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350TSS · 19-12-2019, 11:05 PM

The first impression is of the smell of the aeroplane, stale exhaust fumes and oil, absolutely fine for a petrol head. The dashboard in front of you is equipped with 1940s instruments mounted on a slightly tatty crinkle matt black plate which is attached to the airframe by 4 x 1/4” studs with springs either side of the plate, a primitive form of anti-vibration mounting. Between your legs is the control column with a 6” ring at the top with a gun button at 10.00 o’clock. Everything in the cockpit is designed to be functional and no more, there seems to be some consideration of ergonomics, but there are absolutely no frills, it is designed to ensure ease of maintenance. All the control cables from the column and the foot rudder bars and their linkages to the rear of the aeroplane are exposed on the floor. It was a job to find somewhere to put my feet to avoid having any impact on the moving parts.

The pilot started her up and the Merlin engine soon settled into a smooth(ish) idle at about 1100 rpm, the airframe vibrated quite a bit and most of the instruments in front of me became blurred. Exhaust fumes and unburnt avgas smell filled the cockpit (probably still on choke). The fumes made me fell slightly sick. We set off on the perimeter road and before joining the runway the pilot ran her up with the brakes on to do a magneto drop test – seeing how much the revs dropped when one magneto was switched off. Two separate magnetos supply the sparks to the twin plug heads. He ran it up to 1800 rpm and the revs dropped about 150 rpm when each of the magnetos was switched off. A bit difficult to tell exactly because the rev counter had two hands one recording thousands and the other recording hundreds. The airframe vibrated quite a bit at 1800 rpm and the noise was about 110Db but all muffled by the headphones. The pilot chatted away with me while at the same time you could hear the control tower talking to other aeroplanes queuing up to take off and land and it was all a bit confusing.

Out on the runway and the pilot ran it up to 1800 on the brakes and then released them. Full power is at 2850rpm so this was not a full power take off but we picked up speed smartly and after about 10 seconds I felt the tail wheel lift and at 85mph we were airborne. The airport at Biggin Hill is on a plateau and it is amazing how quickly the houses below drop away from you. The pilot increased revs to 2000rpm to climb out and at 1600ft he throttled back to 1100rpm equivalent to 210mph. There is a 2400ft ceiling for all light aircraft operations from Biggin Hill due to proximity to Gatwick and London City airport.

19-12-2019, 11:05 PM	#3
350TSS Too much time on my hands member Join Date: Jan 2013 Location: Shipbourne Bike: M900 Posts: 1,419	The first impression is of the smell of the aeroplane, stale exhaust fumes and oil, absolutely fine for a petrol head. The dashboard in front of you is equipped with 1940s instruments mounted on a slightly tatty crinkle matt black plate which is attached to the airframe by 4 x 1/4” studs with springs either side of the plate, a primitive form of anti-vibration mounting. Between your legs is the control column with a 6” ring at the top with a gun button at 10.00 o’clock. Everything in the cockpit is designed to be functional and no more, there seems to be some consideration of ergonomics, but there are absolutely no frills, it is designed to ensure ease of maintenance. All the control cables from the column and the foot rudder bars and their linkages to the rear of the aeroplane are exposed on the floor. It was a job to find somewhere to put my feet to avoid having any impact on the moving parts. The pilot started her up and the Merlin engine soon settled into a smooth(ish) idle at about 1100 rpm, the airframe vibrated quite a bit and most of the instruments in front of me became blurred. Exhaust fumes and unburnt avgas smell filled the cockpit (probably still on choke). The fumes made me fell slightly sick. We set off on the perimeter road and before joining the runway the pilot ran her up with the brakes on to do a magneto drop test – seeing how much the revs dropped when one magneto was switched off. Two separate magnetos supply the sparks to the twin plug heads. He ran it up to 1800 rpm and the revs dropped about 150 rpm when each of the magnetos was switched off. A bit difficult to tell exactly because the rev counter had two hands one recording thousands and the other recording hundreds. The airframe vibrated quite a bit at 1800 rpm and the noise was about 110Db but all muffled by the headphones. The pilot chatted away with me while at the same time you could hear the control tower talking to other aeroplanes queuing up to take off and land and it was all a bit confusing. Out on the runway and the pilot ran it up to 1800 on the brakes and then released them. Full power is at 2850rpm so this was not a full power take off but we picked up speed smartly and after about 10 seconds I felt the tail wheel lift and at 85mph we were airborne. The airport at Biggin Hill is on a plateau and it is amazing how quickly the houses below drop away from you. The pilot increased revs to 2000rpm to climb out and at 1600ft he throttled back to 1100rpm equivalent to 210mph. There is a 2400ft ceiling for all light aircraft operations from Biggin Hill due to proximity to Gatwick and London City airport.