Trafalgar Review 2005

Transcription

1 The scene below was impressive. Over one hundred warships and submarines stretched in neat lines towards Portsmouth, their crews paraded on deck, hats off, a view now interrupted by the arrival of a Lynx helicopter, call-sign, Sentry-one, slowly filling the windscreen of our Cessna 172, as the Navy pilot attempted to nudge us away from the edge of a line that marked Bravo, the Trafalgar 2005 Review exclusion zone, a box that ran on one side, from Cowes on the Isle of Wight to one degree west past Bembridge and which placed the Solent under military control from Portsmouth to the Hamble Estuary. This was to be a long day s banner-towing detail with Bob Shilling of Airads, six hours pulling three different advertisements for marine websites over the tops of the flotilla of yachts and small craft that were manoeuvring around the edges of the Trafalgar day celebrations, occasionally being intercepted by fast-moving Navy and Marine rigid inflatables when they intruded to close to the line of warships, the largest of which was the French aircraft carrier, Charles De Gaulle. Two hundred years after the battle of Trafalgar, the French were once again making their presence felt among a shrinking Royal Navy, identifiably 60 s design alongside some of the navies attending the largest gathering of warships since the coronation review of 1937, when the German pocket battleship, Graf Spee was the star of the show. Positioning for the day from a very pleasant Bembridge airfield on the Isle of Wight, we were to spend six hours patrolling the borders of the exclusion zone, with two refuelling breaks in between. Given what was taking place within sight of the runway, Bembridge was unusually quiet, possibly due to the detail of the AIP-published restrictions reaching to 8,000 feet, enough to deter any but the most determined pilots and also because of the thunderstorm warning for the south coast of England from noon onwards. Simon Moores Page 1 30/06/2005

2 Slipping around the side of the exclusion zone, which stretched two miles inland, we dragged the first banner out over the Solent from Cowes towards the entrance to the Hamble estuary. From every direction, small vessels, packed with people, were dodging the big ferries and were streaming towards the review from motor boats to Ellen MacArthur s round the-world yacht, B&Q. In the air, it was just us, the Sky News helicopter a Hercules on AWACS duty and police and naval helicopters patrolling the Bravo zone against the risk of incursion by buccaneer banner-towers with politically incorrect messages. Half way through our first pass along the Solent, I spotted a grey Navy Lynx helicopter speeding towards us from the centre of the fleet. A little worried by what his rotor-wash might do to us if he came too close, we waited to see what would happen next as we listened on the Solent Military frequency, having already told the controllers what we were up to. The Lynx slid behind us to read the banner and then just to be sure, he moved over to the opposite side of the banner, to check that the message was the same on both sides, reporting the result back to the controller before buzzingoff back towards the big ships, which included a number of tall-masted sailing vessels, among them, the Grand Turk from the Hornblower television series. Simon Moores Page 2 30/06/2005

3 On the second run of the day, our exit from Cowes coincided with the start of the Queen s review of the fleet. As we started across the Solent, HMS Endurance, followed by the Patricia, were just completing their pass along the first line of warships and would have to make a turn back into the fleet. This is where the plans for the size of the Bravo exclusion zone went slightly awry, as perhaps nobody had considered how great the turning circle of Endurance might be. The result, was that as the Queen s vessel turned to reverse its course, it left the exclusion zone behind it and rather conveniently sailed underneath the privateers in their Cessna 172 who just happened to be circling along the edge of Bravo. As you might imagine, the Navy did not like this situation one bit and within a minute, the sentry Lynx had suddenly reappeared opposite us and was slowly closing the space between, pushing the Cessna away from edge of the zone, with the helicopter s observer waving his hands at us in an obvious get lost Simon Moores Page 3 30/06/2005

