francoflyers

Little England

There has been an astonishing response to the latest episode of Little England (ITV1 - 28^th November) which featured the late Sue Virr guiding one of her students towards his first landing in F-GMKT.

The program generated 2400 hits on this site between 8:30 pm and midnight, which exceeded the previous record set by our article (one of Sue's favorites) entitled The Ryanair Water-Ski Team

That article got us into a bit of bother with the Limoges Airport Manager who wanted it removed in case it upset said airline—somehow, we never go round to removing it.

If you missed the program, it can be seen on ITV Player at LIttle England 28th November Episode .

I understand that Sue is also featured in the next episode which is on Monday 5^th December at 8 pm (UTC).

 

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!

"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.

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

.

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.

 

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.

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.

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.

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.

 

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.

 

 

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 19^th 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!!

Sue's Diary—Shirtsleeves in February

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Minature Sheep

 

Meg's Favouite Chair

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

,

Sue's Diary—First PPL success of 2009

The first few weeks of the year have been a busy time so this is my first ’Diary’ of 2009.

Les King, the Francoflyers Site Administrator, visited in mid-January but it rained for most of the week so we only managed to achieve his bi-annual check with an instructor just before he left.

Indeed, there were a few days of very severe weather during that week with horrendous storms ravaging the whole of France—in fact, the Limousin area got off lightly compared with the rest of the country and damage was negligible apart from the occasional fallen tree.

Les’s time was not wasted, however, as he is always useful for sorting-out various computer problems and also initiated the process of re-organising my business website (www.nearlyheaven.com) and converting it into a blog formal (similar to Francoflyers) whose many advantages include the facility for clients to leave useful feedback.

The transition was completed, fairly seamlessly, on February 13^th—the only slight problem being a few hours loss of service on the website as the relocated domain name ‘resolved’ itself.

Lucia, who helps me with everything at home, returned to Spain for a short holiday in mid-January, which left me struggling to look after my holiday guests, the properties, the animals and the flying students.

Fortunately, Lucia has now returned.

The end of January produced the first PPL success of the new year when Dave Barrow finally beat the weather and completed his PPL ‘skill test’ with our resident CAA examiner, Georges Thety—I am also a CAA Examiner but this test must be conducted independently of the Instructor responsible for the student’s training.

Dave lives in France but works in England and has booked his skill test several times, only to be frustrated by the weather—in fact he seems better than a barometer at predicting the worst flying conditions.

The Aéroclub de Limoges has acquired another Robin DR400 which is always useful to avoid conflicts during busy periods such as summer weekends—as many of my students visit Limoges mainly for the purpose of training, they tend to be around during the week when aircraft availability is not usually an issue.

Lorraine’s confidence has improved very much since my last diary and she is happy to take any of the Robin aircraft into the circuit, including the larger DR400/180.

Unfortunately, one lesson was postponed due to an urgent requirement to act as midwife to some of her sheep who suddenly decided to produce several sets of twin lambs.

On February 15^th, Lorraine completed her first solo in the new Robin aircraft.

Arriving at the aero club that day for our initial lesson, we discovered that we would be the very first people to fly the new aircraft since it had arrived from Niort.....  therefore I was impressed at how easily Lorraine handled this unfamiliar Robin and then went on to fly it for her first solo.

Ryanair’s announcement of new flights into Limoges is welcome news—between Ryanair and Flybe, it will now be possible for UK residents to fly-in from London Stanstead, Liverpool, East Midlands, Bournemouth, Bristol, Edinburgh, Luton, Southampton, Belfast, Edinburgh, Glasgow, Guernsey, Jersey, Manchester and Newcastle.

My other news is that one of the Hungarian Vizsla dogs is pregnant.

This was the result of a mating between Meg (Bicton Bear it all), purchased from the famous Bicton Kennels in England, and Leko (Visions of Success) who was born here.

The puppies are due to be born in mid-March and I already have several prospective buyers—though further enquiries are always welcome.

Sue's Diary—Snappy Landings

This week seems to have been quieter than normal, but nevertheless very rewarding.

Since I have become a JAR-PPL Examiner, there have been numerous requests for skill tests and licence renewals/revalidations from English-speaking pilots located throughout France.

For example, I will shortly be visiting Marseilles to conduct tests and hope to fly with some of my students who live in that area but normally travel up to Limoges for lessons.

The trials and tribulations of a PPL course require a dedication well beyond the norm.

Some students seem to sail through the early lessons and reach solo standard in 5 or 6 hours though they will sometimes slow down and struggle with the more-academic areas such as navigation.

Other people find it difficult from the start and often become disillusioned with their slow progress in comparison to other students who are taking the circuits and landings in their stride.

Don’t worry—we are all born with different aptitudes but the fact is that pretty-well anybody can learn to fly and it really doesn’t matter whether you do it over a few weeks or a couple of years..

In the words of the old song “it’s not where you start, it’s where you finish”.

Without doubt, landing is the most difficult aspect of learning to fly as you are working in three dimensions—it’s no good arriving at the end of the runway with 300’ of altitude though that wouldn’t be too much of a problem at Limoges with its’ 2500 metres.

Landing is something of a ‘black art’—you can give the lectures, the demonstrations and the encouragement but, in the end, it is the student who will suddenly ‘see the picture’ and get it right.

This happened recently with Lorraine who suddenly ‘cracked it’ after several practice sessions—Lorraine lives in France but works in England so only manages one lesson a week which is not really enough in the early stages of training.

Lorraine now has only one way to go which is forward!

Esteban is another student who is making good progress—his native language is French but he spent some time in the UK and has chosen to do his PPL course in English.

This week, we spent some productive hours doing revision ready for his imminent PPL skills test.

During these lessons we have flown in areas, mainly to the North of Limoges, which are unfamiliar to him.

On Sunday, with perfect flying weather and bright blue skies, we flew north east to revise navigation techniques with some ‘touch and go’ landings at unfamiliar airports.

The countryside en-route to Gueret (LFCE) is spectacular and a slight covering of snow gave our flight a magical feel.

We shared the circuit with a Cessna, making blind calls in French to inform him of our position in the circuit.

The pilot of the Cessna was charming which made me pleased to be part of such a friendly aviation community.

Next, we completed a navigation to Le Blanc (LFEL) without any problems though we found the runway covered in snow and just used it as a turning point.

Next, a practice diversion from Le Dorat to Isle de Jourdan and back home to Limoges.

What a wonderful way to spend a Sunday in France .

Sue’s Diary—Happy New Year

A Happy New Year to you all.

I hope that you all had a good Christmas and that you all manage to fulfil your flying dreams in 2009 despite the ‘credit crunch’.

I spent a week in the UK for Christmas, having a wonderful time with my family including two granddaughters, Natalya (2½) and Ilana (10 months).

What with shopping and Christmas cooking, the time just flew by.

I was delighted to receive an invitation from Phil Matthews (CFI) to pop in for a mince pie and a drink at Cotswold Aero Club where I learned to fly 20 years ago.

However, the ‘mince pie’ turned out to be a sumptuous spread so I spent a lovely Sunday afternoon drinking, eating and chatting to club members, old and new.

I returned home on Boxing Day to continue flying with my students in perfect weather with blue skies, little wind and no turbulence whatsoever.
 
I have found that January often has first class flying weather and, for the last few days, I have had the circuit to myself while most of the French pilots are addressing the more-pressing issues of eating and drinking.

Indeed, it seems that the only GA aircraft to come out of the hangar this last week are those flown by my students and myself. 

It is now 12 months since I launched www.francoflyers.org and I never guessed that it would become such a success—more than 46,000 page-views at the year-end.

We have made lots of friends and fans, both French and English, and I hope that I have helped English-speaking pilots to feel confident while flying in France.

My initial aim was to dispel the myth that English pilots were not welcomed in France and that French Air Traffic Controllers just ignored the English speakers.

I have lived here for over six years and feel very privileged to teach flying in this beautiful unrestricted part of France.

In my experience, French controllers are helpful and understanding so I have absolutely no complaints.

I cannot think of an airport in Britain where a controller would hold up Ryanair because a student was undertaking his first solo though this happens regularly at Limoges.

Flying in Class D airspace is never a problem here so long as you have a radio and a mode C transponder.

Recently, I was flying south to Carcassonne and the FIS Controller suggested a climb of two thousand feet to take advantage of the weaker headwind at that level—I cannot imagine that happening in the UK.

