It was a beautiful winter’s morning at Limoges, the sun was shining, not a cloud in the sky and the ground was white with frost following a very cold night. It was still -2°c.
Today, I was flying with Sue to a small airport just outside of Toulouse where, in her role of Examiner, she was booked to conduct a PPL 'Skill Test' for Derek Davies.
Kate and Elroy, who did their PPL training with Sue in 2008, live in Toulouse and had arranged to meet us at the airport with their kids.
I pulled F-GZYA, our aircraft for the day, out of the hanger and started to prepare it while Sue checked the weather and NOTAMS. We sorted out the paperwork, did a final walk around the aircraft and then we were off.
As it was cold, the aircraft bombed off the runway and climbed rapidly to our cruising altitude of around 5000ft.
It was a beautiful sight, flying over the white frost-covered countryside. illuminated by the low winter sun which was still rising as we proceeded to the first waypoint of our journey. This was the small aerodrome at Sarlat (LFDS), which came up after just 30 minutes.
Now flying over the valleys and rivers of the Dordogne with the Massif Centralin sight, we set course to our second waypoint, Agen VOR, which is just outside of Toulouse. Time soon flew by and, nearing Agen, we contacted Toulouse Approach who then guided us into our destination of Muret (LFBR).
This was an interesting experience for me as it was the first time I had followed instructions from ATC telling me when to climb, descend and turn, which is very much the way that commercial pilots operate.
During this last leg of the journey, we had the pleasure of seeing the snow-capped Pyrenees Mountains.
After just 90 minutes, we touched down at Muret to a rather welcoming 12°c. Derek was already waiting for us as we taxied to the apron.
After taking off our woolly fleeces, gloves, scarves, etc, and completing all of the paperwork, Sue went off for the ‘pre-test briefing’ while I fuelled the aircraft. Kate, Elroy and the kids soon arrived with a delicious picnic for us.
After Sue had completed the briefing and I had shown Derek around the unfamiliar aircraft, it was time for lunch.
Kate and Elroy had brought a feast of things including New Zealand egg and bacon pie with, best of all, homemade cookies. It was delicious and set us up for an active afternoon. Much as Sue would have liked to stay and sit in the beautiful warm sunshine, there was a 'Skill Test' to be done.
However, my friend (who had come with us) and I kept ourselves busy as Kate, Elroy and the Kids had brought numerous things to keep us entertained, including remote controlled cars. The airport was also incredibly busy with many small aircraft touching down one after the other.
Time soon passed and Sue returned with Derek, who, I am pleased to say, had passed his test.
Finally, Sue debriefed Derek while I filled the aircraft and we then said goodbye to Kate, Elroy and the kids before setting-off on our return journey to Limoges.
Once again, we put our lives into the hands of the ATC controllers who guided us out of Toulouse. We had one last look at the Pyrenees and started our climb to 5000ft as we came out of the Toulouse area
We returned to Limoges via Agen VOR and Sarlat, touching down at 18:00 with, unbelievably, precisely the same fight time.
We then completed the paperwork and popped YA back into the hanger after another perfect day of flying in France.
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