Three Little Tales from Gib are we…..!" [continued]

by Brian Spurway

Over the three decades of my interesting, but unremarkable flying career, the '60s, '70s and '80s, holding six separate ranks and in five different RAF aircraft types, I staged through Gibraltar (the "Rock") many times. Three such trips remain clear in my memory, as clearly as the passage of time allows anyway.

The Second Tale

On Thursday 4th April 1974, I was the PA (Pilot's Assistant) in the right hand seat of a 6FTS Varsity on a Navigator training flight from Finningley to Gibraltar with a night stop at St Mawgan and a flag-stop at Porto (Portugal) the following morning; according to my log-book we spent the weekend at Gib but that has merged into the many others I spent there. The Varsity "Tick-Tocked" its way down to Gib with Reg and I upfront in our comfortable leather, but somewhat draughty seats and our young Nav instructor with a couple of even younger chicks hidden way down the back. The weather forecast for Gib was fine, or we wouldn't have left Porto, and the actual weather when we arrived was still good but with a slightly stronger wind than forecast beginning to blow up out of the South (ish). Anyone who has seen the TAPs (Terminal Approach Procedures) for Gib will have seen a separate chart that explains in graphic detail the effect that various winds can have when landing there. The runway runs West/East on the peninsular north of the "Rock" between it, the northern part of the airfield, and Spain; therein lying the incipient problem. Winds from certain directions can cause huge eddies behind the "Rock" which in turn can lead to marked variations in both wind strength and direction along the runway. Because of the airspace restrictions, if weather permitted, it had become preferable to land on the Westerly runway and, on this occasion that was our choice; less of a dirty-darty-fighter-pilot-type final turn (like Kai Tak, Hong Kong) as was necessary when landing from the West. Almost a zero headwind component, it may have even been a slight tailwind, over the runway threshold in the lea of the "Rock" and Reg did his usual "greaser"; being a bit of a self-congratulator he turned to me expecting a "PFM Reg!!" (Pure F…ing Magic) but out of the corner of my eye I had noticed something odd; the aircraft had become airborne again and was drifting off to the right (lucky it was RIGHT with that damned great chunk of granite to the left). Reg became aware (his instinct or my scream, whatever) as we passed over the CHAG lining the side of the runway It looked as though we might touch down on the large parallel dispersal area but, skilfully, drifted back to the left and landed safely on the runway, thankfully with enough room to stop. Obviously our ground speed had been sufficiently high and our weight sufficiently low so that, when one of those eddies the chart mentioned suddenly changed our zero wind component into a fairly robust headwind component, the Coefficient of Lift overcame that of the Weight and we became airborne again.

Down the back the innocents remained ignorant but Reg and I knew it could have been very serious, we both (even as hairy specialist aircrew) "Learnt about flying from that". Anyone remembering the good old Air Clues magazine will recognise that was the name of an article run in every edition

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