24-02-24 – South of the river

Finally made my first trip south of the river today on my 2nd (well 3rd) nav with Sue from J28 -> Hartley -> Great Notley (the racecourse) -> J28.

Quite a bit of waiting to depart today, as it was hard surfaces only there was a lot of back tracking and a busy circuit. Take off was better today with less wind

Much more prepared for the call to Southend Radar this time, just make sure to actually prepare where I am before starting to speak rather than working it out as I speak.

Navigating back from the race course to J28, I really struggled to identify that I was heading in the right direction. Using the gas venting site was not as easy as I thought, hard to spot and also nearly on the nose, meaning hard to see. If I can’t see something quickly, move on to find something else.

Extra FREDA checks don’t do any harm

Recommendation: Have a gross error item for ahead and/or behind

Some mistakes:

• Wind star was completely wrong…. no idea why, probably rushing to add before I left the house
• Order of FREDA, HAT and timings when to do it
• Squawk – read back was wrong. Southend normal squawk for VFR traffic is 4575 (but be careful not to predict it)
• I think that I mostly am not ready to listen and missing things, be ready to write!!
• Radio Calls
  • When replying, call sign goes at the end
    • Squawk 4575, G-ISMC
  • When
    • G-ISMC Downwind, Runway 21L, To land
    • G-ISMC Request frequency change to Stapleford Radio on .

Preparation for the next lesson:

• New Route: J28 -> Northey Island -> Sittingbourne
• This route will require getting a Radar Service from Southend
  • The routing for this could be different so it is difficult to predict
  • This must be read back
• Need to revise VRPs as often Southend will provide this sort of routing
• Request Basic Service and Zone Transit
  • Q: At what point do I request the zone transit? We discussed asking early so they have advance notice
• Southend will call me, as I transfer the zone
  • G-ISMC Approaching, Radar Control
• They will also provide altitude requirements, which must be complied to and read back. The language can differ:
  • “Not Above”
  • “At”
  • “Not Below”
• They will reply “Read back correct”
• It is possible if Southend Radar are very busy they will transfer me to Southend Director (they may just say “Director” but I need to refer to them as Southend Director).
  • I need to prepare this frequency as part of the 1st or 2nd FREDA Radio Check, as my secondary Stapleford will not be needed for some time
  • Stay there until passed back
  • Obviously don’t forget to put it back towards the end of the nav
  • When changing, they may say “Call Sign Only”
    • Southend Director, G-ISMC
    • There will be no need to ‘pass my message’ again as Radar will hand over the information to Director