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Steve's Flying Blogs 2005 |
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 I've been flying for a little over 10 years and my wife Charlotte recently qualified and got her licence. We are members of the FreeFlight Aviation group which operates three Cirrus aircraft and we also have access to a PA28 and Grumman Cougar owned by pilot friends.
This section is my blog of some of our flying adventures from 2005. You can on the photos to pop up a higher resolution version.
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Samedan and St. Moritz, February |
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 The year got off to cool start in all senses of the word with a trip to St. Moritz. Vince and Karen, a couple of our flying friends invited us skiing - the original plan was to fly ourselves, however the temptation of flying commercial to Zurich and then getting executive jet to Samedan was too much to resist. Samedan is 10 minutes taxi ride from St. Moritz and is the highest conventional (non-altiport) airfield in Europe.
The photo shows Samedan airport in the valley ahead of the wing with St.Moritz and its frozen lake in front.
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 Just a little trip down to Shoreham for lunch and on the way back we came across this steam train speeding its way through the English countryside. This is one of the things that makes flying so great - seeing things that you don't normally get to see. |
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 In May we teamed up with our friends Vince and Karen and a group from Cabair's Denham School of flying to tag along on their trip to the channel islands and northern France. Vince and I flew Grumman Cougar G-GOTC, whilst Charlotte and Karen took Vince's PA28 G-AYUH. The first stop was Jersey where we stayed overnight, parked at the Aeroclub. |
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Scilly and Guernsey, June |
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 This was our first attempt of the year to do a Scotland trip. Like so many flying trips, weather dictates the destination and with horrible weather up north we changed our plans and departed to the Isles of Scilly instead in Cirrus N147CD.
The Scillies are absolutely stunning and, warmed by the Gulf Stream, you could be mistaken for thinking they were in the Caribbean rather than 28 miles off Lands End.
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 Kemble's annual Air Day in June was bigger and better this year and we pursuaded my father and father-in-law to brave my flying skills and come along on the thirty minute flight in Cirrus N147VC for the day.
I'll be putting together a photo gallery at FotoFlight shortly. In the mean time take a look at my old site.
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 On
our second attempt of the year to get to Scotland we made it with
Charlotte and I taking Cirrus N147CD and Vince and Karen in their
trusty PA28, G-AYUH. Our full gameplan was somewhat truncated due
to less than ideal weather however we still got some pretty good flying
in, routing Durham Tees Valley, Inverness, Oban, Islay and Blackpool.
This
picture was taken as the Cirrus overtook the PA28 over the Isle of Jura
between Oban and Islay. The full story will appear soon as a
photo essay on FotoFlight.
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 September saw this year's European Cirrus Pilot Proficiency Programme (CPPP) hosting 20 aircraft from all around Europe at Southend in the UK. All the FreeFlight Aviation Cirrus aircraft participated with Charlotte and I in the SR20 N147CD and two other crews in VC and GT.
CPPP originated in the States and is an intensive safety, airmaship and flying skills course taught over two days. |
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 Charlotte and I enjoyed our Scilly trip earlier in the year so much that we took advantage of a promising weather weekend in late September to visit again in Cirrus N147CD.
Until recently Scilly airport was closed all day on Sunday making a weekend jaunt out of the question, however they are now operating a one hour departure slot on Sunday afternoon which we decided to take advantage of. |
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Fog and a Technically Advanced Aircraft, November |
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 We were booked in to have a demo flight with John Page in TAA UK's brand new fully loaded Cirrus SR20 GTS.
We turned up at Denham in sub zero temperatures. Cold autumn days are ripe for fog, but a little wind is actually needed to mix the air and we were lucky being one of the few places in South East England which was clear. |
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Steve's Blogs 2005 
; "Steve Clark")
; "Samedan and St. Moritz")
; "thumb_steamtrain.jpg")
; "G-GOTC outside the Aeroclub in Jersey")
; "The Isles of Scilly")
; "Hunter formation")
; "G-AYUH over the Isle of Jura")
; "Three FreeFlight Aviation aircraft at Southend CPPP")
; "Cirrus N147CD on Scilly")
; "TAA UK Cirrus SR20 G-TAAA")
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