Ollie’s African Flying Adventure.

Posted on November 1, 2010 by admin

My name is Ollie. A couple of years ago I learnt to ride a motorbike and then spent a year riding it solo from Los Angeles in the USA via Ushuaia in Argentina to Sao Paulo in Brazil (find out more at www.greasysprocket.co.uk). Unfortunately, after returning home to England it became apparent that I was still suffering from the travel bug. Only this time it’s worse. I’ve decided to try an adventure of a different sort. Rather than ride a motorbike through Latin America I’m going to try and fly an aeroplane across Africa. Now I reckon flying a plane is slightly harder than riding a motorbike so I’m pleased to say that I’m not going to be doing this alone. My dad has been flying for 20 years and he seems to be keen on the idea. So if things go to plan, father and son will attempt this foolhardy trip together. Obviously they’ll be plenty of obstacles to overcome (not least that I’ve got to learn to fly) but I believe that if you want to do something enough you’ll find a way to do it.

This website is for people that are interested in or are planning their own aeroplane touring adventure. I’ll be updating it with information and tips that I pick up as I go.

More coming soon…

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Step one complete. I’ve learnt to fly.

Posted on November 29, 2011 by admin

Well. It’s been a while…

I started learning to fly on 3rd July 2010 and it has taken me almost a year and a half to finally qualify as a private pilot (JAR-PPL). Had I known back then all the frustrations and extra costs involved in completing the course I may not have taken the plunge. Fortunately my failure to research the topic thoroughly meant that by the time I was told how much longer it would really take and how much more it would really cost to learn to fly in England I was too far in to turn back. So all I could do was suck it up and carry on. I say fortunately because once I’m sat in the pilot seat there is no other place I would rather be. The feeling of flying a plane is amazing. Considering that when I started I had an irrational fear of landing this is quite a turn around. Developing a passion for flying does have its drawbacks though.

1) My interest in the weather seems to have developed from carefree to almost obsessive. This is because learning to fly in English weather is a nightmare. There was a period over winter 2010 that I didn’t fly for about 2 months. Cloud too low. Cloud high enough but visibility too low. Cloud and visibility ok but prediction of thunderstorms on the way. Cloud and visibility ok, no storms predicted but wind is not right. Oh, and fog. BLOODY FOG. DAM THAT BLOODY FOG. I can understand that they built Biggin Hill on a hill because, well because it’s on a hill and high up. But this also means that whilst it may be clear and sunny everywhere else, even up to half a mile away, Biggin Hill could quite feasibly still be shrouded in hill-fog. Yes. The MET office do actually have a separate term for fog on hills (“hill-fog”). The term probably coined just for Biggin Hill.

2) Cost. There’s no avoiding it. Flying private planes costs quite a bit of money. I am happy to sacrifice everything else in order to do this though so I don’t mind. I don’t have a car and I lived in a £200/month (almost a) squat for a year, the savings of which paid for this course. I’ve met others that work at flying clubs in exchange for flying lessons. If you want to do it badly enough you’ll find a way.

Anyway. On Friday 25th November 2011 I passed my PPL flying skills test, which formed the end of a course that comprised of a medical examination, a brain scan, 7 written theory exams, 1 oral radio exam, 72 hours of flying (10 of them on my own) and a ridiculous number of take-offs and landings. If you’re thinking of doing the course you shouldn’t need a brain scan. It’s not normal procedure. I had it because of a motorbike accident I had in Belize in 2009. I’ve sent all my documents off and to the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) at Gatwick so hopefully within 2 weeks time I should be the proud owner of a JAR Private Pilot Licence.

Step one of the plan complete. Now just to build up my flying hours, get hold of a plane and plan a trip to Africa… The more I learn about this topic the more I realise that this is going to be a much longer project than I’d originally envisaged!

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Skydemon Light is a great way to check your navigation calculations

Posted on October 29, 2011 by admin

SkyDemon was chosen by NATS as a launch partner based on the company’s proven experience developing VFR software tools and technology, and a shared desire for UK pilots to have access to a simple, free interface for pre-flight planning.

