The morning after the night at Barnsdale Lodge in Oakham was fresh and bright, I woke up early and was raring for some breakfast.. and based on the quality of the cuisine from the night before I was sure it wouldn’t disappoint. I opted for the French Toast with bacon, which turned out to be incredible. I took my coffee with me to do the Check A on the aircraft. A force of habit from learning at Rise.
Sierra Hotel was sat proudly in her own Helipad enclosure, looking as contented as she had when she arrived. A few people had gathered to watch, as is often the case, I let them know I wasn’t leaving for a little while.. (I was just super keen as ever). No Issues with Sierra Hotel and the pre-flight Techlog sections complete, I went upstairs to pack and check-out.
Surrounding the helipad enclosure on the Western facing side, were a bank of trees, which separated the edge of the hotel from the main road. The wind was from the West, and my route took me West. A towering take-off wasn’t my option so I used the field to the South of the hotel grounds, hovering to the furthest South East corner, and commencing my take-off run to gain the translational lift to sail me up and over the bank of trees.
Just to the West of the main road, Rutland water expands in all directions. Early morning sunlight reflecting off the water whilst still low level and climbing is quite a sight. A small rowing boat had just left the shore and it felt surreal to be flying over such calm water. The last time I had flown over any expanse of water was en-route to Flatholm and that was anything but a calm lake.
I picked up London Information on the radio, and joined my route to Turweston, The day would take me to the West of Northampton, over Silverstone racing circuit and in to Turweston for a suck of fuel before heading on to the Soho Farmhouse. I head heard good things about Turweston and their impressive waterfront control tower. They were so helpful when I had called in for PPR during the week before, that I was actually very much looking forward to the visit.
I approached Silverstone, switched frequency to Turweston and turned on to finals for Runway 27, as I approached the threshold I was given a direct track to heli parking. Easily identified in this instance by the waiting fuel bowser. Such good service! I was nestled in nicely between an Enstrom and an A109. The smallest of the three, but no less impressive. The re-fueller was a very friendly chap, topped me up very quickly and off he went to the tower and said to head up whenever I was ready.
I have to say, when I saw the tower I was blown away. It looked so out of place on this small airfield, but then it also looked fantastic. I circled around the back of the tower and up to the top to see the controller and pay my dues for landing and topping up Sierra Hotel. The view was simply unparalleled. I explained my intentions for departure and he nodded along merrily, half out of politeness and half out of not really caring I think. Heading downstairs, the cafe is on the first floor, with a panoramic terrace overlooking the airfield and the the lake below that fanfares out in front of the tower.
So far, the timings were working well for the day, I had been invited to the Soho Farmhouse near Enstone Airfield (https://www.sohofarmhouse.com). It is a private members club, designed for those of the creative industries. Affording city goers a very exquisite piece of the countryside. I had been invited in for lunch by a very good friend and fellow helicopter (and fixed wing) pilot, who was already a member. I had purposely not researched into it much, so the afternoon would be a nice surprise.
Before departing Turweston I spoke to Enstone, to inform them of my intentions as I would be approaching the helipad at Soho on the reciprocal heading of any circuit pattern traffic they would have at that time. My intention was to aim for joining for finals at Enstone and then peeling off to the North West and into the farmhouse helipad. One thing I have noticed repeatedly during these hour building sorties, is that when using any form of gps, i.e. skydemon etc.. the actual groundsites are a lot closer than they appear to be on the screen.
I was now on the ground at Turweston, fully run-up and ready for departure. I spoke to the tower and let them know I was ready to lift. The controller informed me there was a fixed wing joining in the overhead at 2000ft, and would I be able to depart to the South East.. (Perplexed face). South East was the exact opposite direction of where I wanted to go, I informed him that i was visual with the fixed-wing in the overhead, and I was content to depart straight out immediately (i.e. West: following runway heading). He agreed, and I transitioned past the tower and departed up and out of the Turweston zone. The lesson to take away from this, and building on what I learnt studying the Military Air Traffic Control course, is, controllers have to be responsible for both Safe and Expeditious flow of Air Traffic. If there is something you require as a pilot, then request it. The controller may not be aware of you/your aircraft ability. If they believe your request is unsafe they will ultimately deny it. However, your request could be of help to them.. i.e. departing straight out removes you from the picture completely, rather than having to depart to the SE, and then double back being his problem for a longer time.
The flight from Turweston to Soho Farmhouse was a little under 20 minutes flight time, to the West. I informed Enstone on the radio of my position and intentions, and headed in as planned direct to the H of the Farmhouse Helipad. The real estate that the farmhouse occupied was extensive and it was evident from the air, that it was beautifully kept. On shutting down on the pad, I was content I hadn’t startled the horses that were nearby, but I was informed immediately that it was possibly the smallest helicopter to ever have flown in to the farmhouse, considering the clientele. I wasn’t in an EC-145 by any stretch of the imagination.
The Farmhouse was stunning, as a collective. We immediately found two bikes and I was shown around the site. Passing the rustic looking cottages that were scattered around the lake, all available for accommodation and immaculate.
The cycle tour stopped at what seemed like the Main building. Which had the gym, swimming pool and health facilities. It had, as would be expected incredible attention to detail. Next was the tour of the restaurants and the decision of which one we should have lunch at. I opted for a Sunday Roast, to see if they could pull it off.. and it was great. The tour after lunch covered the private cinema, boating lake and the on-site farm shop. I bought a small jar of rhubarb and custard sweets for those back at the flight school and headed out to Sierra Hotel. The sweets taking pride of place on the passenger seat.
It was a peaceful, half an hour flight back in to Gloucester approaching from the East. Heading up towards Bredon Hill and Tewkesbury to extend the flight time and approach from the North. An enjoyable weekend, which covered the furthest North and Furthest East I had been to date.
Hourbuilding Adventures 