Start up	G-SMAN	Teesport	Ground at Newcastle	View to high Cheviot
Housteads fort	Carlise approach	Carlisle ground	Leaving Carlisle	Hexham

On Friday 12th June, I had a rare occurrence - time booked with the flying club, and decent weather!
At the start of the day I have around five hours of solo time to my name, most recently flying two 'triangle routes' from Durham Tees Valley via Sunderland and Barnard Castle (once in each direction) and back to the field. Now it was time to do my Qualifying Cross Country Flight, which every pilot has to undertake close to the end of their PPL training. This flight is done entirely solo, and with a sheet of paper in hand that has to be signed (and graded) at each airport you visit to state how well you performed, both in terms of flying (landing) and communicating over the radio.
 
I arrived at St. George flying club. My instructor confirmed the weather was suitable, although the cloud cover had looked a bit
doubtful earlier, it now looked like it would hold out. So I was assigned to Piper Tomahawk G-BOHT. We went out to the aircraft, with the fueller arriving to fill her up, and went through the checklists. I was soon ready to go, so called the Tower for taxi clearance and was given instructions to head for hold point Charlie, Runway 05.
 
Monarch's A330-200 G-SMAN was on Stand 1 as I passed, almost ready to head off for Calgary. It very much dwarfed the Tomahawk! At the holding point I went through the power checks, including sorting out a problem with one of the magnetos which always run a bit rough on Hotel Tango after a few minutes of taxying. I was then given clearance for takeoff.
 
My route would take me out to Redcar initially, then up the coast overhead Hartlepool, Seaham, then inland at Sunderland towards the 'Tyne Bridges' reporting point. Durham Radar expected me to turn north after departure, but I'd already been warned by my instructor to tell them I needed to head to Redcar first (I need to cover a certain distance on these flights, and this is the best way to do it). The controller didn't have a problem with it luckily.
 
The air over Teesside was incredibly bumpy. I was a little apprehensive at first since I had a long way to go, and I was really
fighting the controls at times - and this was only minutes after takeoff! At Redcar I turned north and the air was immediately smoother, much to my relief. As I looked left I could still see the runway in the distance. At this point, I could also see the Monarch A330 climbing out directly towards me. Before I'd even reached Hartlepool it had swooped round behind me and was making a wide turn towards Newcastle. By the time I was handed over to Newcastle Radar, Monarch was already talking to them, and it soon disappeared to the north.
 
Pretty soon I was over the Nissan factory at Sunderland, and I could see the bridges over the Tyne at Newcastle. I was looking forward to this view, but had my attention taken away by a Cessna circling over the RVI hospital almost directly ahead of me. Before I knew it, the bridges and the Cessna were behind me and I was being told to head for right base to runway 07. I had spotted Newcastle Airport from quite a way off mainly because of the Emirates A330 parked at the end of the pier. It stood out from as far away as Seaham!
 
I turned final about two miles from the runway. Traffic and wind were clear, so it wasn't very stressful or daunting to be landing
here. Touchdown was a little sloppy, but no problem. Once I'd slowed I was told to backtrack and park on the Samson's ramp. There was plenty of space there, so I parked up alongside Cirrus N192SR and shut down.
 
The Samson's office was empty apart from the guy on the desk. I paid my landing fee and filed my outbound flight plan on a small piece of paper, whilst he telephoned the tower to get their feedback for my form - 'Good' for both parts was the answer, much to my relief.
 
Back out at the aircraft, I gave Hotel Tango a once-over. As I was doing this a couple of airliners were arriving and departing. St. George's owner happened to be on the ramp with a student, so I stopped for a quick chat with him. After this I fired her back up and called for taxi, which was via Foxtrot (and the run-up area), and then cleared for takeoff on 07 again. After departure I made a left turn, making sure to stay well north of Ouston airfield and Stagshaw mast. This put me off my planned route slightly, but I soon managed to navigate my way back south to Hexham and continue on my route through the 'Tyne Gap' towards Carlisle. This area is packed full of military traffic, as well as VFR traffic like me. The nature of the terrain means aircraft are forced close together, and it also makes the wind a little stronger and bumpier. Nevertheless, the views over the forts along Hadrian's Wall were fantastic.
 
Due to the amount of military traffic buzzing about, I was handed over to Spadeadam radar. Military controllers always seem a bit more relaxed than those at airports, but you get the feeling you have to be pretty exact in what you say. We had a few exchanges about Hawks in formation near me, and also a Harrier flying very close to the ground as I neared Carlisle. Just past Haltwhistle, I was passed to Carlisle Tower and given clearance to join final after passing over the village of Brampton. The runway at Carlisle is a bit shorter than DTV or Newcastle's, and it's in very bad shaped, with lots of bumpy patches here and
there. I made a much better landing this time, and was then directed to taxi to stand 2F on the ramp.
 
I made my way to the small office, which is full of information about the local area. I paid my landing fee (a third of the price of
Newcastle), and once again the guy telephoned the tower for my report. I felt I'd mucked up the communication a bit on this leg, but I still got 'Good' for both parts, so I was happy with that!
 
Back out at the aircraft, two Army helicopters parked on the ramp were gaining lots of attention. I decided to wait until they'd gone before calling for clearance. At Carlisle, you file your flight plan with the tower, rather than in the office. So I worked out what I wanted to say whilst the helicopters were heading out. With my clearance gained, I taxied to the runway and backtracked the length of 25 before departing. I had a nice view over the Solway and Carlisle itself, before turning left and heading straight back down the Tyne Gap.
 
This time I wasn't asked to speak to Spadeadam, and didn't come across any other traffic. The bumpy winds had returned, however, keeping me on my toes. Back with Newcastle Radar, I turned at Hexham to fly a pretty-much straight line back to Durham Tees Valley. I passed Derwent Reservoir, Crook and Bishop Auckland. Newcastle Radar got a bit twitchy about an easyJet A319 on approach pretty close to me. I saw it pass a few minutes later.
 
This final leg passed quite quickly. Durham Radar were busy with other traffic, so by the time they could deal with me I was already approaching Newton Aycliffe and requesting joining instructions. Cleared to proceed to left base for runway 05, I skirted round the eastern edge of Darlington and settled nicely for a final approach of about 2 miles, followed by my best landing of the day on familiar turf.
 
The Qualifying Cross Country is a big milestone, and often students wait months to get the weather for it to go ahead, so I was quite lucky having only waited just over a week. Next step is to build up three hours more solo time, and then I'll be ready for the test.
 
Matt Falcus

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