Ready for Departure Podcast

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In the second of our video podcasts, Steve interviews fellow microlight pilot and aircraft co-owner John Quigley, who co-owns and flies an Ikarus C42. John’s group has just bought an (almost) new C42B. Steve and John compare notes about both co-owning aircraft, as Steve co-owns a Eurostar EV97, talking about the positives and negatives of group aircraft ownership.

John and Steve both describe how capable a microlight aircraft are, the joys of taking family and friends flying, flying over water for the first time (John has flown a C42 to Ireland and talks about that trip).

Steve and John both explore where they want to go and what they want to do in the future and speculate on how we can encourage more young people and more women into microlighting.

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Recorded with Zoom. Apologies for the poor quality webcam camera.

The post Episode 22 – Aircraft ownership and groups with special guest John Quigley appeared first on Ready for Departure Podcast.

– Buy Ready for Departure merchandise (t-shirts, hoodies, caps, mugs and more) and support my podcast https://r4d.uk/shop

We are back!

In this latest episode of the Ready for Departure podcast, Steve takes us through a recent flight after a long lay-off, which is something a lot of us leisure pilots are going to have to contend with once the Coronavirus lockdown is lifted by worldwide governments.

The plan was to fly over Liverpool and orbit the HMS Prince of Wales aircraft carrier which was docked there, however due to the poor weather, Steve decided to stay in the circuit and practice a glide approach and a flapless approach, something which he had not done in quite some time.

There is a video version of this podcast which you can watch below, or if you prefer you can listen to the audio-only version. Your choice!

The post Episode 21 – Flying after a long lay-off appeared first on Ready for Departure Podcast.

As we start the second season of the Ready for Departure podcast, Steve describes his decision-making in determining if he was fit to fly. Following a bout of illness, a short recovery, then a relapse, Steve wanted to go flying as it had been quite a while since his last flight.

But something wasn’t right. Steve was on medication and didn’t feel 100% OK, should he go flying? Was it just nerves because it had been some time since he’d been in the P1 seat?

Join us as Steve talks through the situation and ultimately what he ended up doing. During the podcast, Steve mentions the CAA Safety Sense leaflet and Rory on Air’s latest video, the links are below.

The post Episode 20 – Fit to fly appeared first on Ready for Departure Podcast.

This episode of the Ready for Departure podcast details an in-flight emergency that Steve recently experienced whilst he was pilot in command of an Ikarus C-42 microlight. Steve and fellow pilot Adrian were returning from Wolverhampton Halfpenny Green Airport when the pilot’s door suddenly blew open, sucking out anything that wasn’t strapped or screwed down.

Listen as Steve replays the incident, with the help of actual ATC recordings of the incident and explains how he rectified the situation (along with commentary from inside the cockpit as the problem is diagnosed and eventually resolved).

The post Episode 19 – In-flight Emergency appeared first on Ready for Departure Podcast.

In this episode Steve talks about completing differences training on a new type of Microlight aircraft, the Ikarus C-42. Whilst it uses the same Rotax 912 4-cylinder engine that Steve is familiar with, the C-42 is a high-wing aircraft and has some notable differences when compared with the low-wing Eurostar EV-97 aircraft that Steve normally flies.

It took Steve a number of lessons with an instructor to get to grips with the change, but now completed Steve has access to a fleet of five aircraft thanks to the PPL hire scheme at the school where he rents his aircraft. This means more flying and more podcasts! Listen in and don’t forget to subscribe on Apple iTunes if you want new episodes instantly downloaded to your Apple device.

The post Episode 18 – Differences Training appeared first on Ready for Departure Podcast.

Fellow microlight pilot Adrian and I decided to see if we could make it to one of the local farm strips to the north of Barton.

Rossall Field, which is the base for attitude airsports, a small microlight school  where flexwing, fixed wing and quite rarely, tailwheel microlight flying is taught, came recommended to us by another pilot. Rossall Field is a farm strip at Tarn Farm in Cockerham, Lancashire with 2 runways (both with reciprocal bearings). Runway 02/20 is 305 metres long and 11 metres wide, and there is a shorter 10/28 runway which is just 270 metres long. Compare that with Barton’s shortest runway (which I have operated from only once, during training) which is a generous 398 metres long and 60 metres wide!

