Forum visit, DH Museum, 11th December

Hi Bruce

Yea either date would be good.

Peter

I had every intention of flying over the museum and I did aim for it, but when I saw that smoke cloud it was like Chipmunks to a flame, I just had to go and look. It was a totally awsome sight from above. The buildings all around were devastated, the roofs sucked in by the force of the air starvation from the hungar of the fire. I could see the smoke was blowing straight towards the museum and I had no intention of flying under it to get there. To fly over it would have taken me into the Luton zone. Maybe next time.

Don’t try it now!!! Latest NOTAM:

TEMPORARY RESTRICTED AREA.
OWING TO THE EXPLOSION AT HEMEL HEMPSTEAD RESTRICTION OF FLYING
REGULATIONS HAVE BEEN MADE UNDER ARTICLE 96 OF THE AIR NAVIGATION
ORDER 2005 IN THE AREA BOUNDED BY A CIRCLE RAD 3NM CENTRED ON 514500N
0002500W. PILOTS ARE FORBIDDEN TO FLY WI THE DESIGNATED AREA WITHOUT
PERMISSION OF THE DISTRESS AND DIVERSION CELL (EMERGENCY CONTROLLING
AUTHORITY) TEL 01895 426150, EXCEPT FOR POLICE AND EMERGENCY REACTION
ACFT. ATC UNITS CLOSE TO THE INCIDENT AREA ARE REQUESTED TO ADVISE
ACFT ON THEIR FREQ OF THE CONTENTS OF THIS NOTAM.

I can do either of those dates.

the later in January the better, it’ll cheer me up for a busy February (moving sites at work).

I went on the eye yesterday, no problem from the smoke, made an interesting backdrop, the general haze however was more of an issue.

Any time is fine by me, assuming the fire is out by then, Red Adair having passed on years ago.
One of my clients spent the whole day in Central London, not having a clue what had happened but wondering why the sky was so black and cancelling his trip on the London Eye as a consequence, apparently people in Scotland heard the bang, and I heard other comments that it disturbed the local wildlife as well.

Fair enough – I offer the 22nd or the 29th – let me know!

Cheers for now

Bruce

Either is fine for me……

DS

Fair enough – I offer the 22nd or the 29th – let me know!

Cheers for now

Bruce

Just thinking it might be an idea to avoid the weekend of January 15th for the new forum visit as the Shuttleworth collection are having an ‘all hands to the pumps’ day in readiness for the new season and a CAA inspection. I’m guessing the majority of forumites are inlikely to be allowed out to play for the whole weekend,so even the 14th might be a bit dicey. Just a thought.

I spent the night at a freinds not far from Hemel Hempsted. I managed to sleep through the explosions and didnt hear anything about it untill i herd the afternoon news. Any time in January/Febuary for me is good for me.

I had a absolutely beautiful flight today. The sky was crystal clear over 1000 feet. Below, the layer of haze was such a gossamer that maintaining the visual flight rules was easy.

I had every intention of flying over the museum and I did aim for it, but when I saw that smoke cloud it was like Chipmunks to a flame, I just had to go and look. It was a totally awsome sight from above. The buildings all around were devastated, the roofs sucked in by the force of the air starvation from the hungar of the fire. I could see the smoke was blowing straight towards the museum and I had no intention of flying under it to get there. To fly over it would have taken me into the Luton zone. Maybe next time.

On an amusing note, despite the fact that I live less than six miles from the explosion and, despite the fact that I often suffer from insomnia (I can only dream about sleeping), I managed to sleep throught the horrendous bang, but was woken by someone in the house, in a terrified state, telling me about it. Ho hum.

Bruce, I was the other of the four attendees today, good time was had by all – can’t think why I haven’t visited before. Many thanks for setting this up, and also to your colleagues at the Museum for making us so welcome. I’m up for a second visit, any date mid/late January would be fine for me, and will give me a chance to make the donation that I forgot about today!

Best Regards,

OK, lets look at mid to late January – Feb is REALLY cold!

Any preferences?

Bruce

I’m up for another visit especially if there’s plenty of us going, always good for a natter 😉 closed season would be best as the summer is usually a fairly packed schedule for me.

Tom

Best for me to visit during the closed season if thats possible.

I’m glad you enjoyed it – Neil, I like the picture, but I am certain I made the right decision in staying home.

Now, would people like to come in the closed season before we open again, or wait until it warms up? I’m easy; its up to you all.

Cheers

Bruce

Docstirling- The words ‘Bagdad’ and ‘worth a visit’ -surely a contradiction in terms!

Glad you made it!

At the time I had to decide, it was unclear what had caused it, and whether there would be more to come. It takes me just under 2 hours on a good day to get there, so I decided to call it off just in case.

The museum is always cold at this time of year, and today was a relatively mild day. I have worked in the hangar at -2 degrees; mind you, the paintstripper doesnt work very well! If we want to warm the hangar up, we open the doors; the hangar is usually colder than it is outside!

Lets wait until the spring, and go from there.

Bruce

Springs good for me. Sorry you couldn’t be there – I’m impressed you do a 4+ hour round trip each Sunday.

In the meantime, I hear the Bagdad Museum of aviation is worth a visit 😀

DS

Like Bruce, it’s a couple of hours from here. Too far to risk getting caught up in the potential chaos. As I said, I’m an expat native so may have found a way around it but there are still a lot of natives that live around there too!

must admit I’d have probably not set out if I was making the trip from ‘up here’ but as I was already ‘darn sarf’ and had to go past the place on the way home, it was worth taking a chance.. 😉
Neil

Like Bruce, it’s a couple of hours from here. Too far to risk getting caught up in the potential chaos. As I said, I’m an expat native so may have found a way around it but there are still a lot of natives that live around there too!