South Florida Holiday 2019

Having flown in the US both on business and with several pilot friends, I felt I was experienced enough to plan a holiday there with my wife. We’ visited for two weeks, during which I rented an aircraft exclusively for four days. I wanted a Flight Review to be included in the Club Checkout, and also opted to schedule an Instrument Proficiency Check. I even managed to pop into a

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Visit to Pilot’s Paradise, Florida

During my holiday and flying tour of Southern Florida, I popped in to visit Pilots Paradise – a flight school/FBO based in Sebastian run by British ex-pats. Carole and Tony work full time there and have expanded the business considerably in recent years. They have a fleet of six PA28s and two other aircraft, several instructors, maintenance and fuel facilities. The organisation is dual approved for FAA flight training (under

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Flying Key West past Miami to Fort Lauderdale

Surprisingly cloudy start to the day – I thought it was supposed to be wall-to-wall sunshine in Florida all year round. METAR reported overcast at 300 feet, with a TAF suggesting it might rise to 1500 (for VFR) around lunchtime. Reports from further north were better, but still in the range of 1500 to 2000 feet. A NOTAM check confirmed that the Presidential TFR which would have limited our tour

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Flying from Naples to Marathon and Key West

Today was highly anticipated to be the most exciting of the trip. We’d be flying over the Aligator swamps of the Everglades (one rogue student pilot was reportedly eaten), then over shark-infested waters across to the Keys. Just to add to the tension was a TFR (Temporary Flight Restriction) because the US Vice-President was visiting Key West – any aircraft not complying with the restrictions could be shot down. And

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FAA Flight Review and Club Check

This year’s US flying holiday was a two week trip with my wife getting away from the cold British winter to the warmer sunshine of Florida. I’d arranged to rent a PA28 from St Petersburg (KSPG) for four days exclusive touring of Southern Florida, but first I’d need to be checked out by the flight school. Legally I wasn’t due an FAA Flight Review until the end of May, but

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Daytrip to Antwerp

Deciding on a Daytrip With so much of my flying time now spent instructing, I was still keen to fly my group share TB20 G-CORB somewhere. The flight profile of an instructor can often be limited to 25 miles from base, although I have managed a couple of cross-channel day trips with PPL pilots. Some of those taking my formal cross-channel groundschool later ask me to join them on their

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Swedish Tour 2018 – Part 4 – Malmo to Rotterdam

The weather had been good to us but was starting to look a little more unsettled, and we were aware that we had two long days of flying to get back home to Gloucester from Malmo in our club PA28. Today’s legs would be Malmo – Flensburg – Bremen – Rotterdam.VFR Flight plans required for first and last legs only because they crossed international boundaries. We reckoned that this would

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Swedish Tour 2018 – Part 3 – Peenemunde to Malmo

Guess the next country? If you fly north east from the top right hand corner of Germany, which country do you think you’d reach first? Finland, Russia, maybe Sweden? Well you’d be wrong. The fifth largest Danish island of Bornholm awaits you. It’s in the Baltic rather than much of Denmark in the North Sea, and combines a lot of tourism with a busy fishing industry. Transport is either by

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