One reason for lack of the expected response from Controllers is that some large airfields revert to being ‘uncontrolled’ during weekends, bank holidays and (most importantly) lunchtimes.

In most cases (see relevant airfield chart), GA aircraft can still use the airfield but pilots in the local area communicate air-to-air in order to announce their position and intentions, in French.

Even if an individual airfield is uncontrolled, there is usually an English-language FIS service available for the region.

We have a couple of articles covering the subject of uncontrolled airfields in more depth:

Uncontrolled Airfields

French Radio Calls

“So what is so wonderful about flying in France?” I hear you ask.

• Usually, the weather is far superior to the UK

• The huge chunks of unrestricted airspace

• The large selection of pristine airfields, most of which do not charge landing fees

• The fantastic ever-changing scenery

• The friendly pilots who offer to help if assistance is needed—I have often been driven into town for lunch by a local pilot, without any thought of reward

• The fantastic meals at popular prices (i.e. cheap)—many airfields will call the local restaurant who are pleased to send transport, completely free of charge

Many thanks for all the people who have enquired about our orphan foal ‘Miracle’.

He is doing well and has now forsaken the bottle feeding for a bucket, much to Lucia’s relief—she can now sleep at night.

He is now drinking about 25 litres of milk per day; his uncle ,’Woody’, has sole charge of him and they are the best of friends .

Miracle receives discipline from Woody who has reminded him that he is a horse and not a human!

Sue’s Diary—Roll of Honour

With the New Year approaching, it is good to look back at the successes of 2008.

The usually-reliable weather has not been so kind as we have come to expect but, despite that, there has been a steady stream of English-speaking students and seasoned pilots coming to enjoy the wonderful experience of flying in France.

As an Instructor, it is heart-warming to watch the gradual transformation of a nervous student into a confident pilot with the ability to negotiate their way around France or even Europe.

Despite the depressing economic climate, advance bookings for 2009 are good with more students appreciating the benefits of intensive one-to-one training in the relaxed environment of rural France.

I am indeed fortunate that most of the visiting flyers become my firm friends and return on a regular basis—with the advantage of low-cost flights into Limoges, many UK pilots treat the Aéroclub de Limoges as their local flying club.

2008 Success Stories

Matt Galvin (English, living in France) started flying with me in the Robin DR400 at the age of 14, completed his PPL course aged 16 and passed the ‘skill test’ on his 17th birthday which is the earliest point at which a licence may be awarded.

Matt now flies the Diamond Star DA40 and intends to become a commercial pilot.

On August 1st, a little bit of history was made at the Aéroclub de Limoges when Robert Walters (English) and his son Christopher achieved their first solo flights on the same day.

Chris subsequently gained his PPL in September—the plan for 'father and son' to take their skill test on the same day in August was scuppered due to illness of the Examiner.

Robert, who works in Dubai, will therefore complete his PPL when business commitments allow.

Kate Thomson, her husband Elroy and their two children are New Zealanders, living in France for 2 years in order to experience a different culture and lifestyle.

On 23rd September, Elroy passed his PPL skill test after just 39 hours of training over 4 weeks—3 weeks really as the weather was poor for several days.

NB Minimum flight time for the award of a PPL is 45 hours which he made up over the following few days.

It was then Elroy’s turn to look after the children while Kate completed the PPL course and passed her skill test, also in less than 45 hours.

22 year-old Alastair Catto (English) came to me with about 18 hours experience on PA28 aircraft and a desperate need to gain his PPL before returning to Edinburgh University where he is a medical student.

The English weather plus a steady stream of different instructors had thwarted his attempts to meet the required deadline at home.

With a highly-motivated student, reliable weather and the relatively unrestricted airspace of France, we managed to achieve Alastair's goal by flying 3 or 4 hours a day over 12 days and he qualified as a PPL, on the last day of his holiday, with the impressive total of just 47 hours training—this included the small matter of converting to the Robin DR400.

Marco Rossi (Italian) had a somewhat tortuous journey towards his PPL goal.

He passed the ground exams in England before attending an 'intensive' PPL course in the USA which, for one reason and another, turned into a bit of a disaster.

He then completed some additional training in France, where he was based at the time, before discovering that his English ground examinations were unacceptable over here—that's when he came to me and quickly qualified for his JAR PPL (British Issue) in April.

Marco's ambition is to become a commercial pilot and he is currently in Oxford studying for his ATPL.

As it happens, I had a long battle over the issue of conducting English-language examinations in France and I am now fully-authorised to do so.

Paulo Rossi, younger brother of Marco, has been studying with me during his holidays—in November, he achieved his first solo after just 5 hours though he did have the advantage of spending quite a lot of time in the back seat while Marco was training.

Pierre Theron (South African) and his wife Marielle (French Canadian) did most of their PPL training with me a couple of years back and and also passed their ground examinations prior to embarking on a world tour.

Pierre returned to complete his PPL in the spring though Marielle decided to put-off her refresher training and skill test for a while.

When not roaming the world, Pierre and Marielle live in Switzerland.

Ken Roberts (English) trained with me in the summer but didn't have quite enough time to complete the final skill test before returning home.

Ken has subsequently gained his PPL with a UK-based Examiner.

While it is generally better to stick with one instructor, it is not essential so any training done with me still counts towards a JAR-PPL issued elsewhere. 

Esteban Dwarka is from Mauritius and his native language is French though he has lived in England since university and is training for his PPL in English.

Having relocated from England to France at the beginning of this year, he is staying locally and plans to build a house on land, that he recently acquired, adjacent to a private runway.

He also plans to purchase a PA28 aircraft which he will make available to the club when he is not using it. 

Esteban did a few lessons with me last year and has now resumed his PPL course after the disruption of moving—he achieved his first solo in October, after just a week of ‘refresher’ training.

It is Esteban’s voice on our well-received 'French Radio Calls' article.

Andrew Hussey (English) lives at Civray in the Charente area.

Andrew started training with a French instructor at Couhe airfield, near to his home, but quickly realised that he would make better progress in English.

He achieved his first solo at Limoges in June and, in July, accompanied myself and two other students on a long cross-country flight to the UK and back.

Andrew generally fits his flying around business commitments and hopes to resume PPL training in the spring.

For several years, Carl Pryce has spent a family holiday with me at La Chataigneraie where, in addition to flying, he enjoys other activities such as swimming and horse riding.

He is in no particular hurry to complete his PPL but did achieve his first solo in July.

Carl's other passion is model aircraft flying which is actually very popular in France so he always visits our local aéromodélisme club which is about a mile up the road from my place. 

There really is no time pressure on completing the PPL though intensive training does tend to produce the desired result in fewer hours—many students simply want to enjoy the flying experience at their leisure which is fine by me.   

Shaun Woodrow (Welsh) lives near Bordeaux and has been flying with me for about a year, as business and family commitments allow.

This is mainly at weekends and he sometimes brings the family caravan which he parks in my fields at La Chataigneraie. 

Shaun works for himself in computers—he is also into running and recently spent three months training for a marathon in Scotland.

He achieved his first solo this year and intends to resume his PPL training, in earnest, next spring.

Martin Payne (English) visited Limoges in November, having previously done a few hours of dual training towards his PPL at Biggin Hill.

Despite the erratic November weather, he flew 11 hours dual with 1 hour and 20 minutes solo during his 2-week stay.

He plans to return for further training in 2009.

A highlight of Martin's training was flying in formation with thousands of cranes, migrating south for the winter.

These are our stars of 2008 though we have, ‘in the pipeline’, many excellent students who intend to complete their PPL training in 2009.

Well done to all of them!!!

Francoflyers

Another great success of 2008 was the launch of www.francoflyers.org which has clocked-up more than 45,000 page-views in the first year—not bad given it’s rather ‘niche’ market.

Although it might sometimes seem like my club’s ‘house magazine’, the blog is intended to support all English-speaking flyers operating in France and we are  delighted to accept articles from anybody with something to contribute.

You don't need any username, password or special technical knowledge to leave comments and we will be happy to provide the necessary assistance for anybody wishing to submit original articles—just email us at articles@francoflyers.org .

My personal successes were that I qualified as a Flight Examinerin September and, much to my surprise, was recently invited to share the role of Aéroclub de Limoges’ Chief Flying Instructor with Christian Dalbin who has held the position for some time.

And my special thanks go to…..

Everyone at the Aéroclub de Limoges, for their help and support.

Our President, Michel Kofyan, for his belief in me and for his view that English and French speakers are equally welcome as club members.

