Thanks to Gareth Lamb for pointing out that a new edition (19) of the UK Radiotelephony maula is now published on the CAA web site.
Download it from CAP 413 R/T Manual
04 March 2010
20 February 2010
Goodbye F-GUVE―You will be Sadly Missed
The other day, I spotted some great pictures of the Aéroclub de Limoges’ Diamond Star at White Waltham and realised that the pilot was―ME.
One of the problems for a Londoner belonging to a French flying club is that it’s a bit difficult to take one’s friends for a ‘jolly’ on the spur of the moment―so I decided to book the aircraft for a week, bring it over to the UK and cram a summer’s-worth of flying into a few days.
In my opinion, the DA40 is a great aircraft for long-distance flying―I also love the club’s Robin DR400-180 but the DA40 autopilot and moving-map GPS make this an excellent aircraft for single-pilot operation.
Having now flown the aircraft In both directions, I realise that the journey could most-likely have been done in a single hop though it’s always best to err on the side of caution and I do rather like the concept of stopping-off for lunch whenever flying over France.
My outbound route, planned to avoid the Paris area, was a dog-leg via Ambiose, Chartres, Evreux and Rouen which provided a useful backup of VOR beacons in the event of any GPS problems.
It was my intention to stop-off for customs clearance, flight plan submission and a leisurely lunch at Le Touquet which I have visited many times before though I have never actually eaten at the, reputedly excellent, airport restaurant.
In the event, the LFAT runway was temporarily closed due to an earlier accident and I diverted to Calais whose catering amounts to a ‘one Michelin star’ vending machine (curses!!).
The trip to the UK was over familiar territory and I parked the aircraft at Stapleford, having previously submitted the General Aviation Report (Customs Form) which allows you to land at a non-customs airfield.
For me, living in the Central London, Stapleford was an excellent place to base the aircraft for a few days―their landing fees are modest by UK standards, they don’t charge for overnight parking and the airfield is a short taxi ride to the London Underground Central Line.
Also, the airfield is open from 07:30-sunset during the summer with an ATS service from 08:00-17:00―though they are generally happy for aircraft to operate outside of the ATS hours, on a ‘prior permission’ basis.
When operating outside of ATS hours, it’s just a case of judging the appropriate runway from the windsock, announcing your intentions on the radio and liaising with any other aircraft in the vicinity.
Stapleford is also well-placed for spectacular trips over the City of London, provided that Thames Radar will let you through which they usually will.
I usually route via the Isle of Dogs (not above 2400’) which enables a single-engined aircraft to ‘land clear’ while providing great views of Tower Bridge, Millenium Wheel, Canary Wharf, Royal Naval College, Cutty Sark (temporarily covered for restoration), Greenwich Observatory, Thames Barrier and the Millennium (O2) Dome―on this particular trip, I could also see the construction of the 2012 Olympic Games sites.
The photos on this page were taken at White Waltham where I picked-up my Sister-in-Law for a flight to the Isle of White―I have never known an airfield which does so much to encourage aviation enthusiasts as can be seen from the large number and variety of parked aircraft (dozens opf them).
I learned to fly at White Waltham around 40 years ago and they had about 600 ‘social’ members then.
If there are any airfields or flying clubs like that in France, please let me know.
Apart from the obligatory flight around the IOW (after lunch) to see The Needles, Osborne House (Queen Victoria's gaff) and the boats at Cowes, the flight over Portsmouth Harbour is always interesting with a good view of various naval ships, including the occasional aircraft carrier and submarines, as well as Nelson’s HMS Victory.
BTW: What's brown and steams out of Cowes (A. The Isle of White Ferry).
I also made another attempt at a trip to Le Touquet with a couple of friends though, on this occasion, the cloud base was below VFR limits (another fine forecast from the MET Office!!) so we diverted to Calais which wasn’t much better and I was very impressed by the handling of the DA40 in the tight turns of a bad-weather circuit.
Although Calais is a bit ‘dowdy’ compared with Le Touquet, we found an excellent restaurant and later returned to Stapleford in absolutely fine weather―via Dover, Cantebury and a pleasant meander up the Thames Estuary.
Sadly, my return to Limoges was delayed by 24 hours due to poor weather so I essentially reversed my outgoing route rather than taking a more-leisurely trip down the Western side of France as I had intended.
On this occasion, I flew from Stapleford to Rouen (another spectacular city from the air) where I refuelled with JET-A1 from a tanker, after being routed all round the airfield, by ATC, to an AVGAS pump.
There was a small problem with one of the fuel caps falling apart though I managed to re-assemble this with the help of the fueller―clearing Customs/Immigration at Rouen is always a complete waste of time as there have never been any official bodies present when I have visited.
I also experienced a bit of ‘coughing and spluttering’ from the engine on climb-out so temporarily throttled back and performed a normal circuit with an ‘overhead pass’ of the runway once it was clear that the engine was running normally―I put this down to a temporary glitch of the Engine Management Computer.
As the aircraft had just returned from several months of 'maintenance', I suppose that a few 'issues' were to be expected.
Return to Limoges was uneventful though the weather was deteriorating towards my destination and I got back just in time to see my original homeward Ryanair flight departing―Ryanair offer great value generally but it’s bloody expensive to book a single ticket for the next day.
As already mentioned, the DA40 (diesel version) is a fine all-round touring aircraft but it’s a bit slower on take-off than the Robin DR400-180―though I managed to land and take-off easily on Stapleford’s ‘hard bit’ which is 600 metres (total runway length 1077 metres).
The DA40 is also a bit slower in cruise―I could generally get 135-140 knots out of the Robin but only about 125 kts from the Diamond, though that’s still pretty good.
Sadly, the club have now sold the DA40 as ‘the management’ apparently consider it too expensive to run―though their current proposal is to replace it with a more-complex and expensive Cirrus SR20 (go figure!!).
I, for one, will miss flying F-GUVE.
Photographs reproduced by kind permission of the copyright holder―more great aviation photos at More Photos by Moxy
18 January 2010
15 January 2010
09 January 2010
Getting 'Aloft'—The search for the Holy Grail (2)
The first part of this account tried to make some sense of my decision to break my perfectly good little Robin DR400-120 for parts. The objective was to reuse as much as possible and permissible in a project intended to take advantage of the cost savings which should be available by operating under the CNRA (French homebuilders) rules.
‘Les Voisins’ must have thought ‘Les Anglais’ were plotting the next revolution. Why else would they erect a giant guillotine in the back garden? In fact the 5-meter tall lifting frame was intended to deliver up the airframe components of the Jodel into the upper floor of our conveniently large but draughty barn rather than beheading Sarco, tempting as that prospect might be.
The trip to Nantes had been a success. The Jodel airframe I had found advertised on the RSA site turned out to be very close to what I needed: a bare airframe without an engine or instruments but otherwise nearly complete.
As always, a few things were not as I would have preferred. The fuselage was set up for the French Potez motor rather than the 0235 Lycoming from my Robin and the airframe was configured as a tricycle whereas I would have liked to stick to the original tailwheel design. The empennage had the all-moving rudder/fin but elevators rather than the all-moving horizontal surface. This is the converse of the more widely favoured set-up found in later models. Even so, I decided this was as near as I was likely to find.
The vendor, Joel, seemed like a genuine guy. An engineer through and through, he had spent the best part of a lifetime servicing the RR gas turbines fitted to some French warships. He had been working on the Jodel project for years, on and off, collecting bits here and there while constructing the basic airframe in his workshop on the far side of Nantes airfield.
Eventually the powers that be decreed that a new security fence was necessary for his side of the airfield in this terrorism-dominated climate. The route chosen would cut off his little workshop from the runway. The historic aircraft group who tend an eclectic collection of mainly static exhibits clustered around the crumbling Art Deco ‘English side’ tower were also affected although they may well have other facilities.
The historic groups collection on this remote part of the airfield included an ex-Air France Constellation, her stately elegance still intact, various Migs and Mirages whose days of thunder were now just a muted memory, and the remains of the ‘Utterly Butterly’ AN2, no longer in a condition to play host to the aerobatic teams’ corporate sponsors and their cosseted guests. In truth only the spirits of this incongruous little group now had aneed to access the runway. Any barrier would not trouble them.
In the end Joel had to give up the unequal struggle and in consequence he put his long-standing project up for sale.
I gave him a small deposit then and there. Transport is always a tricky proposition mainly because of the 8.72 metre one-piece Jodel wing. This may be good from the strength and lightness points of view but a real pain when it comes to moving it around. A glider trailer can sometimes be used but the French have driving restrictions once trailers are over a certain length so Joel kindly made arrangements with a local haulier and agreed to do the transit packing himself plus supervise the loading.
The lorry arrived over an hour early on the due day, something of a rarity in France. The few Brits who live in this neck of the woods had all promised to help, but were naturally still in bed. Several local worthies pitched in to help along with Joel who had made the trip in his little camper just to see his baby safely to its adopted home.
The transit packing had been predictably well done with the long wing sitting chord-vertical on its custom-made trellis in the approved fashion. Very quickly, all the various components were safely manhandled from the lorry to the ground floor of the barn so we did the French thing and adjourned for a long lunch leaving the ascent to the upper floor for another day.
As if by magic, the missing Brits turned up just in time for lunch. Needless to say a good time was had by all. I was pleased to be able to offer Joel a little hospitality in what must have been a day of mixed emotions for him.
Although I was itching to start work on the assembly I knew it was essential to make an early start on the formalities just to get going on the long paper trail that would hopefully lead, in the fullness of time, to the grant of the CNRA. Joel had given me a detailed briefing.
The first thing required is the letter of ‘demande’ to GSAC in Paris. This is just a request for the necessary forms. To my surprise these arrived very promptly even though it was August and I had fully expected a material delay. It just goes to show that any assumption you make about how things work in France will probably turn out to be wrong!
The most serious part of the forms to be completed in triplicate was the technical dossier. I turned to the plans I had purchased from Avions Jodel for the answers. Some hope! You might naively expect fundamental parameters like the angle of incidence to be expressly addressed, but no. The faded photocopy plans were far from clear and might just as well have been the lost portion of the Dead Sea scrolls.
Fortunately I was not faced with the daunting prospect of decoding the hieroglyphics sufficiently to build the thing from scratch, just enough to fill in the dossier. The angle was determined by measurement at 4 degrees and Joel confirmed this was correct. In fact I sent all my draft answers off to Joel to check before I plucked up courage to send off the completed forms to Paris.
Now I might have some time to get on with the assembly while the technocrats in Paris pored over my pathetic attempt. Wrong again. The very next day after sending off the forms I answered my phone to find the head honcho from GSAC well and truly on my case and on the warpath.
At the best of times my understanding of French on the telephone is pathetic and I was certainly not up to answering the third degree. Understanding about one word in ten I had the distinctly uncomfortable impression I was under dire suspicion of fraudulently passing off an aircraft of ‘industrial fabrication’ as a homebuilt in order to obtain a CNRA. I decided the take the Fifth Amendment and quickly passed him over to my long-suffering wife in an attempt to pacify him. He was clearly not going to fall for such an obvious ruse. The best we could do was to offer to get Joel to explain the history and the call ended as frostily as it had started.
Joel duly held a lengthy conversation with the irate fonctionnaire and then submitted a formal statement confirming that he had indeed been the constructor. This did the trick and the dogs were called off.
As a last swipe GSAC decided that I could not be classed as the main constructor as I had not done any of the woodwork even though I would be doing everything else. I would not be entitled to the 3-year inspection period conceded to an owner/constructor but would be in the same position as a purchaser.
Given the ferocity of the spate I decided not to question this decision as I could live with yearly inspections and would actually welcome another set of eyes over the plane on a yearly basis. The letter granting the project number and passing me on to our local GSAC at La Rochelle arrived not long afterwards and came as some relief. I did not feel particularly fairly treated or that the decision was equitable but that’s life. Just get on with it.
In the meantime and more happily ‘Madame Guillotine’ and the press-ganged local Brits had done their stuff and all the bits had been lifted to the upper barn. The only casualty was our lime tree that had to be severely pruned to allow that long wing to be lifted sufficiently before being trundled forward into the loft whilst dangling from the wheeled lifting frame hoist.
It was a nice surprise to find that mating the fuselage to the wing, the first major operation, was not as tricky as I had feared. The bare fuselage is quite light and was lifted into position over the wing with the aid of the multi-purpose wife and a pallet fitted with castors (both are invaluable devices but the pallet is not able to cook).
To counterbalance the success of that first operation some of the ‘little jobs’ proved to be anything but. Altering the seat belt mountings for example proved more difficult. Even now some French pilots seem to regard seatbelts as a bit sissy and are content to bolt the end to any old bit of spruce.
Our club Regent still does not have shoulder straps even in the front. The smaller Robin does but the shoulder strap sweeps down between the unfortunate rear passengers’ legs to be bolted to the front of the rear bench seat support. The angle at which it does so would almost certainly reduce your stature considerably in the event of a sharp stop. CNRA at least gives you the freedom to update the safety of what, after all, is a 1950’s origin design.
For anyone contemplating a project like this that should, in theory, be relatively straightforward (at least compared to a scratch build) it is vital to be prepared for difficulties round every corner. For instance, although the 0235 Lycoming is a recognised option by Avions Jodel they do not offer a suitable motor mount or any suggestions as to how to source this vital component.
After going down a blind alley trying to modify another mount, I decided to use the original DR400 mount as at least the motor end was correct even though the bulkhead spacing is much wider on the DR400, which does not have the tapered fuselage sides of the 1050. In sourcing the Chrome Moly steel for the motor mount mods I found it much easier and cheaper to deal with the USA where the service ethic is alive and well along with its friend, healthy competition. Even with transport costs, the cost saving was dramatic particularly as small personal packages may not attract the attention of Mr 20%, the French taxman. While I love France and most aspects of French life, failings in customer service and lack of competition are noteworthy exceptions.
