VFR Club
| Briefing | OCTOBER 2020 |
| Overview | The Northern Isles of Scotland are served by 2 Airports; 12 Airfields and 6 airstrips. There are grass, dirt and gravel runways, and some with some VERY rough ground. Their economies rely on regular visits from aircraft, providing a variety of services, from scheduled passenger/light freight flights to emergency CASEVAC and other medical services. Most bulk freight services are provided via a small fleet of mixed traffic and freight shipping vessels. The most important flights are the mail-runs and medical supplies deliveries, usually using aircraft with STOL capability as well as limited passenger accommodation. |
| The Airfields and Airstrips of The Orkneys | Kirkwall EGPA; Fair Isle EGEF; Stronsay EGER; Eday EGED; Sanday EGES; Westray EGEW; Papa Westray EGEP; North Ronaldsay EGEN; Flotta FLH and X6LH. |
Scenario |
A consignment of special, urgent Medical supplies, this year, for all the Orkney Isles is required for urgent distribution. Your Aircraft is based at Kirkwall EGPA. You need to fly to Wick EGPC to pick up the supplies, (inbound from India), average 20Kgs per consignment - equivalent to 3 passengers. You must then deliver them to all of the Islands, served by an airfield or strip as soon as possible finishing at Kirkwall. Note the airfields/.strips having no communication or navigation aids will NOT have fuel available, You will need to check availability of fuel at other airfields. So plan your route carefully. Approximate minimum distance is 150nm. (plus taxiing and shut-down / restart). |
| Start Time and Place | Start at Kirkwall EGPA; For realism all the eleven flights of the tour should be made all on the same day. However, as many members have limited time for flying, flights may be made between Monday October 5th and Wednesday October 31st. |
| Flight Planning:- Plan-G/ LittleNavmap |
The flights should be done on VATSIM. You may set your own route, starting and finishing at Kirkwall EGPA (don't forget to fly to Wick to pick up the supplies! Data sheets for all airfields/strips are available. |
| What Aircraft can I fly | You may use any aircraft classified as a General Aviation type, but bear in mind it will need to be able to carry a minimum of 250Kg of freight and land and take off on short rough runways. Low wing aircraft are not recommended due to the possibility of 'prop-strikes' on rough strips. |
| Weather... or Not | Before starting we will check the weather. If it is unsuitable for our trip as planned, then we will fix it. Something we can do in the simulator - wouldn't it be nice if we could do it in real life! |
| ATC | Check the VATSIM connection software for any ATC online when you fly. If there is no ATC available, don't forget to announce your intentions to other aircraft, e.g."Flotta traffic, G-RKNM inbound to land, 5nm East." |
| Radio Discipline | Take care not to let our Teamspeak chat cut across ATC. Stop any conversation immediately the R/T comes alive, then continue if "he wasn't talking to us". This is difficult because when transmitting on Teamspeak you can't hear the R/T. So be brief on Teamspeak, and be aware that ATC might be trying to get through. If anyone hears an R/T message which seems to be being ignored, just say "ATC is calling G-CIXN" if you have identified the callsign, or "ATC is calling us" which is a cue for everyone to be quiet on Teamspeak until ATC call again (which they will). Remember too that if asked to "Stand By" by ATC, you do not reply - not even "Roger", but simply wait until you are called again. Remember also that there may be several different ATC frequencies in use, and you may not be able to hear when communications are taking place. Make sure you have set and know how to use a Teamspeak mute switch. (See note re ATC above.) |
| Club Star Award | All CIX Club pilots who complete the event within the time stated above will receive a Club Star award. |
| Acknowledgements | Event planning: Neville
Munro Briefing: Neville Munro/Peter Dodds |
| |
 |
Version 1.0 - 23:25 ZULU 02/10/2020 |