Our club mechanics, Anthony and Elie, for keeping the planes in tip-top condition and for their absolute patience when I become pedantic about a problem!

Georges Thety and Mike Grierson, for conducting PPL skill tests—especially Mike who made himself available while visiting France on holiday in the summer.

Our Secretary Evelyne, a non-pilot who works very hard, and with great humour, to keep everything running smoothly.

The guys at the tower, for their patience with my students when they are a bit lost—or, as we English flyers say, “uncertain of their position”.

Matt Galvin, who has done most of the photography for my articles.

Les King, who set up the Francoflyers blog and provides ongoing technical/editorial support.  

Seasons greetings to you all and ‘Bon Vol‘ in 2009.

NB Click on pictures for larger images

The man with an aeroplane on his house

You’ve probably heard of Victor Kiam who famously said "I liked it so much, I bought the company!"

That’s nothing—the other day, I heard from a prospective student who loves aviation so much that he lives in a house with an aircraft designed into the roof.

Hussein Jammal, originally Lebanese, currently lives in Nigeria where his father runs a construction company and various other businesses.

As a child, Hussein was very artistic and drew everything he saw including, on one occasion, an aircraft flying over a two-storey building.

His Father was very impressed with the drawing which seemed to include the aircraft as part of the construction—so impressed that he commissioned a ‘friendly’ architect of his acquaintance to design a grand house incorporating that very feature.

Several years later, knowing Hussein’s love for everything to do with aviation, he used the design for the construction of a new house in which they now live.

The house is not quite finished yet and they intend to incorporate a real cockpit into the aircraft part whose interior is designed rather like a private jet—though with a bedroom and en-suite shower in each wing.

Having studied aerodynamics and built working models over many years, Hussein would now like to pursue a career in aviation—notwithstanding the fact that his Father would quite like him to join the family business.

His first goal, visa application permitting, is to gain a PPL in France where he can study in English while improving his French—he is greatly encouraged in this ambition by his wife who is French and intends to study nursing.

Beyond that, he would see a career in commercial aviation and would also like to design and build his own aircraft.

Hussein is very aware of the costs involved in achieving his goals and has worked very hard so that he will be able to pay his own way—he is currently building a library of every book and CD published by Oxford Aviation Training.   
 
In his own words, “Someday everyone needs to stop dreaming and make their dreams a reality, no matter what”.  

I look forward to helping Hussein with the achievement of his ambitions.

   

Sue's Diary—Congratulations to me

It is with great delight that I can announce my appointment to the position of (joint) Chief Flying Instructor with the Aéroclub de Limoges.

The offer of this role was a complete surprise but I was delighted to accept and look forward to contributing new ideas for the benefit of both French and English-speaking club members.

It is now over over 5 years since I moved to France and joined the club.

This caused some consternation and raised eyebrows at the time, as the concept of a British and FEMALE Instructor, who could not speak a word of French, was a huge change for a long-established and 'traditional' French flying club.

Also, the French JAR PPL was always taught in French and it took a two-and-a-half year battle to gain formal permission to teach and conduct ground examinations in English.

Having finally won the battle, I am now teaching students from many different parts of the world with (if I do say so myself) a very high success rate.

Nearly Heaven (that's me) is a JAR licensed facility registered to conduct PPL flight training in English for a British or French-issued PPL.

As a registered facility, I can offer both training and examinations in English.

I will be sharing the role of Aéroclub de Limoges CFI with Christian Dalbin who speaks very good English so, as I now speak passable French, we will be able to cover for each other in supporting all club members.

This week, training has been firmly regulated by the weather with some wonderful and some dreadful flying days.

As Christmas approaches, training is winding down so I shall spend a week in England with my family, returning on 27^th December with lots of flying lessons already booked.

'Miracle' is continuing to thrive though his surrogate mother disliked him intensely and has returned to her home.

Once again, he is still following 'Lucia' around most of the day hoping for yet another bottle of foal milk.

He spends his days in the paddock with 'Woody' who plays with him and gives him a nip every now and again if he is being too cheeky.

Another honour was received this week—'Visions of Success', my male Hungarian Vizsla dog, has been invited by the Vizsla Club of France to appear at the Concours Général Agricole at Versailles.

I shall look forward to competing in this important event at the end of February.

 

Sue's Diary—Ice is Not Nice

The good news this week is that I have found a foster mother for 'Miracle'.

This is a mare, situated only 5 kilometres from my home, whose foal is now six months old and currently being 'weaned' from her mother.

Tomorrow, we shall go to collect the new mother and, fingers crossed, I hope that she will accept 'Miracle'.

In return, I am lending one of our ponies to keep the other foal company.

Miracle continues to amuse us with his antics; his latest trick is to hold the zipper of someone’s coat in his teeth and to play with it, constantly zipping it up and down.

He follows everyone around watching what they are doing and then he copies them.

He is excellent at picking up tools and buckets and proudly carrying them around.

Colin, our carpenter, has had a 'mate' all this week much to his consternation!

Congratulations are due to Paolo Rossi and Martin Payne who have both achieved their first solo flights recently. Both made excellent progress during their holidays and have now returned home, so I look forward to the continuation of their training in the New Year.

My commiserations to Peter Morris who is ready to do his qualifying cross country flight but was confounded by the poor weather at Poitiers during his stay here. 

Next, a word of warning about the dreaded Carburettor Icing which can happen at quite high air temperatures, depending on humidity, but is a particular problem at this time of year.

Just a few days ago, a light aircraft made an emergency landing at Limoges Airport due to carburettor icing—fortunately, we have a 2500 metre runway which is a bit difficult to miss if you are within gliding range.

The recent cold and foggy mornings, with dew point and the temperature close together, provide ideal conditions for carburettor icing which can even happen on the ground prior to take off.

The CAA Safety Sense Leaflet No 14 provides a more in-depth description of this problem and recommends the use of carb heat for a minimum of 15 seconds whenever icing conditions are present—when flying with low power on base leg or final approach, it is best to apply continuous carb heat which should be taken-off shortly before landing so that full power is available in the event of a 'go-around'.

Note that application of carb heat will initially reduce the power (due to hot air being less dense) so a subsequent increase in engine revs is a clear sign that carb ice was present.

Some aircraft, such as our club's Robin DR400-180, have a carburettor temperature gauge but most do not so it is best to develop the habit of using carb heat irrespective of external conditions.

Sue's Diary—Nearly Heaven & Nearly Hell

 I write this week’s diary with a mixture of emotions.

In my present job and in my former life as a jockey, I have become used to experiencing diverse changes of mood ranging from Nearly Heaven to Nearly Hell.

Despite the foggy mornings, we have experienced some excellent stable flying weather and 'mill pond' conditions, with a flurry of my students happily negotiating the circuit.

Ryanair have waited, on more than one occasion, until one of my solo students has safely landed on the runway at Bellegarde.

Thankfully, Limoges has enjoyed patches of excellent weather while our neighbouring airports have not been so lucky.

Consequently, qualifying cross country flights have been put temporarily 'on hold' until there is a suitable break in the weather.

Luckily, the fog does not hinder the progress of ground studies so everyone has used the 'downtime' to prepare for exams, with some excellent results—it seems that a 75% pass is not good enough for some of my students who are not entirely happy with a result of  95%.

I had a most wonderful experience this week while doing circuits on Runway 03—I flew alongside thousands of cranes who appeared, in strict formation, at circuit height on the downwind leg.

The cranes, flying from north to south en route to Spain, actually moved over to avoid me and I am convinced that one actually 'winked' at me.

More information on cranes here 

Last night, I was invited to dinner with the President of the Aeroclub de Limoges at his home in Eymoutiers.

This was a lovely evening where I enjoyed true French cooking at its best and shared the dinner table with former airline, aerobatic and balloon pilots from three generations of the same family!

I managed to converse the whole evening in French which is a definite improvement for me, having arrived here six years ago without speaking any French at all. 

Sadly, when I arrived home long past midnight, 'Cassie', the mother of 'Miracle', was again seriously ill but, despite the best veterinary care, did not respond to the treatment and went to 'heaven' early this morning.

Cassie was twenty three years old and had produced nine foals including several who are now top-class international three-day eventers.

In the seventies, I had owned her mother, 'Lady Sunshine', who was the best horse I had ever ridden,

I am sure that her surviving grandsons will carry on the family tradition and excel in the sport horse world.

