Sun, Sea, Snow and Sunsets – Solent Airport to Biggin Hill

With our original plan to fly to Kemble not being possible, this had a massive knock on effect with timings for the day. Our departure from Biggin Hill earlier in the morning was delayed not only because of the time needed to remove the snow and de-ice the aircraft but also to refuel and plan our new route.

This meant that we couldn’t spend as long at Solent airport as we would have liked. We had enough time to visit the cafe and get some lunch as both of our stomachs were rumbling by this time and then plan our return route to get us back to Biggin Hill just as the sun would be setting.

For this flight I again had the responsibility of being P2 (co-pilot) meaning the planning , navigation and radio communications with ATC fell to me while Graham did the flying. Out route into Solent earlier in the day took us north of the Gatwick CTA so I plotted a slightly different route back to Biggin Hill that would take us south of the CTA and initially along the coast passing south of Goodwood.

We departed sunny Solent airport from runway 05 and with the Fleetlands ATZ closed for the day we made a right turn after departure putting us nicely on our planned track. Looking back at the airfield as we were climbing out there was no snow to be seen and looking forwards there wasn’t a cloud in the sky.

As we approached the Goodwood area, we changed radio frequency to Farnborough LARS West and requested a Basic Service. As we knew from our flight earlier in the day it was very unlikely that our transponder was working and it was clear that our DME had also failed (all added to the tech log on our return to Biggin), so we notified the controller of this so that there was no surprise if we weren’t spotted on radar.

After passing south abeam Goodwood we made a slight left turn to head in land slightly to make sure we were clear to the north of the ATZ at Shoreham. Shortly after this we were handed over to Farnborough LARS East where our Basic Service continued.

Our route then took us in the direction of Burgess Hill as we continued our north easterly track. It was a matter of coincidence that our route took us directly over Grahams house. Knowing this he sent a message to his wife before we departed to keep a look out for us and as we approached we descended slightly before completing a couple of orbits around his house finishing with a wing wave as we then climbed back up to our cruising altitude of 2,200 feet.

Back on track we proceeded to fly overhead Tunbridge Wells and it was really here where the weather started to change. To our left looking towards Gatwick were clear skies and green fields and to our right was a layer of thick cloud and some quite heavy snow settled on the ground. It was only at this point did we actually realise that we were flying the exact line were the snow and green fields divide almost marking out the CTA at Gatwick (a great help when navigating).

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With the thicker clouds rolling in above us, snow below us and the evening closing in, the glorious sunshine we experienced on departure had changed to something more gloomy and darker. This wasn’t a bad thing as the views of the snow on the ground and dramatic clouds above made for a very scenic remainder of the flight. On top of this we were treated to an amazing sunset that slowly fell below the clouds the closer we got to Biggin Hill.

As we approached Tonbridge, we requested a frequency change from ATC to Biggin Approach. We got our approach and landing information from the controller who requested us to report with 3 miles to run on the dead side for runway 03 and to squawk the conspicuity code 7047. So we informed the controller at Biggin Approach of the problems we had been experiencing with our DME and transponder. But with the GPS working, we were at least able to notify ATC when we approached 3 miles for our onward clearance.

We were given clearance to report left hand down wind for runway 03, but on approaching I was given a reminder of my times flying at Biggin Hill when we were asked to take up right hand orbits at the end of the downwind leg due to inbound jet traffic for runway 21. So we circled and circled as we waited for the jet to land and for another light aircraft to depart off of 03. I think in the end it was about 3 or 4 orbits before we were cleared to proceed and report on final approach.

As we had just started another orbit when the clearance was received, we cut it short and made a sharp left turn on to final approach. With one aircraft lined up and still to depart from 03 we did think that a go around might be required but in the end timings worked out well and we touched down on the runway.

We then taxied back to the stand outside Alouette flying club, shut down the aircraft and then took in the snowy scene and the amazing sunset that was unfolding in-front of us. Not for too long though, as it was pretty cold outside!

What a great day of flying!

View the video on my YouTube channel:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cuLtoaMKXA8