To date progress has been slower than I had hoped and my February waypoint for first inspection is now impossible. My motor mount, which I took to the TIG welder way before Christmas, has still to materialise. It is not possible to glue anything on the airframe as it is quite impossible to get enough heat into my barn given the current arctic conditions so, for the moment at least, I am literally unstuck.
I have to share some of the blame for the delay myself. I was extremely reluctant to start taking apart my Robin and this undoubtedly slowed down progress. However hard I tried to see things in a positive light it is difficult to lie convincingly to your heart.
The Jodel is still a wooden wonder in my mind but it is also a ragtag collection of bits, pieces and sizes from most of the aviation world with plenty of ancient, unobtainable French car parts in the magic mix. A challenge is all very well but what I need is a flyable aeroplane within a sensible timescale. Quite a few more obstacles need to be cleared before the end is anywhere near in sight so I will just have to be patient.
‘Bon Courage’ as our hosts are inclined to say!
21 November 2009
26 October 2009
11 October 2009
Getting 'Aloft'—The search for the Holy Grail
Although the writing had been on the wall for some time it took me a while to digest its unpalatable message: It has become just too expensive for me as a sole owner of modest means to run a C of A aircraft. My trusty little Robin was stuck in her hangar eager for some new adventure but grounded by irresistible officialdom and my lack of cash.
The truth is I should have known better when I bought the Robin with its Dutch C of A but enthusiasm had triumphed over common sense yet again. I had been looking for a Jodel 1050 to replace my Emeraude that had become one seat too small with the arrival of my daughter. Nothing had turned up and I had grown impatient.
Up to that point the Emeraude had been an excellent fine-handling aircraft operated under the equally excellent PFA scheme, now the LAA. With its dedicated volunteer inspectors, this scheme had made me forget earlier C of A nightmares. I highly recommend it to any pilot who might enjoy looking after their aircraft better and saving dosh at the same time.
At the time, one of the minor drawbacks with the PFA scheme was that it catered mainly for two seaters. In other respects the PFA was very family-oriented but in this regard it was constrained by its parent, the CAA, who took the view that one passenger seat was ok but any more needed their own grown-up protection.
Times have moved on somewhat and there are now a few new homebuilt kit designs with more than 2 seats and some older designs, no longer commercially manufactured, which have been adopted under the LAA scheme.
The difficulty for me was that I had decided to flee the rat race and move my family to France to live so the LAA route was not really an option and, in any event, I had not been able to find a suitable aircraft even after some months searching.
A Dutch-registered Robin DR400-120 2+2 turned up on the market at a good price. It flew well and looked nice so I snapped it up without regard for my previous painful experience of the high cost of running an aircraft with any type of C of A. The spar directive was already on the cards but I had a couple of years to comply at a known cost. Little did I know!
Following the Apex bankruptcy and the consequent unavailability of the spar repair kit, I had plenty of time to reflect on my failure to learn from past experience. The annual trek to Holland had paled from an adventure to a bit of a chore. The flying was fine but two rail trips through three countries each way was less fun and not at all cheap.
Dutch maintenance organisations had proved to be the equal of some of their British counterparts in terms of greed and inefficiency. While visiting Minorca I removed the cowlings to find a plastic tray stuffed with oil-drenched hand wipes still wedged under the mags following a 2000 plus Euro annual. The previous year they had thought it a good idea to replace the pilot seat over, rather than in, its runners and to arrange the throttle linkage to foul the alticoder mount so that minimum revs were now 1500.
The Dutch CAA had also added to my financial woes. They had been keen to adopt an expensive mode S requirement at the first opportunity. Now GA traffic is often asked to turn off mode S as Amsterdam is swamped by returns! Similarly they opted to make the expensive fixed ELT mandatory even though there were much cheaper but viable options available.
I hope this is not just crying over spilt milk. This is what you can expect from any country’s CAA in these ‘precautionary principle’ days. I hope the UK CAA will learn from the Dutch experience when considering the Stansted requests to expand mode S compulsory airspace but I suspect I will not be the only one to fail to learn from experience.
Enough gloom and doom. What was I going to do about future flying now that I was established in France with its marvellous flying environment? Clearly I had to keep flying, that goes without saying, but how could I salvage the situation? Chatting to my French buddies suggested there are really only two ways to go for the pilot who is not made of money, either ULM (Ultralight/Microlight) or CNRA.
There is no doubt that the advances made in ULM design have been considerable and in the index of performance stakes they have arguably overtaken many traditional aircraft. They also attract a lesser medical requirement which is an important factor for the aging GA pilot in France.
The drawback is mainly capital cost particularly if you want more than two seats. Capital was and remains in short supply so I decided to investigate the possibilities under the ‘certificat de navigabilité restreint d’aéronef’ (CNRA).
CNRA is the French homebuilders charter. There are distinct parallels with the LAA but some differences as well. It seems to have much in common with the U.S. ‘Experimental’ classification with a similarly liberal ethos when it comes to mods. In my case I was pleased to discover that it caters quite well for people who want more than two seats.
The constructor himself enjoys a concession of an airworthiness check on the aircraft only every three years but this is reduced to one year for a subsequent purchaser or if you just finish off an existing project. There is an open market both for finished CNRA aircraft and partially completed projects (see the RSA and Fox Papa homebuilders sites) (all French homebuilts are registered F-P-- ).
Generally, where there is an overlap with an equivalent but factory-built aircraft, the CNRA aircraft will command a premium because of the much lower maintenance costs. In particular, there is no TBO on motors which is the most common cause of demise of French CofA aircraft.
You do not need to join any particular homebuilders organisation but you will of practicality be a member of a French aeroclub and have the FFA cover. You do not need to be French to register a project (but of course it helps!) but you would probably have trouble if you were not resident at least part of the year with a French address.
My first exploratory outing was to investigate the Oceanair, a homebuilt type with an uncanny resemblance to the DR400 except without the characteristic Jodel/Robin ‘bent’ wing. Just the job as a home for many of the parts of my grounded Robin you might think.
By chance my spies had located a freshly constructed ‘straight’ wing, which you might have expected to be more elusive than the Yeti. Too good to be true? Yes! It turned out the seller had the wing professionally built then hassled officials to have his time-expired Robin re-christened an Oceanair in double quick time. In a trice the mighty official GSAC (Groupement pour la Sécurité de l'Aviation Civile) stamp had crashed down on his paperwork ‘NON’ so that was that.
GSAC will not stand for passing off an entire factory-built aircraft as a homebuilt and who can blame them. On the other hand it is not unknown for quite large and important pieces of a former CofA aircraft to be incorporated into a homebuilt by the canny and frugal French constructor. The official telescope may have turned momentarily in the other direction on occasions it seems. The situation is complicated by the existence of a separate CDN(R) category for factory-built aircraft that have been orphaned.
The next project to catch my eye was a Jodel 103T airframe advertised on the RSA site by a well-established group of homebuilders at Royan. This turned out to be a king-size Jodel some 5cms wider in the beam than the DR400. The woodwork was finished and most of my Robin bits would have fitted although my 0235 Lycoming might have been a bit marginal. There was only one other of this type already flying but this one did not seem to have been registered with GSAC plus there was doubt about the availability of a full set of plans. All I came away with was an autographed photo of Delmontez (the much revered father of the Jodel family) doing the washing up at some aeroclub do which I accepted with due solemnity.
Unless you buy an existing aircraft with a valid CNRA you need to make sure any project has a full set of authorised plans with the leave to construct. Projects should be registered at an early stage with GSAC but this may not have happened when planes are constructed with a borrowed set of plans or whatever. Plans (if available) cost around 400 Euros and the vendor will have to explain to the satisfaction of GSAC the reason for the delay in registration. Unlike the UK there are no early inspections (except in the case of aerobatic aircraft) virtually until ‘airframe completed but uncovered stage’ where you are constructing an accepted design from the plan rather than building a prototype. This is followed usually only by a ‘ready to fly’ inspection.
Another ad in the CNRA section of the RSA site caught my eye. It was for a Jodel 1050 airframe. Once again this had the potential to legitimately use important bits from my Robin so I e-mailed the vendor to try to find out what I could about the project. This proved to be the start of another quest in search of the Holy Grail: the three seat affordable aeroplane.
To be continued........
More Information
Fox-Papa Homebuilt Aircraft photos
10 October 2009
28 August 2009
Reader's Question—Continuation Training in France
Stuart Morton writes:
I wanted to ask if there were any Francoflyers who have come across any training organisations in France that would be recommended.
I am thinking in particularly of post-PPL training?
Do you know if/when I get my UK PPL would I then be able to do the further ratings in France.
NB Stuart is a professional photographer, currently training for a UK-issued PPL at Limoges but lives in the South of France.
19 August 2009
A French Approach
From the English side of the Channel the aviation scene in France appears idyllic, plenty of airfields in scenic locations, good facilities, moderate costs and all in uncrowded airspace blessed with good weather and French food and wine on tap.
Is this really flying heaven?
In comparison with the UK there are certainly many pluses. In France local aviation continues to receive financial and general community support to an extent which would be quite unthinkable in the UK. An airfield is viewed as an asset to the locality rather than a bloody nuisance.
Airfields here are not under threat from land-grabbing property developers as building land is plentiful and thus cheap. Many houses here are, in any event, self built on plots provided by the Commune with all services laid on. The French are individually practical and frugal although the same cannot be said of the French State.
Of course this is only one side of the story. There are some Cbs building. For some time the economic situation in France, particularly away from Paris, has been much worse than the French would ever admit. France is also subject to the same global factors as the rest of the world, which no amount of protectionism can stave off.
Sarko was elected because a high proportion of French people feel privately that some radical reforms will be necessary to continue to pay for the very good health service, state schools, roads, and railways which are all part of what makes France a civilised place to live.
Perhaps the biggest drain on the economy is the massive state bureaucracy. This employs one in three French workers. Not that Sarko is about to do a Thatcher as that would still be political suicide in France but I suspect a little more economic realism and belt-tightening is on the way. This will probably mean less support for minority activities like flying.
At a less political level, and particularly outside Paris and the Public Sector, wages and salaries seem to be considerably lower than UK equivalents. The French are understandably concerned about the security of their jobs and pensions. Pilots are finding it harder to justify the costs of flying while domestic costs are rising even though club hire rates are probably only 66% of the UK average. In consequence, flying clubs are facing seriously reduced flying hours.
The Clubs are responding. The emphasis is already shifting from Group A to ULM’s for obvious economic reasons. Believe it or not French maintenance regimes for certified aircraft are even more complicated and expensive than in the UK and there is a shortage of qualified aero-engineers. In consequence most newcomers to aviation are flying three axis micro lights at the established aero clubs or weight shift at the increasingly numerous dedicated sites.
As a Brit retiring to France, I have been cushioned from the state of the French economy and the difficulties I have encountered have been more to do with my lack of understanding of ‘the French way’ than economics.
In the UK we have become used to a society dominated by commercial considerations, whereas France remains essentially a socialist society irrespective of the composition of the government of the day. A flying club in France is just that, a club. The majority are run on a ‘not for profit’ basis unlike the UK where flying schools tend to be normal businesses aiming to make a good profit. This sounds like it might be good news but hold on a minute! Things here can be difficult for a Brit to grasp at first and not just the language.
Even when standing in a half empty hangar you must not be surprised if questions as to the availability of hangarage are met with the shake of the head. It is easy to form the impression this is just plain obstruction or Gallic dislike of strangers, particularly foreign ones. Actually that is probably not the main reason. The constitution of the club as a not for profit organisation may well prevent it renting space to non-members.
So you have fallen into the first trap by asking the wrong question. The question should have been “ Is it at all possible to be considered for membership of this magnificent club which is clearly without parallel in France and thus the world” It seems that you must never ask directly for what you actually want and it is quite impossible to use too much flattery of the club, region and country in that order.
Not at all like the UK where all you have to do is slap your wad on the table and get your arm snatched off. Nothing so vulgar in France. There are rituals and customs to be observed and due respect to be humbly offered. You are expected to know how to approach these things and, if not, well you are obviously not membership material. (Now I come to think about it, just like Jackrells!)
Again there are parallels with the way French society in general operates. In front of the vast seemingly-impenetrable wall of French bureaucracy there is a person with the key to the back gate if you can just find them and persuade them you are worthy. For many important domestic issues this may well be the nice lady in the Mairie or equally the bloke fiddling with his plane in the hangar.
In my case I knew none of this, I was just plain lucky. On one of my pilgrimages to the usually-deserted local airfield I stumbled across Jean-Rene struggling alone to reunite his rebuilt Continental with his Jodel. Pitching in to help proved to be my salvation and Jean-Rene subsequently guided me through the minefield. He is a Breton and as such will always be, to an extent, a stranger here in central France. Having experienced difficulty himself, he was unusually sympathetic to my plight. Now we are firm friends,
Anyway you get the picture. Good game, not easy. If anyone is thinking about a move or is just interested in any particular aspect please contact me.
Richard Arkell
richardjuliaclub-internet.fr@club-internet.fr
18 August 2009
Getting ‘Aloft’—Syndicate Ownership
What do you do after you have gained your PPL?
In my case, the answer was “not a lot”—flying has always been an expensive business, the aircraft of successful clubs are rarely available at short notice and the club will usually insist that you undertake a ‘check ride’ if you haven’t flown for a while.
The upshot was that I flew sporadically for several years and then allowed my licence to lapse”—to get it back, I effectively completed the PPL course again (in about 18 hours) and was obliged to re-take the ground examinations.
For me, everything changed in 1986 when I was offered a one-sixth share in a Piper Cherokee 160 which had been operated on a ‘syndicate’ basis for many years—I wasn’t previously aware of aircraft syndicates though there are a quite a few operating in the UK.
Suddenly, I was able to fly whenever I wanted as the aircraft was hardly used in the week and any conflicts at the weekend were always resolved amicably—often, by the conflicted members flying together.
Taking the aircraft away for a few days was never an issue, even if I only put a few hours ‘on the clock’.
Being based at Redhill, the aircraft ‘knew it’s own way’ to Le Touquet and Deauville—try taking a busy club aircraft to France for the whole day for less than 2 hours-worth of billing.