'Miracle' is now feeling very lonely without his Mum and is presently in the field under the supervision of his uncle.

I hope that he will soon settle down and continue to gladden our hearts with his independence and his antics.

Sue's Diary—C'est la vie

Life in France is wonderful, the pace is slower with long lunches, inexpensive wine, friendly neighbours—or is it?

It certainly is not if your car breaks down on one of the main bridges in the centre of Limoges during the evening rush hour!!

This happened to me last week. I waited for an hour for the breakdown lorry while suffering irate stares and much honking from occupants of the cars who were forced to crawl around me.

During this enforced stay, I received an urgent telephone call from home to say that our mare was ill once again and had collapsed, so several emergency telephone calls were needed to organise the veterinary surgeon and the breakdown assistance (thankfully the mare is still with us and improving once again).

Our unexpected foal, 'Miracle', is completely unaware of his mum's health problems and is enjoying life to the full.

He is being bottle fed which has 'humanised' him and follows Lucia around when she feeds the other animals, even while she is collecting eggs in the chicken run.

Then he gallops around the paddock at breakneck speed, scattering everyone in his way and causing worry to his mother.

At present, I have four full time students who are making excellent progress despite the foggy mornings which are delaying the start of our flights.

Congratulations must go to Paolo Rossi who has flown solo with only five hours in his book.

Paolo is from Italy and he is following in the footsteps of his brother, Marco, who completed his PPL with me earlier in the year. Marco is now is at Oxford studying for his ATPL.

Paolo had the advantage of being a passenger with his brother when he was hours-building and this has helped with his general understanding of flight training.

Daily life is never boring with this eclectic mix of people who are laughing and teasing each other all day long!

Esteban is champing at the bit waiting to go for his qualifying cross country. Peter and Martin are newly-converted fans of  Robin aircraft and flying in France !

Sue's Diary—Keeping it in the Family

Last Tuesday was scheduled for Kate Thomson to take her PPL skill test. The day dawned with perfect weather, the wind less than three knots, no turbulence and  visibility of more than 50 kilometres.

What luck, we had  dream weather in November!.

As the DI on the Robin DR 400/140 was not working, we needed to shuffle the reservations around and  Kate eventually set off, at lunchtime, with Georges Thety who is our resident CAA examiner.

I was very confident that Kate would 'sail through' as she has been an excellent pupil throughout her training.

Returning with a worried look on her face, she explained that she had seen her husband and two sons in the DA40 at the holding point and realised that they were watching, with the result that she lost concentration and performed her poorest landing of the day.

Luckily, this did not alter the final result which was a pass!

Kate, her husband Elroy and their two children are from New Zealand, currently living in France for two years in order to experience a different culture and lifestyle.

Now that the PPL training is finished, they hope to enjoy the spectacular views and excellent cuisine which are available to those exploring France by light aircraft.

They intend to concentrate on flying to places like the Isle d’Yeu, Quiberon and Carcassonne which all have fine restaurants.

The two boys, 10 year-old Ariki and 8 year-old Tamati, are also passionate about aircraft and both want to fly when they are old enough—my youngest student started flying at the age of 14 though you need to be 16 to go solo and 17 to be awarded a PPL.

Tamati also has his heart set on being an Aircraft Controller.

Following this success, we had a party at the celebrated hotel and restauran,t La Chapelle Saint Martin (much favoured by President Chirac and Hilary Clinton).

The evening was a huge success with wonderful cuisine and superb company. It was a truly international mixture of people with students/pilots from France, England, Italy and, of course, New Zealand.

After the celebrations, it was back to the real world as life has been very hard at home since the birth of our unexpected foal, 'Miracle'.

His 23 year old mother has not been well enough to produce sufficient milk which has necessitated 3-hourly bottle feeding, day and night.

This is a major task and my heartfelt thanks goes to Lucia who has taken over this role of surrogate Mum and still manages to do her normal daily tasks without complaint.

Earlier this week, I arrived home to find the mother very ill and felt that she would not survive though, with excellent veterinary care, she has rallied and 'Miracle' still as a mum to keep him company.

 

Sue's Diary—Flight Training in English

I start today with congratulations to Esteban Dwarka for going solo this week!

Esteban originates from the beautiful island of Mauritius, his first language is French, however he has lived in Britain since his university years and is also fluent in English.

In fact, it is his voice that you hear on our French Radio Telephony feature on the blog. 

Learning to fly has been a long-held ambition for Esteban and he contacted me several years ago to commence his PPL training in English.

I asked why he wished to do it in English when his native language is French? He replied that "English is the International Language of Aviation!!"

Time passed as various circumstances delayed the start of his training until last year when he managed a few lessons with me between business commitments.

As he is now living locally, we started again in earnest last week, flying two or three hours per day.

The concentrated training produced rapid progress, culminating in a first Solo after one week.

With much-boosted confidence, he went on to fly over an hour of solo circuits the very next day.

The Controllers at Limoges Tower were so impressed that they sent him a congratulatory  email.

Sue's Diary—Causes for Celebration

The weather has continued to provide good flying days but rather later starts than normal owing to thick  fog in the mornings, which has been rather slow to clear as the winter draws nearer.

During the last week or so, we have had several reasons to celebrate with champagne.

First, there was Kate Thomson’s first-solo party and then an unexpected 'surprise party' when I arrived for an Aero club committee meeting which turned out to be a champagne reception in celebration of my new status as a PPL examiner.

It was a memorable evening as I posed with the head of the Limoges DGAC, for photographs which were subsequently published in the national 'Le Populaire' newspaper.

The very next day, I was summoned home immediately as my 23 year-old mare had commenced foaling and I was needed to act as the midwife.

Thankfully, we had a beautiful live foal which I immediately named 'Miracle'.

As the mother had not given birth for over ten years and had been pronounced “sterile” by three different veterinary surgeons, this was quite a surprise.

Unfortunately, after the birth she became ill and was unable to produce any milk so we are now feeding the foal by hand every 3 hours day and night, which is taking its toll on all of us at present.

Mother and foal are continuing to improve so, hopefully in the near future, she can resume her milk duties and we can get some sleep.

Sue's Diary—Going from strength to strength

September finished on a positive note with 4 Private Pilot’s Licences gained within a 10-day period at, or close to, the minimum permitted hours.

Some people may wonder how PPL training can be completed in such a short time and whether corners are perhaps being cut.

Firstly, I would never claim that intensive training is suitable for every student but it is certainly true that long gaps between training flights increase the hours required due to the extra time spent on ‘revision’.

In my view, the main reasons for our recent high success rate are:

1. A set of dedicated students who were determined to gain their licences in the minimum time
    
2. Excellent weather and good aircraft availability, which has generally allowed each student to fly a minimum of 3 hours on most days
    
3. A structured course with a single instructor, providing a consistency which tends to be lost when the training extends over months or years
    
4. There are, of course, a number of theoretical studies and examinations to be undertaken so it does help with an intensive course if the student has done some advance work on the principles of flight, navigation, aviation law, etc

These factors ensure that, within a very short time, students are completely at ease with the aircraft, the circuit and the basic aviation skills.

Additionally, the wonderful unrestricted French airspace allows students to relax and get on with the job of learning to fly—ironically, the French Air Traffic Controllers are easier to understand than their UK counterparts because they tend to speak English at a much slower pace. 

Luckily, the weather usually remains fairly reliable in October and November so I hope to have more students gaining their licences in the near future.

Last weekend turned out to be a ‘ladies’ weekend with various female students from as far afield as new Zealand and Finland—this was certainly appreciated by the male club members.

I have noticed that a lot of ladies are learning to fly shortly after their husbands have qualified, so that they can share the pleasure of flying.

Teaching a lady to fly is a different experience as they generally come with no previous technical knowledge and are initially cautious.

However, most enjoy the training and usually become excellent pilots.

The week ended on a good note when Kate Thomson flew her first solo on Saturday morning.

The weather was mild and the wind light so she achieved this with a perfect touchdown.

It is quite difficult trying to find a clear  slot between the Ryanair, Flybe and Air France flights which all arrive on Saturday mornings but the tower are always very helpful in advising of incoming IFR flights and have been known to hold Ryanair if a student is performing a first solo.

Kate is the wife of Elroy Thomson who gained his PPL on 23rd September.

Jumping for Joy—yet another PPL success

I am delighted to report that 22 year-old Alastair Catto became the third of my students to pass his PPL this week.

