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. 

The weather was very poor with a lot of the VFR training cancelled.  I had the opportunity for two extreme workouts in real IMC with my instructor, Regis, from France, who put me through multiple simulated failures.  A very good confidence boost when amongst some easier approaches I hand flew to a cloudbreak to 400ft at Cambridge with most of the Cirrus' more advanced systems rendered inoperative by Regis (though thankfully with a fully operational ILS), and a further approach hand flown with partial panel down to 600ft in actual back at Southend. 

The ironic thing was that by the end of the second day all the UK based aircraft got stranded at Southend as the cloud clamped in even further, whilst all the European aircraft got away.