Sue's Diary—Shirtsleeves in February

Last week was amazing with temperatures up to 18 degrees centigrade, no wind, excellent visibility and millpond conditions—I cannot believe that I have been flying in short-sleeved shirts during February.

First, my congratulations to Stuart Morton who completed a faultless first solo on his third day of flying with me.

Stuart is a professional photographer, lives in the South of France near Toulon and has a long-held dream of obtaining a Private Pilot Licence.

Several years ago, he did some training in Scotland and restarted last summer with a local French flying club.

However, he soon realised the difficulties of learning to fly in a foreign language and visited me at Limoges to combine a few days' holiday with some English-language PPL training.

Having previously flown from a small uncontrolled airfield, it was a bit of a shock to fly from an international airport where he shared the circuit with Ryanair, an Alphajet and several other military aircraft practising IFR approaches.

I am delighted to say that he has gone from strength-to-strength and had no problem when we swapped the long runway at Limoges for the tiny tarmac runway of Saint Junien.

We also did a practice Navigation flight to Ancenis (LFFI), a charming airfield situated in the TMA of Nantes to the Northwest of Limoges.

This gave Stuart the opportunity to visit his Uncle and Aunt before they emigrate to Australia in a few weeks.

We offered a spare back seat to Matt Galvin who played his usual role of photographer for the day.

We had an excellent 40-minute flight to this very friendly airfield where we were obliged to decline the offer of refreshments from the local aeroclub CFI, as we were whisked off to town for a superb leisurely lunch with Stuart's relatives.

The flight home was delightful, the scenery was superb and we didn't see another aircraft during the entire journey.

I arrived back at Limoges in time to fly a renewal test with Gerry Bolger who works in the UK but owns a house in the Limousin.

Gerry had a lapsed PPL and was eager to renew his licence—happily, he sailed through his test and is keen to fly the Robin solo when he returns.

On the home front, Miracle is doing well and growing at an alarming rate. We have some new miniature sheep for the Pet’s Corner, donated to us by the English owners who have returned to the UK.

Meg is also growing, outwards rather than upwards and is due to give birth in mid-March. Co-incidentally, on the same date as our litter born last year.

Minature Sheep

 

Meg's Favouite Chair

Meg always insists on sitting in her favourite chair, even if someone else is sitting in it.

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Comments

[Stuart Morton]

What can I say after having a terrific week here in Limoges.
I have flown every day at least twice, sometimes 4 times in a day, I have been able to experience the land mark of flying my first solo, I have even managed to complete some of the ground school exams. With a standard of instruction I have not come across before and a level patience to match I can safely say Sue Virr, you are in danger of turning me into a pilot.
I can honestly say the experience has been unbelievable, to be able to spend a full week flying and concentrate on nothing but flying has been the way to make progress for me, Sue seems to have a rare quality in the teaching world nowadays and that is that she really does care, she has a sixth sense, maybe call it women's intuition but she is has an uncanny knack of knowing what's going on inside your head and helping to teach you in an individual way. To experience dealing with air traffic like Limoges is a great way to learn, as the tower is wonderfully friendly, which went a long way to helping me get into being able to use the radio correctly, and where else could you be asked to take a long down wind leg as there is an French airforce Alpha jet on in the circuit with you, oh aswell as the C130......
I have had the pleasure of staying at Nearly Heaven and as the name says its...........
I am chuffed to pieces that I have found Sue and Nearly heaven as I also feel as though I have made a good friend and been made to feel incredibly welcome.
Thankyou.

[susan Virr]

The pleasure was all mine teaching such a enthusiasic student.Ys, you have certainly made a new friend, I shall look forward to the next time you come back to resume your tuition.