Alastair came to me a couple of weeks back with about 18 hours experience on PA28 aircraft and a desperate need to gain his PPL before returning to Edinburgh University where he is a medical student.

The English weather plus a steady stream of different instructors had thwarted his attempts to meet the  required deadline at home.

With a highly-motivated student, reliable weather and the relatively unrestricted airspace of France, we managed to achieve Alastair's goal by flying 3 or 4 hours a day over 12 days and he qualified as a PPL, on the last day of his holiday, with the impressive total of just 47 hours training—minimum legal requirement is 45 hours and there was the small matter of converting to the Robin DR400.

Of course, intensive training of this nature works best if the students have 'done their homework' which was not a problem for Alastair who comes from an aviation 'dynasty'—his father is a pilot and his grandfather flew the De Haviland Mosquito on reconnaissance missions during the 2nd World War.

In discussing Alastair's background, I was fascinated to discover that the Catto family home was formerly the home of my childhood heroine, Pay Smythe, the famous international show jumper.

As a child, I persuaded my family to drive me to her village in the Cotswolds in the hope of catching a glimpse of Pat training her famous horses, “Prince Hal” and “Tosca”.

I still own her book 'Jump for Joy' which inspired me in my show jumping years.

Congratulations—another PPL success

Chris Walters, a 19 year-old student who flew his first solo on August 1st, passed his PPL ‘skill test’ yesterday (13th September).

Chris is a member of the Aéroclub de Limoges though the test was conducted by visiting CAA Examiner, Mike Grierson, who is currently renovating a house in the Poitiers region.

The PPL was achieved in 47 hours of training conducted during holiday visits in July 2007 and July/August 2008.

When asked by his Flying Instructor, Sue Virr, which part of the flying test was the most difficult, Chris said “all of it—it was the hardest 2 hours of my life”.

Regular readers will recall that Chris’s Father, Robert, also completed his first solo on August 1st though the plan to complete their PPLs on the same day was scuppered due to the illness of the Examiner who was booked to test them in August.

Away from flying, Chris has just finished his ‘A’ levels at Millfield School, Somerset, and will now go on to study Music Production at university.

In true French tradition, Chris and Matt Galvin (who gained his PPL on Friday) celebrated last night with a discreet soirée at which a few small glasses of champagne were consumed.

Sue's Diary—No French, No Problem

August is a strange month in France as most of the population seem to 'shut up shop' and go on long vacations.

As this is the busiest time of the year for students visiting from the UK, I have been the only instructor working at the Aeroclub de Limoges for several weeks and it almost feels like the club house is my home.

It is also the peak period for students' 'first solos' and there have been a steady stream of these during July and August—nothing is more-rewarding than the look on a student's face after passing this 'milestone'.

There are also several students almost ready for their final 'skills test' and I have every hope of drinking lots of champagne in September.

After 6 years of instructing in France, I still find that many prospective students are concerned with the possible need to speak French or with the validity of a PPL obtained in France.

To clear up any misunderstandings, I can confirm that it is easy to fly in France without knowing the language—I am proof of this as I could not speak a word of French when I arrived here 6 years ago.

All training conducted by me is in English and leads to a UK-issued JAR PPL—actually, a French-issued JAR PPL would be equally valid in all JAR countries.

Also, the whole of France provides an excellent Flight Information Service in English though French is used, air-to-air, at smaller uncontrolled airfields—see our article on French Radio Calls

To briefly answer the most frequently-asked questions:

Can students learn to fly with me if they speak little or no French?  Yes

Will the exams be in French?   No                                    

Will the skills test be in French?   No

Will it be a French PPL?   No

It brings me great pleasure to encourage people to fly in France—the flying here is superb and the controllers are very friendly and helpful.

I love the ever-changing scenery and the unrestricted airspace which provides many opportunities for stress-free flying.

I am delighted and surprised by the number of pilots who land at Limoges Airport with the sole object of thanking me for the Francoflyers web site which provides English-language information on all aspects of flying in France and has attracted nearly 35000 page-views since it's launch in January.

I have even had some of  the pilots from Ryanair and Flybe waving to me as they taxi to their stands.

Sue's Diary—Animal Farm

These last few weeks have been very busy with many pilots completing their first solo flights and others now ready to take their skills test.

I have been delighted to spend a week flying with Gerard Thomas, a 400-hour French PPL who lives in Paris.

Gerard decided to spend his summer holiday in Limoges so that he could fly with me in order to improve his English radiotelephony skills.

We have ventured to several airfields, sharing the radio calls, with me speaking French and Gerard speaking English. It was a lot of fun.

The weather in August has ranged from a scorching 32 degrees to a shivering 14 degrees—my holiday guests have enjoyed sunbathing by the pool in the daytime while sometimes suffering storms and torrential rain in the evenings.

Luckily, the horse riding is not too weather-dependent so our horses and ponies have been in constant use all summer.

This year, we have again been honoured with a nest of barn owls which is surprising because my house (a converted barn) is only two years old and I was delighted that the owls also wanted to make it their new home.

This year we have added a menagerie of animals to create our ‘Pet’s Corner’ which includes 3 Vietnamese pot-belly pigs and 4 very fat sheep together with an assortment of rabbits, ducks, pheasants, quail and chickens.

The chickens should provide our guests with fresh eggs every day when they reach maturity next year.

This new venture provides a home for ‘'rescued'’ animals as well as providing immense pleasure to the children (and adults) who holiday here.

Amazingly, some of the children have never had the opportunity to spend time with animals.

The animals are very well looked-after—only the other day, one of the pigs cut it’s trotter and was immediately treated by the vet with a dose of ‘oinkment’.

Several of our Vizsla puppies, born earlier in the year, have visited us for a short stay while their new owners are ‘en vacances’.

Blanchette, their mother, has been delighted to see them and she has enjoyed a new lease of life playing with them all day long.

Sue's Diary—Summer at last

The last month has been a very busy one for me with nonstop flying always on the agenda. I seem to have lived in an aircraft lately.

The reason for so much aerial activity has been the wonderful summer weather which has been perfect for all flying activities.

With a stable high pressure system over France, virtually no wind and not a cloud in the sky, I have enjoyed daily flights with a visibility in excess of 50 miles.

My students have gained so much valuable training and my congratulations go to Carl Pryce for his memorable first solo gained at Bellegarde.

Sadly for Carl, as I got out of the plane for him to fly solo, the handle on the canopy jammed and he had to bring the aircraft back for repair, which did not help his nerves at all.

However after waiting what seemed an interminable time, he flew a superb first solo and the look on his face when he returned to the club was worth everything.

Congratulation to Ken Roberts who achieved his qualifying cross country in impeccable style.

I receive English speaking students from many nationalities with many working towards their JAR PPL (British issue).

It has been a truly international scene with students/pilots of so many different nationalities all training during the same period of time here in Limoges.

I have students from New Zealand, Finland and Italy. It is amusing to hear so many languages spoken at the Aero Club!

I was delighted to fly for a week with Alain Noel and his charming wife. Alain has a French PPL, he lives in the North East of France and decided to have a holiday here at Nearlyheaven, enabling him to improve his English Radiotelephony and to experience flying the Diamond Star.

Alain spoke excellent English and he was most tolerant with me as I struggled to improve my R/T by conversing with him in French, so in all we had a very positive time.

Together, we flew to the wonderful bridge at Milleau and enjoyed flying over the superb French countryside in that area.

I have certainly gained two new French friends and I am looking forward to their next holiday here.

I also managed two trips to England with students/pilots, enabling them to gain experience of flying internationally.

The first trip was in the DA40 from Limoges to Gloucester which took 3 hours 40 minutes 'in the air'.

We refuelled at Cherbourg and had a warm welcome from the English speaking cafe proprietors.

The lady told me that she would remember us by the call sign of the plane as her hobby was to remember the people by their  aircraft registrations.

Upon reaching England, I remembered how much harder it is to fly in the UK, with so much restricted airspace. It certainly kept my brain working overtime to keep abreast of who to call and what height to fly.

In France, you can fly for miles without ever seeing another aircraft but this is certainly not the case in England.

I was highly amused when returning from England and being transferred to an English-speaking French controller at Brest Information.

Matt, who is English, heaved a huge sigh and said ”thank goodness for that, the English controllers speak much too fast for me it is so good to hear a French controller speaking English slowly”.

More about the English trips in a later article.

Sue's Diary—Privileged Pilots

At this time of year, I hear many different English voices on the radio as many intrepid aviators are flying in France, presumably during their annual holidays.