And, the flying turned out to be a good deal cheaper.
In essence, I moved from flying little more than the bare minimum to maintain my licence (at the time, 5 hours every 13 months) to flying around 40 hours annually which is quite a lot for a Private Pilot.
I was also able to ‘park’ the aircraft at Southend for a couple of weeks while I completed my ‘IMC Rating’—I also completed the ’Night Rating’ over two evenings.
Of course, this sort of advanced training is a lot more effective in a familiar aircraft.
We had a ‘bit of a setback’ in September 1992 when the aircraft suffered an engine failure on final approach to Redhill at night—probably due to ‘carburettor icing’ which was a common problem with Lycoming engines.
With traditional courage and 'true grit', the pilot wrestled with the controls to steer the aircraft away from the M23 which was only half-a-mile away.
Fortunately, nobody was hurt and the insurance paid-out quickly so the group purchased a rare Fuji FA200-160—there were just 14 Fuji aircraft on the UK register at the time.
Although similar in performance to the Cherokee, the Fuji was stressed for basic aerobatics—with front-seat occupants only and within certain weight limits.
Additionally, you could batten-down all of your papers and fly with the canopy open—which never seemed terribly popular among non-pilots.
The Fuji gave us 11 years of good service though maintenance costs were mounting towards the end so we decided to disband the group and sold the aircraft to one of our engineering contacts who completely refurbished it.
I thoroughly enjoyed my time with the syndicate though there were some stressful periods, particularly when dealing with engineers—a definite case of, “you can’t live with them and you can’t live without them”.
Inevitably, members came and went with some ‘fitting-in’ better than others—after the Cherokee crash, the group seemed to become closer and members flew together more often.
It’s always good to fly with another pilot and share the duties—there was always some friendly banter over who flew the outward leg and got to drink wine with their lunch at Le Touquet.
Towards the end, I began to feel that I would like to fly something a bit more modern and ‘pokey’ so I was looking to move-on even before we decided to sell the aircraft.
Also, having run the administration (booking, accounts, log books, etc) for about 10 years, I was quite keen to fly an aircraft, pay the money and just walk away.
To some extent, I have achieved both objectives by flying with a club in France but I do miss the ability to drag the aircraft out and fly ‘on the spur of the moment’ when the weather looks nice.
I also miss my full involvement in the management of the group together with the fast, effective, considerate and democratic decision-making.
As far as I can see, flying syndicates are not so common in France but it would be good to hear from any who would like to make their presence felt.
Points to ponder
Is it cheaper to fly with a Syndicate?
Whatever the charging structure, the economics of a syndicate tend to depend on how much the aircraft is used.
Even if the aircraft never leaves the ground, costs such as hangarage, insurance and annual maintenance are incurred—you could postpone the annual maintenance or the Certificate of Airworthiness inspection (when due*) but you can’t fly without them.
* Maintenance requirements vary depending on the type of aircraft registration,
The principal advantage of group ownership is 'availability' rather than cost although significant savings can be made if the aircraft is flown frequently.
In our 7-strong syndicate (increased from 6), the economics worked well if the members flew at least 15-20 hours per year.
With those sort of numbers, there were few conflicts over availability.
Does a group share hold it’s value?
On our Fuji Group Website, we addressed this issue as follows:
The Group have no direct interest in the value of Group shares which may be sold for whatever the buyer can get.
Although well-maintained aircraft do tend to hold their value, new members are essentially buying the right to fly this aircraft on the stated terms.
The Group is run for the benefit of active members and should not be regarded as a form of investment.
I would mention here that it is essential to have a good 'group agreement' so that every member is aware of their rights and obligations while also having clear title to their share in the aircraft and group assets.
I notice that an increasing number of UK syndicates do admit members without any capital outlay—presumably, the capital cost of the aircraft is recovered in the other charges or perhaps there is a ‘majority’ owner simply recouping some of the running costs.
As UK-registered aircraft in the ‘Private’ category cannot be operated on a ‘hire and reward’ basis, anybody paying to fly them must be a part-owner.
Nothing to stop syndicates registering their aircraft in the ‘Public Transport’ category but insurance costs are higher and maintenance requirements more stringent.
What is the best charging structure?
This was a discussion which dominated most of our semi-annual group meetings where these sort of decisions were made on a democratic basis.
In common with many syndicates, we charged a fixed ‘monthly fee’ which was kept as low as possible in the hope that we would make a profit on the ‘hourly rate’ to cover some of the larger annual bills such as insurance and maintenance.
The trouble was that some members flew less than a dozen hours a year which inevitably led to regular ‘whip-rounds’ to make-up the shortfall.
From speaking to other syndicate members, I found that most group aircraft were underused and experienced similar problems.
After a few years of operating the Fuji, we had a clear idea of the normal running costs and agreed to fix the monthly standing charge at a level which would cover all predictable costs.
We then charged for flying hours at the cost of fuel/oil which, at 2009 prices, would be about £50 per hour in the UK (it was only £30 in 2002)—I had previously measured fuel consumption accurately, over the first year of operation.
We had an account with Redhill Aerodrome but the cost of any fuel uploaded elsewhere by individual members would simply be deducted from their flying charges—an arrangement which my present French flying club would do well to adopt.
If travelling abroad, you can, of course, claim a fuel duty rebate which would significantly contribute towards the cost of a trip to Le Touquet—even better was a trip to the Channel Islands where you could claim the fuel duty rebate at the UK end and then fill-up with duty-free fuel when you got there.
The result of this change was that the ‘flyers’ were encouraged to do many more hours and the others sold their shares, without any great difficulty, to people attracted by the low flying rates.
The higher monthly charge worked better from the administrative point of view as the money was always there when the big bills came in.
It was also fairer for members joining or leaving the group—for example, you wouldn’t join to suddenly face a large maintenance bill or leave shortly after you had paid your share towards the annual insurance.
It would be interesting to learn how other groups structure their charges.
Flying should be fun!
How many times have I said to my students the words "flying should be fun"?.
Flying is only fun when you are confident in yourself and your ability to fly your aircraft, when you receive your PPL this is the gateway to gaining a lifetime of experience and knowledge.Every time that you fly an aircraft you will learn something new from your flight.
During my time instructing in France, I have had numerous students who have arrived here with little or no confidence in themselves.This is due to many different things,personality, insensitive instructors, or just too many different instructors all with slightly different methods of teaching.The other factor which can cause the student disillusionment is that their lessons have been cancelled repeatedly owing to the weather or aircraft off line.They see other students improving and they are filled with self doubt why are they not moving forward more rapidly.
Every one learns at a different pace, some students solo in 7 hours but struggle with the navigation, others seem to take a long time before going solo but gallop through the rest of the course.
Gaining a PPL in 45 or 80 hours is down to numerous factors as mentioned above, the most important thing is that at the end of the training ,the student is a safe,confident pilot.
It is no good obtaining a quick PPL but being unable to have the confidence to fly to different airfields and perhaps try different types of aircraft.
It seems that learning to fly is rather like playing snakes and ladders, a student makes progress one week and gains a few rungs on the ladder only to slide down a snake a few weeks later.
Many instructors are excellent pilots,however they may not be good teachers, we all remember excelling in a subject at school because we were encouraged by a particular teacher.
I remember being near the top of the class in the subjects where the teachers were sympathetic and interesting however I just" switched off "when the teacher bored or frightened me.
My school reports were full of either "excellent" or "could do better "according to which teacher inspired me or not.
The same applies to training horses and dogs,"you can lead a horse to water but you can't make him drink". I won many races on inferior mounts by using a little horse psychology on jaded animals.
Horses and dogs respond to kind ,patient training just as humans do.
We all need structured training and each personality responds to slightly varied methods,some students are timid and some are bold therefore it would seem beneficial to teach each person differently according to their needs.
I was lucky to be instructed by a career instructor who not only imparted excellent knowledge in an understanding way,he took me out flying in very different weather conditions which gave me valuable experience on which I rely today.
Sadly,many instructors are en route to the airlines and are intent on building hours rather than imparting lifelong knowledge to their students.
I have heard dreadful tales of trial flights where the experience has turned out to be terrifying rather than fun because the instructor was showing off his aerobatic prowess.
These last two weeks I have had the pleasure to teach two members of the same family Charles (15 years old) and his new step mum Patsy. I was approached by Charless father some time ago.He asked me if I could start his sons PPL training during the summer holidays and help him to gain confidence in the aircraft as he was very nervous particularly in turbulence.( His father is a very experienced airline and ferry pilot with thousands of hours under his belt).
I commenced the first flight with Charles and tried to allay his fears by explaining that an aircraft in turbulence is similar to a boat on the water they are both riding the waves,one on the water (we can see the waves coming towards us) but the other one is on invisible waves of air.
I showed him how to trim the aircraft and to sit with his arms folded and to watch how the aircraft handled the turbulence and that his plane was not going to fall out of the sky.In fact after a couple of days of training he was too busy to notice any turbulence.
We are all scared of the unknown and we feel more relaxed when we are in control.
I am not happy in a car driven fast with someone else at the wheel !
Happily, Charlie went from strength to strength during in his two weeks of training (15 hours) his confidence grew daily,the dreaded stalls and the terrifying unusual attitudes caused several groans at first,however within a short time he said to me "this is fun" !
I would have happily sent Charles for his first solo towards the end of this week, however as he attained his 15th birthday during his training , he will have to wait for another year before he can write First Solo in his log book.
As mentioned in a previous article the FFA in France provide grants to aid young students gain their PPL http://www.francoflyers.org/2008/09/ffa-student-gra.html
Patsy and my other lady student Gwen were not afraid of turbulence, they were initially lacking in confidence in themselves, yesterday they had both "cracked the landings " and indeed we moved from the huge runway at Limoges( LFBL) to the tiny tarmac runway at Saint Junien (LFBJ) to practise short field take off and landings, always tricky with no wind, they both performed like professionals----- well done ladies!
16 August 2009
09 August 2009
"There are no bad students only bad Instructors "
Congratulations to Stine Angen from Trondheim,Norway who recently passed her PPL after only four weeks of training.
During that period of time she flew 45 hours of training and passed all her ground school subjects and skill test.
This was especially remarkable when you understand her initial introduction to flight training.
Four years ago Stine booked some lessons in Kissimee Florida,she was hoping to gain her PPL,sadly she had a difficult time there and after 30 hours of being "flown around" by an instructor ( she was never allowed to actually use the controls,the radio or to see a map).
She left the school in tears after being told by the president of the Aero club that "flying was not for her" and "as she was staying in a cheap hotel she may want to use her remaining money on a better hotel rather than wasting it on flying".
As one might expect this experience had caused her to lose confidence in herself,however she still had a burning ambition to fly, encouraged by her family,she decided to give it one more try,after her father had read of some of the success stories on the Franco Flyers blog.
After we had discussed her previous training, I related to her a similar story which had happened to me about ten years ago.
Twenty years ago I took my PPL and night rating followed by an FAA IR.After completing that training I had a burning desire to pass my commercial licence and to become an Instructor.
However, life is not always predictable and I subsequently went through a divorce which completely curtailed my ambition of working in aviation. In fact with four children to support I could only afford to fly enough hours each year to enable me to keep my licence valid.
Many years passed, then I had a serious horse accident, the subsequent injuries caused me to be unable to walk for three years.
Finally owing to my injuries, I had the time to study so I used this forced confinement to study the CPL by correspondence course, with the help of my original PPL instructor Phil Matthews( Cotswold Aero Club) who received many plea's from me by fax "help I do not understand this question".
After passing the 16 ground examinations ( the hardest work I had ever done in my life) I was ready to commence my training for the flying part of the CPL licence.
I arrived at the commercial school full of joy and enthusiasm, sadly this did not last as I became more and more nervous, it seemed that my instructor did not teach me,he expected me to know everything and just chastised me if things were not going to his plan.
After ten hours of "training" I had become a complete nervous wreck and I found that even the task of speaking normally on the radio ( which previously had never been a problem to me) was becoming a a nightmare I was not good enough to pass a PPL never mind a CPL.
I had lost confidence in myself.!
I was not making any progress at all, and after another disastrous lesson my instructor asked me to come into his office where he imparted the soul destroying words "you are wasting your time and money, you will never pass the CPL or become an instructor , why don't you just enjoy your PPL".
I am sure that my readers will understand the feeling of utter devastation that I felt upon hearing those words.
I returned to my PPL school in floods of tears and was informed by everyone in the club that they were supporting me and I could make it!
I cannot describe the feeling of depression that lasted for days after I had been dismissed from this school as I had thought of nothing else except obtaining this CPL licence for over three years.
However I am not someone who just gives up, life as an amateur steeplechase jockey had taught me that.
Luckily, I was introduced to Tizzie Hodson she was a CPL/IR instructor at Oxford Flight training (Gloucester ) who upon hearing my story told me "that there are no bad students only bad instructors."!
She suggested that we go for a flight together and afterwards if she felt that I was not good enough she would tell me the ugly truth about my flying skills and future prospects.
We took a Slingsby Firefly Aircraft ( which I had never flown previously) and she threw me around in various aerobatic manoeuvres (which I hated) then she turned the plane around several times and said "take me back to Gloucester". I had no trouble doing this and surprisingly I spoke on the radio without any problem,we arrived at the field and I touched down gently on the runway without any problems and at that moment I felt totally calm and positive, I was no longer a "bag of nerves".
Tizzie's words to me were " you are much better than most of my current students I will take you on"
I subsequently passed the CPL and the Instructor rating without any further problem.However I have never forgotten her words about bad instructors and I vowed that I would always give confidence to students no matter how difficult they found the task of learning to fly.
Within a very short time Stine was soon relaxed and happy and enjoying solo circuits at Limoges, followed by her qualifying cross country flight.I was so proud of her as she was improving and gaining confidence every single day.
She joined Matt and I on our flight to Cannes this gave her untold confidence and knowledge.
Upon our return home we did some revision work and soon it was the day of the skill test.
