Part 2 of my journey from Biggin Hill to Dundee in G-BHOR sees us fly from Humberside to Dundee.
The weather continued to be excellent for VFR flying, taking away all the pressure from this trip. ATC was excellent too, with a simple departure from Humberside, over the Humber, and a straight leg towards Durham. We remained outside Durham’s controlled airspace, and then obtained a Class D CTR transit from Newcastle Radar. We were given a shortcut, routing via the NT NDB.
The Humber
Fuel was a mild concern for this trip. On paper, the whole route from Biggin Hill to Dundee could be completed on the PA28s full tanks. When we landed at Humberside I requested fuel to be on the safe side, but when they took a while to come, we left the aircraft, only to discover they’d been while we’d been away! I decided to press ahead without refuelling, but kept a close eye on my progress to ensure we were hitting our ETAs along the route.
Newcastle Aerodrome
Legally, for VFR in Oscar Romeo, I need to have enough fuel to get to my destination, to get to an alternate aerodrome if I can’t land there, AND to have at least 30 minutes of fuel in reserve. Based on a theoretical 35 litres per hour fuel burn for the PA28, this was doable, so long as the forecast windspeed didn’t turn against us.
We were hitting our ETAs, and so landed on schedule…no drama. I’d also been leaning the mixture in the cruise, and actually landed with about 80 litres of fuel in the tanks (2.25 hours+ worth). The leaning had reduced the fuel burn to about 29 litres per hour. Bonus!
Landing at Dundee
Landing at Dundee was spectacular. A great approach over the River Tay, onto runway 09.
Dundee Aerodrome
Checkout the GPS tracks for this flight here
Video: Humberside to Dundee VFR