Home ... eventually

Had a phone call from Border force this morning.  Chap said we were 'cutting it fine' to arrive back in the UK on time. I explained we were fog bound and delayed and he seemed to think we would all need to resubmit our GAR forms.  As politely as possible, I informed the official that our General Aviation Report (GAR) was valid all day. Having spent a long time trying to use the website the night before, I really wasn't too keen to repeat the experience.  I offered to call them if/ when we were expecting to depart le touquet later in the day and he gave me a number to call.....so we were fully expecting a welcoming party complete with rubber gloves.
The fog finally lifted at Dieppe, but we knew from the Met that Le touquet were still overcast at 1000ft, just about good enough, so we set off.  Very challenging flight in misty conditions scud running over the hills and dodging wind turbines. There were a few points where we considered turning back or diverting.  Once within 10 miles of le touquet however, the sky cleared considerably and after one of the group had a close shave with some traffic departing Le touqet, we all landed safely and immediately filed flight plans for the channel crossing. 

We cleared customs/immigration and set off, and as we departed north from Le touquet we could see just how thick the sea mist was hugging the coast.  Up to 5000ft we coasted out for an uneventful crossing.  Attempted to get a transit of Southend airspace for a potential look at the red arrows parked on the tarmac to no avail, so had to go around the zone and into Willingale. I needed to go around on my first attempt as I hit a big thermal that lifted the plane 15ft up into the air just as the wheels were about to touch. Challenging landing on the second approach using all of the runway but safely back on home turf....no border force to be seen.  The Flexis landed shortly after and then my phone started ringing.  Border force here, are all 6 aircraft down? Yes. Thanks, have a nice day. 

After sloshing some fuel for the guys who are still not home, everyone departed for their final leg, and all arrived home safely.

NULA was absolutely covered in bugs from 2200 miles of flying so I spent a couple of hours cleaning her up for my very gracious flying share to enjoy as soon as possible...he has been without a plane for a week so it was the least I could do (thanks Andy!)

Been an epic week, the highlight of the trip being Slovenia which was utterly beautiful, and of course the Alps which although terrifying at times are incredible to fly through, despite the un-godly hour we woke to pack up our tents and planes in the dark whilst being totally butchered by 1000's of mosquitoes.  

So, Where next?! .

The photo album is being assembled...check back in a day or two for a link.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Off again!

Image
It's been a couple of years, so the usual suspects are going for a tour de Europe. 6 of us this year, all in Microlights, but I am the only Fixed wing.   I joined the party a little late having enjoyed an extra night in my own bed whilst the other 5 gathered themselves from various corners of England and assembled at Ripple, near Deal in Kent. Up at 5am, airfield for 0630, and airborne on time at 7am to meet the guys mid channel enroute to Calais, and here the entertainment started. Matt called London Info passing details of the five flexes for flight plan activation, but the controller responded saying he could only find 4 of them. Matt switched frequency back to the group and asked Graham about his flight-plan and I listened in.  "I definitely did it. I've got a confirmation email here. You watched me do it whilst we were drinking beer last night". At this point I smiled quietly thinking, I wonder how many beers exactly! Anyway, the controller seemed con...
Read more

Utterly Epic.

Image
We sat at the airfield restaurant in Northern Slovenia waiting for the temperature and thermals to settle down for a looong time and planned a departure that would follow a VFR route through the mountains to Postojna. Matt picked up a transit from Ljubljana info and they cleared us to 5000ft and so we climbed slowly into the mountains. After 15 minutes it became apparent Paul E was having some issues with unserviceable instrumentation. No Speed, No height, and a transponder telling ATC he was halfway to the moon. We worked out he must have something wrong with his static pressure port which controls all this instruments....this alongside his partially knackered Flydat giving him sporadic information about his engine.  Matt notified ATC to disregard Paul's transponder readings and the controller asked for him to reboot his transponder.  Knowing the issue at hand, Paul's somewhat animated response to Matt was that "it won't make any f difference, the ASI is F'd, but ...
Read more

Mosbach Lohrbach, Germany

Image
Been a long day today, over 6 hours flying all with a headwind, but we have made it well into Germany. I had a bit of back ache creeping in on the last leg, so opened the taps and flew the last 50 miles ahead of the group. I was rewarded with a shower and a cold beer on arrival which was very welcome after 6+ hours in a hot cockpit! Just sent out for Pizza.... Update 7am. Finally figure out how to add some photos. Whilst getting camp set up last night, Matt had a txt from Lille ATC asking for a phone call. This is normally bad news, and a sign that one or all of us has busted some airspace. Matt replied and said, Yes, free for a call anytime.  To our relief it seems nobody did anything wrong, they just suggested it would be useful to get a flight information service for such a large group. Ironically, when we tried to get a flight information service to activate our flight plans from France to Germany, Lille didn't answer, and Strasbourg would barely able to...
Read more