Thanks Terry, a position we can all find ourselves in. I’ve learned over the years that if you have to convince yourself to go or carry on, then it’s the wrong decision. Great content keep them coming. 👍
Imho you made just about all the bad decisions your instructor warns you about. From deciding to fly in marginal conditions, to pressing on when turning back would have been the far more sensible choice, not considering ground conditions for take off, leaving yourself at the mercy of time, and the major risk of running out of daylight and fog at the end of the day. I’d say this is almost a perfect example of what not to do.
I was always taught that it’s better to be safe on the ground than unsafe in the air; I wouldn’t have made the trip, but you gave your reasoning and hindsight is a wonderful thing. Great video - serves its purpose to get us aviators to think about our decisions. 👍🏻😃
Bloody great video Terry. It’s so easy to overstay when your chatting then find yourself behind schedule for the return leg. Been there done it. Keep safe mate.
Love the videos Terry. In my opinion and that does not count for much but with everything against me in this situation once the cloud had cleared I’d of had a local flight staying close to keep an eye on potential closing fog. You returned safe. Shared the experience and we can all learn something from this.
A man after my own heart, small strips are fun, I did my early flying & gained PPL at Bodmin Cornwall back in 1974, very nice video & surely an inspiration to budding aviators.
Good video! Had a failed trip from North Weald recently, was ready for take off, my partners first flight with me so had taken a day off work and I just wasn't comfortable with the gusting wind across the runway. Was really difficult as the aircraft had been out before me, but I just wasn't comfortable whilst feeling the pressure that it had cost us a lot if we didn't go.... Happy the decision was the right one, but I can see why people may go the other way. Had dinner in Epping instead which wasn't quite the plan, but there will be another time!
Well done Steve that shows real airmanship to call it off for a better day. I suppose we have to remember that we do this for fun and no one will care if you don't go, however everyone will if you do go and mess it up. Hope you enjoyed your dinner. Thanks for the great comment.
good call, one of the luxuries of having access to your own aircraft, is that "there is always tomorrow". prior to Kilo Mike, i had faced the same challenge of having to can a flight and be left with the fairly steep bill.
Our aircraft doesn't have the take off performance that yours has, so we pretty much rule out grass runways in winter or if it's rained a lot. Still, all ended well. Thanks for another great video.
Cheers Ian, yes if it wasn't for the performance of our little bird getting me out of trouble I think things would have gone a bit Pete Tong before now. Thank you for the kind comment.
I think your being hard on yourself, winter flying can come as a shock initially and need more planning, so this is how we learn. I might have planned to get a radar service on initial departure and never play with the gadgets when in the circuit. Great vid.
New subscriber here, I’m a Brit but doing my pilot training in Canada. There’s mountains where I’m training so a lot of changes happen with weather even after considering all the forecasts in existence. It’s just the nature of flying around mountains. Im currently doing my commercial license and I enjoy videos like this to learn from everyone else. Although I agree with some people in terms of risk taking. I do also believe that you do have to keep pushing your boundaries beyond your comfort zone as time goes on. It doesn’t need to be rushed but it needs to be happening pretty consistently to some controlled extent or you do become stagnant. I’m not sure of your aspirations regarding your future flying but especially if anyone is considering any sort professional flying, progression becomes even more important (within the capabilities of the aircraft and skill of course) but yes you can’t also be super cautious to the point where you are scared and it’s hindering your progression! Anyways great video! Safe flying! It takes lots of courage to post this, as I believe flying is pretty intimate and it exploits vulnerabilities in a person. So respect!
In a real emergency in these landscapes, there are "airfields" all over. In Norway, not so much. Also, your plane is pretty souped up with all kinds of instruments that give you plenty of options even for non-IFR pilots in case of a cock up. All in all, great airmanship and a great video. Thanks -
Thank you for watching Ollie. In hindsight I chose the wrong runway, but I preferred the clear area after take off from the short strip rather than the trees at the end of the longer one.
Really a good video, with fantast questions asked... at the end, other than the decision to take the shorter runway, the answers will depend on aircraft type and experience... as for the runway, always better to have more than one thinks one will need...
Thanks Neil a few people have questioned this so I'll paste my answer from earlier. I chose the shorter runway as apart from the railway cutting there were flat open fields after departure, the longer one had tall trees, rising ground and a village behind it. Using the short one meant that once over halfway I wasn't going to stop on the damp grass but could have hopefully hopped over the cutting into the field beyond. This is really what this video was all about, making choices and sometimes you make the wrong one.
@@ShortField not sure you made any poor choices mate... As for the runway it's always a balance between, what the options are if things go wrong and how long it will take you to get to a reasonable hight to avoid stuff. Most err on the side of caution
Thanks Terry for sharing, an interesting and informative video that’s getting lots of lively discussion in the comments! I think your approach to the low altitude flying at the start of the trip was absolutely spot on, set yourself a minimum ‘comfortable’ altitude (that is higher than minimum safe), and stick to it. Getting clearance to climb into the controlled airspace was a right decision, or return to base if you’ve been forced down to your MCA. The different circuits and trying to judge the wind when you can’t see the windsock was in my view the right thing to do, too easy to get into difficulties by pushing on to land when the conditions aren’t right or you’re not on a stable approach. It was a lovely strip you visited and nice to see the owner, but in the same way you set yourself a minimum altitude, setting limits to the departure time and return back time on what was a long trip would I think have been really beneficial. We get too used to the joys of summer flying and when winter comes there’s a need to ‘reset’ our internal calibration about what is possible and what isn’t and how headwinds and a lengthy landing pattern can eat into available flying time. I think I wouldn’t have attempted such a long trip with the delayed departure. Still, all a learning experience, for everyone that’s watched the video as well. Cheers
Thank you Geoffrey. I agree I've nearly been caught out a few times in the winter with the nights drawing in. I need to address that better. Really appreciate your watch and fantastic comment.
Enjoyed your video very much. Most of my flying is on hard runways in Texas, California, and other states in the South West. That said, part of my preflight planning is always to have determined an abort point for any takeoff. It might be tougher on a grass trip, but you should probably have that point picked out before you takeoff. If the grass had been damper, it appears that you may not have cleared the end of the runway, which would've solved the sunset time issue, but ruined your whole day. Safe flying.
Great points thanks Craig. UK farm and short strip flying is fairly unique we have a lot of these all over the country, we not blessed with the Texas and California weather so it's always pretty challenging. I love the US backcountry flying I see on YT and I suppose some of what we do with the strip flying carries the same kind of risks and you either accept them or you don't. Thanks again Sir really appreciate the comment and the watch.
8:53 - Would depend on my experience and flight objective. Personally, no. But seeing you do it gives a lot of wisdom. 13:05 - Very wise and cautionary approach to inform your landing decision. Now I wonder if someone who is renting or has that ‘Tacho pressure’ will have the discipline to do similar. 19:03 - Spot on and useful for me to know that I can sometimes trade altitude, loose some headwind and gain time. All in all, great video and a confidence builder for flying GA on marginal days. I’m sure upon your post flight reflection, your decisions may not have been your absolute best but they were good enough for your flight, for us to learn from and hopefully stay safe in similar conditions. Welldone buddy 👍🏼
Thank you Dollar really appreciate that. These are my favourite videos because, as you know, we are just private pilots we try to get it right everytime but sometimes we don't and it's good to watch others thought process, I also love peoples comments good or bad, it's great to discuss these things.
Seemed actually a really nice flight overall and you had good information at every decision. Although each of them seemed to be good calls for continuing there were a lot of them all stacked up in a pretty short flight no? So yeah although each individual call added only a small extra risk factor I think the only factor you might have missed en-route was that they were summing up and adding to workload. Had the weather conditions been easier would you have caught the soggy grass issue? Had the wind sock been easily seen and thus the first approach completed to full stop, would you then have been heading back that much earlier or would you have stayed longer? Hard to answer these questions. I'm not a very high time flyer and I only fly in the best weather. On this flight I do think you added more to your experience bucket than you dumped out of your luck bucket. The really important lesson for us all is your personal debrief that is this video. Experience only counts as such if we've reflected on the events that created it. Thank you sir for a representation of the best RUclips offers.
I fly the same Dynon D-TEK 180. If it is not calibrated often in the air, don't believe the wind speed readings. The direction is near enough correct, not the speed. Great Video.
Great video. I think you answered your own questions. When you got pushed for time and the weather wasn’t playing ball a change to a local bimble might have been a more relaxing option 😊.. top marks for putting these out.
Very positiv that you asked yourself about the the decisions you made. I thing every honest pilot will confess that she/he had been in such a situation before. I have been sitting in the cockpit a few times myself, especially on my way back close to sunset and with low clouds ahead bothered with the the nagging and uncomfortable feeling not making it on time coming home safe and sound. I do land a lot of times on very short fields and dirt strips, sometimes with less than 200 meters of runway. Although my plane (taildragger with 29 inch tires) is more than suitable for this kind of action, wet grass has major influence for the take off and should be always considered as a potential hazard.
I just found you on RUclips. Really enjoyed this video. Also, the other one I just watched. Thank you for sharing your experience. The decisions you made and the outcome from those decisions can help us other pilots assess our situation and make good decisions. Thanks for your honest assessment, fly safe and God bless.
Thank you so much. I never said I was a great pilot but I think if we're all honest we all make mistakes, I just like to show mine, I really feel it's important.
Here in Australia you can fly above the cloud VFR as long as you can get a positive fix every half hour. If you get a en route training for using a GNSS you can also fly using IFR navigation requirements but must maintain a VFR including cruising altitude but you must conduct IFR reporting requirements for example. I have flown above the cloud VFR but I check the forecasts/metar of multiple airports in the vicinity of my destination first.
Thanks Glenn, it's funny that different jurisdictions have different minima for VFR. I suppose as each country has different topography that determines the rules. In Australia flying long distances VFR above cloud carries little risk to those on the ground as you have such wide open areas and if it goes wrong there's probably only you and your PAX that will pay for it. Where-as in the UK it's quite densely populated and if you got into trouble you will probably be coming down on someone. It makes sense though. Thanks for your so appreciated support of this channel. Cheers again Terry
Love your dissection of your trips. I think it’s awesome that you challenge your decisions afterwards, that’s how we grow. The only decision I would have really questioned would be the decision to fly back later in day as it didn’t give you much of a buffer (or any buffer) if there had of been fog. It could have become extremely difficult very quickly with lack of light compounding it. I think I’m going to recommend your channel to my students 😊
@@ShortField Very true. I fly mostly into short fields and i am based at one. We also have trees to contend with to add to the excitement! I still apply this rule with a reference point and an aircraft capable of doing this. It helps reduce the risk and for those that maybe doing this less regularly an accident. It is better to stop than get it wrong. It may even prevent missed checks, overloaded aircraft or an engine not making full power from causing an accident. This is done by the commercials for that very reason.
@@woody5248 agree it is better and I do try and pick a point, however like in this scenario I chose the shorter runway as apart from the railway cutting there were flat open fields after departure, the longer one had tall trees and a village behind it. Using the short one meant that once over halfway I wasn't going to stop on the damp grass but could have hopefully hopped over the cutting into the field beyond. This is really what this video was all about, making choices and sometimes you make the wrong one.
@@ShortField My comment was more of a general observation and hopefully to assist others to make good decisions. I am not qualified to comment on the decisions you made on that day/airfield, you were there and know your planes abilities and your skills to match it. The video provides a good learning opportunity as hopefully do the comments from all. I have studied the. AQP process for all phases of flight and implement this where relevant. This is based on commercial training and helps to reduce risk, well worth a look if not studied already. It was written to try and stop silly mistakes that lead to catastrophic endings. It is also free! Keep up the great videos. Mike.
@@woody5248 thanks Mike I know and excellent informed comment. Thank you so much for the views and engagement, hopefully we can meet up at some point for a coffee?
This was a very good video....as a pilot, I think your planning and execution of your flight was well done...with hindsight, we always have or see improvements that could be made....but I believe that you did a great job and each flight is a learning experience regardless of how many hours you have accumulated. ....looking forward to watching your channel.!!.