I listened to her calm voice on the radio prior to the flight and I was filled with happiness.
In fact after passing her skill test the examiner Mike Grierson told me she was a "natural" pilot.
Sadly too many students never obtain their dreams owing to the situations as described above.
08 August 2009
Smarticles (Smart Articles)
I don't normally post to this blog on technical subjects but I notice that the layout of some recent articles has become a bit 'ragged'—higgeldy-piggeldy font styles and sizes, no picture borders and captions 'departed' from the pictures.
Firstly, I would mention that a Typepad blog uses a technique known as Cascading Style Sheets (CSS) which sets the layout (font style, font size, borders, etc) for the whole site.
These can be over-ridden when posting an article—for example, you could use bold and italic or change colour and alignment for particular selections of text.
The 'insert picture' function also has standard settings which may be over-ridden for individual pictures.
The 'messy layout' problem arises when, instead of using the Typepad 'compose screen', the author prepares the article using other software (such as Word) and then uses copy/paste to transfer it into the Typepad blog.
It is actually possible to post directly to the blog from the Office 2007 version of Word but the use of copy/paste introduces HTML code which conflicts with that defining the blog layout.
The correct way to use copy/paste is to save the original article as text which removes all of the HTML formatting (which can't be seen on the article though it is in the background)—then, open the document in a text editor (such as Notepad) and copy/paste from there.
The article will then adopt the standard site formatting, leaving you to insert pictures and make any required format changes.
Picture Captions
Correct alignment of captions to pictures involves the use of HTML tables which is best avoided unless you really know what you are doing.
I find it far easier to edit the original picture (using Photoshop, or whatever) so that the caption becomes part of the picture.
Both of these issues are mentioned in 'Posting Tips' which is one of this site's permanent pages.
If all else fails—read the instructions.
05 August 2009
04 August 2009
Aero-Club de Saint Dizier “Robinson”
As I am actively looking to leave my present French flying club and ‘take my business elsewhere’, I immediately noticed this possible alternative in the August edition of ‘Today’s Pilot’.
St Dizier lies to the East of Paris, about half-way to Nancy and to the South-East of Reims.
According to the article, the airfield dates from 1913 and a civilian aeroclub was first established in 1931.
Today, the aeroclub shares the airfield with two operational squadrons of the French Air Force—guess who uses the grass runway!
The club atmosphere is described as “friendly, kind and generous” in addition to which they promote a diverse range of aviation activities including a separate aeromodelling section and a small aviation museum whose prize possession is a SEPECAT Jaguar simulator.
There is an interesting fleet of aircraft ranging from a TB9 to a Piper Cub which served in the Normandy landings (it’s been repaired now)—there is also a brand-new clubhouse with a spacious dining-room.
The airfield is adjacent to the largest man-made lake in France and the local area looks quite picturesque
I could go on but you really should read the original article to get the whole picture.
In these ‘hard times’, I was particularly interested in the published flying prices which look rather attractive, particularly compared with UK rates:
|
Aeroclub de St Dizier Rates (Euro per Hour) | |
| TB9 | 101€ |
| Robin DR400 | 89€ |
| Cessna 150 | 62€ |
| Piper L4 (J3) | 62€ |
| Instruction (additional) | 12€ |
As far as I can see, this is ‘a club which has everything’ so I emailed them today for more information which I will happily share once they respond.
As price was one of the main drivers for myself and many UK pilots to fly in France, it would be good to share information on what different clubs and flying groups are currently charging—any comments on the subject will be most welcome.
Links
29 July 2009
Cool Cannes
For several months,I had been hoping to arrange a trip to the airfields of Cannes and Cuers in the South of France; however,circumstances had always prevented me from actually arranging the flight.
Several of my students and ex students live in the south of France and they are often asking me to come down to do some flying with them.
I also have pilot friends in this area, so I have been looking forward to a chance to fly down south, however pressure of work in Limoges has not enabled me to turn the dream into reality.
Stine is nearly at the end of her PPL training and she is hoping to gain as much flying experience as possible before returning home to Norway. The prospect of a flight over the mountains, and to fly in airspace that is more restrictive than she has encountered at Limoges had her "champing at the bit “and ready to go.
Matthew is always looking to gain knowledge in new flying environments as his long term aim is to be a Professional Pilot, so we began to arrange the flight.
Upon hearing of the proposed trip Stuart Morton (one of my students who lives near to Cuers) sent a message that he wanted to fly as many hours as possible when I was in his area, he would provide the accommodation and transport if I would supply the training.
Matt offered to plan the trip on the Monday afternoon; therefore, all I had to do the following morning was to arrive at the club ready to fly.
Tuesday saw Stine, Matt and I at the club early in the morning, we had chosen the Robin F-GMKT DR400/180 which is fast and very comfortable for long journeys.
The weather forecast was excellent for the whole trip so we chose the direct route over the mountains en route to Cannes.
Stine chose to fly this first flight, she had not flown over the mountains before and she was pleasantly surprised at the deep river gorges which reminded her of her native Norway.
We enjoyed cloudless skies until we were midway between the VOR's of Saint Flour and Montelimar then we were forced to climb to avoid cloud between the mountains. This was also a new and exciting experience for Stine.
When we reached Montelimar the clouds vanished and we continued our flight over the high ground, passing the impressive Mount Ventoux (6263 ft) until we were abeam Vinon (LFNF) now we descended to follow the valley between the hills which would lead us to our destination Cannes( LFMD).
During the flight, we had not seen another aircraft; however, that was soon to change as we neared our destination airfield.
Cannes tower was very busy, however, the controller was friendly and helpful, we were asked if we wanted to join long final from the north which we readily accepted and we landed behind a sleek business jet arriving from Beirut.
After landing we changed to Cannes ground frequency they directed us to the park via runway 04, we were soon parked on the grass and waiting for the minibus to shuttle us to the terminal.
Matt could not keep his eyes away from the wonderful selection of business jets lined up adjacent to the terminal. This was a different scene to the last time that I had landed at Cannes two years previously when the airport was almost empty,obviously,everyone had arrived for their summer holidays ---- no sign of the credit crunch here!
After an expensive taxi ride into town we met Kirsty and Sam at a charming cafe and enjoyed a light lunch outside on the terrace.
We explored the old part of town and finally said our goodbyes and returned to the airport for the 40 minute flight up the coast to Cuers. The journey to the plane only takes three minutes but it is forbidden to walk across the airport to the parked aircraft. This time we had a long wait for the minibus, so we were twiddling our thumbs in the heat for over 45 minutes. Aircraft were departing every two minutes, therefore the controllers were really working hard.Upon start up, it was heartwarming to hear the same controller say "hello again" when I asked for taxi instructions to the active runwayAfter lunch, it was time to wander the streets of Cannes in the hope of seeing some of the rich and famous,sadly we did not recognise anyone in the expensive cars which roared by.
Incidentally, the landing fee here was 12 euros for the first three hours and 25 euros for the full day inclusive of handling charges.
Upon landing, we noticed Stuart waving to us,after we secured the aircraft we were whisked to his house nearby, We were introduced to his French wife Luce and his delightful two and a half year old son Thomas.
We related the day's adventures over a glass of excellent local rose wine, while Stuart cooked dinner.
We had a lovely evening, however were were all exhausted by the end of a long day, so it was not long before we were heading for our beds and oblivion.
The following day we made plans over breakfast, Stine decided to join Luce for a trip to Marseilles followed by spending some time relaxing on the beach.
We headed to the airport and while the others prepared the aircraft, I went to find my friend Pierre Crozet.
I have met several of his students over the last few years and I have seen the transformation in their confidence when they have achieved their goals. Many have been able to obtain useful jobs such as flying aircraft which spot fires or aerial photography, others go into jobs which are aviation related such as compiling maps and charts or aviation journalism.
Pierre and I discussed the best options for the days flight and he suggested that we should go to Gap (LFNA) which is situated in the mountains surrounded by lakes.
When he also informed me that this field has an excellent restaurant we did not need any further persuasion, a restaurant on the field is always a bonus.
We were warned that GAP was very busy, with parachute dropping and gliding in operation, Pierre explained the best way of entering the circuit and the use of the reporting points,so armed with this useful information we set off on our adventure.
The area surrounding Cuers has a minefield of military areas,however the controllers were helpful and guided us through without any problems.Stuart was flying this leg and although he had not sat in a plane for six months he was soon relaxed and handling the controls with ease.
Our route took us up a valley between the mountains some reaching nine thousand feet,we followed the riverbedwith it's fertile valley, a brilliant green contrasting with the austere mountains on each side of us.
We arrived a little too early for lunch, so we continued up the river until we came to Lac de Serre Poncon a beautiful lake set in a basin between the mountains,this was obviously a holiday destination,as we watched the numerous boats and water skiers in action below us.
We returned to Gap, we were sent on a rather unusual downwind leg to provide clearance for the parachutists who were landing on the field at that moment.
The airfield was idyllic, such a beautiful setting, everyone we met was helpful and friendly. We discovered a pilot shop but did not linger owing to severe hunger pangs.
The airport has reasonably priced accommodation and a swimming pool so perhaps we shall be returning for a slightly longer stay next time.
We enjoyed an excellent light lunch on the terrace with views of the parachutists who were regularly landing just in front of us. We paid the exorbitant landing fee of five euros and it was time for the next flight.
Next destination Carpentras (LFNH) we followed the Sisteron valley and then climbed to seven thousand feet to cross the mountains, Stuart wanted to do some circuit practise at this uncontrolled airfield, upon arrival with a 15 knot crosswind blowing he had to change his technique!
That evening we chose to walk into the village to a local restaurant French food with a hint of the exotic, as the owners were from the French island of Reunion. We sat outside next to the beautiful old church, Thomas spent most of the evening exploring the immediate area and giving his parents a few worries with his adventurous spirit !
We strolled back through the village, replete, content and basking in the afterglow of a wonderful days flying.
Our final day and we were in a quandary what to do as the forecast towards the north and at Limoges was for thunderstorms and it seemed that later in the day the weather was going to improve.
We decided to do delay our departure until later in the day hoping for an improvement in the forecast for the homeward trip.
We chose to do a a local sightseeing flight and to meet up at the restaurant on the field for lunch with Pierre Crozet.
We were very intrigued to fly over the home of Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt, their home was only five minutes flight from Cuers airport.
We were not disappointed, the house and the surrounding vineyards were enchanting situated in a very quiet area and well worth seeing.
Matthew who is our honorary photographer did the honours once again, it was a memorable flight.
We then continued to Saint Tropez and flew close to La Mole (LFTH) this the airport close to the coast ,the chosen destination for the stars to land ther private jets. I understand that the landing fee is 80 euros.
The bay at Saint Tropez was full of yachts and boats of all sizes and shapes, many had their own private swimming pools and helicopters on the deck.
The place was teeming with boats, windsurfers and sunbathers, personally it was better to view Saint Tropez from the air rather than to be on the over crowded beaches.
We flew up the coast towards Cannes and Stuart pointed out the houses owned by Royal families and film stars, as we were approaching the Cannes CTR we turned around and headed further up the coast,once again passing Saint Tropez, then negotiatingthe narrow passageway ( P63) between the prohibited areas close to the presidents summer residence, we viewed Cap Negre where Carla Bruni has her summer home, which is just just 5 minutes drive from the presidents summer palace.
The scenery was quite stunning, soon we changed to Toulon approach and they kindly directed us past Hyeres (LFTH) airport and we headed back to Cuers by a circular route.
The outside air temperature was in the 40's so it was a relief to sit in the shade and have our final meal in the South of France.
We said our good byes and headed home, We needed to do quite a lot of climbing to negotiate clouds around the mountains.
Special thanks must go to Matt who was doing the navigating at that time, his navigation skills made the task of flying over and around the mountains much easier for the pilots in the front of the plane.
Thankfully, upon arrival at Limoges the thunderstorms had dissipated and we landed in brilliant sunshine, however, the temperature was 20 degrees lower than at Cuers and we all felt rather cold and shivery!
Finally a message from Stuart, if any pilot's are coming to his area he can offer a warm welcome,a glass of rose wine,plus a place to stay overnight if required.
Photographs courtesy of Stuart Morton and Matthew Galvin.
27 July 2009
Obtaining a PPL in France
On May 23 I arrived by Ryanair at Limoges Bellegarde, picked up a hire car and followed Sue Virr’s precise instructions to reach her base, La Chataigneraie, near the village of Gorre about 20 km away.
The intention was to convert a lot of flying hours done at the Limerick Flying Club near Shannon into a JAR PPL.Having been thwarted for several years from obtaining an Irish licence, by the weather and the very short and narrow strip at Coonagh.
I turned to Google and found an FTO run by Sue Virr and attached to the Aero Club de Limoges that offered Civil Aviation Authortity (CAA) PPL training in English for a British issued JAR PPL.
Sue is Joint CFI at the aero club and a CAA instructor and flight and ground school examiner.
She started flying about 20 years ago during an enforced break in a distinguished career as a steeplechase jockey and obtained her CPL and instructor rating following a very serious horse riding accident that terminated her riding career .
The following day we discussed what flying needed to be done and also the CAA written exams that had to be passed before the flight test - and how to fit everything into a two-week time frame.
The Robin DR 400 which I used for my training.
We then went out to the aero club at Limoges Bellegarde which has one runway 2500m long and 45m wide. Ryanair and Air France flights use it but it is by no means a busy airport and the airspace around it is very quiet.
The Club has three Robin 400-140s and one 400-180, as well as a Piper Archer and diesel Diamond Star. The first flight in one of the 140s was to familiarise me with the aircraft and reporting points round the CTR.
The following day we did an hour of touch & go circuits. The Robin is a very easy and stable plane to fly, but I soon learned that the nose wheel needs to be put down firmly upon landing or the centering mechanism may not engage and the plane may head for the grass.Once I had grasped that fact everything just fell into plac and the circuits became a pleasure.
