Sue's Diary—A dream come true

I received a text from a pupil yesterday which read “Thank you for making my dream come true”.

This really touched my heart because so many people from different walks of life, who wish to become pilots, make many sacrifices to achieve their ultimate goal.

This student, who originates from Italy, had passed all his ground examinations in England and set off to the USA to get a 4 week PPL

Sadly this  turned into a bit of a disaster owing to circumstances which I shall not dwell upon.

He returned to his base in the South of France and continued his training with a French instructor who spoke English.

Once again, he ran into difficulty, this time with the DGAC who would not accept his English ground examinations.

Luckily, they gave him my name and telephone number and he duly arrived in Limoges to finish his training and to gain his JAR PPL (British issue).

When I first spoke to Marco, he was very concerned that I may not be able to help him as he had tried to find a solution to his problem for a very long time.

I was delighted to see the look on his face when he passed his flight test on Saturday morning.

Most young people who wish to have a successful career can go to university to obtain their training.

Sadly, this is not so for the person who wishes to become a professional pilot.

They must be totally dedicated in their ultimate goal, as the road to becoming an employed commercial pilot is expensive and very demanding.

Thankfully, the airline industry seems to be booming worldwide, particularly in India, and the demand for new pilots should be strong.

I have spent a lot of time this week flying in the DA 40, which is always a pleasure for me.

Matt and I went on a navigation to the beautiful airport at Aurillac. This airport which is south east of Limoges is set in fabulous countryside with snow-capped mountains in the distance.

The town is very interesting and has some good restaurants. The aero club on the field has recently opened its own restaurant and the reports from other pilots are all positive.

The airport has a controller who only speaks French therefore anyone wishing to join the pattern at Aurillac should 'brush up' their French telephony on this site.

On our return to Limoges, we flew to another spectacular airport, Ussel. This time we had the place to ourselves and practised a few touch and go landings before returning home.

The countryside in this area of France is wonderful and completely unspoilt. It is such a pleasure flying for miles and miles without seeing another plane or having to worry about violating restricted airspace.

Yesterday, again in the DA40, I flew to the south of France to Aixe les Milles airport near to Marseilles and, of course, the ocean.

The most noticeable thing about the flight was how busy the airspace was when approaching the coastline.

The military airfields were unusually active for a Sunday and we photographed a huge transport plane flying underneath us.

The flight took two hours twenty minutes (in a car it takes more than 9 hours) and we cleared the mountains at FL 95.

The weather was very hot and the airport was bustling with many light aircraft.

We had an excellent lunch on the terrace of the airport restaurant, chatting to many pilots of various nationalities before changing pilot and heading for home in near perfect weather conditions.

However, my day was not finished on arrival at Limoges. A quick change of aircraft and then off to Angouleme to practise more touch and go landings with Carl who was here on a weekend visit from England, for his PPL  training.

Finally, at the end of a very long and satisfying day, I drove home  to sample the longed-for Gin and Tonic and to watch the puppies playing in the paddock before coming in to their beds.

Best wishes

Sue

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