In the beginning due to weather checks Climb Above no Factor i Would do the same. Checking Wind and Airfields: I never do a Low Pass Over the runway. You dont see Anything. US Rules are like Cross Midfield. Easier would be A Flyby next to the runway so you can inspect everything. My feeling Is that you Where very Fast on Approach. About Soft Ground. Your guessing Bad Choice for short Runway. I Agree with that. Fog Risk is a true Factor during Winter. It can bring you Up in trouble real Quick. Short Daylight and Alternative Airports and maybe entering Night.... Cool Video. Like It. Stay Safe!
Fantastic Christian, exactly what I was after, a thoughtful and inciteful critic, cheers. SportCruisers as most LSA types get really lumpy at lower speeds and after 500 hours flying one (had a Rockwell Commander for 13 years before this) I prefer to approach at 60 knots, then aim for 50 over the fence. For 1,000ft strips I do try for 45 over the fence but as much as I have tried it's really difficult to hang it off the prop and drag it in as per a proper short field config, it just gets really squirrelly I suppose because of the light weight plus the instant torque from the Rotax. Thank you for the brilliant and kind comments.
Thanks, Terry Yet again very helpful and informative. Given your very obvious piloting skills together with your ability to foresee and analyze situations, I think for you decisions made were all reasonable and within your capability. I on the other hand would have left the aircraft on the ground looking pristine after a good cleaning waiting on CAVOK. Thanks again
Very good video - not many pilots would share their not so great decisions. Kudos to you for doing so and for others to learn from them! This makes flying safter for all of us. On the first question - If I didn't had to hurry home (ie. could stay the night out) I'd continue the flight. If I'd had to go home and was uncertain of the conditions a few hours later I'd stay and not go flying.
Nice video Terry, thanks. Let’s visit there next spring. 👍🏻. I guess we can always turn back and go another day, but I believe we should always push the boundaries and gain some great learnings.
IFR waypoints would have been my choice too as well as the climb, perhaps I would have been a little apprehensive living myself no extra time for the return leg and, yes, I would have chosen the longer RW 22 for departure especially after having experienced the wheel drag during landing and rollout. Nice flight all in all and thanks for sharing your experience
Thank you so much for the watch and considered feedback Mauro. It's always great to hear other pilots take on a flight. Excellent, thanks again SIr really appreciate this. Terry
Great video, thank you. It's great to see you making informed decisions to deal with a thin cloud layer and of course the option is always there to turn back as you said, I don't see any issues with you going above the cloud and getting ATC clearance, too often we worry about asking, worst case is they say no! Interestingly I have found myself being overly relient on SkyDemon for making approaches, for me on farm strip once I have it in sight I ignore SD and focus on flying the pattern, too easy to get overloaded with SD in that last and critical stage of flying.
Cheers Chris I didn't comment but enjoyed the latest vids we need to get more watching them they are excellent. Having a IR(R) but a VFR only aircraft is quite frustrating at times but that's the rules. 🙂
Great video Terry. I've not been flying as much due to the very high cost of fuel so I probably would be a bit more risk adverse due to my experience and would have probably turned back. Just watched the VFR to the Max video again which I found extremely useful. Brilliant!! Cheers. Andy.
Great video as always. Climbing above looked perfectly reasonable to me - only thing I'd say is that you knew the cloud was fairly low, you knew there were gaps, and you knew there was airspace there - might have been a better plan to ask for a transit on the ground to get above it at the earliest possible opportunity. I think you made the right call on the landing runway. Doesn't matter that it took a bit of time. Why did you decide on 11 for departure? I don't see a single thing that makes it preferable to the longer, into-wind 20. That seemed very close with the railway below (that could have had a train on it that would have reduced clearance further!). You mention "I power up on the brakes, then release" which is exactly what not to do on soft ground as it makes it much more likely for the wheels to dig in. Ideally on soft ground once you start moving after power checks, you don't stop again. Also not sure about procedures for your aircraft but did you apply full back pressure when starting the takeoff run to get the nose up as early as possible? Decision at the end to continue into North Weald seemed reasonable - low visibility but weather seemed fairly stable, and it wasn't THAT low. Really appreciate you sharing your experiences. The honesty of your channel is great.
Cheers Zac appreciate the kind and informed comment. Agree 100% should have called Essex straight away but it looked do able staying low, until it didn't :-) It's my fault I didn't really show the departure ends of the other runways, the longer one had tall trees at the end and with the wind being light I opted for the shorter one with the clear departure end. All calcs were done for this runway but I didn't take the soft ground into account. I was more worried that the low viz would become fog but as you say it wasn't that bad in the end. Cheers buddy.
Hi Terry, I hope that you don't mind me mentioning, but it seemed like you allowed yourself to suffer from gethereitis? All turned out well in the end, and you got clearance to go up to 2000' in controlled AS (good call). All's well that ends well, but lots to consider in this video, a good example to others. Lovely strip wish I lived there!👍✌️😊😄 Lovely guy, I'm so sorry for his loss, the aviation community were very kind to dad and me when we suffered similar in the 1980s. It was nice to chat to the owner, but all things considered, perhaps you should have fessed up to him, made your apologies and left earlier? The grass - soft field? My dad and I would have taken that into account (don't worry I'm far from perfect and have dropped many a clanger with angels watching over me got away with such - but there for the grace of God?), Dad was used to farm strips and so was I as an amateur, some had no windsocks, nothing. So one learnt to be aware of nature and the nature of the strip. Those telltale wheel marks told me all I needed to know, especially with smaller wheels/tyres (but fatigue, chatting, having a bad day? We all miss stuff). I think that your well equipped aircraft is great, all the tech really helps, but even as an experienced pilot, Terry, that led you astray in that, that's where your focus was (understandably) but you missed the basics on the ground - the farmer's checks (soft going etc). I looked at that golf course and thought "I bet the height of those hillocks will be hard to judge with a fairly flat approach". But what do I know - I rarely crash in flight sim these days, but I tore a wing off, recently, in a similar approach, because I was being cocky with myself. I really don't mind messing up in flight sims, it teaches me a lot safely 👍✌️😊😄
Great comment and I agree and this is why I posted this video. I'm no teacher but I feel that demonstrating real world issues for the single pilot (especially in a VFR only aircraft) is the best way to learn from others mistakes (and you know I'm not shy at showing when I do it wrong). It was a lovely strip and I did feel very sorry for the owner, although his son lives in that hut next to the hangar). Love your support and comments.
@@ShortField You're most welcome Terry. Please see my edited comments within my original comment. I'm glad the chap has his son nearby, I'd always hoped for a set up like that with my dad, sadly we've never achieved such. Sharing your videos is a brave thing to do and we can all say "I learned about flying from that", because of your videos✌️😊👍
Nobody get's it right all the time, all's well that end's well. But do watch out for fog. It can form quickly and completely eliminates any options for a safe landing. Dew point vs temperature.
Yes I was worried about the fog but it wasn't in the forecast and it didn't fully develop. I've learnt over the years that it's the weather you have and not the forecast that's important. Thank you.
Very kind Sir, I am over-the-moon with how my channel has been supported, never thought I would get this many. Thank you and to everyone kind person who finds some interest or entertainment from my little flying videos. Thank you again.
Great flight. As an armchair pilot I would have said that your take off was far too late. Enough time for an hour in the area but being next to the aircraft, very tempting to stick to plan A. As a scuba diver, one of my many rules is three minors and I'm out. One one dive I jumped in and continued sinking, I'd forgot to put air in my jacket. Sorted that and was OK. A few minutes later we had finned on the surface to the starting point and began to descend. I got a mouth full of water, I'd left my snorkel in. If anything else had gone wrong I'd have cut the dive.
Guten Tag Stefan, it is within the performance of the aircraft and I'm pretty experienced with short strips (hence the channel name) 🙂 Everytime we fly, drive, cycle etc. we are taking a risk this maybe is riskier than a regular airfield however it's probably not as risky as some of the U.S. backcountry flying I see on YT. Thank you so much for watching and I do take your comments on board.
@@ShortField Yes, I confirm that you are a very experienced pilot in particular when it comes to short fields. My wife and myself fly our own little FK9ELA ultralight in Germany and across Europe and each of us now have more then 500 hours of airtime in motorgliders and ultralights. Still our personal risk level is considerably lower than yours. Your takeoff took place in marginal conditions and was risky and the same applies to the takeoff on wet gras strip with very little safety margin, which can produce unpredictable results. In the human factors training we have been taught not to applaud to behavior that we consider unsafe. I wish you all the very best and stay safe.
@Short Field - I'm with Stefan here. I think you are taking too many risks. You don't appear to have learnt from your previous video about the tailwind takeoff when you only just cleared the trees. There are a lot of what ifs in this video too and that makes me very nervous about your decision-making, regardless of you saying you are pretty experienced with short strips - don't forget that experience tends to give the test first and the lesson after. I wonder if you ought to have a real heart to heart with an instructor before something goes horribly wrong... I wish you the very best but that is my two pennies worth.
@@ShortFieldit wasn’t your choice of field that was risky, it was your choice to continue the flight despite so many red flags to cancel and fly another day
@@bradcohen3801 agree but sometimes flying just beyond your comfort level adds to that pot of experience. It's knowing when that 'comfort level' becomes 'danger level' that's the difficult part.
That was a fantastic video Terry 👍 Re your questions, your decisions appeared to have sound reasoning at the time. When you took off you were flying above your minimum height and when it got close you gained a nice clearance on top. Rather than berate yourself for taking off, I thought your airmanship was spot on with an excellent choice. We can all get caught up in the moment when chatting to another pilot 😂 it happens, but you still had time to get home and I’m sure you have alternatives ready if your home field gets closed for any reason, so again the choice to fly appears good. And the fact that you walked on the grass runway and it appeared firm enough to fly… well what more can you do? Your destination airfield is only 8 miles from where I live! There are some lovely strips around the country. Well done for finding that one. All in all you made a great flying experience and one you’ll remember. Well done I say! 👌👏👏👏
Thank you as always Kev. I put myself up for criticism with these types of videos but I love that it starts conversations. I never want to try to teach anyone anything as I am not an instructor, however I think sometimes more can be learnt by just watching. I am always watching other pilots YT vids trying to get as much as I can out of them. You are a wonderful supporter of this channel and you know I always look forward to your insightful comments. Cheers Kev.
Enjoyed the flight ✈️. I think I would of turned around but I'm very cautious. My brother bought a Sport Cruiser last year and he doesn't fly it much when it gets colder here in Eastern Washington State because he says the heater is so bad. How's your heater work? I've been to the UK 🇬🇧 and it can get cold....
I am surprised that an experienced pilot like you let himself be socked into the situations you encountered on this day. Seem there was some pressure to make the flight on the day, either real or perceived by you. Some brilliant flying can be done in winter but there are some things you need to be aware of and deal with accordingly. FTAOD 1. Winter days often finish the same as they started - fog and low cloud slot to leave mean the conditions are likely to mean that it will come back early - as was seen 2. Going on a cross country at 6-800ft - leaves no room for anything to be remedied should anything go wrong 3. What if you hadn't been cleared into CAS - would you have been brave enough to declare an emergency or would you have pressed on or turned back? 4. This was not a no wind day but with little convective activity the ground wind could and was very different from the upper winds - did you not talk to the owner and ask him about local wind conditions? 5. Short runways with some obstacles require a steeper approach so you can touch down closer to the start a quarter in on a short runway is not good 6. When there is virtually no wind, always take the longer runway 7. Where would you have gone if your base was socked in - was it 10 min later? 8. All is well that ends well, but it would be better if luck wasn't required. You left yourself very little room to manoeuvre.
At 2:20, was that a Jet Provost behind you? At 9 Minutes, I would have turned back.. My PeaBee doesn't have a transponder ;). Everyone has a degree in hindsight. I think I need to pop into Whalf Farm, looks lovely.
@@GolfFoxtrot22 they turn lots of Jet A1 into lots of noise but they struggle getting out of North Wealds 1,800m hard runway until they get in the air they're pretty under-powered especially the early ones 🙂
Beautiful country side, lots of places to land in an emergency. I think you did fine, but I fly for fun and the occasional cross country. So I avoid stressful conditions. Don’t forget to check winds aloft. I have made that mistake more than once. 80 knot ground speed stinks. Also I would have an abort takeoff point. That soft ground could have bitten you.