The tool, which can be found at www.SkyDemonLight.com is the first of its kind, and the first product to be awarded NATS’ compliance mark for pre-flight planning.  This mark indicates that the product complies with functionality set out by NATS to enhance GA flight safety:

  • Simple user interface
  • Free at point of use
  • Graphical NOTAM depiction
  • Generates alerts when a planned route interacts with controlled or restricted airspace
  • Generates basic Pilot’s Log
  • Comprehensive VFR database
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Chocks away…

Posted on November 1, 2010 by admin

The good news is that after giving my brain a once over the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) are happy for me to fly a plane.

Ollie's brain - all in one piece and not a single mouse running around in there...

The sightly less encouraging development is that I seem to alternate between ‘rabbit caught in the headlights’ and ‘gibbering idiot’ when trying to speak to Air Traffic Control (ATC) on the radio. I originally thought that my irrational fear of landing would be the stumbling block. However, landing a plane seems to be easy compared to speaking on the radio. My poor instructor can’t understand why I have such a problem repeating back what they’ve [ATC] just told me. I’m not sure why it’s so difficult either but there’s a risk it’s turning into a phobia.

However, once I can prove I can communicate properly on the radio, take off and land a few more times and pass my Air Law ground exam my instructor will let me go solo! Then it’s just the minor tasks of completing at least another 30 hours of flying, 7 more ground exams and the big ‘general flying exam’ and I’m home free… Well, I guess I would still have to confirm a plane to take, decide where and when to go, how to get there, resolve the various legal and administrative  problems associated with flying across Africa and perhaps then I’ll be ready! Daunting? Yes. Impossible? No (well I hope not).

As with the www.greasysprocket.co.uk website, I’m putting together a site for others that want to either learn to fly or plan their own flying adventure. I’ll also be posting updates to that site with how things are going with preparation. It’s still a working progress but you can have a look on www.aviatenavigatecommunicate.co.uk

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Falling off a motorbike may have held up my plans to fly a plane (London)

Posted on July 26, 2010 by admin

All things considered. This summer is going pretty well. London is warm and sunny. Friends and family are well and in good spirits. The skateboard ramp we built in Peru in December 2009 got a 6 page write-up in Concrete Wave skateboard magazine (available in all good newsagents/skate shops). I’m also really enjoying my flying lessons but a potential problem has come to light.

To obtain your Private Pilot’s License you have to have flown at least 45 hours (a proportion of which are solo), pass a number of theory and practical exams and pass a CAA medical examination. The flying lessons with EFG Flying School, at Biggin Hill, had been going well so before committing the next chunk of money I decided to get my CAA medical examination completed. I didn’t want to pay for a lot more lessons and then find out I couldn’t fly solo for medical reasons. I’m fairly fit and healthy so I didn’t think it would be a problem.

Unfortunately I may have been too honest when I completed the pre-medical questionnaire. Within the multitude of ‘yes/no’ questions about my family medical history, previous operations, etc. they threw one in about head injury or concussion. Not thinking much about the consequences I mentioned my motorbike accident in Belize last year, due to the head trauma I received. Those that read the blog may remember that the accident was in the middle of nowhere and although I was seen by some extremely well qualified doctors they weren’t Belizian and there are no medical notes, scans, x-rays, nada… It was only as I was relaying snippets of this information to the doctor during my medical and I could see his face dropping further with every new detail that I wished I’d just answered ‘no’ in the first place. To cut a long story short, he’s going to have to refer my case to the CAA and ask them for advice. So what should have been a formality (I am otherwise fit and healthy) might turn into a show-stopper or potentially costly round of brain scans. Seems that nothing is ever easy…

It wasn’t a totally fruitless visit though. In what was a rather surreal moment during the medical I discovered some interesting facts about my old school house-master. Bear with me on this. Part of the medical involved an ECG scan, where the doctor stuck 8 electrode-pads to my body (4 of which were on my chest). The hairiness of my chest meant that before he could stick the pads, the doctor had to cut away some of the hair to make 4 bald patches. He must have thought, as hairdressers do, that cutting hair is a good time for small talk so he asked where I went to school. Turns out he went to school with, and was best mates with, my old house-master (15 years before he was my house-master). I also now have an inkling why my house-master was so good about all my misbehaviour at school. Seems that he was quite a tearaway in his time. Who would have guessed it?!

