FlyerDavidUK

22nd September 2021 Foreign / Landaways

French Touring 2021 Part 4 – Perpignan

My turn to fly the TB20, this time Figari to Perpignan. The direct route over water was almost two hours and I considered whether to file VFR or IFR and what altitude to cross the water at. There are prescribed VFR routes which reduce the overwater time but take you up north towards Nice and Saint Tropez. A more direct route was suggested by Autorouter with VFR legs at both

21st September 2021 Foreign / Landaways

French Touring 2021 Part 3 – Figari

We were keen to make the most of flying within France in our shared TB20. Nic had managed to obtain PPR for Figari, which published a 72 hour advance requirement although it seems is really not very busy at all. He had flown to Corsica before on an intensive flying trip and was keen to return. He filed a VFR flight plan and determined a route flying down the mountain

21st September 2021 Foreign / Landaways

French Touring 2021 Part 2 – Annecy

Our earlier planning had focussed on entering/exiting France, with all the regulations around COVID and BREXIT, aiming to visit Annecy and depart from Limoges. Some further flight planning we conducted in Auxerres involved flying into Annecy for some quick sightseeing and lunch, then onward as far south as we could while remaining in France. Figari in the southern tip of Corsica published a 72 hour PPR requirement so we were

20th September 2021 Foreign / IFR Flights / Landaways

French Touring 2021 Part 1 – Auxerre Le Branches

My TB20 co-owner Nic and I had discussed a few days touring abroad during September, intending to make the most of the capabilities of the aircraft but with no firm plans. Longer term dreams of Croatia, Italy or Romania would have been severely constrained by COVID travel restrictions as well as time constraints. Travel rules have been changing frequently, both in the UK and abroad, and there was a risk

9th September 2021 Foreign / Landaways

Holiday trip to Kerry, Ireland

Back again. I enjoyed visiting so much on my brief club trip the previous weekend, that I returned with my wife in the TB20 to explore the region in more detail after stopping off for the day in the Aran Islands. We had intended to spend a couple of days in Limerick and then a couple in Kerry. My desktop research uncovered that the normal fee for parking at Shannon

4th September 2021 Foreign / Landaways

Aran Islands, Ireland

Light aircraft allow you to visit remote places that would otherwise be quite difficult and time-consuming to reach. The three small Aran Islands lie a few miles off the Western coast of Ireland and are not to be confused with the island of Arran near Glasgow in Scotland. They each have their own small airport, served by Aer Arann using their fleet of Islander aircraft based onshore at Connemara. Frequent

2nd September 2021 Foreign / IFR Flights

Sligo, Ireland

After a successful club weekend trip to Kerry, I quickly followed up with a week’s holiday in Ireland with my wife, first visiting Sligo in the Northwest, dropping in to the Aran Islands briefly before spending a few days exploring Kerry. This trip was in my shared TB20 based at Gloucester, with our first stop at Sligo just over two hours flying time. See my previous post regarding the limited

29th August 2021 Foreign / Landaways

Club expedition to Kerry, Ireland

I’ve organised a few international flyouts with other members of the Bristol Aero Club at Gloucester in recent years, venturing to Sweden and Austria. Last year was a washout due to COVID, and again this year wasn’t looking promising. I spotted that the regulations had relaxed enough to allow those who are double vaccinated free passage to and from Ireland without any tests. The only additional paperwork is an Irish

12th August 2021 IFR Flights / Landaways

Belfast City

Co-owner Nic and I flew our TB20 from Gloucester to Belfast City Airport for a daytrip, visiting the city, docklands and Titanic Exhibition. Daytrips to France are again possible at present despite COVID travel restrictions, but we preferred options for a buddy flight within the UK. We had enjoyed our day to Enniskillen and I proposed Belfast. I hadn’t visited for some 30 years and wondered how life had changed,

2nd August 2021 Landaways

Doncaster

A daytrip to Doncaster in the TB20 from Gloucester, landing at Doncaster Sheffield airport in Yorkshire, voted the UK’s best passenger airport by Which? magazine in 2019. I’m always looking for opportunities to fly to new airports, and there are still a few regional UK airports that I haven’t been to. Adam, a good friend and also an IR pilot, offered to join me and support me as a pilot’s