Thanks Bill I agree winds aloft and on the ground are often totally different. Glad I chose the shorter strip, the longer one was only 300ft or 100m longer but had tall trees, rising ground and village at the end of it. Great comment and thanks for the watch.
Hi Terry. I love your videos. 🙂 Following you from the beginning. Helps me to improve my skills. Learning a lot from you! Last but not least I have the same type of aircraft. By the way: could you please tell me, what kind of mobile phone holder are you using? It looks stable and not covering the buttons. Thanks in advance. Wish you all the best.
Kun awesome thank you very much. The phone is a fairly old iPhone Xs Max and I use a Ram small X grip it's this code RAM-HOL-UN7-400. Works well in our aircraft but we have to put protection around where the claw attaches to the glareshield. You kind comments are so appreciated.
I'd either have gone on top as you did, or turned around. Given the terrain, the scud-run wouldn't have been for me :) Fancy collaborating sometime? Scott
I am from the US so no idea what you flight rules are but I like being in radar control or flight following. Talking with the owner was the right thing to do. He offered his runways and likes talking with other pilots, visiting with him in the future should become a priority in dryer weather. I fly a Piper Arrow so the runway lengths are scary short to me. I have never landed on grass, I do want to try it in Idaho but jets land on that grass runway so it may not count.
Your skill set was safe for the flight, and you always had an alternate field and escape passage (except for the shorter runway). Not sure my skill set would be up to that, but mostly from a human factors perspective. For me; I believe my anxiety level would have A) Taken all the fun out of it, and B) That might have led to task saturation and potential mistakes. So, I don't fly on such days. Thanks for the posting and excellent quality and editing! Thanks for including your mistakes. I learned a lot. Fly the plane. Take your time. Nothing wrong with multiple low passes. Question: You had a low "Fuel Pressure" alarm at .53 seconds into the video. I fly an identical sister ship. I get such an errant alarm very occasionally as well. I cycle the fuel pump as a response to the alarm. Have you any thoughts on that?
Cheers Peter, yes that fuel pressure issue is something we just live with. It's been there since we owned the aircraft and after a new engine (inc carbs) new fuel pump new fuel lines and running on UL91 it still hasn't gone away. As most SC owners with the Dynon 100 and 120 have this rightly or wrongly we just ignore it now.
I disagree with the negative comments. Risk when it comes to GA flying is a personal question. Each and every pilot has there own limits on what they consider acceptable conditions to go flying. I'm a full-time flight instructor. I've been flying for 6 years and insturcting as a career full time for 3 years. In my personal opinion, it's incredibly difficult to pass judgement in this video. Just because the risks he undertook would be a situation you wouldn't get into that DOES NOT mean Terry was not comfortable and competent in what he was doing. I personally didn't see anything that I would call "dangerous" was it hairy at times a little. But when flying into short, uncontrolled air fields, it's always slightly hairy at points. Keep doing what you're doing Terry, your an experienced GA pilot who's become adapt at arriving and departing small grass stripes.
I thought all the choices that were made were just fine considering your IFR experience. Only few things to consider. is this plane certified for IFR flight? Are there VFR cloud clearance requirements across the pond? (my flight experience is limited to the United States).
Cheers Nick, I have to stay VFR although very capable in the UK the Sportcruiser is certified for daytime VFR flight only. EASA VFR rules allow flight above cloud below 3,000ft but in sight of the surface (holes are OK) and you can be as close as you like to the clouds, above 3,000ft you can fly over unbroken cloud but must have 1,000ft vertical separation and 1500 meters horizontal. It's workable on flights like this but pre-planning is essential with regard to the destination weather situation.
@@ShortField Thank you for the reply cleared up my questions! Its important to always have a plan B and a way out when it comes to poor weather. in tis situation what would be your plan B if weather dropped to IFR at north weald on your way home?
@@nickschram6769 I have 2 options if my home airfield is unavailable, first is 2 grass strips where I have permission to land at anytime west of North Weald, and to the east I have Southend EGMC a fully equipped international airport (probably cost a fortune) but it's always an option. In the 5 years I've been at North Weald I've always got back home but I established these alternates when I first transferred to North Weald from my previous home at Southend.
Coming in over a golf course it could be a power off glide however it looked so low that a ball might hit you. Does the private runway perhaps advice against the golf course approach? And we shouldn't be limited to VFR. Every pilot's license should have GPS instrument capability meaning with good large modern digital displays with synthetic vision and ADS-B such that a 10 year old child could fly it blind because VFR is simply too restrictive. Might have made sense 100 years ago but not today. We need a GPS license and I would combine PPL and UL. No reason to have those separate. A european UL plane is a proper plane. UL clubs can still continue to offer training at modest cost, no reason it should be as ridiculously expensive as PPL often is. If someone wants to go fly airliners they can have additional training. We need a universal PPL-GPS license. There could be differentiation on the medical, if someone can't pass for commercial they just can't do that part. Also altitude should be GPS, not nonsense air pressure. Again, this is not 1920.
The weather is a bother... Issue with fog and a possible fast coming cloud cover. Something common for winter time. Watch out for "Get-there-ritis". Watch the clock... Good decision to go around and check the local area. Maybe a bit closer to the ground to try to spot the sock next time. But there is a risk, if you should get engine problems on your go-around/climp. Ground/soft ground is a killer… I would have taken the long runway on take-off, because of your comment on landing: That was short… On your landing, I would have descended faster instead of coming low over the golf course. But I do not know your plane and I am used to gliders and killer flaps… Next time: Fly to the airfield and return after a fast check-in and no tea… Or just do a couple of approaches and wait with the landing for another day. The weather is a problem. And you are almost caught by bad fog/ low cloud cover on the return, because of the lack of time.
You asked for opinions. Mine is, Nope. I would not have done that flight. Just as a point of reference, I am a private pilot, about 400 hours, mostly in my Zenith 601XL. Our planes have a similar performance envelope the only caveat is mine a tail dagger. There were a number of red flags early on that would have caused me to cancel the flight but I have set my personal limits a bit low. The first red flag is a 2.5 hour delay departing when you had to be back to your FBO before it closed. Although on paper you point out that you had enough time (~3 hours to fly 230 nm @ 105kts) this really does not allow for time for anything to go wrong. What if your battery is low and you need a jump? What if you can’t get the plane started right away? Low tire (or tyre, I guess) pressure when you need to track down a compressor? Etc. Anything unexpected eats into your time, that in and that itself fosters questionable decision making in a rush to get home. Secondly, I would never cruise at 600’ AGL. ground proximity warnings aside, if you have an engine failure at 600’ you have so little time to fly the plane, find a forced landing site, trouble shoot the failure and then communicate with ATC. I would have turned around here if I had decided to launch despite what I mentioned above. I can’t fault you for the confusion regarding which runway to use, especially with a windsock that’s difficult to see and no other traffic to help you decide which runway to use. I typically fly off a well-maintained asphalt runway but I have done some soft/short field flights. Your departure from the destination field didn’t really seem to be either, short or soft field and the fact that you were surprised at the sluggish ground roll surprised me a bit, given the name of your channel. I’m glad you got home ok, but to be brutally honest, what got you home was luck.
A good friend of mine, along with two of his friends, died while piloting a single engine Beech cross country at night. Several "bad decisions" resulted in that weather related crash. While the FAA contended in court that it was the fault of the IFR rated pilot, attorneys for the widows claimed it was the fault of the FAA as it related to failure to report bad weather ahead. The FAA claimed they are not legally responsible for the existence of bad weather. I do not know what the final verdict or possible settlement was.
Very sad and the reason why we must always strive to do the best job we can when being in command of an aircraft, especially if you have passengers. Thank you
I cannot say that your flight was wrong decision to press on. As a pilot that lived In uk, I know how hard is to get a good day with visibility and favourable weather. I’ve learned to fly in Elstree and short airfield with annoying noise avoidance patterns. Saying that I had an experience flying from north Weald to lands end Cornwall. On my return flight I found the airfield closed and due my mistake I ended landing at north Weald with the airport closed. Then next day I was getting emails and complains by the airport administration that I should’ve diverted instead. The truth was, I am so used to fly in USA and wasn’t expecting an airfield to be shut completely, normally in USA you’re able to land after hours by communication the position and intentions. At the approach I flow over the airfield confirmed the wind direction and safely landed. Well for sure I wouldn’t do that again in UK but it’s a shame in UK pilots are not allowed to be more free to operate. Good video and safe flight 👍
Surely the thing about choices is that you only know they are right or wrong after the event. So Professor Hindsight is always right. Maybe you should have turned back when you saw the cloud but the day worked out fine! What's not to like.
Chris, that's very true. Just interested to receive comments on what others would have done. Risk of climbing above is obvious, but how many would do two approaches to different runways then give it up as a bad deal? It's fascinating to get differing views. Cheers Sir.
I chose the shorter runway as apart from the railway cutting there were flat open fields after departure, the longer one had tall trees, rising ground and a village behind it. Using the short one meant that once over halfway I wasn't going to stop on the damp grass but could have hopefully hopped over the cutting into the field beyond. This is really what this video was all about, making choices and sometimes you make the wrong one.
@@marct9845 no I should have explained that better we have a fairly unique airspace designation at our airfield as it sits under the approach for London Stansted's runway 04 it's a TMZ or Transponder Mandatory Zone meaning you must have a mode S transponder on whilst in the zone. The controlled airspace above started at 1,500ft and it is the CTA class D which is what I wanted to pop up into.
That man has a lovely house next to a golf course, a private little lake and a private airfield. It's a pity that he only gets 1-2 visitors per month. Some bigger and much more popular airfields are in worse condition than his.
I would fly around the circuit in that weather to practice takeoffs and landings. Probably wouldn't go anywhere I could not land and leave the airplane at least overnight. This may be a good video to emphasize having an abort point for takeoff. I guess your plane did not accelerate a quickly as you thought on a soft grass runway. We don't hear much about about points actually.
At just over 1,000ft this is the minimum safe runway length for my aircraft, I took the abort point as the halfway point but I would possibly continue as apart from the railway cutting there was an empty field immediately after the strip. Thank you great comment and cheers for the watch.
With the questions you posed yourself at the end deep down you know what choices it would have been prudent to make instead of the ones you made. No room for error comes to mind watching. Dicey stuff😶
Thanks Marko, flying on your own in a little aircraft requires lots of decisions as you probably know and as I have shown here sometimes, in hindsight, you could have done better. It was a safe enough flight the reason for posting this (I do have a bit of a reputation posting controversial stuff 🙂) is it sparks debate and it gets people thinking. I'm sure many viewers watch it and think 'what an idiot' and that's fine as long as just one pilot thinks "oh that short field guy left things tight putting himself under unnecessary pressure to get home, I am not going to make that mistake" then it was worth posting. Cheers buddy.
@@ShortField I mean in that sense your video is spot on as that is exactly what I took away from it. But no need to put yourself in a very tight spot just for us to learn to be safer, I'd prefer to see many more of your videos in the future!
WRT 6:20 "VFR rules mandate that I maintain visibility with ground and clear of clouds". First I am only a student pilot, however; my understanding is that your statement is only accurate for class G airspace. Since it seems that you are not in class G (you are asking tower for permission to climb), my understanding is that VFR rules mandate 1000 foot clearance above clouds and a 2000 foot lateral clearance which does not seem to be what you have in the video. Not trying to call you out, I am just trying to exercise my understanding or advertise my ignorance. Please advise if I am in error.
Thanks for your comment, are you in the UK? The airspace I was in was Class G it is designated as a TMZ or Transponder Mandatory Zone meaning you must have a mode S transponder on, this is because we are below London Stansted's CTA which is Class D and starts at 1,500ft (the airspace I ended up getting entry too). Below 3,000ft in Class G VFR rules state you must be clear of cloud and in sight of the surface (there's no lateral clearance from the cloud, however you must have 1.5km forward visibility. Above 3,000ft you don't have to be in sight of the surface but you do have to be clear of cloud by 1,000ft vertically I did a little video ion the VFR rules in the UK here ruclips.net/video/SHwjRjTXHH4/видео.html Good luck with your training and thanks for the great comment and watch.