The next two days Sue was busy working with a pilot renewing his rating, so I started studying. Since I was already familiar with the JAA syllabus, this mainly consisted of familiarisation with the more searching CAA multiple choice question system. The PPL Confuser, based on actual CAA examination questions, proved extremely useful.
On 27 May, I took the first paper - Human Performance. The useful thing about CAA written examinations are that each subject can be taken separately, marked immediately and retaken if necessary. This is simpler than the Irish system where ground school exams can only be taken centrally (in Dublin) every two months – but on the other hand there are only four papers compared to the CAA’s seven.
We then completed three hours of navigation exercises, first to Poitiers and then some smaller airfields including a grass strip where we did a few touch & go’s to experience the difference between tarmac and grass. Then back to Limoges for more circuits.
The next two days were mainly spent with more nav ex., diversions and touch & go’s, with an hour of unusual attitudes followed by circuits at Limoges and simulated EFATOS. The CAA has a very practical attitude to diversions. The argument is that a diversion is probably required because of bad weather ahead or some technical problem like falling oil pressure, requiring a quick decision where to go.Once established on the new track there is then time to check, adjust and establish.
30 May we concentrated on air work – stalls, steep turns, engine-outs, flapless and glide approaches, side-slipping, inspection for precautionary landings, low level (bad weather) circuits and finishing up with a normal circuit. All well there.
The day after was another study day after which only the Navigation exam remained. Sue polished up another student for his PPL which he passed on 1 June and took the opportunity to put the examiner Mike Grierson on standby for my test later in the week.
La Porcerie my home for the two weeks training
We completed another short nav ex including VOR tracking and then checked out basic instrument flying under the hood, followed by some slow flying.
I found studying for the Nav exam difficult because it is based on 1:500000 charts of the UK where the airspace is considerably more complex than in Ireland and 80% of the questions are based on it. But by 2 June, I felt I had enough done to pass the exam, and this proved to be the case.
I was not entirely confident about practical navigation and I felt I could do with more time settling everything into place, but by now, I was only two days away from returning home. Sue reckoned that if I took the test, I should at least get a partial pass and second, if there was a break in the training – to use horse terminology – I would lose condition and need time to get it back when I returned.
So the next day we did another nav ex with diversions. Sue from an examiner’s perspective reckoned I would have passed, we decided to go for it and that evening I was given the flight-test route.
On 4 June, we did a few warm-up circuits before Mike Grierson arrived for the Test We had flown so much I felt fairly relaxed about it and Sue repeated a very helpful piece of advice – don’t panic if you make a mistake, it may not be terminal.
The Test started with routine flight planning after which we took to the air. I was expecting to start the nav ex immediately, but Mike wanted a normal and then a flapless touch and go first. While recovering from the T&G he pulled the power for a simulated EFATO, after which we started the nav. I felt the first leg was pretty messy but there were good landmarks and the first destination, St Savin, was in the right place, with two large towns and a power station as confirmation.
We then turned East on the second leg and about halfway along I was told to put on the hood and do 180° turns left and right and then establish our position – not difficult since again there were good landmarks with confirmation using an appropriate radial from the Poitiers VOR.
After that, we diverted to Magnac Laval about 20 miles away, estimating the heading and bearings from Poitiers and Limoges VORs. We flew the heading until it intersected the radial from Limoges VOR overhead what was probably Magnac and confirmed its identity using geographic features and the intersecting radial from Poitiers VOR.
After landing and parking back at Bellegarde, Mike asked some general questions about aircraft – one was the purpose of the cranked wing on the Robin – and said I had passed. Although I had made mistakes, he felt safe throughout and that was the most important consideration.
Altogether, I flew about 18hours training and 2h30 on the flight test. It was all “go”, but Sue was always encouraging and confidence was building all the time.
I could see my steady progress for myself, culminating in a busy but not very stressful flight test and a mighty sense of achievement when Mike uttered the magic words: “You’ve cracked it!” Thanks, Sue!
Peter Cazalet
25 July 2009
My PPL Story
I work in Strasbourg in the north-east of France and in 2007 I started taking flying lessons at a small airfield (Sarre-Union, LFQU), set in idyllic countryside on the Alsace – Lorraine border. As I work full-time, I was only able to take flying lessons in the evenings after work and at weekends.
When the time came to think about taking my ground exams and the skill test, my French instructor and I realised that my French was not sufficiently good enough to allow me to sit the exams in French (I am Turkish and other than Turkish I can only speak English). The French aviation authority did not accept our proposal of me sitting my written exams in the UK and then taking my skill test in France with a French instructor because they considered that the ground exams in the UK were “organised and conducted by private establishments” rather than by an official body and, as such, they would not accept their results.
I then started looking for a solution and a helpful pilot at PPRUNE suggested that I contact Sue at Nearly Heaven. I subsequently travelled to Limoges with my wife and we set up camp at La Chataigneraie.Before going to Limoges my flying experience at controlled airports was limited to a couple of trips to a small international airport near my home base (Metz-Nancy-Lorraine, LFJL). But, as the area near my home airport has a number of military corridors, I have plenty of experience ducking underneath them and – weather permitting – climbing over them!
The experience I gained there was invaluable and has made me confident in manoeuvres such as expediting a take-off, approaching and joining the circuit at a controlled airport, orbiting on downwind to wait for an incoming passenger jet and extending the downwind leg to allow a small plane to take off or land. Sharing the airport with passenger jets at Limoges, talking to the control tower before making any moves and making regular position reports seemed at first too daunting a task but it did not take me long to feel very comfortable with it. The controllers at Limoges speak very good English and are used to dealing with GA students and pilots, hence the explanation for their non-exhaustible patience!
Sue is a very good and thorough instructor and, while keeping a very careful and discreet eye at the control panel at all times, she lets one learn from one’s own mistakes. I still have fond memories of our adrenaline-packed touch and go’s at the 585-metre long St Junien (LFBJ) airfield, and simulated engine failures over Esteban Dwarka’s private runway while Esteban was waiving at us from the ground.
The area near Limoges is also breathtaking and I particularly enjoyed a cross-country navigation lesson to La Rochelle (LFBH) together with Sue and my wife (unfortunately my wife does not share my sentiments about that trip because she is not a great lover of seafood nor does she like flying!).
The seafood restaurant at the harbour was fantastic and I would definitely recommend it. Unfortunately, no matter how much I begged Sue, she did not allow me to fly back to La Rochelle as part of my qualifying solo cross- country navigation; I think she somehow sensed that I would have parked the plane and gone back to the seafood restaurant at the harbour! Instead, on my solo cross-country flight she sent me to Poitiers (LFBI) and Niort (LFBN). I planned it so that I flew mostly during lunch time when the airports and the skies were empty (apart from the “fighter at 12 o’clock and approaching” which I never saw...).
During our two-week stay at Nearly Heaven I also managed to pass all my seven ground exams. Studying one subject after another in a short period of time worked well for me because it became a part of a daily routine and, as the subjects are all related, the fresh knowledge of one subject helped me to tackle the new ones. When, at the end of the two weeks, the time came for the skill test, it started to rain! Although I was disappointed at the time, it gave us another opportunity to return to Nearly Heaven some three weeks later.
I took my skill test on 1 June in my favourite plane of the Aéroclub de Limoges, the F-GYDD. The weather was fantastic and I had never before held my altitude and heading so precisely which made the first leg of the navigation part (dead reckoning) dead easy. My examiner Mike Grierson with his positive and gentlemanly attitude made me feel very comfortable and at ease. At the end of the exam all I could think of was that I had just had a very enjoyable two hour and fifteen minute flight with a very knowledgeable passenger!
I cannot wait to return to Limoges– this time as PIC in a plane – staying at Nearly Heaven and exploring the south-west of France and possibly Spain from there.
And while I was busy flying and studying, my wife settled into a routine of her own, catching up on reading when – especially during the first week – the weather made staying indoors at the very comfortable farm house a more preferable option, and otherwise exploring the Limousin and Dordogne countryside on foot, by bicycle (courtesy of La Chataigneraie) and by car. A considerable chunk of almost every day she spent playing with the ten adorable, but increasingly sharp-toothed, puppies. Yet when it came to choosing livestock to take back by way of a souvenir, she opted to buy two young chickens at a market in St. Yrieix-la-Perche, to join the chooks we already have at home. She named them Phoebe and Lucia, after Sue’s very friendly and helpful assistants at La Chataigneraie. For our second week we were joined by a couple of friends; they were accompanied by much better weather and also thoroughly enjoyed their stay.
Ugur Erdal
17 July 2009
Biscarrosse Beach Excursion
Yesterday,I took two lady student pilots to the coast at Biscarrosse, which is situated on the South West Coast of France below Bordeaux and Arcachon.
This was a rather last minute decision as Patrick Moussy ( CFI of the french students) had arranged to take two of his pupils to this destination.The previous afternoon while planning this trip, he invited us to join them for the flight followed by a swim and lunch.One of his students has a son living in the town of Biscarrosse, who had kindly offered to transport us from the airport to the beach and restaurant.
The day dawned sunny and cloudless with a high temperature of 25 degrees at 8am in the morning!
So we duly arrived early at the club and prepared our chosen aircraft the Robin DR 440/140 F-GZYA for the flight to Biscarrosse.
My students were Stine Angen ( from Norway) and Gwen Jenner ( living in France).
We decided to use this as a Navigation practice for Stine and therefore we took a slightly longer route to enable her to perform touch and go landings at both Perigueux and Bergerac airfields.
From Bergerac we tracked the SAU VOR and finally on the last leg of the journey we had to navigate through a minefield of restricted military areas as we were in the Cazeau military zone.
The friendly military controller spoke excellent English and guided us through the zones, at below 1000 feet.
Stine was excited by the prospect of flying the base and final approach over water, this was a new experience for her and it certainly did not put her off her landing as she touched down on the numbers as light as a feather and expertly exited the runway at the first exit without the need for backtracking.
Patrick and co had arrived a couple of minutes prior to us, they were the first to scramble into the car,looking forward to cooling off in the ocean.
With the temperature now at 34 degrees we settled down under the trees waiting for the driver to make a return trip to pick us up, sipping ice cool water and watching the aircraft practising in the circuit.
When we arrived at the beach we were surprised to see that it was packed with holiday makers, we therefore declined the swim and made our way into the beachside restaurant to enjoy long cool drinks and to enjoy the hoiday atmosphere.
After a wait of about an half hour we were starting to feel hungry watching the huge dishes of mussels etc being brought to neighbouring tables.Thankfully Patrick arrived dripping wet and starving.
We enjoyed a huge lunch and some excellent cross table "Franglais"
With a definite need to check the weight and balance prior to our return flight, we returned to the waiting cars ( two for the return journey) and back to the airport.
On the return journey Gwen was in the left hand seat, we chose the slightly longer route up the coast to Royan and then we tracked east on the edge of the Cognac military zone overhead Jonzac and Angouleme.
Patrick who took the more direct route, and was in the faster Robin DR400/180 aircraft,arrived at Limoges about 25 minutes prior to us and his plane was in the hangar by the time we arrived on the apron.
This day had been a great success and a lot of fun, combining navigation training to a fun destination with an informal atmosphere showing the students what can be achieved when they have gained their PPL's.
After all "flying should be fun"!
Next week's flight will be to either Biarritz or Cannes
.
14 July 2009
Sizzling Summer Success Stories
We are half way through the year of which the credit crunch has featured in all the newspapers, everyone seems to be tightening their belts and asking themselves if they can afford to fly or take a holiday in this negative financial climate. Thankfully I am busier this year than previous years and the accommodation is fully booked up until mid September
Here in France I have been very busy flying seven days a week, with many people aiming to obtain their PPL in a short period of time and others taking advantage of the superior weather conditions to have a flying holiday, where they have combined the experience of flying in France with some navigation trips to the most beautiful parts of this country. Not forgetting enjoying excellent lunches at restaurants en route.
Peter Cazalet with Mike Grierson (examiner) after passing his skill tests.
My students are coming from many different countries, recently I have had students from Australia, Strasbourg, Holland, Norway and New Zealand. These pilots usually stay for about four weeks to enable them to study the ground examination subjects and to obtain their PPL during this period. It is certainly the easiest method to gain a PPL licence as it is possible to fly at least 3 hours per day every day and this allows the student to retain the information and soon be relaxed and confident in the aircraft and the airspace within a very short period of time.
Luckily the weather was extremely favourable in the early months of the year with crisp visibility and “millpond “conditions this has enabled me to accompany pilots to such St . Flour and Clermont Ferrand with views of the many skiers on the slopes of the Massif Centrale mountains beneath us.
Of course the favourite trips to the viaduct de Millau and the islands off the west coast are always favourite destinations for pilots visiting France and I never tire of flying to La Belle Ile , Ile d’Yeu and Quiberon of course the seafood at these destinations is to die for !.
This summer despite the intense heat, I have been flying seven days a week so apologies to all of you hoping to read my weekly diary...... today it is raining need I say more.
This rain is most welcome as the pasture fields were drying up to a shade of brown rather than green and the horses were having to be fed winter rations.
Sadly our shetland pony Caramel died in his sleep in the field a few weeks ago, he had reached the grand age of 35 years and had only four teeth remaining, I am relieved that he just passed away and did not suffer any illness or pain.
All of the puppies have departed for their new homes except one male who I have retained called "Edward Bear of Nearly Heaven" of course he is my teddy bear!
I am trying to find time each morning and evening to train him and to take the dogs swimming in my neighbours lake.They love to cool off in the water and go hunting for frogs, insects and fish, the puppy enjoys hurling himself of the bank on top of his mother when she is swimming and almost drowning her!.
We have restocked with hens and ducks after Mr. Fox decimated our flocks earlier in the year.
I am delighted to have been of help to several Pilots who are permanently living in France. Several have needed a flight with an examiner after allowiing their SEP ratings to lapse.
During these tests I have had to the privledge to fly in several unusual types of aircraft which has been a great experience for me.
I am also pleased to have several lady students at present, is is always heartwarming to see more lady pilots as they are rather scarce in my part of France.