It is noteworthy that the English radiotelephony is of a very high standard.

I have always found the French radio controllers to be extremely efficient and helpful, therefore do not hesitate to ask for help or information when necessary.

Do remember that the military areas are normally active during weekdays and inactive during weekends/ bank holidays.

If in doubt, your nearest FIS will advise you of the status of individual military areas.

Whilst flying in France, you will discover the OLIVIA terminals at most large airports. These enable all aviators to obtain relevant information pertaining to their flights.

This system requires a code, which is on the FFA (Fédération Française Aéronautique) membership card—FFA membership is compulsory at most flying clubs as it also covers the French public liability insurance requirements.

This FFA code is also used to access the 'Meteo France' weather service and various other aviation facilities.

For more information on the FFA, go to www.ff-aero.fr or phone them on 01 44 29 92 00.

Prior to your flights, particularly at weekends and bank holidays, it is wise to enquire if the tower of your prospective airport is operating or if it has closed for the weekend and has therefore reverted to air to air telephony in French only.

Sometimes, but sadly not always, this information may be found on the ATIS channel of your chosen airport.

Last Sunday, I had a most interesting flight with landings at international airports and several uncontrolled grass strips, where I was able to practice both French and English radiotelephony.

The day dawned dull but CAVOK which was a pleasant surprise as the previous-evening forecasts suggested heavy rain throughout the day.

Matt and I set out in the DA40 with the object of improving his navigation skills and to provide a variety of landings, from a 2-mile runway to a short grass strip.

One of the benefits of flying in this part of France is that the skies are mainly unrestricted and it is very rare to see another aircraft except at an airfield.

We set off for the first Touch and Go at Angouleme (LFBU), the air was still and the wind was surprisingly calm at all of the airports which we visited throughout the day.

The tower was closed at Angouleme so I made blind calls to warn other aircraft of our presence, however we had the place to ourselves and did not see anyone at all. (incidentally, Angouleme is now receiving Ryanair traffic from Stanstead but obviously not on that day!)

Next stop was Chalais (LFIH), a little grass strip about 29 minutes south of Angouleme.

Initially, it was rather difficult to locate the runway but, after changing frequency, I discovered that a small plane was conducting circuits at the field so I commenced speaking in French.

However, upon hearing my English accent, he changed to English so we made a bit of history with two French aircraft in the circuit speaking English in this very rural part of the Charente!

We continued south to the Bordeaux terminal area and the delightful field at Libourne (LFDI). However, the circuit was very full and we decided to leave the area and continue to another charming grass field at Saint Foy le Grande (LFDF) for another Touch and Go.

This field was situated on an escarpment with a row of trees in front of the strip and required a steeper approach than usual with some considerable skill to touch down on such a steep runway with an immediate take off.

The Diamond landed easily and we had an audience waving to us from the ground which was very heart-warming.

Our next destination was Bergerac for a full stop landing and a bite to eat. We were cleared for a direct downwind landing with the request to cut the circuit short as Flybe was on an IFR approach just minutes behind us.

Flybe landed and taxied past a few minutes later and we received a big wave from the crew of G-JECV as we were leaving our aircraft in search of much needed sustenance.

Bergerac is expanding and we had to weave our way through building works to get to the restaurant.

Sadly, not all change is for the better, a few years ago we could land at Bergerac and get a wonderful lunch with a huge variety of choices. I remember the breast of duck being the best in the region, now it is more like a cafeteria and seems to have a more standard British menu which is most disappointing in the heart of France.

After nourishment, it was off to the wonderful little Sarlat (LFDS) which is a  gem of a strip, situated in the beautiful Dordogne countryside and close to the medieval walled town of Domme which sports some excellent shops and restaurants which are always full of  tourists of all nationalities.

Another wave to the locals and off to Brive for the last touch and go before returning to Limoges.

The countryside is outstanding in this part of France and one can see why so many British people have chosen  to live in this area for a very long period of  time.

On route to Brive, we again flew over the proposed new Brive International Airport and I must report that very little progress has been made since our last visit. They are still working on the runway but, to date, they have no buildings on site.

The final touch and Go at Brive (LFBV, normally controlled by Brive Tower but in French language only) was conducted to the tower initially in French but the controller then repeated everything back to me in English!!

We flew home to Limoges with smiles on our faces, two very happy pilots who had enjoyed a perfect day's flying in a superb aircraft in beautiful French countryside.

For more information on French Radiotelephony, see our article at French Radio Calls

Sue's Diary—The Perfect Present

Normally, in this part of France, we have pretty good weather which is superior to the UK.

This last week, it has felt to me that the UK has moved to the Limousin. In fact, each time I walk into the Aero club, a Frenchman will groan at me with the words ”it is English weather again today”. The forecasts have been totally wrong most of the time which has resulted in a week of flying which was a bit like playing ‘Snakes and Ladders’.

My first lesson on Sunday was a surprise birthday flight for Robert, an English resident of France, who had done 10 hours flying at Blackpool some 20 years ago but had not flown since that time.

Rob was thrilled and excited to find that his girlfriend had managed give him the ideal  birthday present and was amazed that she had kept this a secret for some time.

He was surprised that he was going to fly in such a smart new aircraft (DD is only 3 years old) and was delighted that he could use a stick control for the first time.

I was amazed that he had not forgotten any of his earlier training and he was soon flying the Robin easily whilst trying to photograph his home and point out all of the familiar landmarks.

It was heartwarming to hear his non-stop comments on how wonderful it was to be flying again and how the Robin was so responsive in flight.

My next lesson was also with someone who had done some training a long time ago and had never finished his PPL.

In fact, this was his third attempt at doing the ground examinations so we have made a pact that he will finish with a PPL in his hand this year!

By popular demand, I am trying to arrange some flights between Limoges and England to provide greater opportunities for experience of international flying.

Watch this space for more details and reports.

On the home front, everything is going well, the horses are in training and, sadly, the puppies are leaving us. We only have two left now who are waiting to go to their new homes and they are accompanying me on walks around my property with the older dogs.

Yesterday, one rather bold pup ran into the swimming pool and, with trepidation in my heart, I had to rescue him from drowning.

He came out wet but unphased and continued galloping around as though that happened every day.

Sue's Diary—Fear and confidence

There is a saying in the horse world, “fear travels down the reins”.

I have found this to be absolutely true. Horses (and other animals) instinctively recognise fear and act accordingly.

Therefore, anyone who is nervous and wishes to learn to ride a horse will have more difficulties in achieving this than a more confident student.

I firmly believe that you could apply this statement to any kind of sport or discipline in all walks of life,

As mentioned in a previous article, I came into flying after a long and successful career in the racing  world.

After an accident, I set myself a new challenge and found to my great surprise that I was 'hooked' on flying.

I was very fortunate to find a flying school, with a dedicated instructor who was also a superb pilot so I found no major difficulties in gaining my PPL.

Sadly, this is not the case for many pupils. Time and time again, I find that students come to me in desperation, having lost confidence in themselves due to a multitude of reasons including the lack of structured training programmes, frequent bad-weather cancellations and 'bossy' instructors.

We all can remember our schooldays when inspired teaching produced excellent results but only moderate marks were achieved with teachers who were either intimidating or boring.

The same applies to flying—we can all excel if inspired but not if we are bored, scared, or nervous.

Much later in my life, while working through my 'commercial' training, my confidence was shattered when told by an instructor that ”I would never pass my CPL".

Having recently completed ground examinations which were the most difficult undertaking of my life, I was looking forward to the flying test until totally devastated by this thoughtless remark.

Luckily, I met Tizzie, a wonderful lady instructor, who told me “there are no bad students, only bad  instructors” and got me through the CPL with only 10 hours of additional training.

I later achieved my ultimate goal of the Instructors Rating and vowed that I would always use positive teaching methods in order to give my students confidence.

Two years ago, I was contacted by a man in his sixties who, as a teenager, started flying Tiger Moths with the Air Training Corps but was totally discouraged by a bombastic lady instructor who constantly shouted criticisms in his ear (the Tiger Moth has tandem seating so he got it in stereo).

Consequently, he gave up his dream of a PPL before even going solo and this failure haunted him for the next 40 years, despite his great success in business.

Then, as a birthday treat, his son paid for him to try again which is when he came to me for two weeks training with the simple goal of flying and landing the aircraft which he did very well. Only strong crosswinds prevented from going solo at the end of the holiday and I am delighted to report that he went home a very happy man.

