The Around Ireland Rally - Trip report

Stewart Buckingham (D-EEAH)

At the final night party of the 2004 “Around Britain Air Rally”, everyone was in high spirits and there was much discussion as to “what could we do next year?” We had had such a great time flying round England, Scotland and Wales that there was great enthusiasm for a 2005 trip. But somehow we were not in a mood to reach a conclusion there and then. It was many months later that Bob Manners, the instigator of the 2004 trip sent round an e-mail outlining a circumnavigation following the coastline of Ireland for 2005. Unlike the 2004 trip, there was no web site to announce and promote the trip; the word just went round the 2004 participants and any flying colleagues they happened to inform. The 2004 Bustard G-SKAN crew (Bob and Gilly Weaver and myself) were all very keen to take part, and we spread the word around the club to see if others would like to join in. Then as the dates started to firm up it became clear that Bob would have to miss the trip as he was all booked up to jet off to the US to attend the Oshkosh rally. It’s a hard life! Undeterred, Gilly arranged to come on the Ireland tour as a passenger with one of the other participants, meanwhile Carl Harris and Kaleb Tarrekegn decided to take part in G-ROBN, and Tony Oliver arranged to accompany me in my little Bolkow Junior D-EEAH.

Maps and Irish Pooleys were purchased, club life vests and dinghy were serviced, and for good measure emergency locator beacons were bought. The route included 3 water crossings of up to 40 miles each so prudent precautions were in order. The rally plan was for the ~25 participating aircraft to assemble at Haverfordwest by mid-day on Thursday 21st June, to depart to Weston (near Dublin) then to work round the coastline clockwise to Waterford (SE), Kerry (SW). Galway (W), Sligo, Enniskillen, Donegal (NW), Londonderry (Eglinton) and Aldergrove (NE), then across to Ronaldsway in the Isle of Man for a end-of-rally celebration on Monday 25th, and back home on the 26th, some 14 flying hours and 1400 miles later. But as we all know, plans and reality do not always coincide!

Carl and Kaleb reached Haverfordwest on the evening of the 20th and met up with Gilly and several other participants who likewise thought it best to get to the assembly point the night before the mass departure. But for Tony and I the lead-up to the rally had become fraught because I needed to get the German C of A renewed on D-EEAH before setting out and a snag with the engine delayed the trip I had to make to Germany for the renewal. Eventually I arrived back from Germany on the evening of Wednesday 20th and Tony and I decided to slip our departure for Ireland back to early on Friday 22nd. By skipping the Weston stopover we planned to intercept the rest of the crews at Waterford. Good plan, we thought! And as Carl and Kaleb has decided also to forego the Weston stopover and route direct to Waterford to avoid what looked on paper a rather complex procedural routing into Weston, Tony and I looked forward to meeting ROBN at Waterford. So D‘AH was all loaded and ready to depart Boscombe early on the Friday morning. Or so we thought. The ASI thought otherwise. We were clearly accelerating nicely down 23 but the ASI insisted on believing we were stationary. Take-off aborted, taxy back to the club. It was Tony’s first flight in D’AH – not an auspicious start! Lesson 1 – if you can see that you are clearly doing 30+ kt and the ASI says zero, don’t wait and hope it will recover, abort! ASI failures CAN and DO happen – even to me or you! On 23 I had lots of space to abort from perhaps 50 kt but on some airfields I may by then have been committed to getting airborne with no ASI! Fortunately for us, Brian Carter was there helping Neil Grayson prepare D-KIMM for his C of A renewal trip to Germany and with his kind assistance remains of several flies were removed from the pitot line and an hour or more later than planned we were on our way.

A fuelling stop at Haverfordwest and we were off again to Waterford. The sea crossing was uneventful except that the overcast kept us little above 1000ft much of the way, which would have left little time to deal with any emergency. London Information asked us to relay a message to a Czech aircraft which was apparently crossing at 600 ft and was clearly below their radio horizon. But below the overcast the visibility was OK, and as we approached the Irish coast the overcast lifted and the Waterford weather was bright and clear as forecast.

