This is the story of owning and operating a 1993 Beech Bonanza A36 in the UK and some of its adventures and flights. I have owned this plane for nearly six years now.
Well that's my trip to Inverness done. I left on Monday in glorious weather at Blackpool although with slightly poor visibility and was forced to fly an ILS into Edinburgh to pick up one of my passengers and then carry on to Inverness where I flew yet another ILS due to poor weather.
Once on the ground in Inverness and onto my final destination the weather on Monday was magnificent but it just shows how much different it is when you leave the ground. I really don't think that the PPL syllabus covers enough about preparing you for the weather hazards that are around. I believe that people should have to take compulsory ground school and have some exposure to real weather during their first year or two flying.
There is so much to learn about flying that nobody tells you and you have to work out for yourself. I am lucky that I have some good contacts that know much more than me and I can call them up and ask the daft questions that arise.
On our return today the forecast was poor and without the IMC rating I would certainly have been stuck in Inverness (if I had got there in the first place) but thankfully I was able to depart and climb to a safe altitude and fly an ILS into Edinburgh and then another into Blackpool. The conditions at Blackpool were very wet and a very low cloud base but the Bonanza A36 is equipped well for the task.
En-route from Inverness to Edinburgh we picked up some icing at FL065 but a quick decent to FL055 got that melting off.
More experience and four ILS's in the memory bank. It was a very enjoyable trip and I am more impressed with the Beech Bonanza A36.
