Whiskey Alpha Pilot

18/06/2026

"Looking a lot slimmer! Congrats." A throwaway YouTube comment sent me down a rabbit hole, so I wrote the long version. Being a heavier pilot from the inside: the borderline BMI, the AME who put me on notice, the PMD workaround, the Mounjaro, and the new 15% cardio rule that's making older pilots nervous. I can fly a Spitfire. I still can't fly a Cessna 152.

Have a read. ✈️
https://whiskeyalphapilot.com/touch-and-go-logbook/too-fat-to-fly

16/06/2026

I had the speed. I thought I could stretch it. Connor put me straight. Extra knots don't translate into extra distance the way the brain wants them to. If anything, holding onto speed past best glide costs you more than it buys. Lesson logged. Field misjudged. Glad it was a drill. ✈️

12/06/2026

Partial power failure scenario. Connor's point landed: just because some power's left, doesn't mean it's staying. Treat it like it'll fail completely any second. Find an into-wind field, commit, and glide. Don't bargain with an engine that's already told you it's having a bad day. ✈️

11/06/2026

Five years ago today I flew an aeroplane on my own for the first time. One circuit of Elstree in G-KIKI, fifteen minutes in the book, and the loudest empty seat I've ever heard. James got me there, Ivan checked me out that morning and sent me off.

Today? It's chucking it down. So I'm celebrating five years of being a pilot by looking at the rain and drinking tea. Some things never change.

The full flight is still on YouTube if you fancy a very quiet cockpit: https://youtu.be/-kc-Rl_uixs

10/06/2026

Second circuit. Something settled. Connor called it: reading the situation better, adjusting as it changed, being patient with her on the flare. After the rust of being out of the seat, hearing "much more controlled" was the small win I needed. The hard bit is making sure it wasn't a fluke. So we went round again. ✈️

08/06/2026

Catching up on some airfield review writeups - this time its Sandown Airport EGHN

A pilot's review of Sandown (EGHN), the Isle of Wight grass strip with a pizza oven, a Black Arrow rocket and a no-misery policy. Scored 5/5.

07/06/2026

The impossible turn. Every student hears about it. Connor's version was blunt and I liked it. People say they'll get back to the runway from low altitude. They won't. Pick a field roughly ahead, 30 degrees either side, and fly the aeroplane. The runway behind you isn't the runway anymore. ✈️

06/06/2026

Went for lunch at the Aerodrome Cafe yesterday and couldn't get near a table. Took me a minute to work out why. The national press has only gone and discovered the little cafe at the end of my runway.

This is home. Elstree, where KK lives and where I learned to fly. The cafe's run by a Michelin-trained chef and his wife, and it shows. Pizza from the oven, a proper Sunday roast, and cake worth diverting for. You sit on the terrace, watch us lot bumble in and out in our little aeroplanes, and wave at the kids on the mound. Best seat in Hertfordshire. If of course you can get one.

I've written the whole place up, cafe and all. The circuit that flips direction at 2pm, the pink approach lights (yes, pink), and the public footpaths straight across the runway. It's all there.

Worth the trip even if you've no aeroplane to arrive in. Just book a table first. Learn from my mistake. ✈️

📍 The Aerodrome Cafe, Elstree

https://whiskeyalphapilot.com/airfield-reviews/elstree-egtr

04/06/2026

PFL drill with Connor. The engine "goes" and the brain has to do five things at once. 73 knots. Trim. Where's the wind from. Pick a field. Mayday. Fuel checks. All while the ground keeps getting closer. First time back in the seat for a while, this was the moment everything either clicked or it didn't. Spoiler. It mostly didn't, first go. ✈️

04/06/2026

Hottest May day on record, and I spent it in a portacabin with no aircon, having a chat with the CAA. 1,119 airspace infringements in the UK last year, and no such thing as a little bust. New on the blog: what I learned, what a bust really costs, and the encoder fault in my own aircraft I never spotted. ✈️
https://whiskeyalphapilot.com/touch-and-go-logbook/bust-uk-airspace-caa-seminar