Rossall Field is close to 2 other microlight sites and Cockerham’s parachute dropzone, so correct field identification is really important.

Spotting the site proved to be just as difficult as the time I tried to find Ince Airfield (still not landed there yet!). A grass strip with a farm next to it, from 2,000 feet looks pretty much like any farm with green fields! And there are lots of those in Lancashire!

Once we’d found Rossall Field and hung around for a while, Adrian brought us back to Barton. It was pretty simple navigation back to Barton – pick up the M6 and route southbound, through the inactive Warton MATZ due to it being a weekend, on to Chorley Lakes and then the newly re-named Middlebrook football stadium VRP.

I’m sure Adrian won’t mind me saying it wasn’t one of his better landings (and I have certainly landed worse myself since this trip), you’ll hear me say on the video “you can blame me for that one if you want” and it was because at one point I realised I’d fouled the control stick with my map on final. I moved it away as soon as I felt the stick touch the map, but it might have been enough to put Adrian off. Anyway, it was a safe landing so that’s all the counts. And I don’t mind admitting Adrian is a better pilot than me!

So all in all, a great little trip that gave both of us really valuable experience and, due to splitting the cost, was a very cheap way to spend the afternoon. While only a 64 mile round-trip, it’s certainly a favourite flight in my log book (perhaps not THE favourite) and it’s given me the confidence to find more microlight and farm strips to land at during the remainder of 2018 and beyond.

The post Episode 17 – Landing at a farm strip appeared first on Ready for Departure Podcast.

One of the most common questions Steve is asked when people find out he is a private pilot is “Where can you fly?”

In this episode of the Ready for Departure podcast, Steve attempts to answer this question, which is not quite as straightforward as you might think. Steve attempts to dissect the complexities involved in planning a trip to a new airfield, such as flying through controlled airspace, flying somewhere new for the first time, how it all works in practice and even how long is comfortable to fly before a break!

Join Steve as he talks about where he has already flown this qualifying for his private pilot’s licence and where he plans to fly in the future. If you’ve always wondered where you can fly on a UK NPPL or EASA PPL licence, have a listen in to this episode of the podcast and you might find some inspiration for flights of your own.

Struggling with your training? Wondering if all the effort and expense is worth it? Steve explains what you’ll be able to do with your licence once you’ve qualified – definitely worth keeping the training going!

The post Episode 16 – Where can you fly? appeared first on Ready for Departure Podcast.

Steve discusses his latest flight, one he dubs The Liverpool Loop, since it involves a flight which starts and ends at City Airport Manchester (Barton) but follows the edge of Liverpool’s controlled airspace in a loop. The journey touches on the tip of North Wales and Steve even managed to negotiate a zone transit over the Airbus facility at Harwarden, where the Beluga Super Transporter is based.

Steve also talks about his recent learning points from flights he has taken since the last episode of the Ready for Departure Podcast aired, including a fairly significant safety omission from the start of one of his flights.

Listen in as Steve discusses problems with ipads, last minute changes to plans and making the best use of aircraft time.

The post Episode 15 – Learning around The Liverpool Loop appeared first on Ready for Departure Podcast.

In this episode of the Ready for Departure Podcast, Steve talks about his first two flights post-qualification, including his first flight with a passenger. Steve has now gained his UK National Private Pilot’s Licence (NPPL) and took Kat on a tour of the North West’s motorway network, since this was something she had requested to see from the air. A video of the flight is linked in the blog post which accompanies this podcast.

Steve walks through some of the things that went well with both flights as well as some of the things that didn’t go as well, including a couple of small mistakes, things he forgot and self-learning points for future flights with passengers. Faulty ipads, self criticism, dodgy radio calls and a failure to listen to a fellow pilot’s advice all feature. Listen now!

The post Episode 14 – First Passenger appeared first on Ready for Departure Podcast.