We left London fairly early on a sunny September Indian Summer Morning. I did some training at Norwich with a terrific instructor called Jack Mills. The aeroplane I flew then was a PA28 Warrior ( GBSSC). Our routing would take us over Bourne, then NE of Cambridge, before crossing the Lakenheath MATZ. Those American controllers were very friendly and helpful giving us a no hassle MATZ clearance, we were soon over Thetford.
Our next feature would be Old Buckenham airfield. I know this place, because a few friends did a skydive from there and i went to watch. Because Skydiving was active, we diverted west, towards Seething before turning North for a arrival at Norwich 27 runway.
A very old friend came to visit us at the airfield along with his entire family. My flying buddy Anthony was very excited to be at Norwich as he had yet to do a land away from Cranfield to such a big aerodrome.
For the route back, we left late afternoon, just as many commercial traffic was arriving & departing. This meant a long wait on the apron before getting taxi clearance. Once in the air, we had a great radar service from Norwich – it was rather hazy and we were flying with the sun in our eyes. Past Kings Lyne, and we were soon over Fenland – which can be hard to spot. We landed at Peterborough Connington for some fuel and got back to Cranfield at the end of the fly. Round trip of 200nm.