Confidence is the key to the enjoyment of flying. We can all enjoy the wonders of flying if we are relaxed and confident.

My advice—please don't give up or you may miss the best experiences of your life.

Best wishes

Sue

Sue's Diary—A dream come true

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Best wishes

Sue

I am always happy to receive your questions and comments, as follows:

Questions for publication on francoflyers.org: questions@francoflyers.org
General queries not for publication: sue@francoflyers.org
Questions related to existing articles are best published as comments to those articles

Sue's Diary—Brive Encounter

At last it is raining so I can find the time to write my piece for the diary— I now have a new computer which should speed things up considerably.

I must thank Les King (Francoflyers Site Administrator) for coming over to France, solely to get me and the new PC running perfectly.

He spent most of his time over here setting up a 'foolproof' system to keep me from getting my messages into a mess.

I hope to now stay on the 'straight and narrow' and not even think of doing anything to encounter his wrath.

On his last day, Les managed to fly the DA40 for the first time is several months, prior to catching his flight back to the UK.

The cloud base was particularly low that morning so we left Limoges under 'Special VFR' rules.

Our route alongside the beautiful Vienne river led us to the very pretty town of Confolons, which is a particular favourite of mine.

We then circled and photographed a nearby grass strip before heading back to Limoges for some intensive circuit training.

Les enjoyed the variety of landings (flapless, EFATO, glide approach, low-level circuit, etc) which I threw at him—At Limoges, we can generally cope with an engine failure after take-off by landing straight-ahead on the 2500 metre runway and the glide approach is usually begun (with ATC permission) by flying a crosswind leg over the middle of the runway and then closing the throttle. 

All of this intense activity worked up a good appetite which enabled him to once again sample the excellent food in the new Airport restaurant, before flying back to Stanstead.

My flying week has consisted of a lot of basic training in and around the airport together with some long distance flights to interesting destinations.

The most popular destination for long flights is the wonderful Millau Viaduct which is about one and a half hours flight from my home base.

This flight was piloted by Tony who normally flies microlights in England and relishes his time in the left hand seat of the Robin DR400/180.

He also keeps me amused with his very dry sense of humour.

After the usual photograph session, we were gasping for a cup of tea and hopefully a sticky bun to go with it. We therefore landed at the excellent Millau airfield and strolled the few hundred yards to the large hotel/cafeteria which is adjacent to the runway.

Alex now took the left hand seat and we headed for home by a different route, enabling Tony to photograph some of the spectacular scenery in the region.

The following day, I again attempted the flight to Millau in the DA40 with Matt. Unfortunately, we had to turn back at Rodez owing to low cloud.

On the return flight, we went to investigate the new International Airport at Brive. This airport was scheduled to open in January 2007 but, thusfar, has an excellent runway in place without any of the ancillary buildings ...watch this space!!

When the new Brive Airport opens, the original airport will close permanently.

On the return journey to Limoges, we flew over the town of Pompadour which is a fascinating place to visit if you are in the area.

The chateau and the National Stud is open for guided tours each afternoon.

The racecourse is delightful and is a place to go armed with a picnic and a bottle of champagne.

For the equestrian lover, there is a calendar of events throughout the summer months—more information on Pompadour.

Each time I see the racecourse, I reminisce about my days as a jockey. At Christmas parties, we always used to play 'Jockey's Knock' which is a bit like 'Postman's Knock' but with more Horseplay.

I have replaced that passion with flying and I certainly cannot regret it as I have a wonderful life here.

It is a privilege for me to fly in France.

On Sunday, I headed for the International Dog Show at Limoges, taking 'Visions of Success' and the young English import 'Meg'.

I was delighted to win 'Best of Breed' with Visions and 'Best Young Dog' with Meg.

We were pounded with storms for all of Sunday so I could relax knowing that I was not missing any flying.

The puppies are growing quickly and are turning into individuals who never cease to amuse me with their antics.

Best wishes

Sue

 

I am always happy to receive your questions and comments, as follows:

Questions for publication on francoflyers.org: questions@francoflyers.org
General queries not for publication: sue@francoflyers.org
Questions related to existing articles are best published as comments to those articles

Sue's Diary—March Hares and April Showers

Life is always busy here (who said come to France for a quieter lifestyle) and was frenetic last week which is why my diary is a bit late.

My first topic must be the magnificent response to the Ryanair photographs on the blog, which generated over 5000 page-views in 3 days.

The 'Ryanair' incident closed the runway for a couple of days so I had an enforced rest until the aircraft had been recovered and flown away from Limoges.

I think that the pilot did an excellent job in dreadful weather conditions—we have all experienced 'aquaplaning' in a car and can imagine the nightmare of doing it in a large aircraft.

On Good Friday, I landed at Poitiers airfield where I was thrilled to see 10 Easter Bunnies playing on the grass adjacent to the taxiway (actually, they were mad March hares).

I have never seen so many hares in one place at the same time.

On the way home to Limoges, we did a PFL at a private strip which just finished the day nicely for me.

It has been a very positive week. Matt successfully completed his qualifying cross country (150 nautical miles), Limoges—Angouleme—Poitiers—Limoges. He commented that everyone was very friendly and he had no problems getting his X-country certificate signed.

Indeed, a controller came down from the tower to sign it for him.

Incidentally, one of the controllers at Poitiers is an English guy with a terrific command of the French language. It is always a pleasure to talk to him when I am in his FIS area.

Our Site Administrator, Les King, has been staying here for several days, enjoying the flying and the wonderful food, which is one of his main motivations for flying in France.

We managed several flights in some very changeable weather conditions, doing some navigation trips to Perigueux and Brive with 'touch and go landings' at both airfields.

At Perigueux, I asked the controller if he wanted us to come and pay for the landings and he just said that they were "gratuit" today which is one of the nice things about flying in France.

Our next trip was to La Rochelle where we sampled the delights of the restaurant 'Andre' in the old port area of the city.

This is our favourite eating place in La Rochelle where the seafood is perfection itself. I chose the sea bass and Les chose the swordfish. Both were excellent and the desserts were 'to die for'

The trip out was rather interesting with Les navigating around heavy showers and landing against a 25-knot headwind.

Returning home with a strong tailwind, we had a ground speed of 148 knots and arrived back at Limoges in record time with huge smiles on our faces.

This was flown by Alex who is one of Les's old flying-syndicate colleagues.

What more could we ask for; excellent food, fabulous aircraft, wonderful countryside and a warm welcome everywhere.

At home, the horses are enjoying fresh spring grass at last.

The puppies are thriving and adorable. I am trying to choose their pedigree names which must all begin with a D this year, so all suggestions are welcome!

Les also took the opportunity to sample the new Limoges Airport restaurant (twice) and reports that it offers excellent food at very reasonable prices—a very good way to while away an hour after checking-in for the flight home.

The restaurant is called les Helices and is located above the ground-floor bar/newsagent.

Best wishes

Sue

I am always happy to receive your questions and comments, as follows:

Questions for publication on francoflyers.org: questions@francoflyers.org
General queries not for publication: sue@francoflyers.org
Questions related to existing articles are best published as comments to those articles

Sue's Diary—Tired but happy

This has been a busy but satisfying week for me, despite extremes of weather and the temporary closure of Limoges Airport owing to the Ryanair incident (see report elsewhere).

I am now getting lots of questions about flying in France though some of these are beyond my knowledge and have been referred to the CAA or DGAC. These organisations are not best-known for their speedy replies but we should get answers to every question in the fullness of time.

At the beginning of the week, we had excellent visibility, blue skies and few clouds. However, a strong wind, gusting at around 25 knots, was coming from the NE.

Matt had some free time from school and I used this opportunity to give him a Navigation practice to some of the excellent small airfields north of Limoges.

The first day, I chose a route to Le Blanc/Argenton/Gueret/Limoges. We headed North to our first airfield La Blanc and the wind was virtually down the runway which made the landing much easier.

I wanted Matt to have experience of flying into short runways. We have such a long runway at Limoges that we can forget what 'ordinary' runways are like.

The area around Le Blanc is very beautiful, a 'mini Lake District'.

The airfield is well maintained. In fact, it is pristine.

After a Touch and Go, we headed East to Argenton which is not too difficult to find, being adjacent to a tall radio mast.

Another excellent landing was performed and then we continued SE to Gueret over higher ground and spectacular countryside.

Gueret was a little more tricky with a strong crosswind which required some accurate flying. We turned for home with a feeling of intense satisfaction.

