Flying
Cross Country (Scottish Style!) - by
Steve Wright
Inspired
on by Kevin Taylor's recent article on XC flying, I've recently been
poring over the Air Chart to plan possible XC flights, according to
the wind directions. Having worked out a number of possible routes for
given winds, and made note of likely useful petrol stations (with handy
landing fields available nearby) en route, I decided last Tuesday to
take the plunge (or more correctly make that leap of faith!), and headed
of into the wind SSW toward my goal, the picturesque Deeside village
of Ballater.
We have been blessed with fantastic flying weather for the last ten
days,and only now that the wind has risen have I somewhat reluctantly
parked up my motor & wing and sat down to write about it - almost
every day has been a flying day for the last fortnight here!
After pre-flight safety checks and making sure the tank was full to
the brim (9¾ litres), I had a nice, gentle but reliable SSW "air"
of about 5-7kph to take off into. I was soon over the local forest that
covers much of the first 7 or so km of the journey, and well up into
the 1000+ metre bracket, all the while making good steady progress.
At times like this, I think to myself it's always a good thing that
I have remembered to remove the breather tube stopper, as there are
not too many "friendly" landing sites down in the forest;
this was something I learned on one of my earlier flights, though luckily
for me it occurred over a more friendly part of countryside! In fact,
I managed to land back on my own landing field, but when the motor did
cut out on my first "round the block" flight, I was retrospectively
glad that it had not happened whilst over the 15,000 acre wood!
My general knowledge of the topography of the region is fairly good,
and it certainly aids navigation when one knows local features, hills,
Castles and the like. Coupled with a carefully thought out plan of the
route which has been worked out thoroughly in advance, and a "Mind's
Eye" picture of the proposed route, I was fairly soon mentally
ticking off the various "Staging Posts" en route.
Though it has been very pleasant weather recently, with little or no
winds on many days, there is still quite a bit of snow around the higher
parts of the country; less wind means that it tends not to melt too
quickly, and hangs on in there. At this time of year, the grouse muir
gamekeepers take advantage of fine days to burn small areas of old,
rank and unpalatable heather, which is replaced next season by pioneer
young heather that grows back from the scorched stems of the previous
year's burning. Sometimes they will take advantage of a bank of snow
lying on the ground, and use it as a natural fire-break, to which they
control their small fires toward.
As you can see in the photo, taken over to the right
of my immediate flightpath, there was a little stronger, though constant
breeze higher up in the hills than the lower ground.
The more of these small "fires" made on a moor, the greater
the diversity of age class of heather, and subsequently the more areas
of valuable young heather shoots for both game and non-game bird species
to live on. Estate managers strive to burn these small strips and corners
on a 7-10 year cycle, as when the heather gets older than this it becomes
less useful as a food
resource for the birds.
In
this way, an extensive patch-work (with much emphasis on the second
syllable!!) of habitat is created, which sustains a much higher density
and variety of wildlife than would be the case if no burning took place,
and the heather was left to become one big, even-aged monoculture. Any
way, enough of the habitat management lecture!
A
well managed muir showing the extensive patchwork of well thought out
muir-burn.
The high pressure we've had centred over Scotland this past ten days
or so has kept any rain at bay, and with much working going on in the
fields, and muir-burning going on, I was very much aware of the "ceiling"
of dustier air, with the bright blue higher above, as described in Kevin's
earlier article. As I was going on a comparatively short initial journey
though, and not altogether sure how my fuel would last, I resisted the
temptation to punch up through!
I needn't have been duly concerned, as things turned out, and I had
in any 
event
been periodically checking the fuel level marked on the side of my tank
with a small mirror which is attached to my trouser- pocket zip via
an old ski-pass "zinger" (fine string on a spring, like a
spring tape measure, which retracts safely out of harm's way after use).
On an earlier occasion, I'd measured in fuel litre by litre and marked
the level on the tank, and then numbered the tank in "Mirror-ese",
to make reading by the mirror easier.
Presently, after around 1¼hours of flying, I arrived over the
Tullich woods and looked down to the small town of Ballater. I'd previously
had a good look at the map, and knowing the plain in the middle of the
Dee valley there (to be a: Flat and grassy, and b: near to the petrol
station!), I made my approach over the last ridge of hills, to be met
by some rowdier air, which, thankfully did not last that long, and I
made my landing approach. Until I was quite certain that no power lines
were running over the intended landing field (middle of the lighter
fields below), I kept a respectable height, and once certain all was
clear, re-attached my speedbar to the seat D's, pulled down the trimmer
tabs, and eased off the throttle to tickover.
On my first pass, I realised I would land rather close to the trees
that now colonise the old railway line to the left of the field (landing
into the wind meant coming in from right to left as one views the photo),
and abandoned this attempt, powered up again and then took another,
final circuit for a gentle touchdown - my first stage of the XC run
was complete!