@@ShortField - That confused me, too. I thought you were climbing into controlled airspace which would mean 1000ft above or below and 1.5km horizontally. Interestingly, my PPL(G) states that I must ALWAYS be in sight of ground (it actually says it on the licence, itself). I don't think that changes above 3000ft. Another thing that I found interesting was your use of IFR waypoints. I was once asked to report my position and gave it in reference to one of those waypoints and was told by Scottish Information to report in reference to a ground feature as I am VFR traffic. I have since turned them off in SkyDemon and no longer use them (which is less-than convenient given that I fly in Scotland over some fairly barren and remote terrain).
Urm... Unless I am very much mistaken, the TMZ is in (or just below) class D (depending upon where you were, exactly) and the very fact that you asked for, and received clearance (VFR, not above 2000ft) suggests that you were in (or entering) CONTROLLED airspace. One does not ask for clearance for class G. Once in the class D, you weren't 1000ft above the clouds. I am open to being corrected. Please explain why you disagree.
@@halfrhovsquared TMZ is deffo class G and uncontrolled, only mandatory requirement is mode s and have it switched on :-) VFR minima below 3,000ft is the same in class D as it is in G except that the minimum forward vis increases to 5km from 1.5km in the open FIR below 140 knots (sadly our max cruise is 108 knots). I could not enter the Stansted CTA (Class D) above me without clearance which I obtained and as soon as I entered I was under Radar Control with a cleared max altitude of 2,000ft but to remain VFR, which I was clear of cloud and in sight of the surface. You are correct if I had been above 3,000ft but I wasn't. Just had a quick look at your channel and I see you fly flex, I've never flown in one but my friend Giles has a great YT channel, you may know it? Do you have a transponder fitted? Can I point you to the NATS quick ref chart here: i0.wp.com/nats.aero/blog/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/UKAirspaceClassifications.jpg
@@ShortField - No. Not flex-wing. Gyrocopter. I have rotors. They have a table-cloth. ;) Yes. Not only do I have a Mode S transponder, I also have both PAW and SkyEcho2. I was under the impression that Class D requirements were 1000ft above or below and 1.5km horizontal. I will read the info you provided. Thank you.
to me, going above the clouds seems a no-no here, yes, you have visibility of the ground now, but it could so easily and so quickly change, trapping you above... of course, I am more thinking of ultralight aircraft without any IFR/IMC capability, you seem to have a number of instruments, and, if you have the training, I guess, being forced into IMC is not a death sentence any more.
Thank you Stanislav great comment. I do have an IR rating and night but the SportCruiser is only certified for VFR and daytime flight in the UK, although as you point out it is a very capable machine.
Hind site is always 20/20 so we have an unfair advantage. I would not have carried on at low level and defo asked for an transit throught the airspace (if not got I would have RTB). Sorry I think I missed something you had a SE wind so between 11 and 22 and you departed 29, that sounds like a bit of a down wind take off?!? With a light wind and damp grass, I will always go for the longest runway (you have more time to check your takeoff performance). For me I would not have made the flight, starting that late at this time of year restricts the time you have and the conditions change so fast at sun down (so I do not like dusk flying, as I have learnt the lesson from a friend learning the hard way and destrying a Pawnee). As I said hind sight is always 20/20.
Thank you Algy, I wanted to get over a real world flight and the choices you make especially with regard to short strips and maintaining VFR and sometimes you get it wrong. The longer runway had really tall trees at the end where-as the shorter one was clear (just a good job a train wasn't coming).
@@ShortField As with most videos it is easy to say what should be done from the arm chair but you don't get to see all the details unless you are there. We all have a different view of things like the weather, I have missed out on some flying but then I am flying now for fun and have no need to push unlike in the past, so might be on the ground wishing I was up in the air, that said on most of those day people have come down and said they would not have flown if they had known what it was like. I do make sure I have an out as you may have seen I do fly to near the limit when the aircraft was drifting 60 deg to the heading on this video ruclips.net/video/edXRFQwgz50/видео.html the original plan was to go to another strip 🙂
@@ShortField That is very kind of you to say. I did get some coments on FB that I should not have been flying in winds of that strength, just goes to show, if you fly near to the limit and people look at the video they can get the wrong idea. Like your flight you flew safely if not comfortably.
U appear to be a short field specialist yet u didnt chk the soft wet ground and then used a shorter runway? U appear to play fast and loose with ur TO procedures, its gonna kill you. .....Also, the amount of air time you do, you need an IFR plane asap.
I have watch a few of your videos, and to be fair you do worry me! Let's just say swiss cheese! Let's just hope that your luck bucket doesn't run out before you fill your wisdom bucket.
Thanks James, I know what you are saying but can I say this; These videos are edited to show just the highlights or action (otherwise people get bored and click off). My voice-over tries to always ask questions and the presentation style is deliberately edited to not teach but for others to watch and ask themselves 'what would I do'? I hate flying videos where the creator tries to teach, I never want mine to be like that and nor should they be as I am not an instructor. This means nothing but I have to include it for the record, I have been flying GA for over 30 years without incident, I've owned a few types (all larger aircraft) and have a fair few hours always as a private pilot. Short Strip flying is riskier than regular airfields and you either accept those risks or you don't. There's also a lot that I cut out of these video's including the planning elements and checks. I accept your comments and thank you for them. Hopefully the balance between entertainment and unnecessary risk taking hasn't gone too far. Thank you sir.
@@ShortField Firstly, and please don’t take it the wrong way and I acknowledge your flying experience. So like you I have been and had the pleasure of flying for over 39 years, and half of that in the south of the UK, and know your stopping ground very well indeed. I am also a holder of a UK PPL with a QFI endorsement (lapsed) and an Australian Flying licence and passed the 1000hr line years ago. So when I speak, I speak from a position of knowledge, experience, and that of an old frustrated ex-instructor 😉 And have flown and owned may different types and have time in a Sling2, and currently own a Jabiru 230D. Like a lot of flying RUclipsrs, you have your style that is used to generate clicks and provided something from your target audience which I accept and you do of course make valid points. But it’s the showing what and how to do things correctly, as opposed to doing it wrong and then pointing it out that does concern me, and using the short wet grass runway was not something I could reconcile. In this video, the mistake was going in the first place, it’s that simple, weather, time pressure should have stopped it before you even started. Now to add to this at this point, if you have been flying this long both of us would and have lost people to flying incidents and hence the famous reference to the luck and wisdom bucket. And yes we are always learning. It may well be the mother hen in me, but I drilled all my old students time and time again over all the issues and decision’s that we have to take, and the biggest one is calling no joy on a planned flight! It may well be the way you cut the video, but I get the impression time and time again of your lack of confidence to make a command decision, and that is the point that worries me. An when I see a lack of confidence (Not bravado) I see an accident waiting to happen, so if I have got that wrong I apologise, but that’s how it looks. I will not disassemble and critique the whole flight, but as you are fully aware there were issues with it. Lastly I understand that the beloved CAA are / will be changing a little sentence in the ANO from “500ft from” to “500ft Above” to bring it in line with the rest of the world. Have they done that yet! Regards James
@@jamesmurphy7442 so appreciate the thoughtful and constructive comment James, awesome that you know this area well. Take everything you say on board. The 500ft min is already based upon the surface, my 600ft minimum descent was QNH based on a terrain height of 100ft amsl. So appreciate the time you've taken and look forward to your comments if I'm lucky enough to get them in future. Thank you again.
All bad decisions: 1) Should never have taken off in weather conditions you're already questioning. 2) Poor pre-flight planning as to your destination AND your alternate destination (which you clearly didn't know what that other strip was). 3) If you have a choice between a long runway and a short one (which you claim to have had) then you should always take the long one, for the reasons you noted. 4) You are really cutting it very, very close on your takeoffs - you should NOT be depending on ground effect. You will get caught out doing this eventually. Are you really LEARNING from your mistakes, or just identifying them afterwards? I've seen previous videos where you make these same mistakes. You're writing a LOT of checques against your LUCK account. Eventually one of those is going to bounce.
Thanks for your informed comment. I post these videos for others to learn from real world scenarios, I am not a professional pilot nor do I pretend to be a very good one, however this flight represented a typical flight in typical winter conditions in the UK. I'll try and answer you point by point: 1) The weather on departure was OK and I could have always turned back, I even set myself a minimum descent altitude as a no go point. 2) The other field was not an alternate I would have used it if I had too but it was not much longer and had a 90 degree crosswind. 3) It's my fault I didn't really show the departure ends of the other runways, the longer one had tall trees at the end and with the wind being light I opted for the shorter one with the clear departure end. All calcs were done for this runway but I didn't take the soft ground into account. 4) The nature of strip flying means it's a much riskier activity from visiting regular airfields but that's what I do, the whole channel is about short field flying so by it's very nature this channel will show short strips. I really appreciate the feedback and understand your points, hopefully my answers mitigate some of it. Cheers Terry
Thanks Terry, a position we can all find ourselves in. I’ve learned over the years that if you have to convince yourself to go or carry on, then it’s the wrong decision. Great content keep them coming. 👍
Imho you made just about all the bad decisions your instructor warns you about. From deciding to fly in marginal conditions, to pressing on when turning back would have been the far more sensible choice, not considering ground conditions for take off, leaving yourself at the mercy of time, and the major risk of running out of daylight and fog at the end of the day. I’d say this is almost a perfect example of what not to do.
"A Pitiful 80kts" that is our 0 wind Max Cruise 🤣Great video as usual Terry, I'm sure it will stir up some conversation.
Thanks Chris your bird is lovely!
And I want a go in it!
@@ShortField Most definitely, the hangar is up ... moving house on Friday, then in the new year I can get back to doing some flying 😃
Same! That’s a decent cruise for me! 😂
I was always taught that it’s better to be safe on the ground than unsafe in the air; I wouldn’t have made the trip, but you gave your reasoning and hindsight is a wonderful thing.
Great video - serves its purpose to get us aviators to think about our decisions. 👍🏻😃
Great advice Fran. Thank you Sir.
Bloody great video Terry. It’s so easy to overstay when your chatting then find yourself behind schedule for the return leg. Been there done it. Keep safe mate.
So appreciated Matt thank you.
Love the videos Terry. In my opinion and that does not count for much but with everything against me in this situation once the cloud had cleared I’d of had a local flight staying close to keep an eye on potential closing fog. You returned safe. Shared the experience and we can all learn something from this.
Cheers Chris 👍
Terry, brilliant honest video.. your learning is to our benefit.
Please more detail on the planning phase / considerations. Jim G
Great storytelling, as always! Really enjoy hearing your decision-making process as a pilot
Thank you so much Gabe.
What a beautiful house! Great video too.
Thank you and agree stunning place.
A man after my own heart, small strips are fun, I did my early flying & gained PPL at Bodmin Cornwall back in 1974, very nice video & surely an inspiration to budding aviators.
Thank you.
Good video! Had a failed trip from North Weald recently, was ready for take off, my partners first flight with me so had taken a day off work and I just wasn't comfortable with the gusting wind across the runway. Was really difficult as the aircraft had been out before me, but I just wasn't comfortable whilst feeling the pressure that it had cost us a lot if we didn't go.... Happy the decision was the right one, but I can see why people may go the other way. Had dinner in Epping instead which wasn't quite the plan, but there will be another time!
Well done Steve that shows real airmanship to call it off for a better day. I suppose we have to remember that we do this for fun and no one will care if you don't go, however everyone will if you do go and mess it up. Hope you enjoyed your dinner. Thanks for the great comment.
good call, one of the luxuries of having access to your own aircraft, is that "there is always tomorrow". prior to Kilo Mike, i had faced the same challenge of having to can a flight and be left with the fairly steep bill.
Our aircraft doesn't have the take off performance that yours has, so we pretty much rule out grass runways in winter or if it's rained a lot.
Still, all ended well.
Thanks for another great video.
Cheers Ian, yes if it wasn't for the performance of our little bird getting me out of trouble I think things would have gone a bit Pete Tong before now. Thank you for the kind comment.
I think your being hard on yourself, winter flying can come as a shock initially and need more planning, so this is how we learn. I might have planned to get a radar service on initial departure and never play with the gadgets when in the circuit. Great vid.
