Flying Cross Country (Scottish Style!) by Steve Wright. Published early 2003
Inspired on by Kevin Taylor's article (paramotorsuk) on XC flying, I've recently been poring over the Air Chart to plan possible XC flights, according to the wind directions. Having worked out a number of possible routes for given winds, and made note of likely useful petrol stations (with handy landing fields available nearby) en route, I decided last Tuesday to take the plunge (or more correctly make that leap of faith!), and headed of into the wind SSW toward my goal, the picturesque Deeside village of Ballater.
We have been blessed with fantastic flying weather for the last ten days, and only now that the wind has risen have I somewhat reluctantly parked up my motor & wing and sat down to write about it - almost every day has been a flying day for the last fortnight here!
After pre-flight safety checks and making sure the tank was full to the brim (9¾ litres), I had a nice, gentle but reliable SSW "air" of about 5-7kph to take off into. I was soon over the local forest that covers much of the first 7 or so km of the journey, and well up into the 1000+ metre bracket, all the while making good steady progress.
At times like this, I think to myself it's always a good thing that I have remembered to remove the breather tube stopper, as there are not too many "friendly" landing sites down in the forest; this was something I learned on one of my earlier flights, though lucilky for me it occurred over a more friendly part of countryside! In fact, I managed to land back on my own landing field, but when the motor did cut out on my first "round the block" flight, I was retrospectively glad that it had not happened whilst over the 15,000 acre wood!
Though it has been very pleasant weather recently, with little or no winds on many days, there is still quite a bit of snow around the higher parts of the country; less wind means that it tends not to melt too quickly, and hangs on in there. At this time of year, the grouse muir gamekeepers take advantage of fine days to burn small areas of old, rank and unpalatable heather, which is replaced next season by pioneer young heather that grows back from the scorched stems of the previous year's burning. Sometimes they will take advantage of a bank of snow lying on the ground, and use it as a natural fire-break, to which they control their small fires toward.
As you can see in the above photo, taken over to the right of my immediate flightpath, there was a little stronger, though constant breeze higher up in the hills than the lower ground.
The more of these small "fires" made on a moor, the greater the diversity of age class of heather, and subsequently the more areas of valuable young heather shoots for both game and non-game bird species to live on. Estate managers strive to burn these small strips and corners on a 7-10 year cycle, as when the heather gets older than this it becomes less useful as a food resource for the birds.
In this way, an extensive patch-work (with much emphasis on the second syllable!!) of habitat is created, which sustains a much higher density and variety of wildlife than would be the case if no burning took place, and the heather was left to become one big, even-aged monoculture.Anyway, enough of the habitat management lecture!The high pressure we've had centred over Scotland this past ten days or so has kept any rain at bay, and with much working going on in the fields, and muir-burning going on, I was very much aware of the "ceiling" of dustier air, with the bright blue higher above, as described in Kevin's earlier article. As I was going on a comparatively short initial journey though, and not altogether sure how my fuel would last, I resisted the temptation to punch up through!
A well managed muir showing the extensive patchwork of well thought out muir-burn
I needn't have been duly concerned, as things turned out, and I had in any
event been periodically checking the fuel level marked on the side of my tank
with a small mirror which is attachet to my trouser- pocket zip via an old
ski-pass "zinger" (fine string on a spring, like a spring tape measure, which
retracts safely out of harm's way after use). On an earlier occasion, I'd
measured in fuel litre by litre and marked the level on the tank, and then
numbered the tank in "Mirror-ese", to
make reading by the mirror easier
(right).
Presently, after arround 1¼hours of flying, I arrived over the Tullich woods and looked down to the small town of
Ballater. I'd previously had a good look at the map, and knowing the plain in the middle of the Dee valley there (to be a: Flat and grassy, and b: near to the petrol station!), I made my approach over the last ridge of hills, to be met by some rowdier air, which, thankfully did not last that long, and I made my landing approach. Until I was quite certain that no power lines were running over the intended landing field (middle of the lighter fields below), I kept a respectable height, and once certain all was clear, re-attached my speedbar to the seat dees, pulled down the trimmer tabs, and eased off the throttle to tickover.On my first pass, I realised I would land rather close to the trees that now colonise the old railway line to the left of the field (landing into the wind meant coming in from right to left as one views the photo), and abandoned this attempt, powered up again and then took another, final circuit for a gentle touchdown - my first stage of the XC run was complete!
