Gyro flight Cromer to Rufforth East
by Roy Armishaw Qualified PilotWith the problem of lockdown stopping recreational flying and a permit which expired at the end of April I was left with no opportunity to fly up to Rufforth for Steve Cooper to complete the annual maintenance and permit inspection on M24C G-YRAX. Once flying was allowed again with appropriate covid rules I was able to get a local LAA inspector to inspect GYRAX and issue a ferry permit Valid for 1 month for the flight to Rufforth . This done and good weather forecast for Wednesday 20/5/20 I departed N.Repps airfield at 0815 and arrived at Rufforth 1hr 50 mins later flying in fantastic weather with a tail wind giving me an average GS of 75kts and a high of 100+ kts over the approx 120 NM flight . The flight included an 11NM leg over water crossing The Wash and I had hoped for radar cover from either RAF Marham Or Coningsby but calling both stations got no response and I did wonder if my radio was working as it was so quiet ( tested later and all ok ) so pressed on and was soon feet dry in Lincolnshire and otw to the next waypoint crossing the Humber estuary. With excellent vis I could soon see the great York Minster cathedral and began to prepare for landing at Rufforth slowing down to 60kts GS to ensure I had time to locate the East side of the airfield as the west side has a very active glider launch facility and is to be avoided . Within 10 minutes runway 23 was in sight and I was talking myself through my 1st landing for 5 months which thankfully wasn’t too bad and both man and machine arrived safely .
