Two at once After the success of my first Cross Channel Groundschool, I was pleased to be able to followup quickly with the practical side. Two Bristol Aero Club pilots (we’ll call them W and P), asked me to fly with them on their first venture abroad as our club rules require. Originally scheduled for Saturday, we were able to reschedule to Friday in light of the weather forecast, with
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Jersey Airways Daytrip
A daytrip to Jersey in TB20 G-CORB, outbound airways FL90 returning VFR at between 1000 feet and 6000 feet on a more direct route. The weather had been poor for flying all through December, with low cloud and strong winds. The forecast was excellent for today, just a couple of days before Christmas, and I was able to share a flight with Ben who lives nearby. I’d been promising him
Continue readingRecordbreaking Ride to Rotterdam at up to 218 knots
The large number of windmills should be a strong indicator that Holland is a country with plenty of wind. In the aftermath of storm Abigail, I flew to the Netherlands from Gloucester for a few days trip. As with many airways IFR GA flights, 90% of the flight was in glorious sunshine with a brief but intensive departure and arrival. The flight achieved two new records for me – the lowest airport elevation
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My first FAA Instrument Proficiency Check
My FAA airman certificate is based on my European EASA PPL/IR and medical, which both have to be current. In addition, for the FAA certificate to be valid I need to have had a VFR Flight Review within the previous 24 months and be IFR current. The US system to maintain IFR currency is quite different to the European one. EASA mandates an annual proficiency test with an examiner, and
Continue readingFrance for Lunch: Deauville
Excited Passengers A second daytrip to Deauville in France (first was in February) but this time in glorious weather, taking a couple of friends who I’d been promising a flight to for some time. My original destination was Lannion, which I’d not flown to before, but at the last minute I found out they were closed for painting the runway. I had got as far as filing a flight plan the day
Continue readingFamily holiday in Guernsey
Being able to book our shared aircraft for the best part of two weeks makes it possible to use it for a summer holiday. We had done this in previous years, and again took the opportunity to do so with the consent of my co-owners – this time basing ourselves in Guernsey in the Channel Islands. The relatively short distance from home (just one hour flight time) meant that I
Continue readingDaytrip Guernsey to Dinard
We made a daytrip from Guernsey to Dinard during our two week holiday. I’d been to Dinard a couple of times before – once as a landaway with another pilot, and again when diverted due to bad weather on return from our holiday the previous year. In both cases, I’d not made it outside the airport. Apart from some early fog around Guernsey (the fog horn woke me up early!),
Continue readingDaytrip to Jersey
From our holiday base in Guernsey, we made a day trip across to Jersey to visit some of my wife’s relatives. It’s only a short distance (23 miles) but technically a different jurisdiction – both are UK Crown Dependencies and each have their own Bailiwick. A full flight plan had to be filed but no GAR forms (there is a special mini-flight plan for inter-island flights between Guernsey and Alderney
Continue readingA week’s VFR flying holiday in North East USA – Part 5 of 5 – Nantucket, Marthas Vineyard, Block Island
Friday 15 May – New Bedford, Nantucket, Martha’s Vineyard, Block Island, Plymouth For our last day of flying, we were down to four pilots because Paul had booked to return a day earlier than us. I shared an aircraft with Phil and we packed in three flights each, visiting the islands but starting with New Bedford (KEWB) where he knew the assistant manager. This can be a very busy airfield with many
Continue readingA week’s VFR flying holiday in North East USA – Part 4 of 5 – Portsmouth, Hyannis
Thurs May 14 – Portsmouth and Hyannis A great start to the day with breakfast of blueberry pancakes at Two Cats in Bar Harbor. David flew us direct from Bar Harbor (KBHB) to Portsmouth (KPSM), a very large military base hosting an airborne tanker fleet but shared for civilian use. I’m sure it’s the longest runway I’ve used at 10,000 feet (over 3,000 metres). The FBO served us quickly with six
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