March to September 2010

I have been very remiss at updating this blog over the last six months. To try and fully document all the flying I have done over those months would be quite a task so I am not going to try. I will simply list the flying I have done with some notes and the odd photo.

At the end of March I flew up to Kirkbride with Niels Nielsen in our Piper Arrow and early April saw Alan joining me on a flight to Halfpenny Green in the Twinstar. Less than a week later and I took our Arrow over to Caernarfon one Friday afternoon after work, all on my own this time. Sunday saw me back in the Twinstar for another solo trip up to Kirkbride where I had a warm welcome and was the first to use a new concrete parking area.

G-GFDA at Kirkbride on the newly laid concrete apron.

 

In early May me, Alan and a fellow flyer went over to Waterford in Ireland for the day. We were given a lift down to the seaside town of Tramore where we had some excellent fish and chips. More local flights in HALC followed before I got married! May 29^th was the big day followed by a honeymoon in Alderney, Channel Islands. How did we get there? The Twinstar of course!! We flew down on May 31^st, had some lovely weather, and came home on June 4^th.

  

Approaching Alderney Runway 08 (top) "We are married" (centre) Me with a choc ice on Alderney.

More flying in HALC followed and I returned to the Twinstar in mid August following another spell of downtime, this time due to gearbox replacements on both engines. In August I had a flight in a brand new Aquila A210, a single engine trainer. But the highlight of September was a demo flight in the new generation Twinstar over at Gamston aerodrome.

I had emailed Diamond UK MD Henrik Burkal three months earlier asking for a flight and the day finally arrived for the demo. My friend Joel Tobias and I flew from Barton in his Jetranger helicopter (very nice) through Manchester’s Airspace into Gamston. We both had flights in the new Twinstar and were very impressed. Joel now wants a multi rating so he can fly the Twinstar I fly, so maybe some trip sharing will be on the cards soon. Thanks, Henrik.

 Joel's Jetranger helicopter at Barton (top) The new DA42NG we flew at Gamston (below)

I will try to discipline myself to update the blog after every flight from now on. This year I have flown nearly 40 hours which is less than I would have liked. The problem is getting enough time to fly with all the other things you need to do. However, the year is not over yet.