Thoughts for 2011

I like to do at least one major flying trip / tour / event a year and I am already thinking forward to 2011 and what I can do. I can spare one week and sufficient funds to cover the costs.

One of my early musings was a possible solo trip on a mini-flyout to Iceland (solo in that I would be solo in the RV6, but would fly at the same time as perhaps a couple of other intrepid aviators). This is possible without an instrument rating, but you would have to fly at below FL55 and of course take a huge number of safety precautions. It would certainly be a challenge, not so much in terms of the actual flying, just the risks associated with what happens if the engine stops. But of course flying there would need very good VFR weather both to get there and back. I think I have now ruled this trip out on the basis that I can only spare one week and I don’t want to spend it sat at Lewis or Wick airport waiting for the weather forecast to be right. If I was a gentleman of leisure and had the time to wait for the right weather, then I might just go for it, but not now.

There are of course large parts of France that I have not explored either by aircraft or any other means of conveyance. This might be good for a semi-planned freewheel trip and this type of trip is a possibility, but I have been to a number of places in France and I want to fly to places and more especially countries I haven’t been to yet.

Another option that I really do fancy is to do the AOPA Aerobatics certificate training at Ultimate High in Kemble. It would cost a fair bit and takes one week, but it would probably work out the same as a one week touring trip. I do enjoy aerobatics (I have about 11 hours on aerobatic training) and it would give me the opportunity to fly another aircraft type, the Extra 300 (deep pockets required and I have flown one already), the Bulldog or the Chipmunk. I fancy the Chipmunk as it is a taildragger and I have heard so many people speak so highly of it. This is one of the front-runner’s. It would of course be particularly easy for me as I only live in Cheltenham, so Kemble is just down the road near Cirencester.

The other front-runner is a trip, maybe in company with other aircraft if I can find anyone similarly interested, to Denmark and maybe Sweden, up through Belgium, Netherlands and northern Germany. Plan a couple of locations and be flexible to cope with the weather. I do fancy Denmark and Sweden, purely because I haven’t been there before and I think it would be fund to fly around there.

Decisions, decisions, decisions!!