Agree with all that (video was posted as more of a "what would you do") rather than anything educational. Cheers Tony
New subscriber here, I’m a Brit but doing my pilot training in Canada. There’s mountains where I’m training so a lot of changes happen with weather even after considering all the forecasts in existence. It’s just the nature of flying around mountains. Im currently doing my commercial license and I enjoy videos like this to learn from everyone else. Although I agree with some people in terms of risk taking. I do also believe that you do have to keep pushing your boundaries beyond your comfort zone as time goes on. It doesn’t need to be rushed but it needs to be happening pretty consistently to some controlled extent or you do become stagnant. I’m not sure of your aspirations regarding your future flying but especially if anyone is considering any sort professional flying, progression becomes even more important (within the capabilities of the aircraft and skill of course) but yes you can’t also be super cautious to the point where you are scared and it’s hindering your progression! Anyways great video! Safe flying! It takes lots of courage to post this, as I believe flying is pretty intimate and it exploits vulnerabilities in a person. So respect!
Thank you and excellent points Asad. Good luck with your aviation future sir.
As always, great video, thanks! Reminds me of trying to find Fenland!
Very nice, every pilot has these thoughts on planning , you made a nice video of it! Thanks for creating it. I gave it an abo 👍
Thank you very much Jan!
In a real emergency in these landscapes, there are "airfields" all over. In Norway, not so much. Also, your plane is pretty souped up with all kinds of instruments that give you plenty of options even for non-IFR pilots in case of a cock up. All in all, great airmanship and a great video. Thanks -
Thank you so much for the kind comment.
The view from the canopy is AWESOME. ....greetings from Michigan, USA....new subscriber too....
Greetings back Av8tor, awesome thank you so much for the sub, hopefully I can keep it. Cheers Terry
Thank you for sharing. I could not understand your reasoning for taking off from the shorter runway.
Thank you for watching Ollie. In hindsight I chose the wrong runway, but I preferred the clear area after take off from the short strip rather than the trees at the end of the longer one.
Really a good video, with fantast questions asked... at the end, other than the decision to take the shorter runway, the answers will depend on aircraft type and experience... as for the runway, always better to have more than one thinks one will need...
Thanks Neil a few people have questioned this so I'll paste my answer from earlier. I chose the shorter runway as apart from the railway cutting there were flat open fields after departure, the longer one had tall trees, rising ground and a village behind it. Using the short one meant that once over halfway I wasn't going to stop on the damp grass but could have hopefully hopped over the cutting into the field beyond. This is really what this video was all about, making choices and sometimes you make the wrong one.
@@ShortField not sure you made any poor choices mate... As for the runway it's always a balance between, what the options are if things go wrong and how long it will take you to get to a reasonable hight to avoid stuff. Most err on the side of caution
I think I would have turned back at the low cloud, but you have more experience than me. You did a good job requesting a climb so it worked out well.
thanks for sharing, love the details provided!
Thank you so much, really appreciate the watch and comment.
Thanks Terry for sharing, an interesting and informative video that’s getting lots of lively discussion in the comments!
I think your approach to the low altitude flying at the start of the trip was absolutely spot on, set yourself a minimum ‘comfortable’ altitude (that is higher than minimum safe), and stick to it. Getting clearance to climb into the controlled airspace was a right decision, or return to base if you’ve been forced down to your MCA.
The different circuits and trying to judge the wind when you can’t see the windsock was in my view the right thing to do, too easy to get into difficulties by pushing on to land when the conditions aren’t right or you’re not on a stable approach.
It was a lovely strip you visited and nice to see the owner, but in the same way you set yourself a minimum altitude, setting limits to the departure time and return back time on what was a long trip would I think have been really beneficial. We get too used to the joys of summer flying and when winter comes there’s a need to ‘reset’ our internal calibration about what is possible and what isn’t and how headwinds and a lengthy landing pattern can eat into available flying time. I think I wouldn’t have attempted such a long trip with the delayed departure.
Still, all a learning experience, for everyone that’s watched the video as well. Cheers
Thank you Geoffrey. I agree I've nearly been caught out a few times in the winter with the nights drawing in. I need to address that better. Really appreciate your watch and fantastic comment.
Great video, thank you.
Thank you for the lovely comment.
Enjoyed your video very much. Most of my flying is on hard runways in Texas, California, and other states in the South West. That said, part of my preflight planning is always to have determined an abort point for any takeoff. It might be tougher on a grass trip, but you should probably have that point picked out before you takeoff. If the grass had been damper, it appears that you may not have cleared the end of the runway, which would've solved the sunset time issue, but ruined your whole day. Safe flying.
Great points thanks Craig. UK farm and short strip flying is fairly unique we have a lot of these all over the country, we not blessed with the Texas and California weather so it's always pretty challenging. I love the US backcountry flying I see on YT and I suppose some of what we do with the strip flying carries the same kind of risks and you either accept them or you don't. Thanks again Sir really appreciate the comment and the watch.
Nice video. Your story telling relaxed approach is really easy to watch with lovely video shots.
Thank you so much, really do appreciate the very kind comments. 👍👍👍👍👍
8:53 - Would depend on my experience and flight objective. Personally, no. But seeing you do it gives a lot of wisdom.
13:05 - Very wise and cautionary approach to inform your landing decision. Now I wonder if someone who is renting or has that ‘Tacho pressure’ will have the discipline to do similar.
19:03 - Spot on and useful for me to know that I can sometimes trade altitude, loose some headwind and gain time.
All in all, great video and a confidence builder for flying GA on marginal days. I’m sure upon your post flight reflection, your decisions may not have been your absolute best but they were good enough for your flight, for us to learn from and hopefully stay safe in similar conditions.
Welldone buddy 👍🏼
Thank you Dollar really appreciate that. These are my favourite videos because, as you know, we are just private pilots we try to get it right everytime but sometimes we don't and it's good to watch others thought process, I also love peoples comments good or bad, it's great to discuss these things.
Wow Terry. Excellent video in all respects. No wonder you have so many subscribers (left me standing ages ago!) :) Well done!
You started all this Tim 🙂 Thank you so much.
Seemed actually a really nice flight overall and you had good information at every decision. Although each of them seemed to be good calls for continuing there were a lot of them all stacked up in a pretty short flight no? So yeah although each individual call added only a small extra risk factor I think the only factor you might have missed en-route was that they were summing up and adding to workload. Had the weather conditions been easier would you have caught the soggy grass issue? Had the wind sock been easily seen and thus the first approach completed to full stop, would you then have been heading back that much earlier or would you have stayed longer? Hard to answer these questions. I'm not a very high time flyer and I only fly in the best weather. On this flight I do think you added more to your experience bucket than you dumped out of your luck bucket.
The really important lesson for us all is your personal debrief that is this video. Experience only counts as such if we've reflected on the events that created it. Thank you sir for a representation of the best RUclips offers.
Amazing, insightful, thoughtful and such an appreciated comment thank you so much Greg.
Another great video - lots to think about as ever - very many thanks
Thank you Patrick
I fly the same Dynon D-TEK 180. If it is not calibrated often in the air, don't believe the wind speed readings. The direction is near enough correct, not the speed. Great Video.
I agree regarding the Dynon, and thank you for the very kind comment Vusa.
Great video. I think you answered your own questions. When you got pushed for time and the weather wasn’t playing ball a change to a local bimble might have been a more relaxing option 😊.. top marks for putting these out.
I think you are right Neil, still it's good for others to see how cock-ups can come about. All the best and really appreciate the kind comments.
Very positiv that you asked yourself about the the decisions you made.
I thing every honest pilot will confess that she/he had been in such a situation before.
I have been sitting in the cockpit a few times myself, especially on my way back close to sunset and with low clouds ahead bothered with the the nagging and uncomfortable feeling not making it on time coming home safe and sound.
I do land a lot of times on very short fields and dirt strips, sometimes with less than 200 meters of runway. Although my plane (taildragger with 29 inch tires) is more than suitable for this kind of action, wet grass has major influence for the take off and should be always considered as a potential hazard.
Great comment thank you Ol appreciated sir.
Thanks for your very instructive story
Cheers Thomas.
Good job Mr Short Field. It's really great to learn along with you ❤
I learn lots from the fantastic comments you guys give me. Cheers Terry
I just found you on RUclips. Really enjoyed this video. Also, the other one I just watched. Thank you for sharing your experience. The decisions you made and the outcome from those decisions can help us other pilots assess our situation and make good decisions. Thanks for your honest assessment, fly safe and God bless.
Thank you so much. I never said I was a great pilot but I think if we're all honest we all make mistakes, I just like to show mine, I really feel it's important.
Here in Australia you can fly above the cloud VFR as long as you can get a positive fix every half hour. If you get a en route training for using a GNSS you can also fly using IFR navigation requirements but must maintain a VFR including cruising altitude but you must conduct IFR reporting requirements for example. I have flown above the cloud VFR but I check the forecasts/metar of multiple airports in the vicinity of my destination first.
Thanks Glenn, it's funny that different jurisdictions have different minima for VFR. I suppose as each country has different topography that determines the rules. In Australia flying long distances VFR above cloud carries little risk to those on the ground as you have such wide open areas and if it goes wrong there's probably only you and your PAX that will pay for it. Where-as in the UK it's quite densely populated and if you got into trouble you will probably be coming down on someone. It makes sense though. Thanks for your so appreciated support of this channel. Cheers again Terry
Love your dissection of your trips. I think it’s awesome that you challenge your decisions afterwards, that’s how we grow.
The only decision I would have really questioned would be the decision to fly back later in day as it didn’t give you much of a buffer (or any buffer) if there had of been fog. It could have become extremely difficult very quickly with lack of light compounding it.
I think I’m going to recommend your channel to my students 😊
OMG what an amazing comment so appreciate this Sarah, thank you.
Thanks!
You are a wonderful supporter. All the very best Terry
enjoyed the video very much! u made the guy happy that u flew to his airstrips, so for that, it was worth it
Thank you, the owner, Les was such a nice guy really felt sorry for him.
@@ShortField yeah :( well you made his day im sure!
Use the 70/50 rule to avoid short field or any field take off issues. 70% airspeed for take off at 50% of the available runway. If not abort.
Great idea Mike, but sometimes there's not that option. Short strips are risky but you either accept that or don't do it.
@@ShortField Very true. I fly mostly into short fields and i am based at one. We also have trees to contend with to add to the excitement! I still apply this rule with a reference point and an aircraft capable of doing this. It helps reduce the risk and for those that maybe doing this less regularly an accident. It is better to stop than get it wrong. It may even prevent missed checks, overloaded aircraft or an engine not making full power from causing an accident. This is done by the commercials for that very reason.
@@woody5248 agree it is better and I do try and pick a point, however like in this scenario I chose the shorter runway as apart from the railway cutting there were flat open fields after departure, the longer one had tall trees and a village behind it. Using the short one meant that once over halfway I wasn't going to stop on the damp grass but could have hopefully hopped over the cutting into the field beyond. This is really what this video was all about, making choices and sometimes you make the wrong one.
@@ShortField My comment was more of a general observation and hopefully to assist others to make good decisions. I am not qualified to comment on the decisions you made on that day/airfield, you were there and know your planes abilities and your skills to match it. The video provides a good learning opportunity as hopefully do the comments from all. I have studied the. AQP process for all phases of flight and implement this where relevant. This is based on commercial training and helps to reduce risk, well worth a look if not studied already. It was written to try and stop silly mistakes that lead to catastrophic endings. It is also free!
Keep up the great videos.
Mike.
@@woody5248 thanks Mike I know and excellent informed comment. Thank you so much for the views and engagement, hopefully we can meet up at some point for a coffee?
Amazing video! I think it will save lives. Fly safe buddy!
Thank you so much, I get mixed reviews in the comments but always love ones like yours PWR.
Brill video Terry - keep them coming 👍👍
Thank you Chris always appreciate your support.
This was a very good video....as a pilot, I think your planning and execution of your flight was well done...with hindsight, we always have or see improvements that could be made....but I believe that you did a great job and each flight is a learning experience regardless of how many hours you have accumulated. ....looking forward to watching your channel.!!.
Thank you Sir.