I’m hoping we can get this ‘previous head trauma’ thing sorted, especially as I had already started building the website for planning this adventure and have sunk a fair bit into flying text books, lessons and the medical test. Guess I’ll have to wait and see.

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The end of my Latin American motorcycle adventure (and perhaps the beginning of another)

Posted on May 5, 2010 by admin

A previous post from the Greasy Sprocket blog to give a bit of background to this new adventure…

So this is it. My last post. I’ve been back in England for a month now and life is… well life is normal I guess. One thing I can say though, is that riding across the high-desert in Peru feels like a lifetime away when you’re caught trying to steal someone else’s pushchair outside your nephew’s nursery. William, the little rascal, assured me that the pushchair was his but promptly bailed on me when the real owners walked over and politely informed me that I was making a mess of their pushchair. The situation was made slightly more embarrassing in that not only was I taking the wrong buggy but I couldn’t even assemble the damn thing. In the end the ever so helpful (and slightly smug) victims of my attempted theft had to help me erect my sister’s pushchair; something that proper parents appear to accomplish with only a flick of the wrist. Rather than stand by his uncle as events unfolded, my ‘sweet little’ nephew pulled the old crying trick and took shelter in the bosom of a nursery teacher. Whilst I’m hurt by his treachery I’ll let him off this once as he is only two and a half. In fact, the more I think about it the more I admire his quick thinking and resourcefulness. Smart kid.

The long awaited reunion with my motorbike was emotional but not in the conventional sense. No misty-eyed embrace between man and machine. More along the lines of: “Surely you can’t charge that much to dispose of the crate? You thieving b@stards! Oh, if you put it like that I guess I’ll have to. Here you go.” Followed by installing the battery the wrong way round, thus unknowingly blowing the master fuse, and then worrying that none of the electrics worked. It took a while to realise that the battery could have the + and – terminals switched and after doing this it took another 10 minutes or so of frantic key twisting and calling the RAC breakdown recovery service before I thought to check the fuses! Replacing the master fuse brought back the electrics. Unfortunately this didn’t appear to be enough to make up for over 7 weeks of neglect and the infernal machine refused to start. I think the engine finally caught on about the 20th push start so I cancelled the RAC call-out. And then as one final test I had to pump up both tyres from 4psi to 30psi with my mini-now-broken-foot-pump. Why hadn’t I just ridden the bloody thing into the sea in Brasil and left it at that! Thankfully my sister was there to take the luggage home and of course my nephew provided moral support with the occasional helpful statement like: “Ollie. What that?”; “Ollie motorbike broken” and “Mummy, I need wee, wee.”

Before:

Crated motorbike delivered from Brasil to England

After:

Finally unpacked and ready to ride off

With both bike and rider finally back on British soil I feel that my Latin American motorcycle adventure has come to an end and although the bike needs a lot of love and my right ankle still occasionally aches and bruises I reckon we did ok. It’s good to be back and I’m actually looking forward to knuckling down to a bit of normal life for a while. I’ve even started to make a living…

However, whilst the wanderlust is quelled it is by no means extinguished. In a previous post I mentioned a couple of ideas for future travels and I’m pleased to say that my dad is up for one of them so we’re looking into it. If we go ahead with the idea I’ll produce and online resource for others that wish to do the same (as I did with www.greasysprocket.co.uk) and will also keep those that are interested up to date with a blog. I’ll post links to the online resource and blog here. The planning and preparation involved will be considerably more than that needed for riding a motorbike across a couple of continents so I can’t guarantee that we’ll make it. I am fairly sure though that father and son travelling over strange lands in a confined space will be anything but uneventful. If you thought I was absent minded at times you should meet my dad!

Here’s the PLAN.

If I can learn how to do this…

PPL flight traning manuals

… and we can take this…

Piper Archer 4 areoplane

…we’re going to try and fly here.

Map of Africa

Got to go now as I have quite a bit of work to do. Thanks for reading and good luck in any future adventures of your own.

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- Motorbike touring planning resource -

- Photos of Latin America -

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