Roll of honour
First solo flights:
Kate Thomson
Esteban Dwarka
Paolo Rossi
Martin Payne
Lorraine Thomas
Stuart Morton
Ugar Edal
Stine Angen
PPL:
Kate Thomson
Esteban Dwarka
Dave Barrow
Paolo Rossi
Ugar Erdal
Peter Cazalet
Stephen Bosworth
ATPL: Congratulation to Marco Rossi for obtaining passes in the ground exams
at Oxford Aviation School
JAR PPL: Gerry Bolger and Dave Cannon have upgraded their licences to a JAR PPL.
Ugur Erdal with Mike Grierson (examiner) after passing his skill tests.
Changes at the club
Following our Annual General Meeting we have a new club President Christian Dalbin , Michel Kofyan the former president has now taken the position of Vice President.
Patrick Moussy has taken on the role of CFI for the french students.
Christian and Patrick both speak good English so hopefully all of the English members will feel at home conversing with them.
Flying Adventures in France
Now that I am back in England with the British summer as per normal with wind and pouring rain, I can reflect on my recent trip to Limoges with my two colleagues from the same wet village as myself. It all started with Sue Virr sending out her diary blog from her Franco Flyers site, when after having read a couple of these tempting articles , I decided that I also wanted to sample flying in France. So arrangements were made for bookings at Nearlyheaven (which it truly is) and for the flight to Limoges by Ryanair. The day arrived for us to embark on our trip, as expected the rain was falling quite heavily as we set off for East Midlands Airport. Upon landing at Limoges to our great surprise the rain seemed even heavier there! Undaunted we found our hire car and duly set out for Nearlyheaven, somehow we managed to get lost.... navigation is so much easier by air! We eventually arrived at Nearly Heaven and settled in quickly, then off to find food with Sue's easy to follow directions, we found the bar and restaurant but the food was off that evening only a ex pat run fish and chip van parked on the car park, So we sampled them and they were very good. Friday dawned with much of the same weather, so under grey skies we were off to a Martyr village called Oradour-sur-Glane, and spent most of the day visiting the ruins left by the SS during WW2 the three of us found this quite moving ,and well worth the visit.
Food was once again on the agenda so off we went to find a local cafe and enjoyed the local specialities.
Oradour-sur-Glane
Saturday saw an improvement in the weather although it was not yet suitable to venture too far, so a flight around the Limosin area was taken and we all we surprised by the breathtaking views so close to Limoges airfield, the flight ending with the crowning glory a invitation to a hog roast at the farm next door to Sue's home.
Sunday saw the dawn of wall to wall sunshine, so with a bounce in our step off we went to Aeroclub de Limoges. We arrived expecting to have to pull the aircraft out of the hanger and refuel however the plane was fuelled and ready to go. We booked to take the clubs newly acquired PA28 Archer, so after a full pre flight check and boarding we were ready to begin the long haul flight to the Millau Viaduct (1.7 hrs) via some of the most beautiful scenery I have had the pleasure to fly over, with high mountains and plateau’s and in total contrast deep tree lined gorges with rivers, large lakes, and magnificent château’s,(how the other half live) with comments like look at that and wow coming from the back seat. We arrived at the viaduct about lunch time and orbited over the bridge for a photo shoot
Millau Viaduct
Then to the airfield of Millau which is yet another example of the way the French love their aviation because there in the middle of nowhere was a immaculately kept airfield, we landed after advising every one around our intention and as it was lunchtime this was done in French with perfection by Sue (well done) as we clambered out of N30385 we were buzzed by two military helicopters a fitting tribute to a wonderful flight.
A short walk to a nearby hotel and a superb lunch set us up for a return trip to Limoges.This time by a more westerley route.The scenery on this leg can only be described as stunning.France is such a huge country and its scenery can only truly be appreciated by air.
Monday was our final day and a trip to the coast for lunch was planned also taking in a few Islands including a landing at Ile d'Yeu, a small island situated about 25 miles off the NW coast.
Today, we had to move a couple of aircraft to enable us to get the PA28 out of the hangar and a quick pull to the pump for refuelling, then off we went on our trip towards La Rochelle, we diverted slightly to enable us to overfly the islands of Ile d' Oleron and Ile d' Re via the overhead of Fort Boyard .Next it was into La Rochelle in search of nourishment.
After passing through the airport security we took a short taxi ride to the old harbour where lunch was served outside ,we sat enjoying the warm spring sunshine and watched the numerous yachts in the harbour.
Next, the trip back to N30385 and out over the sea to Ile d` Yeu, where after a strong 90 degree crosswind landing we arrived safely on this charming island. We paid our minimal landing fees, took a few photographs, then back to Limoges and the end of our trip..
We returned to the UK on Tuesday, upon arrival we found that England was as we had left it WET Nothing new there!
John Gough
26 June 2009
More Wanderings of a Flying Instructor
Having headed north on our last two long distance trips, this year it was time for myself plus Bob and Lesley Hart to head south. Carcassonne in the foothills of the Pyrenees was our chosen destination.
The trip was planned for three days during the last week of May, which produced some uncharacteristic hot weather over England and eventually wall to wall sun over France as well. As it turned out the first half of the first day of the trip suffered from the aftermath of a weak frontal system that crossed the UK and northern France. This generated an almost continuous layer of stratus between 1500 ft and about 3000 ft from the south coast of England to central France. Once we’d got past this though it was sun and warmth all the way there and back.
Outbound our planned route was via Goodwood VOR, Deauville VOR, L’aigle VOR and Amboise VOR with a stop at Poitiers for fuel for both ourselves and the plane. Then a direct track from Poitiers to Carcassonne.
Day1: Our trusty PA-28 Arrow G-OMNI is duly fuelled and loaded, weather, Notams, Royal Flights, and RA(T)s all checked and we’re ready to go. As we wanted to get to Carcassonne by mid afternoon an early start was required. So engine start at 0725 local and an indemnity departure from Gloucester.
So, with a left turn out off runway 27 we set course south-eastwards at 3000 ft. There was some patchy stratus around but plenty of gaps to give us views of the South Cerney lakes, and Swindon. As we approached the Goodwood area the gaps in the cloud began to close up and shortly after coasting out we climber to FL55
and cruised along in the sun above a solid layer.
South Cerney Lakes
ATC that early in the day was fairly quiet. We made a brief call to London Information shortly after getting airborne to get our flight plan activated then transferred to Brize Radar and subsequently Solent. After passing Winchester we were handed off to London Information again and stayed with them to the FIR boundary. Our first encounter with French ATC involved Deauville Approach, who kept an eye on us till south of L’aigle. It was then Seine Radar, Tours Approach and finally Poitiers. Due to the lowish cloud there wasn’t a great deal of VFR traffic about so RT-wise it was fairly quiet. All the controllers spoke reasonable English and each ATC unit gave us a squawk. Crossing airspace boundaries in France is in fact a lot easier than some of the maps might suggest.
So with a continuous cloud layer below us there wasn’t much to see other than watching the plane march across the GPS screen and note various condensation trails above us.
Contrail L'aigle VOR
Our track inbound to Poitiers had set us up for a straight in approach from about 20 miles but ILS traffic took priority and we ended up having to dogleg southeast to effect a base leg join. So we followed a Puma in for a landing on runway 20, slight down hill slope and a slight tail wind so we floated a bit, but plenty of runway as it is nearly 2000 metres long.
After refuelling the plane and ourselves and discovering that Graham Watson was on the airport record as being the last person to take G-OMNI to Poitiers it was time for leg 2.
It was still runway 20 for departure, which pointed us in the right direction anyway, just a small right turn to pick up track. We elected to stay below the cloud to take in the scenery so we settled at around 1600 ft. Our track took us towards Perigueux, passing west of Limoges and east of Bergerac. From there it was southeast to Gaillac VOR (some 20 miles northeast of Toulouse) and then to Carcassonne.
After passing Limoges the cloud finally dispersed to allow the sun uninterrupted access to heat things up. The heat of the day generated some strong thermals and coupled with a fairly stiff wind created quite a turbulent ride.
Cahors on the River Lot Walled city of Carcassonne
Carcassonne was moderately busy with DGAC operated aircraft conducting flying training and both Ryanair Boeing 737s and Air France ATR 42s coming and going. Turning finals we got a good view of the old walled city where we would be staying for the night. After landing we were directed to the GA parking area, which is somewhat remote from the terminal, and surprise… we park next to a Gloucester based Cessna Citation. Four and a half hours flying so far.
Pyrenees from the walled city Entrance to the walled city
So now we became tourists for a day. Got a taxi to the old town, checked into our hotel and then retired to a café for an afternoon snack. It was then time to stroll around the town and take in the sights. The city can trace its origins back to 118 BC but most of what we see today has it’s origins in the 11th and 12th centuries, with an extensive restoration of the buildings and fortifications beginning in 1850 and continuing to this day.
Sight seeing continued the following morning and by lunchtime we had complete the walk round the city wall and took a well earned lunch in typical French café style – outside under a cloudless sky. It was then time to hail a cab and return to the airport for the next leg of our trip.
G-OMNI in the GA park at Carcassonne Ryanair B737 we held up!!
Citation behind is Gloucester-based!
On arrival at the airport terminal we found the information desk and sorted the landing and parking fees. Upon enquiring about how to regain access to air side, the girl on the desk said ‘follow me’. She promptly parted a 737 size queue of passengers waiting to go to departures for a Ryanair flight and fed us through security into the departure lounge. We then had a short wait whilst a 737 taxied onto a stand and then we were escorted airside to the edge of the main apron and left then to our own devices to walk about 1/3 mile back to the GA park.
Our plan today was to fly from Carcasonne to Limoges via the Millau viaduct, about 1 hour 45 minutes flying. Having started and obtained taxy clearance we proceeded to the holding point, pulling over to one side, thinking we’ll leave room for the Ryanair 737 to go first if necessary (there’s only one taxiway access to the runway). The controller however, still thought that Mr. Ryanair would have trouble getting past so insisted that we went out first, much to the disgruntlement of the Ryanair crew.
Millau is about 30 minutes at Arrow speed northeast of Carcasonne. The viaduct spans a valley a couple of kilometres wide in terrain that extends up to 3000’ above sea level with the centre span standing just over 1000’ above ground. An impressive sight and worth the detour for a look. It was then northwest for an hour or so to Limoges.
, Millau Viaduct
Along the way we spoke to Toulouse and Rodez with the track taking us east of Rodez and west of Aurillac. Between Millau Viaduct Aurillac and Limoges we had good views of the Massif Central off to the east.
It was runway 03 at Limoges with a moderate crosswind, which got a little squeak from the undercarriage warner as the legs flexed sideways on landing. Air France was loading up at the terminal so we had a 20 minute wait for fuel. Once the plane was sorted it was time to retire to the café for a cold drink.
Sue Virr, one time regular at Cotswold Aero Club and now successfully teaching people to fly at Limoges (www.francoflyers.org) had agreed to accommodate us overnight, so once she had finished lessons we met up and retired to her gîte complex at Gorre, about 25 minutes drive from the airport. Here we are very much in rural France and the pace of life is noticeably slower than here in the UK and with large open spaces very little background noise if you sit outside (www.nearlyheaven.com will give you a feel for the place). A pleasant evening at a local restaurant rounded off the day.
Final 03 Limoges G-OMNI at Limoges
Sue was off for more instructing before us on the next morning, so her assistant Lucie ferried us back to the airport. Limoges on a Saturday was quite busy with club aircraft coming and going, Air France and Flybe on the move and a French military Puma helicopter putting in an appearance.
We decided to break our return to the UK at Cherbourg, partly because the café is good and partly because Luc, the café owner operates a wine store in the airport terminal, so a good place to stock up on some French wine at reasonable prices.
So, waving goodbye to Sue, who was doing crosswind landings with her student, we set off north north west from Limoges towards Cherbourg. We routed roughly equidistant between Poitiers andChateauroux, passing a few miles west of Tours and Le Mans before reaching Normandy. On the final 20 or so miles to Cherboug we had good views over the D-Day beaches of Omaha and Gold. Flight information was given by ATC at Limoges, Seine Nantes and Deauville on this leg.
Aéroclub de Limoges Omaha Beach, Normandy
Cherbourg was the only airfield we visited where we ended up with an air traffic induced delay. A local flying club Robin joining right base for 10 caused ATC to instruct us to orbit on downwind. Unusual for such a quiet airfield to have 2 aircraft wanting the same patch of sky at the same time. So, after 2 hours airborne time to retire for refreshment at the Cherbourg airport café.
Whilst at Cherbourg a steady flow of British registered aircraft came and went, thus showing what Cherboug is a popular destination for British flyers. The airport is about 8 km from the town so a taxi is more or less a must if you want to get off the airfield, unless you got contacts locally.
Anyway, for us it was just a lunch stop, so refuelled it was airborne again to continue the homeward trail. Over the English channel at 3000’ the haze ahead showed where the English coast was. Our route took us along the recommended VFR crossing from Cherbourg NDB to St. Catherine’s Point on the Isle of Wight and then overhead Southampton. London Information wasn’t too busy for a sunny Saturday and Southampton let us through their overhead without any quibble. Routing past Winchester we turned more northwest and followed the usual path that takes us through the gap between Lyneham and Brize. Gliding from Rivar Hill and Sandhill with parachuting at Redlands make us keep a very good lookout. As usual, the sky was busy but nothing seen. So, 1½ hours after departing Cherbourg we join right base for 09 at Gloucester and conclude our long distance jaunt for 2009.
Crossing the Solent Right Base 09 Gloucester
Three days, 9 hrs 40 mins flying, brilliant weather, cheap landings, French hospitality and new territory for us to see. The only downside is French AVGAS prices, about 10p a litre more than the UK.
08 June 2009
Chipmunk for Sale
Dear Sue,
As I am on the "nearly heaven" mailinglist, I follow your very busy life
with aeroplanes, horses, dogs and lots of friends. Thanks to your continuing
stories. Avec tous mes compliments "mon examinateur"!
