UK Instrument Rated Private Pilot and Instrument Flight Instructor
After a busy weekend in Germany, we were quite glad to make just a short hop north into Denmark rather than flying all the way to Norway. We had visited Copenhagen before and were interested to explore a regional city on Jutland. After departure, it was a VFR flight with a slight initial route to the east to reduce the time spent over water. We remained with Langen Information, changing
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I seem to be quite busy instructing these days which more than satisfies my demand to keep airborne, but also remain keen to continue with some touring around Europe in my shared TB20. My wife and I booked a couple of weeks off at the beginning of May, and I confirmed that my co-owners had no problems with me taking the plane away for that time. I had developed Plans
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It’s been pretty windy this month. A low hours PPL visited the club to ask if we would be flying today. He thought not because it seemed a bit windy but wasn’t exactly sure of the limits. It afforded a discussion between us and another instructor not just about what limits to apply, but why. The first thought is about crosswind because this tends to be the limiting factor. Our
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My pilot friend Adam is also a keen fan of Parkruns – a free 5 km organised run held at many local parks on Saturday mornings. They started in the UK in 2004 and have spread to 22 countries, attracting almost 3 million runners in the UK alone. Participants have dreamt up a range of different goals, not just faster times, and one includes running at a location with each
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I’d not been flying our TB20 at Gloucester much over the winter due to weather and other commitments. A short landaway would revive my currency on type and I selected Welshpool as a suitable destination. I had also wanted to explore possible options to visit National Trust and similar properties during the summer months – Powis Castle is within walking distance and the gardens were open. Mid Wales Airport, as
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The flying highlight of my year was our two week European tour, making a wide circle around the Alps with stops in eight countries including Czechia, Austria, Slovenia and Italy. The vast bulk of my flight time was through instruction at every level from one-off “trial lesson/air experience” up to to completing full Instrument Ratings. I thrive on variety and exploring new places, using new techniques, learning about new equipment
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Some destinations you can never tire of visiting. I’ve flown across to Le Touquet a fair number of times since my first trip during my PPL training in 2010. On a good weather day, it’s hard to beat. My co-owner Nic and I hadn’t flown together for some time, and both were missing CORB while it had been down for maintenance. He had scheduled a weekend away with family, so
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The first flight after any significant maintenance always feels like it needs more careful attention. No matter how expert the aircraft engineers, the simple fact that the machine has been taken apart and reassembled introduces scope for issues to arise. These may not be directly related to any components worked on, and sometimes simply down to the age or lifetime of the equipment – our aircraft was built in 1991.
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Munros are defined as Scottish mountains over 3,000 feet (914.4 m) in height, and named after Sir Hugo T. Munro who published a list in 1891. The Scottish Mountaineering Club officially lists 282, most of which are clustered around the north-central Scotland mainland. There are a dozen on the Isle of Skye and one on Mull. Some are fairly inaccessible, requiring a long walk in and out and a few require a
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A weekend trip to Scotland in our shared TB20 from Gloucester, meeting up at Inverness for a PPL/IR group fly-out. The intention was to fly up to Inverness on Friday afternoon, fly down the Great Glen to Tiree for lunch on Saturday, and visit the Orkneys on Sunday before returning home. I shared the flying with my co-owner John, who frequently flies to and from Alderney but has done fewer
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