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Events History - 2004

Details of 2004 Star Events

Taildragger Night
14/12/04

Four members enjoyed a tour of the Cotswolds - some at 220 knots some at 60 knots!. Departing from Enstone, the club landed at Wellesbourne Mountford for tea, then flew to our new base at Gloucestershire and lined up for the usual team photo and Teamspeak chat. Aircraft which took part were a Piper J3 Cub, An Auster, A Chipmunk and a Mk XIV Spitfire.

Opening Night at Gloucestershire
07/12/04

To celebrate the opening of our new base at Gloucestershire (EGBJ) the Club held its inaugural meeting there on Tuesday 7th December 2004. Five club aircraft attended, G-BNIK, G-GYAV, G-SPCA, G-BYMB and G-XAJD. Other aircraft at Gloucestershire that evening were G-EEKY, G-NPLT and G-BOBB. A great event.

Biggin on the Bump - Circuits & Bumps night
23/09/04

This was an excellent "social" gathering with eight aircraft taking part in total, five club members and three visitors. ATC was manned by a new controller Greg Gamelli who was bit thrown in at the deep end, with as many as four aircraft in the circuit at once. It's not often you call downwind and are told you are number 4 for landing, but I heard it twice last night. "Old Hand" Biggin ATCO Tim Slater decided to fly for a change.

Severn Valley night out
07/09/04

On the evening, only Gloucester and Bristol were manned, (Cardiff had been anticipated) so we flew from Gloucester to Bristol via the River Severn, and back again. ATC was very proficient and kept us on our toes. A nice little outing.

A quiet outing to Popham
05/08/04

Eventually the date caused problems with this trip and only G-XAJD and G-SPCA could make it. Tony (G-XAJD) followed the Tunbridge-Lewes-Washington-Peterfield Route, whilst Pete (G-SPCA) took the Mayfield VOR route. Both agreed that runway 08 over the silos was easier for landing than 26 over the arrow. The two continued the clockwise journey by returning to Biggin Hill via Blackbushe & Ockham. Briefing Document.

More Formation Flying
30/07/04

A couple of members experimented with a new Multiplayer Client-Server system, which turns out to be very stable, and thus suitable for formation flying. See Tony Driver's report.

Luton to Rochester
21/07/04

This was another exciting trip attended by four members: G-BYMB, G-TFNH, G-XAJD, and VH-DAH. (writes Tony Driver). All completed the trip successfully, with a bit of help. Thanks to all for joining in. Tony Driver (G-XAJD) was first off but last down due some unknown ATC reason when he was routed west rather than east for a while. When he was handed over to Luton Director, manned by Cix VFR Club member Ruth McTighe, things settled down a bit. By that time NH and AH had gone on their way in front of him. Then as Tony (G-XAJD) made an overhead join at Rochester to allow plenty of time for NH to vacate the runway, Tim Arnot (G-BYMB) sneaked in front with a right base join. (Stiff conversations in the members bar afterwards!). Said Tony afterwards "Now that Tim is a real pilot he was forgiven."

The VATSIM Virtual PFA Rally.
11/07/04

The real world PFA rally, where up to 800 light aircraft fly in and out of Kemble for one weekend makes it the busiest airfield in the world in terms of aircraft movements per day during the event! The Vatsim event was attended by no less than 11 aircraft, 5 of which were from the Club. This was our biggest "presence" to date at a Vatsim controlled airfield. Four of us played follow my leader across southern England whilst David H in his 140 knot Mooney took off some way behind and landed only minutes after we did. It all went without a hitch, and Tim Slater, the ATCO at Biggin Hill, who had turned out just for our outing, was a true hero and stayed at his post to watch and guide us safely back into base. This time, David overtook us all and landed first.
Official CAA guide : Flight Planning Information.

More Advanced Flying Techniques
28/06/04

We decided at the last minute to go to Stansted and back, as initially we thought Biggin would be unmanned. To our delight, we got ATC all the way with several changes of frequency to battle with as well as the workload (and stress) of not having carefully pre-planned the trip. Excellent ATC service - but formation flight with FS over the web is too difficult as the "other" aircraft never stays in one place, but jerks about the skies. On return we were entertained by a 747 apparently doing aeros overhead Biggin, after Tower had gone off duty.

Sydney Harbour Tour
28/05/04

Our member Dave Humble lives in Sydney, and has recently passed his Senior Student Air Traffic Controller's exam for VATSIM. He guided us efficiently around the sights of Sydney harbour, before landing at Bankstown, with its three parallel runways. He then vectored us home to Sydney from his radar screen. An outing with a difference. Flight Plan details

Exploring Flight characteristics
04/05/04

A rescheduled outing to practice slow flight, the effect of flaps etc. Lots of fun was had in brisk winds and poor visibility.

Exploring Flight Characteristics
12/04/04

This event was changed at the last minute due to technical problems, and became a flight from Biggin Hill to Rochester and back in rather poor visibility (5km).

Cross-country Navigation Exercise
from Biggin Hill to Gloucester.
02/03/04

Required a bit of careful avoidance of controlled airspace east and north of London.

Trip from Biggin Hill to Southend
17/02/04

Just to get everyone used to the setting up of on-line flying and connecting to the VATSIM Air Traffic Control Network.