Another UK airport closes Bristol Filton airport closed today, with the last flight departing around noon. It’s a sad day for local aviation, with the airport having been opened in 1910 by the Bristol Aircraft Company. Since then, the widest runway in the UK (91 metres) has seen the first flights of Concorde and the Bristol Brabazon. The weather was good though, and quite a few GA aircraft were flying
Continue readingShooting it up in Texas
Shooting some practice instrument approaches at Dallas Executive Airport, Texas My last flight of this business trip was intended to take full advantage of the wide availability of instrument approaches, including plenty of GPS approved ones. There’s never any charge for making an instrument approach in the US, and rarely any landing fees. So once again, I found myself at Dallas Executive airport in the good hands of Slipstream aviation,
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BFR near DFW
Some private piloting in Texas I had a business trip to Dallas, Texas (airport code DFW = Dallas Fort Worth) for a week and hoped to squeeze in a local flight at some point. Flights to the US are much cheaper if you stay over a Saturday night (to differentiate between business and pleasure), so I saved considerably by flying out a day early. The journey out was fairly uneventful,
Continue readingSleap again and another door problem
Opportunistic change of day for flying I had planned to make a flight on Saturday, but Friday really the only decent flying day for weeks. Torrential rain for many days had caused extensive flooding in many parts of the country. With further forecast heavy rain, I took the opportunity to take most of the day off and catch up on Saturday instead. It helps that I work for myself now.
Continue readingDodging the clouds to Caernarfon
North West Wales for lunch I’d been talking with Andy about sharing a flight – it’s been too long since we’ve flown together. He had been keen to fly to Caernarfon last weekend, where his wife was visiting relatives, but I couldn’t make it. So we agreed to fly on Saturday and then delayed to Sunday based on the weather forecast. A friend was keen for me to take him for
Continue readingBath and the Bridges
A full load of passengers ready for check-in I’m still at the stage of taking friends up for a short flight. I have a (short) backlog of potential victims. Perhaps word may have got around that I’m reasonably competent not a complete loony. Belinda had asked me to take her for a flight, and also her daughter and nephew, Ben. She couldn’t have picked a better day, with almost clear sunny
Continue readingSunshine at the beach with the kids
Sunshine on offer You wouldn’t have thought it likely after the heavy rain during the week and forecast showers for the day, but there was quite some sunshine breaking through at times. My wife had left me at home with the kids for the day and a suggestion that I might take them flying didn’t need too much persuasion on my part. Who knows what flying weather is left as
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Business Trip to Cambridge
Company Travel Policy In my previous company which had tens of thousands of employees, the company travel policy stated clearly that the CEO’s personal permission was required for any private flight. My current company (total employees = 1) also has the same policy, but it’s much easier to persuade the boss (myself) that I could fly to a business meeting instead of driving. My accountant assures me that this is
Continue readingLe Touquet via Blackbushe for lunch
Great day for a multi-leg trip to France John had flown with me last year to Plymouth, when we enjoyed some great sunny weather. He’d promised his partner a flight to France for lunch. Since she lived close by Blackbushe airport, he asked me to pick them both up from there and fly to Le Touquet. Since it didn’t seem too much out of the way, I agreed to that,
Continue readingThorney Island
Only open once a year Thorney Island is an army base, located between Portsmouth and Chichester on the south coast of England. It holds a fly-in just once a year, hosted with help from their resident microlight club. Although the runways look long, there is a road which bi-sects the main runway, effectively reducing its useful length to some 700 metres. After asking around other club members, I arrange to
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