WSquared

Welshpool Mid-Wales airport, sits 2nm South West of the town of Welshpool in Wales, surrounded by rolling Welsh hills and countryside. I had wanted to visit for a while, and every attempt up until now had been thwarted by the weather,

A good friend of mine who I met when I was in the Navy had recently turned 30 and was staying with his fiancee in the Chester Grosvenor Hotel as one of his surprise gifts. It transpired that Welshpool wasn’t too far out of their way, for their drive back home and I had organised with his fiancee, for her to drive them both to Welshpool where I would surprise him by meeting them both there. I took my friend Alice along too who knew Chris from when I was in the navy which seemed fitting for the day.

On the Saturday morning, after a week of frankly dismal weather, high winds and rain, it looked like a promising day. Sunshine and a south westerly wind both at Gloucester and Welshpool gave me a thumbs-up for the trip. No discernible weather systems or NOTAMS to avoid en-route either, it was all looking like quite a good run.

I had been allocated G-GJCD for the day. A very handsome looking Black R22, with grey leather seats. A far cry from the training days of Uniform Charlie. (I wonder what happened to her). I took a full main tank and a splash in the aux before booking out and setting off North bound. The aim was to arrive at Welshpool by 11am… Just about doable by the time I was airborne.

It was a beautiful day, if not a little windy from the South West, buffeting the R22 from the Port Quarter the entire journey. On Approach to Ledbury I switched across to Shobdon and gave them a courtesy call with a request for basic service. I would be crossing their extended centreline of the 26 approach to the East of Leominster and wanted to know of any other traffic in the area. A nice surprise was a Gazelle at 2400′, 4 miles out on approach to the field.

The majority of the route from Glos to Welshpool was a heading of 310 deg, right until the final approach into the circuit pattern. Taken at 1500′ QFE due to the high ground surrounding the field. I approached the field from South East, over the high ground and turned on to a long final for Runway 22. It was a single concrete strip nestled amongst the hills, which until close is pretty difficult to identify.

It all worked out nicely on the approach, it turned out Chris and his Fiancee had arrived in good time and were in the Coffee shop as I came in to land. I landed and shut down next to the fuel pumps. It was an hours flying from Glos with some stunning scenery North of Shobdon. Everyone at Welshpool was friendly and helpful, I left Charlie Delta sat cold and dark next to the pumps and jumped in the car with Chris and Beth to head for some lunch.

We chose the Royal Oak in Welshpool (https://www.royaloakwelshpool.co.uk/). Less than a 10 minute drive from the airfield it was a lovely restaurant with polite, welcoming staff and a beautiful dining room for lunch. The menu was great with just so much choice, we all opted for the Brie and Bacon sandwich and chatted the afternoon away catching up on navy stories, and plans for the future. I would definitely recommend a visit, the only pain was the abundance of wasps in the dining room of which Beth dispatched three and trapped another under a glass! Ninja. (I’ll never understand how people remain so calm around such flying devils).

With lunch over, we headed back to Welshpool where I dropped in another 30 gals in the Main tank and decided I would head across to Wellesbourne. I used to live next to the airfield when I was in the Navy and its such a great little GA airfield, with the thought in the back of my mind that it may be closed by the end of September it seemed apt to go and visit once more, as it may be the last time. 

I started up on the apron, nose to nose with a running Piper Cherokee, which promptly taxiied around me. I called for lift and hovered out on to the main runway. It was a climbing left turnout after departure to get me on a heading for EGBW. Building speed along the runway at low level, I eased back on the cyclic and bought Charlie Delta up into a zoom climb, trading the speed for altitude then resuming a normal departure profile. I was later told by Beth, that as I departed one of the staff opened the window and said to them ‘That was so cool!’.

It is always a pleasure heading in to Wellesbourne, and I don’t think I have yet visited a GA airfield where they have not been welcoming and friendly. (Standfast some of the FISOs!) Standing on the grass parking next to Charlie Delta, I looked across to the Market that is held on the airfield every Saturday (since time began!), I reminisced when I used to attend the market and look across to the airfield and dream of flying helicopters I can still recall the dull ache in my stomach, of how much I wanted it.

A quick bottle of water and a protein bar and I was on my way to Gloucester with a scheduled return time of 16:00 Local. Out to Stratford on Avon racecourse, skirting the Long Lartin restricted zone, a left turn at Evesham, call in to Glos, and a bee-line for the Southern edge of Tewkesbury. The wind was on my nose the whole way back, significantly reducing my ground speed, and when fuel planning this is critical to take into account.

60 kias and 500′ QFE when crossing the M5 at the Eastern edge of the airfield and a constant profile approach into Yankee. I called for taxi to HeliFlight as I was 100′ from Yankee and bringing in the power to counter loss of Translational Lift. Waiting for the ATC response I applied left pedal to bring the aircraft around 180 degrees, hearing the approval to cross runway 27, I applied right cyclic gained speed sideways, dropped in the right pedal and brought Charlie Delta back straight as I crossed the runway. Immediately greeted with a ‘Very Impressive’ radio call from the tower, which somewhat caught me off guard! 

2.6 Hours over all. Bringing the total required before at the CPL(H) starting threshold to 28. 🙂