francoflyers

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.

A historic Day—the UK's first GPS approach

James Carrie writes:

Dear Sue

Today is a historic day for aviation in the UK, and I thought you might like to pass on the reason why to your readers.

I like francoflyers.org very much and have just moved to Compton Abbas from Thruxton where I found evidence of your work in the archives.

On 20^th November 2008, the first approved GPS approach procedure goes live in the UK.

Suitably qualified pilots, in suitably equipped aeroplanes, may now use GPS as a non-precision approach aid into Shoreham Airport (EGKA).

A suitably qualified pilot will hold an IR or, in the UK, an IMC rating.

The GPS equipment must be installed in the aircraft and will direct an HSI in the pilot’s primary field of view.

A hand held GPS, or a GPS mounted on a yoke introduced by the pilot, is not valid.

The GPS box must meet a standard called TSOC129A, and the equipment will have been installed to FAA or JAR/EASA standard AMC20.

Qualifying aircraft will have a supplement in their Aircraft Flight Manual.

The details concerning GPS non-precision approaches are published in CAP 773 and pilots intending to perform GPS approaches would be well advised to read CAA Safety Sense leaflet 25.

The approach charts for Shoreham are available on the NATS web site to download.

Introducing GPS approaches brings the UK one step closer to the European norm.

However, there is one important difference between the way GPS approaches are implemented in the UK and in the rest of Europe.

In the UK, only the distance to go to the runway is shown in the database. In Europe, the distance to go to the next step down point is given. 

Gloucester, Exeter and Blackpool are likely to have GPS approaches approved in the near future.

I am a Flight Instructor at Compton Abbas and expect to be unrestricted for instrument lessons very soon.

I have attached the URLs of the reference documents for pilots to brief themselves.

Instruction, if required, must be sought from a suitably qualified instructor.

Online Resources:

       CAP 773

        Safety Sense Leaflet 25 

        Shoreham (EGKA) Charts     

 

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 !

Reader's Question—paramotor licence requirement

Alan Kendal writes:

I have a French license for paramotoring, i.e. I have the paramoteur class on my ULM license.

I am asked what 'license' is required for visiting English paramotor pilots. In England the paramotor is de-regulated but I have heard that having a certificate showing completion of a recognised training course is acceptable.

A recognised course includes weather, safety, theory of flight, airmanship and air law.

Is this certificate acceptable for visiting pilots 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.