The previous sector had seen periods of intensive crew co-operation, particularly when navigating in close proximity to controlled airspace and ATZs. An afternoon tea in the restaurant was particularly welcome in the company of Alan Smith, (one of the Flying Scholarship for the Disabled Trustees), who had flown in to meet us.
Fuel burns from the previous sector were calculated and double checked and followed with a visual check of tank contents. METARS and TAFS were checked and the decision made to continue to Liverpool without refuelling. This was fortuitous since we the found the Notamed delay in fuel availability was extended and fuel would only be available later and if urgently required. With a calculated 95 lt of fuel giving an endurance of 2hr 10 min plus 30 min reserve, departure from runway 26 was at 1635 with Tim in command. The planned route was very simple; just two tracks, first to Shawbury VOR (SWB) then Liverpool. An altitude of 2900’ would give 1000’ or more terrain clearance throughout although it was expected to be VMC all the way. Aston Down gliding site was safely skirted to the east and then Gloucester/Staverton had no traffic to affect our progress as we passed overhead Cheltenham. The remaining flooding in the greater Severn Valley area was now clearly visible (restrictions on flying had been lifted only days previously) and when Worcester was reached it was quite easy to see from our height the total coverage with mud of all of the county cricket ground and most of the racecourse. 
SWB was reached without incident; very little drift was being experienced since the wind was nearly all tailwind component and so the few degrees change of track to Liverpool presented no problem. Liverpool was visible at a distance of 20 miles and shortly after contact with ATC a non-standard Tarvin join (more or less a direct track to the field) was approved. No traffic had been seen en-route but Liverpool were still busy and holding was required for a short while to facilitate arriving and departing jet traffic. Positioning out onto a long final preceded the landing on runway 27 at 1740, 2 hr 26 min before sunset, giving an airborne time of 1 hr 5 min.
Summary
The airborne time was 8 hr 45 min with a total flight time chock to chock of 9 hr 40 min. Fuel uplift a few days later was 108 lt to full tanks, the amount consumed on sectors 3 & 4, giving a consumption figure of just under 31 lt/hr airborne flight time.
The aircraft was ‘put to bed’ in time to adjourn to a nearby pub and reflect on the day over a long cool drink. It had been well planned, carefully executed and benefited from a serviceable aircraft, weather as good or better than forecast, and no administrative problems. The targets had been achieved and we were well positioned to proceed with the charity fundraising described elsewhere.
The early start gave benefit that operations were in a quiet traffic environment until the second half of the second leg, and the final leg was not a race against the clock. The three man crew had the advantage of greater resource available and Jon in the back consistently called traffic before it was seen by Ian and Tim. However if crew operations are integrated it does increase the workload slightly in busy situations (just the act of listening to and acknowledging is a workload action) and so the potentially fatiguing effects are not reduced but the safety benefits are undoubtedly increased significantly. On the third leg much traffic was seen from St Mary’s Marsh to Bicester and this combined with the airspace complexity had proved tiring. This is a parallel of professional aircrew assertions that multi-sector days in busy environments are by far the most fatiguing. The 1 hr 15 min stop at Kemble was invaluable in restoring the crew to a good level of alertness. No ‘hard’ lessons were learnt but the day had been educational. Most importantly, we thoroughly enjoyed it!
THE ONES THAT GOT AWAY…...
No sooner had we stepped out of the aeroplane at Liverpool, did Jon say “I don’t believe it. We’ve missed Bruntingthorpe!”
This caused a little consternation as we were all sure that in the initial planning Bruntingthorpe had been discussed—how we subsequently omitted this from our route is a mystery.
Further research uncovered another base we had not flown over— Chelveston, a former SAC base in Northamptonshire. This was particularly frustrating as we had flown within 10 miles of the site.
BILLY BADGER
Once again we were accompanied on our flight by Billy T. Badger, the mascot of the RIAT Air Traffic Team. Billy has extensive flying experience and a very impressive flying log with well over 100 types of all shapes and sizes. We believe he may be the only pilot alive—and definitely the only Badger to have flown B-1, B-2, F117, Concorde and the A380!!
Billy has also flown with most of the world’s top aerobatic teams including the USAF Thunderbirds at this years RIAT.
Thanks
Thanks go to the following for their support and encouragement
Tim Prince
Chief Executive
Royal Air Force Charitable Trust Enterprises
Tony Maycock
Airfield Manager RAF Fairford
Alan Smith
Trustee
RIAT Flying Scholarships for the Disabled
Our families and friends