In the beginning due to weather checks Climb Above no Factor i Would do the same. Checking Wind and Airfields: I never do a Low Pass Over the runway. You dont see Anything. US Rules are like Cross Midfield. Easier would be A Flyby next to the runway so you can inspect everything. My feeling Is that you Where very Fast on Approach. About Soft Ground. Your guessing Bad Choice for short Runway. I Agree with that. Fog Risk is a true Factor during Winter. It can bring you Up in trouble real Quick. Short Daylight and Alternative Airports and maybe entering Night.... Cool Video. Like It. Stay Safe!
Fantastic Christian, exactly what I was after, a thoughtful and inciteful critic, cheers. SportCruisers as most LSA types get really lumpy at lower speeds and after 500 hours flying one (had a Rockwell Commander for 13 years before this) I prefer to approach at 60 knots, then aim for 50 over the fence. For 1,000ft strips I do try for 45 over the fence but as much as I have tried it's really difficult to hang it off the prop and drag it in as per a proper short field config, it just gets really squirrelly I suppose because of the light weight plus the instant torque from the Rotax. Thank you for the brilliant and kind comments.
Oh and I do have an IR and a night rating but in the UK these aircraft are VFR and daytime only, sadly 😞
all ends well is well, great learning from other peoples experiences!
Thanks Ryan
Thanks, Terry
Yet again very helpful and informative.
Given your very obvious piloting skills together with your ability to foresee and analyze situations, I think for you decisions made were all reasonable and within your capability.
I on the other hand would have left the aircraft on the ground looking pristine after a good cleaning waiting on CAVOK.
Thanks again
Thank you Heid I am always learning and love to share my good and bad airmanship. Really appreciate your very kind comments.
Very good video - not many pilots would share their not so great decisions.
Kudos to you for doing so and for others to learn from them!
This makes flying safter for all of us.
On the first question - If I didn't had to hurry home (ie. could stay the night out) I'd continue the flight.
If I'd had to go home and was uncertain of the conditions a few hours later I'd stay and not go flying.
Thank you Christian your comment really means a lot.
Nice video , the voice over sounded ok 👍
Thank you Fabio, recovered now 🙂
Nice video Terry, thanks. Let’s visit there next spring. 👍🏻. I guess we can always turn back and go another day, but I believe we should always push the boundaries and gain some great learnings.
Thanks Vince, there's a few in that area that we need to go to but I agree Wharf Farm was stunning. Thank you for the kind comments as well.
IFR waypoints would have been my choice too as well as the climb, perhaps I would have been a little apprehensive living myself no extra time for the return leg and, yes, I would have chosen the longer RW 22 for departure especially after having experienced the wheel drag during landing and rollout. Nice flight all in all and thanks for sharing your experience
Thank you so much for the watch and considered feedback Mauro. It's always great to hear other pilots take on a flight. Excellent, thanks again SIr really appreciate this. Terry
Great video, thank you. It's great to see you making informed decisions to deal with a thin cloud layer and of course the option is always there to turn back as you said, I don't see any issues with you going above the cloud and getting ATC clearance, too often we worry about asking, worst case is they say no!
Interestingly I have found myself being overly relient on SkyDemon for making approaches, for me on farm strip once I have it in sight I ignore SD and focus on flying the pattern, too easy to get overloaded with SD in that last and critical stage of flying.
Cheers Chris I didn't comment but enjoyed the latest vids we need to get more watching them they are excellent. Having a IR(R) but a VFR only aircraft is quite frustrating at times but that's the rules. 🙂
Great video Terry. I've not been flying as much due to the very high cost of fuel so I probably would be a bit more risk adverse due to my experience and would have probably turned back. Just watched the VFR to the Max video again which I found extremely useful. Brilliant!! Cheers. Andy.
You're a star Andy thanks for your great support we need to get your vids more visibility, loving the new format.
@@ShortField very kind Terry. Really open to any suggestions mate. 👍😀
Great video as always.
Climbing above looked perfectly reasonable to me - only thing I'd say is that you knew the cloud was fairly low, you knew there were gaps, and you knew there was airspace there - might have been a better plan to ask for a transit on the ground to get above it at the earliest possible opportunity.
I think you made the right call on the landing runway. Doesn't matter that it took a bit of time.
Why did you decide on 11 for departure? I don't see a single thing that makes it preferable to the longer, into-wind 20. That seemed very close with the railway below (that could have had a train on it that would have reduced clearance further!). You mention "I power up on the brakes, then release" which is exactly what not to do on soft ground as it makes it much more likely for the wheels to dig in. Ideally on soft ground once you start moving after power checks, you don't stop again. Also not sure about procedures for your aircraft but did you apply full back pressure when starting the takeoff run to get the nose up as early as possible?
Decision at the end to continue into North Weald seemed reasonable - low visibility but weather seemed fairly stable, and it wasn't THAT low.
Really appreciate you sharing your experiences. The honesty of your channel is great.
Cheers Zac appreciate the kind and informed comment. Agree 100% should have called Essex straight away but it looked do able staying low, until it didn't :-) It's my fault I didn't really show the departure ends of the other runways, the longer one had tall trees at the end and with the wind being light I opted for the shorter one with the clear departure end. All calcs were done for this runway but I didn't take the soft ground into account. I was more worried that the low viz would become fog but as you say it wasn't that bad in the end. Cheers buddy.
A great video! Flying is a dynamic learning experience & personally I am so pleased that you share your experience & thoughts 😊👍🏼
Cheers Geoff.
Hi Terry,
I hope that you don't mind me mentioning, but it seemed like you allowed yourself to suffer from gethereitis? All turned out well in the end, and you got clearance to go up to 2000' in controlled AS (good call). All's well that ends well, but lots to consider in this video, a good example to others.
Lovely strip wish I lived there!👍✌️😊😄
Lovely guy, I'm so sorry for his loss, the aviation community were very kind to dad and me when we suffered similar in the 1980s.
It was nice to chat to the owner, but all things considered, perhaps you should have fessed up to him, made your apologies and left earlier?
The grass - soft field? My dad and I would have taken that into account (don't worry I'm far from perfect and have dropped many a clanger with angels watching over me got away with such - but there for the grace of God?), Dad was used to farm strips and so was I as an amateur, some had no windsocks, nothing. So one learnt to be aware of nature and the nature of the strip. Those telltale wheel marks told me all I needed to know, especially with smaller wheels/tyres (but fatigue, chatting, having a bad day? We all miss stuff).
I think that your well equipped aircraft is great, all the tech really helps, but even as an experienced pilot, Terry, that led you astray in that, that's where your focus was (understandably) but you missed the basics on the ground - the farmer's checks (soft going etc).
I looked at that golf course and thought "I bet the height of those hillocks will be hard to judge with a fairly flat approach".
But what do I know - I rarely crash in flight sim these days, but I tore a wing off, recently, in a similar approach, because I was being cocky with myself. I really don't mind messing up in flight sims, it teaches me a lot safely 👍✌️😊😄
Great comment and I agree and this is why I posted this video. I'm no teacher but I feel that demonstrating real world issues for the single pilot (especially in a VFR only aircraft) is the best way to learn from others mistakes (and you know I'm not shy at showing when I do it wrong). It was a lovely strip and I did feel very sorry for the owner, although his son lives in that hut next to the hangar). Love your support and comments.
@@ShortField You're most welcome Terry. Please see my edited comments within my original comment. I'm glad the chap has his son nearby, I'd always hoped for a set up like that with my dad, sadly we've never achieved such.
Sharing your videos is a brave thing to do and we can all say "I learned about flying from that", because of your videos✌️😊👍
I think you made good, and reasoned decisions.
Thank you for the support 👍👍👍
Nobody get's it right all the time, all's well that end's well. But do watch out for fog. It can form quickly and completely eliminates any options for a safe landing. Dew point vs temperature.
Yes I was worried about the fog but it wasn't in the forecast and it didn't fully develop. I've learnt over the years that it's the weather you have and not the forecast that's important. Thank you.
You deserve more subs , quality channel
Very kind Sir, I am over-the-moon with how my channel has been supported, never thought I would get this many. Thank you and to everyone kind person who finds some interest or entertainment from my little flying videos. Thank you again.
Great flight. As an armchair pilot I would have said that your take off was far too late. Enough time for an hour in the area but being next to the aircraft, very tempting to stick to plan A. As a scuba diver, one of my many rules is three minors and I'm out. One one dive I jumped in and continued sinking, I'd forgot to put air in my jacket. Sorted that and was OK. A few minutes later we had finned on the surface to the starting point and began to descend. I got a mouth full of water, I'd left my snorkel in. If anything else had gone wrong I'd have cut the dive.
Definetly outside my comfort zone. I think you are taking too much risk here. This all goes well until it doesn’t. Greetings from Germany 😊
Guten Tag Stefan, it is within the performance of the aircraft and I'm pretty experienced with short strips (hence the channel name) 🙂 Everytime we fly, drive, cycle etc. we are taking a risk this maybe is riskier than a regular airfield however it's probably not as risky as some of the U.S. backcountry flying I see on YT. Thank you so much for watching and I do take your comments on board.
@@ShortField Yes, I confirm that you are a very experienced pilot in particular when it comes to short fields. My wife and myself fly our own little FK9ELA ultralight in Germany and across Europe and each of us now have more then 500 hours of airtime in motorgliders and ultralights. Still our personal risk level is considerably lower than yours. Your takeoff took place in marginal conditions and was risky and the same applies to the takeoff on wet gras strip with very little safety margin, which can produce unpredictable results. In the human factors training we have been taught not to applaud to behavior that we consider unsafe. I wish you all the very best and stay safe.
@Short Field - I'm with Stefan here. I think you are taking too many risks. You don't appear to have learnt from your previous video about the tailwind takeoff when you only just cleared the trees. There are a lot of what ifs in this video too and that makes me very nervous about your decision-making, regardless of you saying you are pretty experienced with short strips - don't forget that experience tends to give the test first and the lesson after. I wonder if you ought to have a real heart to heart with an instructor before something goes horribly wrong... I wish you the very best but that is my two pennies worth.
@@ShortFieldit wasn’t your choice of field that was risky, it was your choice to continue the flight despite so many red flags to cancel and fly another day
@@bradcohen3801 agree but sometimes flying just beyond your comfort level adds to that pot of experience. It's knowing when that 'comfort level' becomes 'danger level' that's the difficult part.
That was a fantastic video Terry 👍 Re your questions, your decisions appeared to have sound reasoning at the time. When you took off you were flying above your minimum height and when it got close you gained a nice clearance on top. Rather than berate yourself for taking off, I thought your airmanship was spot on with an excellent choice. We can all get caught up in the moment when chatting to another pilot 😂 it happens, but you still had time to get home and I’m sure you have alternatives ready if your home field gets closed for any reason, so again the choice to fly appears good. And the fact that you walked on the grass runway and it appeared firm enough to fly… well what more can you do?
Your destination airfield is only 8 miles from where I live! There are some lovely strips around the country. Well done for finding that one. All in all you made a great flying experience and one you’ll remember. Well done I say! 👌👏👏👏
Thank you as always Kev. I put myself up for criticism with these types of videos but I love that it starts conversations. I never want to try to teach anyone anything as I am not an instructor, however I think sometimes more can be learnt by just watching. I am always watching other pilots YT vids trying to get as much as I can out of them. You are a wonderful supporter of this channel and you know I always look forward to your insightful comments. Cheers Kev.
Enjoyed the flight ✈️. I think I would of turned around but I'm very cautious. My brother bought a Sport Cruiser last year and he doesn't fly it much when it gets colder here in Eastern Washington State because he says the heater is so bad. How's your heater work? I've been to the UK 🇬🇧 and it can get cold....
Thank you Steve, our heater is OK but I fly another PS28 and it's heater is terrible and it's draughty. I know what he means :-)
@Short Field my brother talked to another Cruiser owner who said that there is a $4000. Kit you can buy and it works well....
Great video!
Thank you.
I am surprised that an experienced pilot like you let himself be socked into the situations you encountered on this day. Seem there was some pressure to make the flight on the day, either real or perceived by you.
Some brilliant flying can be done in winter but there are some things you need to be aware of and deal with accordingly.
FTAOD
1. Winter days often finish the same as they started - fog and low cloud slot to leave mean the conditions are likely to mean that it will come back early - as was seen
2. Going on a cross country at 6-800ft - leaves no room for anything to be remedied should anything go wrong
3. What if you hadn't been cleared into CAS - would you have been brave enough to declare an emergency or would you have pressed on or turned back?