4 gesture. At the same time, Solent Military informed us that there had been a complaint that we were over- flying shipping in the exclusion zone. No we re not replied Captain Bob, we re outside Bravo, an opinion confirmed by one of the Navy picket vessels which chimed-in with a confirmation that we weren t where the controller thought we were. Meanwhile, the Queen and her escort steamed Majestically back towards a the safety of the pall of yellow smog, generated by the engines of 140 idling warships, leaving us to wonder when the world would next see so many ships in one place again. Somewhere in the ether near Goodwood, another light aircraft radioed Solent Military with a request to transit the zone to Bembridge, receiving a firm Negative in reply. Are you aware of the restrictions, asked the controller. No replied the young pilot, What are they please? You could almost hear the long-suffering sigh from the controller, who then had to draw a mental picture of the complex Bravo zone for the incoming pilot. Can we come across at 2000 feet, he asked. Negative said the controller, a minimum of 8000 feet and no nearer than one degree west. Ok, said the pilot, we ll route towards Bembridge not below 8,000 feet. At this point Bob and I exchanged knowing looks. The cloud ceiling over the Solent was now under 2,000 feet and behind us, a thunderstorm had obscured Sandown. From its last position report, we had a good idea of where the other aircraft was and were prepared to bet on what would happen next. Sure enough, ten minutes later, the other pilot called Solent Military to ask if it had him on radar, as his GPS wasn t able to tell him where one degree west was and he wasn t sure where he was in relation to zone Bravo. With no radar and squawking the same zone ident as us, Solent Military weren t sure where he was and at first confused our Cessna on the western edge of the zone with the lost PA28 above. The orbiting Hercules couldn t see him through the approaching thunderstorm either. Eventually, after several minutes of exchanges between the military controllers and the patrolling sentry aircraft, Simon Moores Page 4 30/06/2005

5 the lost PA28 was re-discovered and vectored safely around Bravo and the thunderstorm into Bembridge. This served as a good example of why NOTAMS exist in the first place and why, every seventy years or so over the Solent, they should be studied in conjunction with a few scribbled lines on a chart before departure. Just after 6pm and it was time to head back towards Kent as the air display was finishing. Bournemouth s radar had just been hit by lightening and the airfield temporarily closed and the Red Arrows who were performing through a lowering cloud-base were telling the controller that they were fuel critical and needed to put down very soon. The Yakovlev team were ready to take their place in the performance and a waiting Spitfire had been apparently instructed by one set of controllers to hold bang-on the approach path to Southampton airport while the others were urgently asking if he might move on with the pilot sounding rather miffed in between. With Captain Bob taking a rest, I took the Cessna out to the east around the exclusion zone at 1,000 feet and set a direct course towards Shoreham and North Kent, with the forward visibility over the sea now at the point that I had to refer to the Artificial Horizon. As we crossed the coast we seemed to be the only GA aircraft in the air that evening, with no activity at Shoreham at all, hardly surprising as the storm cells were by now all around us and listening to Gatwick we could hear the bigger aircraft reporting on where the active cells were positioned in relation to our own route and their landing runway. Running-up towards Headcorn in a 30 knot headwind the first rain caught us cleaning the bugs from the wings of the aircraft and giving the impression of flying through a car wash, Moments later, the ASI suddenly registered 300 knots and jammed against it stop, suggesting that something had jammed the pitot. If it had been me on my own, I would have flown the aircraft back on the RPM, having seen the problem before and would never have thought of taking the aircraft apart in flight but that s exactly what Captain Bob did. Reaching for his Swiss Army knife, he leaned across and started unscrewing the internal wing panel above the dashboard, taking the panelling off as I was flying and laying the pieces on the floor between us. Eventually, with the wiring exposed and me wondering which screw held the wing on, he spotted Simon Moores Page 5 30/06/2005

6 the clear plastic pitot tube, detached it and blew gently through it, before plugging it back into the ASI. For several seconds, we both watched the ASI as it twitched several times and then started to fall back towards an indicated airspeed of 90 knots. Repairs completed, Bob then re-assembled the aircraft around me and reached around for the thermos to pour himself a congratulatory cup of coffee, which then soaked him and the ceiling of the aircraft, as the aircraft skidded suddenly around the edge of the thunderstorm towards home. One of the hazards of flying in heavy weather that you won t find in the textbooks!. Simon Moores Page 6 30/06/2005