Since my Chipmunk (G-BXHA) got recently out of the Star inspection, I flew
her from Holland to France, keep her in Libourne (LFDI) and enjoying again
the superb feeling of classic tailwheel flying.
But, as a result, I neglect my brand new Husky. What a shame!
So, I have decided to sell the Chipmunk.
Before I will fly her back to the UK and put her up for sale there, I
contact you since you have a (British) pilot network in France.
Please let me know if any of your flying friends might be interested.
Of course, I could fly up to Limoges; would be fun.
Thank you in advance and speak soon!
Cordialement,
Frank.
(Saint-Emilion)
31 May 2009
Sue's Diary—Gathering PPLs in May
This week, I have either been flying intensively or, for the last two days, not flying at all.
However, I am heavily-booked from this weekend so I am enjoying the days off while I can.
I am delighted to report that Fiona Renton passed her skill test last Sunday after a few days of very intensive training here in Limoges.
Fiona and her husband live near Nimes in the South of France and she started her training with a French instructor who spoke a little English. After a telephone discussion with me last year, Fiona went to England and took her British ground exams.
She then came to Limoges, for several short visits, to continue her PPL training with me.
Initially, she found the transition from grass strip to massive hard runway rather daunting but, with a great deal of determination and admirable support from her husband (a retired airline pilot), she continued to improve on a daily basis and worked extremely hard to perfect her flying ready for the dreaded ‘skill test’.
Sunday dawned bright and sunny which set the mood for my trip to the Milleau Viaduct in the PA28 Archer while Fiona joined Mike Grierson for the skill test.
I meanwhile flew to Milleau with English pilot, John Gough, and two companions.
John had been looking forward to this holiday after reading of other pilots’ flying experiences on the FrancoFlyers blog!
He particularly wanted to visit the Milleau Bridge and then to fly the coastal route to La Rochelle and the Ile D ‘Yeu.
The scenery on that route is spectacular with wonderful gorges, mountains and lakes which can only be truly appreciated by air.
Luckily, the weather was equally good on the Monday and John realised his dreams of lunching at La Rochelle and flying over to the lovely Ile d’yeu before embarking on the home journey to Limoges.
France by air is spectacularly beautiful with diverse scenery throughout the country.
Many people do not truly realise how large this country is; for example, the journey from Limoges to La Rochelle takes more than three hours by car but less than one hour by plane.
The drive from Limoges to Aixe en Provence can take nine hours by car but can be flown in a mere two hours and forty minutes by routing over the mountains.
The success of my Radiotelephony class was proved to me last weekend when I heard two of my French students speaking excellent English in the circuit at Limoges.
On the home front, sadly, a fox killed most of the hens and ducks the other night. He gained entry by tunnelling under the pen, despite the fact that the wire was buried 9 inches underground.
The only survivors were a duck who was sitting on eggs together with one hen and two chicks who were nesting in a hidden corner.
Sadly, without the birds, the place seems like a ghost town, not to mention the fact that I can no longer have a freshly-laid egg for breakfast !
At present, the girls are making a chicken pen built along the lines of Fort Knox (Fort Fox!!) and I will restock with poultry and ducks when it is finished.
Today, we are looking forward to the imminent arrival of Birgit who was here on a working holiday last summer. This visit is only for one week and she intends to do lots of riding, to meet the new puppies and, of course, to make friends with the orphan foal ‘Miracle’.
The horses are all doing well, growing fat and sleek on the fresh spring grass. Many of the guests have enjoyed hacks through the woods where they can see an abundance of wildlife from deer to wild boar and the numerous birds of prey which are very common in this area.
Phoebe has been schooling the young horses everyday and they are now jumping my new cross country course.
On the subject of wildlife, I have recently seen a variety of animals on the runway at Limoges.
The first was a large hare who sat transfixed on the centre line and did not move as I hurtled towards him. Luckily, I rotated about 20 yards in front of him or it would have been ‘hare today and gone tomorrow’.
Later on, a fox casually sauntered across the runway just prior to my departure and, finally, I was about 100 feet up on my final approach when I narrowly avoided a large heron who was intent on commiting suicide by flying straight at the aircraft.
Reader's Question—Channel Islands Customs procedures
France to the Channel Islands (Iles Anglo-Normandes)
I am keen to pop into the Channel Islands when flying France to the UK so I can pick up cheap fuel.
If someone could advise where to find the info on customs/immigration for that trip (and the opposite direction) I would like to know.
Alternatively: How do I purchase duty free fuel when leaving France?
I will be flying HA-YAB which I wrote about in an earlier article.
14 May 2009
Robin DR400—Syndicate members wanted
PH-SVE is a 1980 Robin DR400-120 with Mode C Transponder, 760 channel radio, VOR and GPS.
VE is a capable 2+2 with excellent all round performance including a cruise speed of at least 105 knots at 25lt/hr. The aircraft has performed faultlessly during the five years I have owned her. She is the fourth aircraft I have operated either myself or with others since I obtained my PPL in 1985.
Currently, VE is based at the lovely Chauvigny grass field, East of Poitiers and readily accessible from the Limoges area. While VE remains Dutch registered, I am investigating the possible advantages of changing to either English or French registration.
Due to the well-known problems with obtaining Robin spare parts last year (now resolved), the Certificate of Airworthiness could not be renewed before compliance with the spar AD but can readily be restored in a timescale of about 4 weeks now that an STC has EASA approval.
In order to help fund this work and to make future flying as economic as possible, I would like to share the ownership and operation of the aircraft with up to three like minded pilots who would have equal rights and obligations including the right to sell a share at any time all set out in a simple agreement.
My plans are quite flexible and I am open to suggestions but as a guide anticipated costs based on a 4-member syndicate would be:
Share Price: €3500
Monthly charge: €100 (maintenance, hangarage, insurances,
miscellaneous, no motor replacement fund )
Hourly Flying charge: € fuel/oil at cost only
For further details/viewing: richardjuliaclub-internet.fr@club-internet.fr
Telephone: 0033 549 85 45 08
12 May 2009
09 May 2009
PA28 Archer joins the Aéroclub de Limoges fleet
I am pleased to announce that the Aéroclub de Limoges has added a new aircraft to its fleet.
N30385 is a Piper PA28-181 which was built in 1982 in the USA. It was privately owned in America and then it was bought by the‘Auberge De Savoie‘ Limoges who flew it from America to France in two days, flying two lots of 12 hours.
N30385 is the first Piper to be added to the Aéroclub's fleet and, along with F-GUVE, is the only aircraft that is not a Robin.
Unlike the Robins, N30385 will be aimed at pilots who have already obtained their PPL and are now looking to build their hours and travel further afield. With its inbuilt DVD and music player, the longer flights will certainly go by fast for you and your passengers.
I personally flew N30385 for the first time yesterday. It was the perfect day to fly; sun, beautiful clear blue skies and very little wind.
I had invited Esteban to come and sit in the back, as he is also interested in flying the Piper and even purchasing something similar.
So Esteban and I pulled it out of the hanger and up to the fuel pumps where we refuelled and completed the pre-flight preparation and checks.
We were then ready to venture into the large cabin to have a look at the cockpit and start the internal checks. The cockpit is very crowded and complicated compared to those of the Robins, as the aircraft has TCAS, a weather radar, two types of GPS, DVD player, and music input so all of this equipment means that there are quite a lot of little buttons.
Anyway, once I had worked out what everything was and how to use it, we started it up and taxied to S2 for a runway 21 departure.
Previously, I had only ever flown the Robins and the Diamond which are fairly light aircraft so, at 1156kg, N30385 is heavy and quite a large aircraft. As soon as you start taxiing, you immediately notice the effects of the extra weight as quite a lot of power is required to get the aircraft rolling, However, once you have got it going, it feels a lot more stable.
The pre-takeoff checks were completed and we were cleared to takeoff on runway 21. I applied full throttle and, despite being 180 hp like F-GMKT, it obviously has to carry twice the weight and was fairly slow off the mark. However, the speed soon came up and we were rolling down the runway,
Compared to the Robins, which are rather wobbly and needing a lot of rudder to keep straight, N30385 was stable and needed very little rudder to stay on the white line.
We hit the 60 kts takeoff speed and tugged back on the yoke before getting it off the ground. This was a new experience for me as you can take-off by pulling back the control column with one finger on the Robin. However, with the Piper, it was more like trying to get a tank off of the ground.
However, once we were up, the Piper performed really well and climbed easily to 3000ft.
At first we just flew around the local area so I could get a feel for the aircraft before heading over to Gajoubert, where Esteban is building a new home next to a private strip, for a few steep turns and Practice Forced Landings.
Again during the flight it was incredibly stable, hardly ever moving. We completed a few Practice Forced Landings where, unlike the Robins, the aircraft came down like a ton of bricks once the throttle was closed. We then did a few ‘Go Around’.
We then tracked the Limoges VOR (LMG) so I could see how the instruments worked and needed to be operated. We arrived at LMG and asked for rejoining instructions to complete the training in the circuit with a few touch and go’s, including glide approaches.
This was hard work as the aspect from the cockpit is so different from the other aircraft in the fleet and a lot of force was needed on the yoke to manoeuvre the aircraft at low speeds.
However it was all great fun.
Finally, we finished on a flapless landing and taxied N30385 back to the apron after an hour and a half of flying.
Fortunately, the previous owner of the aircraft was at the aéroclub and kindly explained anything I had not fully understood as we ran though all of the instruments and equipment again.
I really enjoyed flying the Piper and cannot wait to fly it again. However, I think this aircraft will come into its own when being flown on a long journey and then you could not find a better aircraft.
Specifications:
Horsepower: 180
Top Speed: 129 kts
Cruise Speed: 125 kts
Stall Speed (dirty): 49 kts
Gross Weight: 2550 lbs
Empty Weight: 1416 lbs
Fuel Capacity: 48 gal
Range: 565 nm
Rate Of Climb: 667 fpm
Ceiling: 13236 ft
Takeoff
Ground Roll: 870 ft
Over 50 ft obstacle: 1210 ft
Landing
Ground Roll 925 ft
Over 50 ft obstacle: 1390 ft
08 May 2009
Sue's Diary―Pups Leaving Home
Unfortunately, the weather was not too kind to Jason and Nicole during the last week of their holiday though they managed to complete quite a lot of their training and passed several ground examinations.
However, a gusting crosswind prevented them from completing their first solo flights so I shall look forward to their next visit sometime in the near future.
NearlyHeaven is certainly becoming a school with an international flavour and my most recent student is a Turkish lawyer who works in Strasbourg for the Court of Human Rights.
Ugur has done some previous PPL training with a French instructor but soon realised that his language skills were not good enough for the ground examinations and therefore decided to complete his training with me as he is fluent in English.
After training at a small, uncontrolled, airfield, Limoges International airport came as a bit of a shock but a few hours of flying with me has made him confident with flying in Class D airspace.
I am delighted with his rapid progress during the last few days and, as well as going solo in the circuit, he has just completed his qualifying cross-country in fine style.
Sadly, he must return to Strasbourg this weekend but he is almost ready to take his PPL 'skill test' and has managed to pass all of the ground exams this week.
As Strasbourg is a nine-hour car journey from Limoges and Ugur has no more holidays available, we will continue his training at the weekends―to make life easier, I will arrange to collect him from his home airfield for the next scheduled training session.
This might sound like an upmarket 'school run' but it is quite easy to arrange as I fly all over France with my Limoges-based students.
Last week, I boarded Ryanair for a whirlwind UK visit to renew my Class One Medical which is a bit more difficult to arrange here in France,
Normally, I use this enforced event to spend time with my family and friends but with good weather and eager students awaiting my return, I completed the round-trip in a couple of days. Upon arrival at Limoges, I literally got out of a Boeing 737 and jumped into a Robin DR400―after passing through immigration, of course.
The Aéroclub de Limoges have added another aircraft to their fleet, a PA28 Archer which is fully IFR equipped.
I have spent several hours this week introducing our pilots to the fun of flying a different aircraft so all UK pilots who refer the PA28 to the Robin have no reason not to visit.
The other good news is that, thankfully, the DA40 Diamond Star is back in service after waiting several months for a spare part!
Later in the year, I am hoping to arrange some flying trips from Limoges to perhaps Spain, Italy or Portugal so all suggestions are welcome.
The puppies are now eight weeks old and three have just left for their new homes, with more going this weekend.
We are all sad to see them leave but confident that they are going to excellent homes.
There are, incidentally, two male puppies still unsold―females always seem to go quicker―so it's not too late to buy one.
27 April 2009
Sue's Diary—Dogs vs Frogs
Spring has really arrived in the Limousin with blue skies and temperatures of 26° last week. The leaves are on the trees and everywhere looks beautiful. I am truly privileged to teach flying in this beautiful unspoilt part of France.
On the downside, Lucia is mowing the lawns daily as the grass grows so quickly.
During the last week, I have stayed close to the Limoges airport area as I have been doing some concentrated teaching with a lovely couple, Jason and Nicole.
This young couple originate from Australia and are currently living in The Hague.
Both served with the military in Australia, spending many hours in helicopters though not as pilots.
However, this previous experience helps with their training as they are already familiar with general aviation terminology as well as the basic flight instruments.
As Jason and Nicole have a baby son called Jack, they take turns at flying and childminding which seems to be working very well as both were ready to train in the circuit by mid-week and this is what we have been doing over the last few days.
Limoges Bellegarde is in class D airspace so we have to integrate with commercial IFR arrivals and departures as well as military training flights.
This provides excellent training for my students who become used to performing 360° orbits and extended downwind legs to make way for Ryanair or other IFR traffic. This gives them the confidence to fly into other large airports without undue concern.
Quite often, Ryanair and FlyBe flights have to wait until we have landed though the commercial flight crews usually give us a friendly wave.
I am delighted with the progress of my English Radiotelephony class for French pilots and I am now receiving enquiries from prospective students who are not even members of our club.
No problem. It is very rewarding to support French PPL holders in this way and I am sure that we will be able to accommodate a few 'outsiders'—by prior arrangement, of course.