4. This was not a no wind day but with little convective activity the ground wind could and was very different from the upper winds - did you not talk to the owner and ask him about local wind conditions?
5. Short runways with some obstacles require a steeper approach so you can touch down closer to the start a quarter in on a short runway is not good
6. When there is virtually no wind, always take the longer runway
7. Where would you have gone if your base was socked in - was it 10 min later?
8. All is well that ends well, but it would be better if luck wasn't required.
You left yourself very little room to manoeuvre.
At 2:20, was that a Jet Provost behind you? At 9 Minutes, I would have turned back.. My PeaBee doesn't have a transponder ;). Everyone has a degree in hindsight. I think I need to pop into Whalf Farm, looks lovely.
Thanks Giles, yes we have a few JP's at North Weald. Wharf Farm is awesome.
@@ShortField I did some of my airframe training on JPs😁.
@@GolfFoxtrot22 they turn lots of Jet A1 into lots of noise but they struggle getting out of North Wealds 1,800m hard runway until they get in the air they're pretty under-powered especially the early ones 🙂
Beautiful country side, lots of places to land in an emergency. I think you did fine, but I fly for fun and the occasional cross country. So I avoid stressful conditions. Don’t forget to check winds aloft. I have made that mistake more than once. 80 knot ground speed stinks.
Also I would have an abort takeoff point. That soft ground could have bitten you.
Thanks Bill I agree winds aloft and on the ground are often totally different. Glad I chose the shorter strip, the longer one was only 300ft or 100m longer but had tall trees, rising ground and village at the end of it. Great comment and thanks for the watch.
Hi Terry. I love your videos. 🙂 Following you from the beginning. Helps me to improve my skills. Learning a lot from you! Last but not least I have the same type of aircraft. By the way: could you please tell me, what kind of mobile phone holder are you using? It looks stable and not covering the buttons. Thanks in advance. Wish you all the best.
Kun awesome thank you very much. The phone is a fairly old iPhone Xs Max and I use a Ram small X grip it's this code RAM-HOL-UN7-400. Works well in our aircraft but we have to put protection around where the claw attaches to the glareshield. You kind comments are so appreciated.
Great vid, great story! Glad it all worked out - cutting it fine for getting back though! 🤣
Thank you Mike
I'd either have gone on top as you did, or turned around. Given the terrain, the scud-run wouldn't have been for me :) Fancy collaborating sometime? Scott
Cheers, yes just subbed you and left a comment.
@@ShortField thanks! Always appreciated 😀
I’m a new subscriber! Thx!
Amazing cheers Jeff I hope I can keep it Sir. Thank you once more. 👍👍👍👍👍
I am from the US so no idea what you flight rules are but I like being in radar control or flight following.
Talking with the owner was the right thing to do. He offered his runways and likes talking with other pilots, visiting with him in the future should become a priority in dryer weather.
I fly a Piper Arrow so the runway lengths are scary short to me. I have never landed on grass, I do want to try it in Idaho but jets land on that grass runway so it may not count.
Thank you for the great comment and watch Sir.
great video
Thanks so much Michael really appreciate this Sir.
Your skill set was safe for the flight, and you always had an alternate field and escape passage (except for the shorter runway). Not sure my skill set would be up to that, but mostly from a human factors perspective. For me; I believe my anxiety level would have A) Taken all the fun out of it, and B) That might have led to task saturation and potential mistakes. So, I don't fly on such days. Thanks for the posting and excellent quality and editing! Thanks for including your mistakes. I learned a lot. Fly the plane. Take your time. Nothing wrong with multiple low passes. Question: You had a low "Fuel Pressure" alarm at .53 seconds into the video. I fly an identical sister ship. I get such an errant alarm very occasionally as well. I cycle the fuel pump as a response to the alarm. Have you any thoughts on that?
Cheers Peter, yes that fuel pressure issue is something we just live with. It's been there since we owned the aircraft and after a new engine (inc carbs) new fuel pump new fuel lines and running on UL91 it still hasn't gone away. As most SC owners with the Dynon 100 and 120 have this rightly or wrongly we just ignore it now.
I disagree with the negative comments. Risk when it comes to GA flying is a personal question. Each and every pilot has there own limits on what they consider acceptable conditions to go flying.
I'm a full-time flight instructor. I've been flying for 6 years and insturcting as a career full time for 3 years. In my personal opinion, it's incredibly difficult to pass judgement in this video. Just because the risks he undertook would be a situation you wouldn't get into that DOES NOT mean Terry was not comfortable and competent in what he was doing.
I personally didn't see anything that I would call "dangerous" was it hairy at times a little. But when flying into short, uncontrolled air fields, it's always slightly hairy at points.
Keep doing what you're doing Terry, your an experienced GA pilot who's become adapt at arriving and departing small grass stripes.
Hi James, thank you so much for your kind comments sir.
Person, it’s day down the pub, cheese butties and a fire to toast the feet.
? Thanks for commenting
I thought all the choices that were made were just fine considering your IFR experience. Only few things to consider. is this plane certified for IFR flight? Are there VFR cloud clearance requirements across the pond? (my flight experience is limited to the United States).
Cheers Nick, I have to stay VFR although very capable in the UK the Sportcruiser is certified for daytime VFR flight only. EASA VFR rules allow flight above cloud below 3,000ft but in sight of the surface (holes are OK) and you can be as close as you like to the clouds, above 3,000ft you can fly over unbroken cloud but must have 1,000ft vertical separation and 1500 meters horizontal. It's workable on flights like this but pre-planning is essential with regard to the destination weather situation.
@@ShortField Thank you for the reply cleared up my questions! Its important to always have a plan B and a way out when it comes to poor weather. in tis situation what would be your plan B if weather dropped to IFR at north weald on your way home?
@@nickschram6769 I have 2 options if my home airfield is unavailable, first is 2 grass strips where I have permission to land at anytime west of North Weald, and to the east I have Southend EGMC a fully equipped international airport (probably cost a fortune) but it's always an option. In the 5 years I've been at North Weald I've always got back home but I established these alternates when I first transferred to North Weald from my previous home at Southend.
@@ShortField Sounds like you have a plan B and C! Im enjoying the videos. happy tailwinds.
Coming in over a golf course it could be a power off glide however it looked so low that a ball might hit you. Does the private runway perhaps advice against the golf course approach?
And we shouldn't be limited to VFR. Every pilot's license should have GPS instrument capability meaning with good large modern digital displays with synthetic vision and ADS-B such that a 10 year old child could fly it blind because VFR is simply too restrictive. Might have made sense 100 years ago but not today. We need a GPS license and I would combine PPL and UL. No reason to have those separate. A european UL plane is a proper plane. UL clubs can still continue to offer training at modest cost, no reason it should be as ridiculously expensive as PPL often is. If someone wants to go fly airliners they can have additional training.
We need a universal PPL-GPS license. There could be differentiation on the medical, if someone can't pass for commercial they just can't do that part.
Also altitude should be GPS, not nonsense air pressure. Again, this is not 1920.
All great points Dan cheers.
The weather is a bother... Issue with fog and a possible fast coming cloud cover. Something common for winter time.
Watch out for "Get-there-ritis". Watch the clock...
Good decision to go around and check the local area. Maybe a bit closer to the ground to try to spot the sock next time. But there is a risk, if you should get engine problems on your go-around/climp.
Ground/soft ground is a killer… I would have taken the long runway on take-off, because of your comment on landing: That was short…
On your landing, I would have descended faster instead of coming low over the golf course. But I do not know your plane and I am used to gliders and killer flaps…
Next time: Fly to the airfield and return after a fast check-in and no tea… Or just do a couple of approaches and wait with the landing for another day. The weather is a problem. And you are almost caught by bad fog/ low cloud cover on the return, because of the lack of time.
All great comments and excellent points, thanks Mikkel.
You asked for opinions. Mine is, Nope. I would not have done that flight.
Just as a point of reference, I am a private pilot, about 400 hours, mostly in my Zenith 601XL.
Our planes have a similar performance envelope the only caveat is mine a tail dagger.
There were a number of red flags early on that would have caused me to cancel the flight but I have set my personal limits a bit low. The first red flag is a 2.5 hour delay departing when you had to be back to your FBO before it closed. Although on paper you point out that you had enough time (~3 hours to fly 230 nm @ 105kts) this really does not allow for time for anything to go wrong. What if your battery is low and you need a jump? What if you can’t get the plane started right away? Low tire (or tyre, I guess) pressure when you need to track down a compressor? Etc. Anything unexpected eats into your time, that in and that itself fosters questionable decision making in a rush to get home.
Secondly, I would never cruise at 600’ AGL. ground proximity warnings aside, if you have an engine failure at 600’ you have so little time to fly the plane, find a forced landing site, trouble shoot the failure and then communicate with ATC. I would have turned around here if I had decided to launch despite what I mentioned above.
I can’t fault you for the confusion regarding which runway to use, especially with a windsock that’s difficult to see and no other traffic to help you decide which runway to use.
I typically fly off a well-maintained asphalt runway but I have done some soft/short field flights. Your departure from the destination field didn’t really seem to be either, short or soft field and the fact that you were surprised at the sluggish ground roll surprised me a bit, given the name of your channel.
I’m glad you got home ok, but to be brutally honest, what got you home was luck.
Thanks for the great comment and points taken Brad.
A good friend of mine, along with two of his friends, died while piloting a single engine Beech cross country at night. Several "bad decisions" resulted in that weather related crash. While the FAA contended in court that it was the fault of the IFR rated pilot, attorneys for the widows claimed it was the fault of the FAA as it related to failure to report bad weather ahead. The FAA claimed they are not legally responsible for the existence of bad weather. I do not know what the final verdict or possible settlement was.
Very sad and the reason why we must always strive to do the best job we can when being in command of an aircraft, especially if you have passengers. Thank you
I cannot say that your flight was wrong decision to press on. As a pilot that lived In uk, I know how hard is to get a good day with visibility and favourable weather. I’ve learned to fly in Elstree and short airfield with annoying noise avoidance patterns. Saying that I had an experience flying from north Weald to lands end Cornwall. On my return flight I found the airfield closed and due my mistake I ended landing at north Weald with the airport closed. Then next day I was getting emails and complains by the airport administration that I should’ve diverted instead. The truth was, I am so used to fly in USA and wasn’t expecting an airfield to be shut completely, normally in USA you’re able to land after hours by communication the position and intentions. At the approach I flow over the airfield confirmed the wind direction and safely landed. Well for sure I wouldn’t do that again in UK but it’s a shame in UK pilots are not allowed to be more free to operate.
Good video and safe flight 👍
Thank you, I agree US is so much better for GA. Great that you have experience both sides of the pond though.
Surely the thing about choices is that you only know they are right or wrong after the event. So Professor Hindsight is always right. Maybe you should have turned back when you saw the cloud but the day worked out fine! What's not to like.
Chris, that's very true. Just interested to receive comments on what others would have done. Risk of climbing above is obvious, but how many would do two approaches to different runways then give it up as a bad deal? It's fascinating to get differing views. Cheers Sir.
Why wouldn't you always use the longest runway in negligible wind if they are otherwise equal??
I chose the shorter runway as apart from the railway cutting there were flat open fields after departure, the longer one had tall trees, rising ground and a village behind it. Using the short one meant that once over halfway I wasn't going to stop on the damp grass but could have hopefully hopped over the cutting into the field beyond. This is really what this video was all about, making choices and sometimes you make the wrong one.
What was class of the controlled airspace you climbed into?
Class D part of London Stansted's CTA.
@@ShortField ah makes sense. I thought I heard you say TMA on the RT
@@marct9845 no I should have explained that better we have a fairly unique airspace designation at our airfield as it sits under the approach for London Stansted's runway 04 it's a TMZ or Transponder Mandatory Zone meaning you must have a mode S transponder on whilst in the zone. The controlled airspace above started at 1,500ft and it is the CTA class D which is what I wanted to pop up into.
That man has a lovely house next to a golf course, a private little lake and a private airfield. It's a pity that he only gets 1-2 visitors per month. Some bigger and much more popular airfields are in worse condition than his.