So by Friday mid-day we were at Waterford, where we met ROBN and two other participating aircraft. We were at a point on the rally route and expecting the other 20 or so aircraft to be appearing very shortly. But three days later we were still at Waterford! Initially poor weather at our next planned stop, Kerry, prevented us setting out and then the rain and low cloud spread eastwards from Kerry and clagged us in completely. And for 2½ of those days all the other participants stayed weathered in at Weston and never managed to reach us at Waterford. We visited the famous Waterford Glass Works, wandered around the seaside town of Tramore, consumed Guinness and speculated about just how much of the water of the North Atlantic would be precipitated down onto us. When an improvement to the weather started to be forecast we considered abandoning the rally and returning home, and one of the four aircraft eventually did just that. But by the Sunday afternoon the weather had cleared at Weston and further north so the aircraft from Weston made a break to Sligo and on to Donegal in the north west by the evening – which got them back on the planned schedule, so they then flew the Monday route to Eglinton, Aldergrove and Ronaldsway as planned.

Meanwhile at Waterford we had to wait until Monday morning for the weather to improve and while one aircraft set off back home, D’AH, ROBN and the third aircraft set off to try to catch up with the main group. We clearly could not follow the full route, and the weather was still forecast poor at Kerry, but we reckoned that if we cut across to Galway, we could then fly the coastal route all the way round to the Isle of Man in a day if we skipped the stops at Sligo, Eglinton and Aldergrove. In fact Galway was notamed as not having AvGas so our first stop was Connemara, a 600m surfaced strip right on the coast a few miles west of Galway. From there D’AH and ROBN set off northwards with improving weather on a 2 hr leg round the coast to Donegal while the third aircraft chose instead a direct route eastwards back across the country to the Isle of Man.

Refuelled at Donegal (and with landing fee waived as rally participants) a further 2 hours around the coast to Belfast and then across the water (by now under clear blue skies and with plenty of height for the crossing) got us to the Isle of Man around 7pm - the last two aircraft to arrive, but with a good margin ahead of sunset and well in time for the final party. Although we had had to skip some of the planned stops, the Bustard pair had ROBN and D’AH at Donegal for a fuel stopprobably covered more of the intended coastal route than any other participants!

A very sociable evening followed, with much exchanging of stories of the flying and a very heart-felt vote of thanks to Bob Manners and Dick his assistant for all their work planning and arranging the rally. And, of course, another round of discussion about “what can we do next year?” The preference seemed to be for a tour of France – in the hope that the weather would be better!

Next morning it was time to load up the aircraft for the last time, say farewell – or perhaps “au revoir” to the other crews, and with flight plans, Special Branch notification, etc, all set up the night before we were away homeward. The clear, sunny weather encouraged us to fly a circumnavigation of the Isle of Man before heading southwards towards our landfall at Amlwch on Anglesey. Once clear of Ronaldsway airspace restrictions D’AH just managed FL90 before starting a descent as we reached gliding range from the coast. Unfortunately once back over land the cloud started to build and we were forced down to 4000ft as we skirted a cloudy Snowdon and followed the coast down to West Wales (Aberporth) for our final refuelling stop. Departing just after 5pm allowed us to arrive back to Boscombe “after hours”.

Despite the disappointing weather (which we always new was a risk – Ireland cannot stay so green without plenty of rain!) we had had a wonderful trip. We had enjoyed some spectacular coastal scenery, had shared some great camaraderie with the other flyers, and had broadened our flying experience and developed our confidence. We had gained lots of practice filing flight plans (almost every planned leg required a written flight plan either for transit across international boundaries, transit over open water or because in Ireland you need to submit a written plan an hour before departure for any flight into an airport with controlled airspace – which means almost every flight). We learnt that the trick is to plan ahead – file a plan for the leg you hope to fly the next morning, or for the leg after the one you are about to fly. That saves waiting an hour and once you have a plan filed it is easy to defer it if circumstances conspire to delay your take-off beyond when your plan stated. And we learnt that the Special Branch notification is likewise very straightforward if you plan adequately ahead. Although they were somewhat taken aback to receive a phone call at 11pm to discuss the following day’s planned arrival, they were very helpful! France in 2006? I very much hope so! Perhaps next year the Bustard participation might be three aircraft (or more!).