Manchester & Liverpool - a Covid-times special

This is an extended video of a flight from mid-April 2021, taking a first-time passenger on a flight that simply wouldn't be possible in normal times - overhead Jodrell Bank, then Manchester Airport crossing the 23R threshold as an Airbus A321 commenced its take-off, through the Low Level Corridor and into Liverpool's temporary Class G airspace. The flight continues across Wirral, over the Dee, then Hawarden/Airbus Broughton before returning to Ashcroft. All on a glorious sunny day, with full commentary and ATC.
#gyrocopteruk #gyrocopter #gyroplane #autogyro #stuwithaview

[@FlyGuyUK.]

what a pleasure to watch this video. Well done taking advantage of the transits Chris 'Liverpool"

[@SteveSalisbury]

What an incredible experience. Seems so weird to hear you on freq with jetliners. Fly out of EGCC in sims on vatsim a lot so crazy to see it irl from above. Thanks for this.

[@StuWithAView]

One of the few upsides of the past 18 months has been getting to do the Manchester overhead transit on two occasions.

[@bertiehogan7880]

Fabulous, thank you once again. I think I enjoyed that as much as your passenger, and didn't feel the cold either.

[@stippolyte]

That was cracking timing arriving at Ringway with the jet taking off below, is that 1st time you have seen that?

[@StuWithAView]

Yes; and last. This was only possible due to lack of traffic because of Covid.

[@jasonrwilkinson9216]

Great flight Stu - your pax sounded like he really enjoyed it too! Hope that you've managed to get a few hours in since we were back flying at the end of March and hope to catch up with you with at somepoint this summer.

[@StuWithAView]

Cheers Jason; it’s so good to be back in the air! I’ve been flying 2 or 3 times a week, including yesterday; hope you have managed likewise.

[@jasonrwilkinson9216]

@@StuWithAView Hi Stu, yes been up a few times each week too with 22 hours logged since end of March and first out landings to Skegness and Beverley the other week, it's been great to get back flying. We should try to arrange a Northern Gyro Flyers meet up this year.

[@RoadRunnerLaser]

I see you appear to have added a SkyEcho. Do you still use the PilotAware? Is that why you have two phones running SkyDemon on your panel - One for each, to compare the traffic awareness? I find that PilotAware sees (almost) everything and (almost) everything sees the SkyEcho (which is why I have both, too) and I take my traffic awareness from the PilotAware. I laughed at you asking your passenger to move the mic closer. I find that my first-time passengers nearly always have to be asked to move the mic, too. For a couple of years, now, I’ve been saying that I am intending to fly South (from Scotland to the Midlands) and will be planning to stop at Ashcroft along the way and will let you know when I do... Due to lockdowns and other restrictions, that hasn’t happened, yet. Hopefully, it will happen this year and I’m still intending to give you a heads-up when I do because it would be great to meet up with you for a while.

[@StuWithAView]

Good question. I explain why in commentary on an upcoming video. I wanted to add a second screen for nav redundancy, in case Sky Demon went down on my main device. I thought it best to go for redundancy on as many aspects as possible, so one phone connects to a battery pack , runs Android and connects to PAW; the other is connected to ship's power, runs iOS and connects to Sky Echo 2. SE2 gives me slightly different traffic - not quite as much as PAW, but it does receive FLARM. My SE2 is set to receive only as my PAW provides an uncertified GPS input into my transponder which then gives ADS-B out. SE2 is a great piece of kit, but not quite as tailorable as PAW. I originally tried mounting it in the nose cone, where I have PAW, but GPS reception (and I guess traffic too) was intermittent; PAW enables me to attach external aerials so I can mount the unit out of sight. I'd rather not have SE2 quite so prominently mounted, but it does work well here. Would be great to meet up; let me know when you finalise your trip.

[@RoadRunnerLaser]

@@StuWithAView - Redundancy did occur to me, but this is the first time I’ve seen you with two and you’ve been flying and making videos for quite a while, now... and it coincided with the appearance of the SkyEcho. Ah... FLARM ! Of course ! I pick up gliders from a gliding site I pass quite frequently but I think that they have an Atom node on their site, so, I’d forgotten that PilotAware is not quite so FLARM-friendly. Wilco on letting you know.

[@StuWithAView]

I added SE2 late last year with the CAA grant; for £249 I’m amazed there’s still so much traffic that I can’t see on either PAW or SE2 - I don’t like making things mandatory but I do wish more would install a traffic system. I find the training schools are the worst offenders; perhaps they’re scared of students busting airspace, but avoiding traffic systems is absolutely not the right way to go about this.

[@RoadRunnerLaser]

@@StuWithAView - I agree. I’m glad that the CAA did their EC rebate thing. According to the “Minister for Aviation”, around 3,300 people took advantage of the scheme. I was doing circuits at my home airport and on climb-out, just as I was turning crosswind (if I recall), SkyDemon announced something along the lines of... “Danger. Aircraft close behind, 5 O’clock. 300ft above. Overtaking at 450 miles per hour” - Nothing came screaming past me with afterburners on, though !! :D :D I think it was the PA28 which was in the circuit with me and a minor GPS glitch caused a momentary position-shift which was then interpreted as very fast movement. I always feel very vulnerable when mixing with other traffic because we tend to be slower than most and extremely difficult to spot - “Visual with the gyro” are the most comforting words I hear on the radio. During my training, there was a white Calidus about to take off whilst I was on downwind and even though I was pretty-much abeam the numbers, I couldn’t see the Calidus until my instructor pointed out that it was sitting BETWEEN the numbers on the runway !!! Have you tried the PilotAware Vector service to see if your transponder is actually doing what it is supposed to be doing (hooked to your PAW) ? My instructor did what you did (connected his PAW to his transponder) and we were having a discussion where I told him that to the best of my knowledge, although those transponders are sold as “ADSB-ready”, they don’t work properly. I subsequently went on to check the Vector plot for his aircraft and whilst his PAW is loud-and-proud, there was nothing showing for ADSB, 1394, or Mode S. I’m running the PAW, the SE2, and my transponder in Mode C (not connected to my PAW) and my plots show what they are supposed to show.

[@StuWithAView]

I’ve actually turned audio alerts off as I find them too distracting in the circuit. Yes I have checked via Vector - it’s an excellent initiative from PAW - and my ADS-B is showing complete 360 degree coverage out to 80km. PAW is blocked to my right as I have the aerial to the left of my body; I had to move it from a more central position as it was causing interference on my radio. But it’s not a problem given the excellent ADS-B coverage, and if I had to swap to SE2 transmission its position is good and central.