ground we were ready to go again.
So on we went to Enniskillen. This is Benbulben, and the cloud base had actually risen a bit now!
Downwind for Enniskillen
We enjoyed a nice unhealthy, but tasty, breakfast in Enniskillen before heading back home.
Now the weather had improved significantly. We still couldn’t get much about 1500ft for most of the time, but the visibility was no longer any issue below.
This is Co Cavan, where there are plenty of small lakes.
The midlands
Sorry for the quality of the photos. But as you’ve gathered, I’d my mind on other things for most of the time! All in all, it was about 2.5 hours flying and an enjoyable day, even if we didn’t make our intended destination!
Colm
Thanks Colm. Just curious: what circumstance grounds a plain vanilla plane like that for half a year?
Impas supposed to do a flight today.. but ended up stranded in lyon as commercial flight cancelled yesterday evening and now about to go via manchester so can arrive before midnight in London. Sigh.
Thanks Colm!
I am glad you shared this. Many people will just not go flying in this kind of weather even tough VFR is still quite possible and you have a nice day out of it. Is there a GAFOR in Ireland? What was the classification? D or M?
I have to second Boscomantico, what on earth got this Piper stranded that long? I recall we had a Seneca down here which waited for fuel tanks for over a year, so it is really interesting to know what caused this. (My airplane was grounded for 2 months waiting for parts for fuel cap replacement, but that was in winter and ok as it moved the annual out of the time when my maintenance base is hardly usable)
Colm thank you for posting – lovely memories of flying in Ireland (where I also bumped into my 90 HP Super Cub). Is it still easy to just pop over to Enniskillen? Are they still offering to train for a float plane rating?
Thanks for sharing, very impressive! One day we’ll make it to Ireland for sure.
Thanks for posting these Colm – nice to see some VFR in less than perfect conditions. Sligo, Donegal and Enniskillen are all on my must-visit list for 2017.
Nice pics. Good decision on Donegal, cafe would have been shut anyway…..long way and tough flight, not to even get a coffee. Been there, done that, with Donegal. Its real ‘gotcha’ weather though, particularly on the coastline, where the next bay, the cloud base could be to the deck. Your turn back to Sligo, also looked as though it got interesting. Ah, the joys…..on a positive note, weather no different to July….
boscomantico wrote:
Just curious: what circumstance grounds a plain vanilla plane like that for half a year?
I have to second Boscomantico, what on earth got this Piper stranded that long?
It was decided that our hydraulic gear pump was getting on a bit and it was replaced by a new one at the annual inspection in January. In March a leak was found coming from the new pump. Hence started a series of unbelievable replacements. I’m not 100% clear on the details (someone else in our club looks after the engineering) but I think in total 4 new pumps had to be ordered, before a good one was received. One of the new pumps would only pump in one direction, and the others were also found to have leaks. At one stage the engineering decided that this was too unlikely and it must be in fact the seals that were gone and not the pump, so new seals were ordered and replaced, but that didn’t fix the leak. Each new pump took a few weeks to be delivered as it came from the US. It’s hard to have confidence in pumps after that!
Mooney_Driver wrote:
Is there a GAFOR in Ireland? What was the classification? D or M?
Is it still easy to just pop over to Enniskillen?
I suppose it depends on what you mean by easy! Technically you need a GAR form and a flight plan. I know that a lot of people ignore the GAR form and nothing seems to come from it. But it is a legal requirement and doesn’t take much effort, so I always do it anyway. It’s totally pointless for movement between the Republic and Northern Ireland, given that you can drive across the border and not even be sure when you actually cross it, and are incredibly unlikely to see any sort of authority. If I wanted to smuggle something across the border I’d just put it in my car and drive. Trying to bring it through an airport would be much riskier! Anyway, best to do the GAR given that it’s a legal requirement and they don’t seem to mind if the times change somewhat. In fact, I’ve been met by many police officers over the years when entering and exiting the UK, but never, not once, in Northern Ireland.
RobertL18C wrote:
Are they still offering to train for a float plane rating?
Thanks for all the nice comments everyone. I’m glad I posted it now :)
Colm some PPL Gardai hang out at Sligo, they assured me the GAR was not necessary, and Enniskillen EGAB used to sell AvGas duty free.
