Flying
To celebrate the receipt of my annual Permit to Fly I took advantage of some
good
weather, destination; Knocknarea. The mountain of Knocknarea slopes down to
Sligo airport on the west coast of Ireland. Sligo airport has full ATC and
control
zones yet I was to be the only movement of the day, apart from a search
and rescue helicopter locally based at Sligo. The mountain of Knocknarea is
noticeable
by its unique plateau. My flight to Sligo from Coal Aston had only taken
a couple of hours. A really pleasant scenic flight across the Irish Sea. The
only unusual event was severe turbulence experienced on both left downwind
and again on short final. The turbulence was initiated by something on the very
mountain I had come to see. It was comforting to have an assured air traffic
controller forewarning of each blast that shook my Europa. I thanked the
excellent
ATC lady on the radio the tower. Thanks again Patricia! The walk that followed
to the top of the mountain and back took a couple of hours. Really enjoyed
the exercise. As a walker you are aided by an amazing series of sleeper steps
---From approximately somewhere around the halfway point thence ongoing to the
very top of the steep limestone cliffs. At the summit I enjoyed a surreal sight
that could have been taken straight out of Game of Thrones. A cairn and tomb
fit for a queen. A truely enormous cairn protects the magical Queen Maeve.
This cairn increases the height of the mountain to over 1100 feet. Locals
suggested
that it becomes part of a disturbance factor that pilots must consider
whenever there is a south easterly wind.
In my hangar
Carbon Monoxide: On a disturbing note. When I executed my annual test using the
exhaust from the hangar lawnmower I found my legacy Vloxo device displayed a
safe 0 ppm! Bad design! It ought have an error default! I have now replaced the
ineffective Vloxo with a new Forensic D unit. All is now well. Like many
Monowheels
my aircraft routinely acceptably indicates around 40ppm on the ground
and 0 ppm when airborne.
Happy and safe flying everyone!
Picture: Mount Knocknarea in far distance, Mid distance Sligo airport with my
Europa
mono parked adjacent the fire station, plus selected pictures of the sleeper
steps which took me to the plateau.
Regards
Bob
G-MEGG
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