'Flying For Fun' 2006

The Popular Flying Association's (PFA) annual 'Rally' (renamed Flying For Fun') has, in recent years, suffered a curse of epic proportions. Any event of this size relies on good weather (or at least, not bad weather), and this is, of course, especially true of a fly-in. Traditionally, the Rally has occupied the first weekend in July, but coupled with very poor weather, this has tended to clash with other events (RIAT and the British Grand Prix to name but two). In recognition of this fact the organisers made the decision to move the event to the third weekend in August.

The first weekend in July arrived, and Mother Nature revealed a rather warped sense of humour. You might remember 1st - 2nd marking the beginning of what turned out to be the hottest July on record. The British Grand Prix had even been moved. I turned to one of the Twenty-First Century's greatest minds to sum it up best...''Doh!''

''Fear not'' the BBC told us. ''If you thought July was hot, just wait until we get to August.'' Well, August arrived, and I was less than impressed. Wet and windy conditions prevailed over the first two weeks, and I began to fear the worst. Fast-forward to the Wednesday before the Rally, and I dispatched a 5 day weather forecast to fellow Bolkow flyers, Gunther Butterweck, Stewart Luck, and my father, Derek. The forecast looked alright, certainly better than I had first thought. Stewart e-mailed back, ''Well, your forecast is better than mine!''

By the time dawn made an appearance on the Saturday morning, I had digested the various weather reports (along with my breakfast), and was confident that it was a 'go'. Hampson Snr called from Rotterdam for an update. The plan for my father to fly across from Rotterdam and pick me up from Goodwood. From there, we would fly direct to Kemble. ''It's o.k here, I'm going to set off in 30 minutes''.

Driving to Goodwood, the weather was bright and breezy. Cloud was building from the south-west, but it was suitably dispersed and the visibility looked good. So, there was nothing for it but to wait for my father to arrive in G-ME. I was expecting him at 10:15hrs (L), which came, and went. Just before the point of getting concerned, the Bolkow appeared overhead at 10:45hrs (L).
''Battery was flat.'' was the response to my mild look of concern (or maybe that was just the wind-swept effect?) as the intrepid aviator, complete with a striking yellow lifejacket, deplaned at the fuel pumps. ''Ah''.

Fuel and landing fees paid, we jumped into the Bolkow for the next sector. Dad kindly relinquished the left-hand seat, and I handed over my PLOG and deputised him in the role of 'Navigator'. We briefed for a 24 departure which involved an early right turn for noise abatement, and also for the anticipated procedure into Kemble. As we started up a pair of French homebuilts were getting airborne, also bound for the Rally. The route would take us north-west to Popham, turning slightly to a more north-north-westerly track towards Swindon. From here we would pick up the mandatory VFR route inbound to Kemble.

Two up, full fuel, a tent, and overnight bags meant that we were at MTOW so the climb-out was 'leisurely'. We skirted the bottom of some broken cloud on departure at around 1200ft, but it cleared quickly once we reached Petersfield. Switching to Solent Radar for the briefest of services (they were busy with an inbound -146), we then called Popham to broadcast our intention to transit the overhead. The weather was lovely, and we started to develop high hopes that we would be just one of many aircraft making the trip that morning.

Passing Swindon, picking up the VRPs that make up the VFR route proved to be straight-forward. One 'gotcha' when flying into the Rally is that there are two water towers, and care must be taken to identify the correct tower (Malmesbury) before turning towards the field. Approaching Malmesbury water tower, we had a Bulldog behind us we began our decent and turn towards Oaksey Park. The Bulldog had seen us and slotted behind in trail. The ATIS had given Runway 26 as active, and on changing to 'Kemble Hard' the frequency was typically busy with finals calls. Flying the specified offset approach (to avoid Kemble village), we rolled wings level on short final, touching down nicely (''taildragger style'', my 'navigator' commented) and vacated at the first exit.

(G-ME arriving at Kemble)

After parking up and booking in, we set off to find our fellow Bolkow Squadron members. We had seen D-EHAC in the aircraft park so knew Gunther had made it. We found Gunther Butterweck and Stewart Luck at the PFA Education tent. Stewart has been responsible for the fantastic 'Build-a-Plane' project and he was kept busy all weekend flying people in 'The Spirit of Brooklands' (G-TSOB). We also met Mark Kaye (G-ATXZ) who drove down from Tatenhill with his girlfriend (I'm terrible with names), and enjoyed a few beers in the Education Strut's motor home. Clive Morris managed to fly G-AVKR in from Deanland. Clive was the only other Bolkow I saw (any others?) in the aircraft park.

(Stewart Luck bringing 'The Spirit of Brooklands' back down to Earth)

That night, we stood outside the 'Beer Tent' in the drizzle and the dark, and joked about why we go to great lengths, year after year, to get to Kemble, to stand on a wet, cold airfield, drinking warm beer. ''Same again next year'' was the unanimous response.

(Derek Hampson, Colin Hampson, Gunther Butterweck, Stewart Luck)

With G-ME having to get back to Rotterdam, and D-AC to Bonn Hangelar, we left at lunchtime on the Sunday. There was enough moisture in the air to neccesitate 'weather avoidance' on the return home, but in general the conditions were o.k. A brisk westerly wind gave reports of 126kts groundspeed for G-ME as it skirted up the Belgian coast. Gunther later told us that he saw 133kts on the GPS whilst over France. This must be a record, Gunther?

(D-AC and G-ME depart Kemble. Same again next year?)

So, another year of 'less than ideal' weather meant that the PFA, despite their best efforts, have almost certainly made a significant loss (again). The actual weather conditions at Kemble were, in general, quite reasonable. However, many people will have been put off by the forecast, and physically getting to Kemble from certain places was likely more trouble than it was worth. Those of us who did make it certainly enjoyed meeting up, walking around the aircraft park and watching the aeroplanes arrive and depart. Some 600 aeroplanes made it to Kemble this year, if there is another Rally, we will be back in 2007.