I need to win the lottery! It is a lovely place perhaps more will visit after seeing how nice it is in this video.
I would fly around the circuit in that weather to practice takeoffs and landings. Probably wouldn't go anywhere I could not land and leave the airplane at least overnight. This may be a good video to emphasize having an abort point for takeoff. I guess your plane did not accelerate a quickly as you thought on a soft grass runway. We don't hear much about about points actually.
At just over 1,000ft this is the minimum safe runway length for my aircraft, I took the abort point as the halfway point but I would possibly continue as apart from the railway cutting there was an empty field immediately after the strip. Thank you great comment and cheers for the watch.
Kolbs cycle… do review learn apply
Promotes safety culture so enjoying you talk through it all.
Surprise! Rain, low clouds, and fog in England, I don’t live there and I know that. 😅
🤣 Are you saying we have a reputation Rob 🤣 It's all part of the challenge of UK flying. Thank you so much for the comment and watch Sir.
With the questions you posed yourself at the end deep down you know what choices it would have been prudent to make instead of the ones you made. No room for error comes to mind watching. Dicey stuff😶
Thanks Marko, flying on your own in a little aircraft requires lots of decisions as you probably know and as I have shown here sometimes, in hindsight, you could have done better. It was a safe enough flight the reason for posting this (I do have a bit of a reputation posting controversial stuff 🙂) is it sparks debate and it gets people thinking. I'm sure many viewers watch it and think 'what an idiot' and that's fine as long as just one pilot thinks "oh that short field guy left things tight putting himself under unnecessary pressure to get home, I am not going to make that mistake" then it was worth posting. Cheers buddy.
@@ShortField I mean in that sense your video is spot on as that is exactly what I took away from it. But no need to put yourself in a very tight spot just for us to learn to be safer, I'd prefer to see many more of your videos in the future!
@@markor2476 awesome, thanks buddy.
WRT 6:20 "VFR rules mandate that I maintain visibility with ground and clear of clouds". First I am only a student pilot, however; my understanding is that your statement is only accurate for class G airspace. Since it seems that you are not in class G (you are asking tower for permission to climb), my understanding is that VFR rules mandate 1000 foot clearance above clouds and a 2000 foot lateral clearance which does not seem to be what you have in the video. Not trying to call you out, I am just trying to exercise my understanding or advertise my ignorance. Please advise if I am in error.
Thanks for your comment, are you in the UK? The airspace I was in was Class G it is designated as a TMZ or Transponder Mandatory Zone meaning you must have a mode S transponder on, this is because we are below London Stansted's CTA which is Class D and starts at 1,500ft (the airspace I ended up getting entry too). Below 3,000ft in Class G VFR rules state you must be clear of cloud and in sight of the surface (there's no lateral clearance from the cloud, however you must have 1.5km forward visibility. Above 3,000ft you don't have to be in sight of the surface but you do have to be clear of cloud by 1,000ft vertically I did a little video ion the VFR rules in the UK here ruclips.net/video/SHwjRjTXHH4/видео.html Good luck with your training and thanks for the great comment and watch.
@@ShortField - That confused me, too. I thought you were climbing into controlled airspace which would mean 1000ft above or below and 1.5km horizontally.
Interestingly, my PPL(G) states that I must ALWAYS be in sight of ground (it actually says it on the licence, itself). I don't think that changes above 3000ft.
Another thing that I found interesting was your use of IFR waypoints. I was once asked to report my position and gave it in reference to one of those waypoints and was told by Scottish Information to report in reference to a ground feature as I am VFR traffic. I have since turned them off in SkyDemon and no longer use them (which is less-than convenient given that I fly in Scotland over some fairly barren and remote terrain).
Urm... Unless I am very much mistaken, the TMZ is in (or just below) class D (depending upon where you were, exactly) and the very fact that you asked for, and received clearance (VFR, not above 2000ft) suggests that you were in (or entering) CONTROLLED airspace. One does not ask for clearance for class G. Once in the class D, you weren't 1000ft above the clouds.
I am open to being corrected. Please explain why you disagree.
@@halfrhovsquared TMZ is deffo class G and uncontrolled, only mandatory requirement is mode s and have it switched on :-) VFR minima below 3,000ft is the same in class D as it is in G except that the minimum forward vis increases to 5km from 1.5km in the open FIR below 140 knots (sadly our max cruise is 108 knots). I could not enter the Stansted CTA (Class D) above me without clearance which I obtained and as soon as I entered I was under Radar Control with a cleared max altitude of 2,000ft but to remain VFR, which I was clear of cloud and in sight of the surface. You are correct if I had been above 3,000ft but I wasn't. Just had a quick look at your channel and I see you fly flex, I've never flown in one but my friend Giles has a great YT channel, you may know it? Do you have a transponder fitted? Can I point you to the NATS quick ref chart here: i0.wp.com/nats.aero/blog/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/UKAirspaceClassifications.jpg
@@ShortField - No. Not flex-wing. Gyrocopter. I have rotors. They have a table-cloth. ;)
Yes. Not only do I have a Mode S transponder, I also have both PAW and SkyEcho2.
I was under the impression that Class D requirements were 1000ft above or below and 1.5km horizontal. I will read the info you provided. Thank you.
to me, going above the clouds seems a no-no here, yes, you have visibility of the ground now, but it could so easily and so quickly change, trapping you above...
of course, I am more thinking of ultralight aircraft without any IFR/IMC capability, you seem to have a number of instruments, and, if you have the training, I guess, being forced into IMC is not a death sentence any more.
Thank you Stanislav great comment. I do have an IR rating and night but the SportCruiser is only certified for VFR and daytime flight in the UK, although as you point out it is a very capable machine.
Hind site is always 20/20 so we have an unfair advantage. I would not have carried on at low level and defo asked for an transit throught the airspace (if not got I would have RTB). Sorry I think I missed something you had a SE wind so between 11 and 22 and you departed 29, that sounds like a bit of a down wind take off?!? With a light wind and damp grass, I will always go for the longest runway (you have more time to check your takeoff performance). For me I would not have made the flight, starting that late at this time of year restricts the time you have and the conditions change so fast at sun down (so I do not like dusk flying, as I have learnt the lesson from a friend learning the hard way and destrying a Pawnee). As I said hind sight is always 20/20.
Thank you Algy, I wanted to get over a real world flight and the choices you make especially with regard to short strips and maintaining VFR and sometimes you get it wrong. The longer runway had really tall trees at the end where-as the shorter one was clear (just a good job a train wasn't coming).
@@ShortField As with most videos it is easy to say what should be done from the arm chair but you don't get to see all the details unless you are there. We all have a different view of things like the weather, I have missed out on some flying but then I am flying now for fun and have no need to push unlike in the past, so might be on the ground wishing I was up in the air, that said on most of those day people have come down and said they would not have flown if they had known what it was like. I do make sure I have an out as you may have seen I do fly to near the limit when the aircraft was drifting 60 deg to the heading on this video ruclips.net/video/edXRFQwgz50/видео.html the original plan was to go to another strip 🙂
@@flyingkub seen that video Algy and you handle the Kub very well in it.
@@ShortField That is very kind of you to say. I did get some coments on FB that I should not have been flying in winds of that strength, just goes to show, if you fly near to the limit and people look at the video they can get the wrong idea. Like your flight you flew safely if not comfortably.
Always take the longest runway, if possible.
The longer one had trees, rising ground and a village at the threshold.
Bit of a knee trembler Terry.
You know me Chris 🙂
Tbh. Flying VFR sounds a lot more stressful than IFR.
It can be :-)
Higher is almost always better
Higher and faster the two things my mother worries about when I fly :-)
U appear to be a short field specialist yet u didnt chk the soft wet ground and then used a shorter runway? U appear to play fast and loose with ur TO procedures, its gonna kill you. .....Also, the amount of air time you do, you need an IFR plane asap.
I have watch a few of your videos, and to be fair you do worry me! Let's just say swiss cheese!
Let's just hope that your luck bucket doesn't run out before you fill your wisdom bucket.
Thanks James, I know what you are saying but can I say this; These videos are edited to show just the highlights or action (otherwise people get bored and click off). My voice-over tries to always ask questions and the presentation style is deliberately edited to not teach but for others to watch and ask themselves 'what would I do'? I hate flying videos where the creator tries to teach, I never want mine to be like that and nor should they be as I am not an instructor. This means nothing but I have to include it for the record, I have been flying GA for over 30 years without incident, I've owned a few types (all larger aircraft) and have a fair few hours always as a private pilot. Short Strip flying is riskier than regular airfields and you either accept those risks or you don't. There's also a lot that I cut out of these video's including the planning elements and checks. I accept your comments and thank you for them. Hopefully the balance between entertainment and unnecessary risk taking hasn't gone too far. Thank you sir.
@@ShortField Firstly, and please don’t take it the wrong way and I acknowledge your flying experience.
So like you I have been and had the pleasure of flying for over 39 years, and half of that in the south of the UK, and know your stopping ground very well indeed. I am also a holder of a UK PPL with a QFI endorsement (lapsed) and an Australian Flying licence and passed the 1000hr line years ago. So when I speak, I speak from a position of knowledge, experience, and that of an old frustrated ex-instructor 😉 And have flown and owned may different types and have time in a Sling2, and currently own a Jabiru 230D.
Like a lot of flying RUclipsrs, you have your style that is used to generate clicks and provided something from your target audience which I accept and you do of course make valid points. But it’s the showing what and how to do things correctly, as opposed to doing it wrong and then pointing it out that does concern me, and using the short wet grass runway was not something I could reconcile.
In this video, the mistake was going in the first place, it’s that simple, weather, time pressure should have stopped it before you even started. Now to add to this at this point, if you have been flying this long both of us would and have lost people to flying incidents and hence the famous reference to the luck and wisdom bucket. And yes we are always learning.
It may well be the mother hen in me, but I drilled all my old students time and time again over all the issues and decision’s that we have to take, and the biggest one is calling no joy on a planned flight!
It may well be the way you cut the video, but I get the impression time and time again of your lack of confidence to make a command decision, and that is the point that worries me. An when I see a lack of confidence (Not bravado) I see an accident waiting to happen, so if I have got that wrong I apologise, but that’s how it looks.
I will not disassemble and critique the whole flight, but as you are fully aware there were issues with it. Lastly I understand that the beloved CAA are / will be changing a little sentence in the ANO from “500ft from” to “500ft Above” to bring it in line with the rest of the world. Have they done that yet!
Regards
James
@@jamesmurphy7442 so appreciate the thoughtful and constructive comment James, awesome that you know this area well. Take everything you say on board. The 500ft min is already based upon the surface, my 600ft minimum descent was QNH based on a terrain height of 100ft amsl. So appreciate the time you've taken and look forward to your comments if I'm lucky enough to get them in future. Thank you again.
All bad decisions:
1) Should never have taken off in weather conditions you're already questioning.
2) Poor pre-flight planning as to your destination AND your alternate destination (which you clearly didn't know what that other strip was).
3) If you have a choice between a long runway and a short one (which you claim to have had) then you should always take the long one, for the reasons you noted.
4) You are really cutting it very, very close on your takeoffs - you should NOT be depending on ground effect. You will get caught out doing this eventually.
Are you really LEARNING from your mistakes, or just identifying them afterwards? I've seen previous videos where you make these same mistakes. You're writing a LOT of checques against your LUCK account. Eventually one of those is going to bounce.
Thanks for your informed comment. I post these videos for others to learn from real world scenarios, I am not a professional pilot nor do I pretend to be a very good one, however this flight represented a typical flight in typical winter conditions in the UK. I'll try and answer you point by point: 1) The weather on departure was OK and I could have always turned back, I even set myself a minimum descent altitude as a no go point. 2) The other field was not an alternate I would have used it if I had too but it was not much longer and had a 90 degree crosswind. 3) It's my fault I didn't really show the departure ends of the other runways, the longer one had tall trees at the end and with the wind being light I opted for the shorter one with the clear departure end. All calcs were done for this runway but I didn't take the soft ground into account. 4) The nature of strip flying means it's a much riskier activity from visiting regular airfields but that's what I do, the whole channel is about short field flying so by it's very nature this channel will show short strips. I really appreciate the feedback and understand your points, hopefully my answers mitigate some of it. Cheers Terry