Excellent countryside, interesting flying and a job well done.

The three airfields which I had chosen were all uncontrolled so my French R/T was essential.

In fact, we had the skies to ourselves and did not see another aircraft during the 2-hour flight.

The following day, we chose the route from Limoges/Angouleme/Riberac/Bergerac to do our navigation exercise.

It all went well and the added bonus was the Touch and Go on the grass strip at Riberac, deep in the Dordogne countryside.

I awoke on Thursday with great trepidation and 'butterflies' in my stomach (which I have not experienced since my racing days).

The reason for such nervousness was that I had been invited as Guest Speaker at an English ladies luncheon party, to address the topic of "Why did I become a Pilot/Instructor".

Mavis collected me from my home, en-route to the Aero club. We flew to Angouleme and were then ferried deep into the Charente countryside to our final destination.

My audience ranged in age from 27—87 and included one gentleman who had begged to attend.

They proved to be highly-interested in my story and bombarded me with a lot of questions following my 'speech'.

I have been invited again in the summer, to either Angouleme or Riberac, where husbands and friends are invited and there will be trial flights on offer!!

We flew back to Limoges in near perfect weather, still as a mill pond, and I felt a great satisfaction that the day had gone really well.

My peace was short-lived as, upon returning home, I realised that "Blanchette" was in the first stages of labour and had decided that my bed was her chosen 'nest'.

Eventually, she agreed to compromise and chose the corner of my bedroom to have her litter.

Eventually, after a long night and an even longer day, she finished producing a litter of seven healthy pups.

I am still trying to make up for the loss of one nights sleep, which never bothered me as a teenager but has certainly taken it's toll now.

Best wishes

Sue

I am always happy to receive your questions and comments, as follows:

Questions for publication on francoflyers.org: questions@francoflyers.org
General queries not for publication: sue@francoflyers.org
Questions related to existing articles are best published as comments to those articles

Sue's Diary—Stormy weather

Last weekend was very special for me as my family arrived on the Saturday (courtesy of Ryanair) to celebrate my birthday.

Their arrival was a birthday present in itself, as it is a treat for me to spend precious time with my 'kids'.

I never seem to have sufficient free time to spend with them. Christmas seems to be the only time in the year when we all manage to get together for any considerable time.

My daughter had bought her boyfriend a trial flight voucher for his Christmas present so, as soon as they arrived at the aero club, they all  wanted to fly and we took the larger Robin DR400/180 which can easily accommodate four passengers.

Sam had never even been close to a light aircraft and had never travelled in anything smaller than a 747 therefore he was a little nervous at first. He turned out to be a “natural” and took to flying like “a duck to water”.

In fact, he spent the rest of the weekend reading my PPL books and firing umpteen questions at me about taking the licence. I have no doubt that he will be flying with me again at his earliest opportunity.

During this flight, I took the opportunity to show my family the infamous village of Oradour sur Glane which is only 9 kilometres from the airport (in fact, it is our official reporting point, November Whiskey).

Towards the end of the Second World War, the Germans, wrongly believing that Oradour was an active cell of resistance fighters, surrounded the village and killed over 600 inhabitants.

They rounded up the women and children and shot them all in the church. The men were shot in the houses and barns with only a few inhabitants managing to escape from this dreadful fate.

Afterwards the village was completely burned by the Germans.

The French people have left the village untouched since the incident. The burnt-out cars, lorries prams and sewing machines still  remain in  the buildings. The aspect from the air is decidedly eerie.

I am told that birds and wildlife are never seen in the vicinity of the old village. This historical site is viewed by thousands of visitors per year including some German people.

It stands as a grim reminder of these atrocities and may hopefully act as a deterrent to future generations.

Last Friday evening was my first lesson of the week and the weather was near perfect, therefore Matt used the conditions to his advantage and clocked another hour of solo circuit time towards his PPL.

Luckily, we do not have to pay landing or 'touch and go' fees here at Limoges Airport though I heard from a student this week that some UK are now charging a £9.00 fee for go-arounds which seems ludicrous.

Perhaps some of you could advise me if this is really true and keep me up to date with the unusual extras charged by British airfields.

We had hoped to use this Saturday to do some serious flight training including a long navigation exercise.

The morning was perfectly flyable but the forecast was for a storm coming in from the south with winds gusting up to 35 knots.

Consequently, we set off relatively early and landed at Bergerac on the first leg of the navigation exercise,  with the dream of finding some hot coffee and a couple of warm croissants.

Sadly, luck was not with us as everything was closed, including the terminal who where obviously not expecting any low-cost international flights on that particular day!

We decided to visit Perigueux for a touch and go then on to Brive before turning for home.

As weather deteriorated rather earlier than forecast, we did a touch and go at Perigueux and headed straight back to Limoges before the storm broke. We arrived in record time with the strong tailwind giving us a ground speed of 148—153 knots.

KT was snugly back in the hangar when the storm arrived at Limoges and I headed for home in driving rain, grateful that we had managed two hours of flying which is always better than none at all.

It was my student's first taste of flying in turbulent conditions which did not phase him at all.

The most popular topic of conversation at the Aero club this week seems to be the new ICAO rules regarding International Radio Telephony in English.

The French authorities have agreed to comply with the rules for their Professional Pilots but are not presently enforcing this rule for Private Pilots.

Some club members have discussed this subject with me and virtually all would like to be proficient in English RT to enable them to fly confidently in Europe.

With this in mind, our next project is to provide an RT audio file in English to aid our French friends when flying in Britain.

As flying is not possible today, I shall use the time to give the dogs a long walk in the woods and, if the rain eases, I shall move the electric fence to provide better pasture for the horses.

Life is never boring at Nearlyheaven!!

Happy landings

I am always happy to receive your questions and comments, as follows:

Questions for publication on francoflyers.org: questions@francoflyers.org
General queries not for publication: sue@francoflyers.org
Questions related to existing articles are best published as comments to those articles

Sue's Diary—Never too young, never too old

At last I have returned to the right hand seat after my enforced convalescence following an operation in January.

My respite from the Aero Club has given me the time to work on the Francoflyers blog and to answer the many questions which continue to arrive on a daily basis from all of you intrepid pilots hoping to fly in France,

I am delighted to be of help to you all. Of course, I don't know everything which is why the blog offers everybody the opportunity to share information.

I shared my convalescence with my newly-purchased Hungarian Vizsla puppy, who also had an operation to repair a torn cruciate ligament. She was confined to her 'cage' for 6 weeks, which was a nightmare for both of us as her energy levels grew to bursting point.

Thankfully, she is fully recovered and enjoying her freedom again.

My other bitch is pregnant and due to have her litter of puppies in 2 weeks time. She is huge now so I dread to think what size she will be prior to the birth.

If anybody fancies a Vizsla puppy from 'championship' bloodlines, I am taking reservations now.

It felt so good to be flying again and my student Matthew had a wide grin on his face when he arrived for his lesson.

His younger brother decided to ride in the rear seat during the flight but didn't seem too thrilled by the experience. Everyone is different, 'horses for courses'.

On the subject of horses, my hospital consultant has banned me from horse riding for 3 months which is a blow but, thankfully, I have her permission to fly.

I would have been impossible to live with if my flying had been curtailed for that length of time.

I saw a lot of Matthew during the last week of February as he came daily to my home to do his compulsory week of 'work experience' as part of his school curriculum.

We used this time to cover some tuition on the ground subjects and I am delighted to announce that he finished the week by passing three exams with excellent marks.

As mentioned in a previous article, Matt came to me, at the age of 14, with the ambition to become an airline pilot.

He has always worked hard and diligently towards his goal so I was proud to send him solo after only 8 hours of tuition (NB minimum age for solo flight is 16, mimimum age for issue of a PPL is 17).

He is hoping to pass the PPL on his 17th birthday and then his sights will be set on the ATPL.

Teaching young students who want to become airline pilots is extremely rewarding as they are all highly-motivated, focussed and very quick learners.

My youngest student came to me at just 13 years old, knowing more aircraft types than I did, thanks to his passion and his computer.

At the other end of the scale, I have several customers in their 60's and at least one septuagenarian.

You're never too young and never too old to enjoy flying.

Best wishes

Sue

I am always happy to receive your questions and comments, as follows:

Questions for publication on francoflyers.org: questions@francoflyers.org
General queries not for publication: sue@francoflyers.org
Questions related to existing articles are best published as comments to those articles