Checking my fuel (I'd used about 5¾ litres for 1¼hours of flight to cover the 40km SLD - Straight-Line Distance) I presently set off for the fuel station to scrounge the use of a tin (a 1940's antique as it turned out, with as many years of "patina" on the top, but mercifully clean inside!) and bought 5 litres. I had brought 4 x 100ml bottles with synthetic 2-stroke oil with me in the side pocket of my Vortex unit for the purpose (I put them inside plastic bags to guard against leaks, and take a supply of disposable rubber gloves with which to refuel & do any messy work!), the kind that 2-stroke oil for chain-saws is sold in. I also find it pays to have these, along with any other heavy items to be carried in the pocket on the side of the unit that requires to be trimmed most against the rotation of the propeller, which in the Vortex's case is the Left hand side.
After a bite of lunch and a draw on my Camelbak squash drink container (GET ONE - you'll never be thirsty whilst preparing for take off or during flight again!) I checked the wind with some kid's soap bubbles that I also carry, and laid out the wing to prepare for take-off for the second leg of my journey. A steady, if little stronger (by now it was 1.30pm) breeze was coming from the hills to the SW, which made the forward launch pretty easy. I now changed course to fly West, up the Dee valley, past Balmoral
(1) , and on to Mar Lodge (2), before returning to Braemar (3) and the final fuel stop.
Braemar
village
Although the distance between Ballater and Braemar had only been 22km or so, I'd added 10km to the journey by first passing Braemar and flying over Mar Lodge and returning to the village, and this part of the trip had taken exactly 1 hour. As with the earlier leg of the trip, I had been using the speedbar from time to time to head into the wind, which had picked up steadily throughout the day, but was still within safe flight limits. I also picked up a but of turbulent air in the far lee of the snow-clad hills of Lochnagar, which tower above the landscape in that part of upper Deeside.
By now I'd become adept at checking out the potential landing area (this time the valley plain or "haugh" field just 100yds from the Braemar Petrol Station), but on this occasion help was at hand, as on the North Side of the A93 opposite to where I entended to land, there is a Moutain rescue helicopter landing base, complete with dayglo orange windsock! Landing into the 12-14kph wind was a doddle, and I quickly brought down my Powerplay Sting Wing to avoid being taken aloft again before time, and set about refuelling.
The couple who run the perol station were very kind, lending me a jerry can (this time I needed just under 7½ litres for filling the tank completely for the return home leg), and we chatted for some time after I'd filled up. I also gat a packet of those wet wipes, which are very handy for getting the oil or grease off one's fingers when you forget you've got gloves for the purpose (I should have worn these before I picked up the slightly grubby fuel filler!) 1½ bottles of synth. into the tank, and the correct ratio was mixed.
Well, time moves on, and I was aware of the need to get going for home, which would be 55km across land, and directly back down wind. Perfect!
There was by now quite a strong breeze coming down from Glenshee, and my wing was offering to buck and move around (as they do when the wind gets up!) on the ground. My wind watch told me that the wind was fairly constant at 14-15kph, though with an occasional gust to around 18-19kph it was threatening to become a bit strong for comfort, I thought!
Well, whether I'm forward or reverse launching, the last thing I do before getting set to take-off is to actually clip in to the wing, so if there is any last minute hitch, or a gust of wind at the wrong moment, at least no damage occurs. This time, I made a reverse launch, which I do like because one has more visible control over the take-off, but also tells you that flying conditions are not going to be so calm and steady. As things turned out, I had a very smooth and fairly quick leg back, to land within 80yds of my quad bike and wind-sock, though the wind was strong, and I had to wrestle the wing down after landing. It had taken me just under 1¼ hours to cover the 55km SLD home.
Within half an hour, the wind dropped away to only a very slight "air", but with 40 + 32 + 55 km logged, I'd done not too badly for one day, and there was still plenty left to do next time! One aspect that I did manage to tackle in the intervening days was that of having a clean & reliable means of carrying fuel from any petrol station to the motor, and without the hassle of having to either a: rely on the kindness of the petrol station proprieter,
b: dismantle the cage to remove the fuel tank in order to take it to the petrol stn., or the (albeit slight) inconvenience and loss of time in returning any borrowed fuel tank & filler, and also the other recurring problem I had of my vario always slipping down my trouser leg; this will be the subject of another aritcle though! All in all I can wholeheartedly recommend Kevin Taylor's sentiment - Get out and do it whilst you can!
Steve Wright