GA1337

I consider myself to be a sensible and low risk-taking pilot. I have always trained and had no real rush to the finish line. I have been learning to fly with the ambition of flying my ex-military aircraft. Over the 4 years of the aircraft’s restoration I learned to fly (PPL), did a night rating, IRR and built up my hours on PA28’s and others. There was no rush. The military aircraft was completed and over the course of 2018/2019 I qualified to fly it. During this instruction I met fantastic pilots, all ex-RAF guys and/or RAF instructors and their training was and still is, world class.

I solo flew the aircraft with 2 others down to a weekend meeting where I mixed with incredible pilots of unattainable standards. On the Sunday the weather was bad but 3 aircraft had to fly back to home base some 150 miles north, mine included. We agreed there was an hour-long window around 11am and so we all set off with the 2 other aircraft in formation and me behind them solo navigating. The journey was the hardest flight I have ever undertaken. The weather was raining with low clouds and bad visibility all the way – there was a front coming down that I had to pick through. It is important to note here that ex-military aircraft are ‘Permit to fly’ aircraft and can only fly VMC otherwise I would have climbed above the weather. Eventually the weather cleared, and I landed at home base about 15mins after the other 2 aircraft. At no time during the flight was there any danger, and my training had kept me calm and focused. I was elated. After a debrief I got ready to fly my SEP back to its home base but the weather had closed in and the visibility was low with a cloud height of 300ft. I waited.

Eventually the visibility got slightly better and the cloud height raised a little. This is where it all went wrong. I decided to depart and started to taxi to the hold. I missed a turning on the taxiway and had to turn around. I got to the hold and the tower asked if I was sure that conditions were safe. I waited, rang my home airfield, who confirmed the bad weather was local to me, waited a few more minutes then lined up. There was a strong crosswind from the left and the clouds were around 400ft. I sat there for a few seconds then applied full power; 10secs later I was stopped on the grass to the left of the runway having slewed to the left at 40 knots or so and gone straight off the runway. I was not hurt nor the plane damaged, but this inevitability shut the airfield for 2 hours while I was recovered. I got a taxi home.

So, what happened? After many hours and sleepless nights, I have come to these conclusions:

• I was extremely tired after the taxing flight. I was on a high and didn’t realise this.
• Being around pilots way beyond my ability made me over-confident.
• I ignored my own limits. The weather for the home flight was way too bad for my experience level. I had ‘get home-itis’.
• There were obvious signs that I ignored during the Taxi. I missed a turn! Why? The Tower we’re concerned! I should have turned back to the Apron.
• The conditions were poor. I should never have approached the aircraft.

I consider myself to be reasonably intelligent person, aware of these issues, and yet I ended up where I did. Thankfully no one was harmed but it could have been so much worse. My advice is to never breach your own self-set limits. You set them when you are thinking straight, so trust them.