The puppies are now six weeks old and have discovered how to bark!
We have a steady stream of visitors to see them as the dogs will spend another few weeks with their mother before transferring to their new owners. It is so nice to meet these people and to offer advice on bringing up these delightful dogs.
Now that the weather is warmer, the older dogs have been going for a daily swim in my neighbour's lake which is presently full of very noisy frogs whose 'mating' calls can be heard from a mile away!
Being bred for hunting, my dogs are swimming in all directions to catch the elusive frogs who are pretty good at diving out of trouble. However, the dogs never tire of this frog-hunting sport.
18 April 2009
Sue's Diary—Bumps and Bruises
So much seems to have happened in the two weeks since I wrote my last diary.
On the first Saturday, the weather was poor so I decided to saddle up Khan and go for a long ride with the dogs in tow.
The countryside around here is remarkably unspoilt and natural so I rode for miles in the woods, over the rivers and around the pasture fields.
In fact, I was enjoying the experience so much that it seemed like a good idea to go for a fast gallop up a long field, temporarily forgetting that I am not so young and fit as when I was a steeplechase jockey!
So off we went with the dogs running happily behind us when the surge of excitement went straight to Khan's head causing him to give three huge bucks, depositing me on the ground, before galloping off at full speed in the direction of home.
So my golden day had turned a little sour as I was forced to walk up a very steep hill and then wade through rivers on my homeward journey.
I finally arrived home to find that everyone had gone out looking for me on bicycles, horses and in cars.
Luckily, I was not badly hurt though a little bruised in both body and pride.
I have done a lot of flying recently, some of which has been quite interesting.
Elroy, Kate and their boys arrived for an Easter break and with the intention of seeing a lot of France by air.
One of our destinations was Nevers, to the North-East of Limoges.
Upon transiting the Avord area on the way there, the flight controller warned us that the winds were very strong at our destination airport.
We arrived to find a strong, gusting, crosswind but managed a good landing and then climbed to the tower to pay our very small landing fee. The controller spoke excellent English and gave us good advice regarding the best eating establishments in the immediate locality.
After an excellent lunch, we returned to our trusty Robin and flew south to the Clermont Ferrand area,
On the homeward leg, we crossed the huge Lac Vassiviere and then turned for Limoges.
We did not see another aircraft during the whole day.
Last Saturday, I went to the Limoges International dog show where 'Leko' won the open class and 'Blanchette' took third place in the female open class.
I was delighted to see one of the puppies from last year’s litter obtain her very first prize for her French owner. It poured with rain during the whole day so I did not even feel guilty for taking time off from flying.
During this week, I have been flying with Ben who arrived here for a flying holiday,
Ben had completed some PPL training in England so our first flight was to familiarise hm with the Robin DR400 and to view the reporting points around the Limoges CTR.
The Robin is very light and responsive compared to the Cessna and Piper aircraft Ben had previously flown and it also has a stick rather than a yoke. Pilots need to be very gentle with the aircraft though students usually become 'hooked' after a few hours as the DR400 is a delight to fly.
Ben was accompanied on our next flight by his father, Barrie, who is also pilot and the proud owner of a Stearman, a Yak and a Husky.
We set off to see the famous Milleau Bridge but were forced to turn back, about 40 miles from our destination, when we encountered severe turbulence over the mountains. At times, we seemed to be doing aerobatic manoeuvres over the gorges.
On the way home, we had a thirty knot tailwind ands also required a bit of a detour to remain clear of a thunderstorm.
In all, we had an exciting day of flying despite feeling a little nauseous in the turbulence.
The following day was bright and calm without any turbulence so we enjoyed a gentle flight to La Rochelle where we had a superb lunch at a famous seafood restaurant in the old port.
Reluctantly, we returned home shortly after lunch because I had a student booked for the late afternoon slot.
As the French PPL syllabus is conducted completely in French, this causes some problems to French Pilots, when flying to Britain or other European countries, as the international language of aviation is English.
Many of the French club members have discussed this problem with me so I decided to help them by running a series of one hour English-language lessons every Saturday morning.
Today, with a certain amount of nerves and trepidation, I presented my first English Radio Telephony class for the French students and Pilots at the club.
I was helped by Andrew Vine who is English but speaks excellent French which enabled us to get all of the information to the students without difficulty.
When Les King visited a few weeks ago, he kindly helped me to prepare the written course and audio recordings for which I must say "thank you Les" because today’s class was a great success.
The puppies are five weeks old today and now into the exploration stage—when the weather is warm they go outside into their run for a few hours of exploration, fun and play fights.
Tomorrow I start an intensive four-week PPL course with a husband and wife who are arriving from the Netherlands—life is never dull at NearlyHeaven.
05 April 2009
Sue's Diary—Mayhem in the kitchen, calm at the AGM
The puppies are three weeks old today and have trebled their birth weight of 400 grams, which is excellent considering that Meg has ten mouths to feed!
At present we have only two puppies unsold. The others have new homes lined-up in Spain, Britain and several areas of France.
Now that the puppies are three weeks old, we have introduced cereals and milk as supplementary feeding. This causes mayhem in the kitchen as they manage to scatter their weetabix in all directions.
'Miracle' is nearly six months old and has now moved from the baby paddock to join the older horses in the larger field.
He is still drinking gallons of milk from a bucket but is more independent now and enjoys playing with the “big boys” as well as chasing the sheep whom he sees as the perfect-sized playmates.
Thanks to the extra hour of daylight in the evenings, I have managed to 'back' Pasha, the stallion who is the father of Miracle.
Pasha is now four years old and comes from a winning bloodline. It is therefore time to begin his training as either a showjumper or an eventer.
Phoebe has been training him on the ground and the time had come for someone to sit on his back for the very first time. That person, I decided, should be me.
The unexpected outcome of this 'terrifying' moment was that de did not even twitch his ear and just accepted me without a second thought. We have now progressed to walking and trotting around the paddock each evening when I return from the airport.
On the flying side, congratulations’ to Fiona Renton for completing her qualifying cross country. The local weather was dominated by a pressure system which caused poor visibility but this did not deter Fiona who managed to navigate without a problem.
Les King came on one of his 'flying visits' and, as always, offered his knowledge and expertise in helping me produce the English Radiotelephony audio which we will shortly be adding to the Francoflyers website, for the benefit of French flyers who wish to improve their English.
Les, not having flown much in the last year, needed to complete the balance of twelve hours flying for his SEP revalidation.
The original plan was to fly the Robin DR400-180 to England with another club member flying it back but, due to the poor weather forecast 'oop North', Les decided to stick around and complete the task locally.
On the first day, he managed a flight to La Rochelle in marginal VFR conditions and then paired up with newly-qualified Esteban for a trip to Muret, a small airfield to the South of Toulouse.
Last Sunday, being the first day of brilliant weather, they took a trip to Le Mans which was absolutely deserted with not a sound except for the 'roar of the crowd' from the world-famous race track next door.
On the way back, they stopped off at Châtellerault where a friend of Esteban's imports (in kit form), builds and markets the Alpi Pioneer ULM aircraft—www.silvair.fr
Les was lucky enough to be given a 'test drive' in this nippy and highly-manoeuvrable 2-seater which includes retractable undercarriage with electric flaps and trim.
Fuel consumption is around 17 litres per hour.
Like a high-performance sports car, the only real difficulty was getting into the thing.
Stop Press
Last night's AGM of the Aeroclub de Limoges was a quiet affair and went smoothly compared with the mayhem of last year’s meeting—French people can turn very ugly when a meeting overruns by two hours and dinner awaits (faint cries of "fooood" were heard from the English contingent).
Our new President is Christian Dalbin who is presently joint Chief Flying Instructor and head of the engineering department.
Michel Kofyan has stepped down from this position to be Vice President of the Aero Club. Further news on this at a later date.
22 March 2009
21 March 2009
Sue's Diary—2 more PPL successes
In early March, my family visited for 6 days to celebrate my birthday and I was anticipating a few days of idle relaxation.
However, the family had other things in mind and set about realising my long-standing ambition of a cross-country riding course on my own land.
My sons, daughter and her boyfriend spent every available minute cutting down trees and building this dream course for my birthday present.
When it was finally finished on the morning of their departure, I was requested to try it out even though I have not jumped anything since I arrived here over six years ago.
So, with a small amount of trepidation, I saddled up 'Woody' and set off—I had forgotten how much I enjoyed this sport prior to my life as a flying instructor, and it was a marvellous feeling,
Thanks to all of my family for this unusual present.
Life has been hectic recently as Meg gave birth to 10 new puppies which are one week old today. Mother and babies are doing well with the puppies gaining weight on a daily basis.
Incidentally, Meg’s father (Hungergunn Bear It'n Mind) reached the Grand Final of Crufts last Sunday—22,000 dogs competed at the show.
Spring seems to have arrived early this year. With superb flying weather and a temperature of up to 22 degrees, this has made it possible to fly long hours and I am arriving home later each evening.
Roll of Honour
Firstly, congratulations to Esteban Dwarka who passed his PPL a couple of weeks ago.
As mentioned previously, Esteban’s native language is French though he lived in England for a long time and chose to train for his PPL in English. He has now realised his long time dream and I am delighted with his success.
One of my recent successes was Marco Rossi who completed his PPL with me last year. Marco has now finished his ATPL examinations at Oxford and will shortly complete his training in Arizona.
Paolo Rossi is following in his brother's footsteps and passed his PPL 'skill test' on 19th March after only 40 hours of training—we then went for a 'jolly' to Sarlat, Brive and Perigueux to make up the 45 hours required for the issue of a PPL.
Paolo first came to me last November when he completed 11 hours of training and achieved his first solo.
He booked annual leave for the whole of March to finish the PPL at Limoges but actually achieved his goal in 9 days by flying an average of 4 hours a day.
Paolo is now back in Italy and will be aiming for his ATPL in the near future.
Well done Paulo!!
16 March 2009
12 March 2009
11 March 2009
The best phone call that I ever made
For quite some time I have had the dream to get my PPL. But, due to business commitments and other circumstances I could not find the time to do the training or find the right training school and instructor.
However, following a search on the internet I came across the site NearlyHeaven and contacted Sue, and that was the best telephone call I have made so far in respect of flying.
Following my telephone conversation with Sue who was very friendly, warm, understanding and courteous, I immediately took the decision to do my training with Sue in France.
Well, doing my training with Sue has been a real pleasure. She was very active in using opportunities for me to extend my knowledge and skills. She was always keen and positive and that attitude transfers to you and with Sue next to you, it makes flying easy and enjoyable.
She has an excellent ability to discreetly pay attention to detail without making you nervous. She is observant, but at the same time she has the ability to communicate with you clearly and in a friendly manner. She is very good in anticipating your needs and I feel she has exceptional understanding of me or her students as individuals, as I have had the opportunity to sit at the back with fellow students.
Sue has this outstanding skill to gain our confidence and co-operation. Even when we do not do things correctly, she is always tactful and courteous and gives prompt and efficient professional assistance. In my view she is always calm and effective in all situations.
One of the key questions is why did I particularly choose to learn to fly with Sue in France as opposed to doing my PPL in the UK. Well, given below are some of the reasons:
- Flying in France and particularly with Sue who plans your flying lessons well, you have the freedom of the sky and you increase your knowledge and skills by the hour.
- You can concentrate on real flying with minimum stress as there are hardly any restricted areas to worry about.
- You do your radio in English and the staff at ATC are always understanding and patient knowing that you are a student pilot.
- Believe it or not, on a number of occasions you would get priority over Ryanair or Air France.
- You can do as many circuits and touch and go's as you wish at Limoges International Airport, there are no landing fees or anything extra fees to pay.
- You get individual supervision, support and help from Sue at all times.
- You do not have a different instructor for your lessons as Sue is your personal instructor from start to finish, which means there is continuity and a full understanding of your progress.
- Learning to fly with Sue is also fun and no stress at all.
Sue, thanks to you now I have got my PPL, and I will enjoy flying for many years to come.
05 March 2009
04 March 2009
Limoges Holding Points
I am always being asked about holding points which, for some reason, are not published on the Limoges airfield chart.
Here they are marked on a photograph by Stuart Morton,
NB Click on picture for a larger image.
You can also view a full-sized and 'clean' version of the original picture here
Limoges (LFBL) Local Area—part 2
Following-up Sue's original article on the subject here, we have a new set of Limoges 'Reporting Point' pictures taken by Stuart Morton who is a professional photographer—see his stunning pictures of short-field landings here
After some initial training elsewhere, Stuart is currently working towards his PPL under Sue's guidance.
To make these useful reference articles easier to find, I have introduced a new category of 'Reporting Points' on the sidebar of this blog—hopefully, this might stimulate some contributions relating to other airfields.
As usual, you can click on the pictures below to display a larger image—however, Typepad limits the size of images displayed on this blog (to save space) so I have provided separate links to the full-sized images, some of which are really quite spectacular.
Note the appearance of countryside and lakes compared with the original article—ground features can change quite a lot with the seasons.
The up-to-date Limoges area chart to go with these pictures is available at Limoges Area Chart
Whiskey-Alpha (Position: LMG 038º / 4 nm)
Full-sized image here
Full-sized image here
Whiskey—Saint Victurnien (Position: LMG 355º / 4 nm)
Full-sized image here
Full-sized image here
November-Whiskey—Oradour sur Glane (Position LMG 002º / 7 nm)
Full-sized image here
St Pardoux Lake
Unofficial reporting point marking the North-Western corner of the Limoges CTR 'stub'.
Full-sized image here
Full-sized image here
Echo-Alpha (Position: LMG 067º / 12 nm)
Full-sized image here
Full-sized image here
Echo—Saint Priest Taurion (Position: LMG 077º / 16 nm)
Full-sized image here
Sierra-Alpha (Position: LMG 107º / 9 nm)
Full-sized image here
Full-sized image here
Sierra—Solignac (Position: LMG 109º / 11nm)
Full-sized image here
Full-sized image here
Full-sized image here
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