Checking
my fuel (I'd used about 5¾ litres for 1¼hours of flight
to cover the 40km SLD - Straight-Line Distance) I presently set off
for the fuel station to scrounge the use of a tin (a 1940's antique
as it turned out, with as many years of "patina" on the top,
but mercifully clean inside!) and bought 5 litres. I had brought 4 x
100ml bottles with synthetic 2-stroke oil with me in the side pocket
of my Vortex unit for the purpose (I put them inside plastic bags to
guard against leaks, and take a supply of disposable rubber gloves with
which to refuel & do any messy work!), the kind that 2-stroke oil
for chain-saws is sold in. I also find it pays to have these, along
with any other heavy items to be carried in the pocket on the side of
the unit that requires to be trimmed most against the rotation of the
propeller, which in the Vortex's case is the Left hand side.
High
over Balmoral owned by Her Majesty the Queen!
After
a bite of lunch and a draw on my Camelbak squash drink container (GET
ONE - you'll never be thirsty whilst preparing for take off or during
flight again!) I checked the wind with some kid's soap bubbles that
I also carry, and laid out the wing to prepare for take-off for the
second leg of my journey. A steady, if little stronger (by now it was
1.30pm) breeze was
coming from the hills to the SW, which made the forward launch pretty
easy. I now changed course to fly West, up the Dee valley, past Balmoral
(pic 1) , and on to Mar Lodge (pic 2), before returning to Braemar (pic
3) and the final fuel stop.
Mar
Lodge, Now owned by National Trust for Scotland
Braemar
village
Although the distance betweenBallater and Braemar had only been 22km
or so, I'd added 10km to the journey by first passing Braemar and flying
over Mar Lodge and returning to the village, and this part of the trip
had taken exactly 1 hour. As with the earlier leg of the trip, I had
been using the speedbar from time to time to head into the wind, which
had picked up steadily throughout the day, but was still within
safe flight limits. I also picked up a but of turbulent air in the far
lee of the snow-clad hills of Lochnagar, which tower above the landscape
in that part of upper Deeside.
By now I'd become adept at checking out the potential landing area (this
time the valley plain or "haugh" field just 100yds from the
Braemar Petrol Station), but on this occasion help was at hand, as on
the North Side of the A93 opposite to where I intended to land, there
is a Moutain rescue helicopter landing base, complete with dayglo orange
windsock! Landing into the 12-14kph wind was a doddle, and I quickly
brought down my Powerplay Sting Wing to avoid being taken aloft again
before time, and set about refueling.
The couple who run the petrol station were very kind, lending me a jerry
can (this time I needed just under 7½ litres for filling the
tank completely for the return home leg), and we chatted for some time
after I'd filled up. I also gat a packet of those wet wipes, which are
very handy for getting the oil or grease off one's fingers when you
forget you've got gloves for the purpose (I should have worn these before
I picked up the slightly grubby fuel filler!) 1½ bottles of synth.
into the tank, and the correct ratio was mixed.
Well, time moves on, and I was aware of the need to get going for home,
which would be 55km across land, and directly back down wind. Perfect!
There was by now quite a strong breeze coming down from Glenshee, and
my wing was offering to buck and move around (as they do when the wind
gets up!) on the ground. My wind watch told me that the wind was fairly
constant at 14-15kph, though with an occasional gust to around 18-19kph
it was threatening to become a bit strong for comfort, I thought!
Well, whether I'm forward or reverse launching, the last thing I do
before getting set to take-off is to actually clip in to the wing, so
if there is any last minute hitch, or a gust of wind at the wrong moment,
at least no damage occurs. This time, I made a reverse launch, which
I do like because one has more visible control over the take-off, but
also tells you that flying conditions are not going to be so calm and
steady. As things turned out, I had a very smooth and fairly quick leg
back, to land within 80yds of my quad bike and wind-sock, though the
wind was strong, and I had to wrestle the wing down after landing. It
had taken me just under 1¼ hours to cover the 55km SLD home.
Within half an hour, the wind dropped away to only a very slight "air",
but with 40 + 32 + 55 km logged, I'd done not too badly for one day,
and there was still plenty left to do next time!
One aspect that I did manage to tackle in the intervening days was that
of having a clean & reliable means of carrying fuel from any petrol
station to the motor, and without the hassle of having to either
a: rely on the kindness of the petrol station proprietor,
b: dismantle the cage to remove the fuel tank in order to take it to
the petrol station, or the (albeit slight) inconvenience and loss of
time in returning any borrowed fuel tank & filler, and also the
other recurring problem I had of my vario always slipping down my trouser
leg; this will be the subject of another article though!
All in all I can wholeheartedly recommend Kevin Taylor's sentiment -
'Get
out and do it whilst you can!'
Steve
Wright
Loanend, Gartly, Nr. Huntly, Aberdeenshire AB54 4SB,
Scotland
www.mortlachsporting.co.uk
Tel/Fax +44 (0)1466 720225
e-mail:steve@mortlachsporting.co.uk
MOTOR: Vortex with Cors Air Motor
WING: Swing PowerPlay Sting 160
