Project Propellor 2010

Although I have already done a lot of flying hours in June, I just HAD to volunteer for Project Propellor, also in June.

Project Propellor is an annual get together where private pilots volunteer to fly WW and Cold War aircrew veterans free of charge to a get together at an airfield in the UK, usually an airfield with historic connections. They all meet up for a light lunch and a chin-wag with other veterans, while the younger (generally!) private pilots either chat to each other or keep ‘their veterans’ company and listen to the stories of the all-too-modest veterans.

I have volunteered for this event several times now with a couple of them completely ‘weathered out’. Project Propellor 2010 was to be held at East Kirkby, a WW2 bomber airfield in Lincolnshire, just to the north of the wash and not far from the sea, actually right bang on the Greenwich Meridian. It has a very active museum and aviation archaeology group, together with a ‘fast taxi’ capable Lancaster and a flying C47. The runways themselves are disused and not part of the site, but they did have a large flat field about 550m long with a smooth transition to a concrete apron about 250m long, so they drew a line and hey presto, a composite runway some 800m long oriented 06/24. It sounded like a really interesting venue, so I was keen to attend.

I was not immediately offered a veteran. I had an email asking if I would be happy to fly to Swansea to pick up a veteran. I am keen, but Swansea is just under one hour in precisely the wrong direction, so no. I then went on my flying holiday in early June around France and Italy and took my netbook to get the aviation weather a NOTAM’s etc. (and of course to keep an eye on my emails). While I was on tour, I was offered another veteran, this time at Shobdon, a bit out of my way, but I had a think about it and by the time I logged back in to accept, I had a further email offering me a veteran from my home airfield who had been ‘orphaned’ as his pilot had pulled out, so I accepted him immediately, the proviso being that he was fit enough to clamber into the RV6 and light enough not to bust my weight and balance calculations. He fulfilled both criteria so when I got back from my tour, I called him and arranged to meet at 09:30 at the main terminal in Gloucester on Saturday June 26th.

We met up and the Project Propellor guys are easy to spot due to their age and of course their blazers and RAF ties. I wandered over and introduced myself. A couple of the guys were a little concerned that they hadn’t seen ‘their pilot’ yet, but I found ‘my veteran’, a chap called Nick Shelley. He told me he was a Navigator and had served towards the end of WW2, but mainly in the ten years after the war on all sorts of aircraft, including Canberras and at the very end of his time in service, in the C130 Hercules.

I had already been at the airport for some time and had carefully checked the plane over, pulled it out and refuelled. So a quick chat about the plane and the route and a safety brief and I got Nick strapped in by 09:45. WE had a slot time of 11:15 – 11:30 for East Kirkby and we would easily make that, if not be early. I started up as Nick watched everything I was doing like a hawk as I methodically worked my way through the checklist. He was good enough and knowledgeable enough not to interrupt as it is easy for a pilot to get distracted and miss a vital check.

The day was perfect, very scattered ‘fair weather cumulus’ and CAVOK, but it would get very hot and under the bubble canopy of the RV6, you really don’t want to hang around on the ground for long at all. So of course in a virtually nil wind, we were given taxi to C1 for runway 09 – the longest taxi run at Gloucester – oh good, the ‘long march of death’ under the sun! Around we went and heard Gloucester talking to aircraft behind us saying that once we had gone, they were going to change runway direction to 27 or 22 – thanks guys!

Power checks complete, we were cleared for departure and away we went with a slight left turn direct onto track for the DTY VOR as I climbed to 5000’ to keep clear of gliders and BBMF flights NOTAM’d to be close to my planned route. I said goodbye to Gloucester then went ‘Non-radio’ as I fancied the quiet and a chat with my veteran. It was actually a bit murky up at 5000’ with no real horizon. I tuned to Conningsby MATZ just for fun and was surprised to pick up radio calls at this distance. It was clear from the calls that Coningsby was closed, which was good as East Kirkby was located under one of the MATZ arms. From the other aircraft calls, I gathered that runway 06 with right hand circuits was in use at East Kirkby. For fun, I started to reply to aircraft coming on the Conningsby frequency telling them they were closed and advising them to make blind calls position calls as Conningsby Traffic – loads of people were headed through them to East Kirkby.

Nick was happy as Larry once I handed him the map as he traced our route by reference to ground features (while I of course struggled by with the GPS!). I did show him the ‘secrets’ of the GPS, what was what and what it was telling me. He listened intently then went happily back to the 1-500,000 map! You could tell he was ‘old school’ as he always went for either major lakes or rivers or reliable linear features, like train lines.

I turned at DTY on track to Peterborough Sibson airfield, deliberately making a slight southerly dog-leg to avoid various NOTAM’d events. Then I turned direct to East Kirkby and started a leisurely cruise descent with 30 miles to run. I changed to East Kirkby to listen in and get the latest airfield information. QHN 1018, 06 right hand circuits and a ‘fair easterly wind’, so a slight crosswind. I got close and down to 2700’ and started to hear other aircraft behind me and spot some others in front, this could be a bit of a scrum! I tried hard and spotted what I thought was East Kirkby, indeed it was, but it was the disused runways not now part of the sight. I had an aerial photo of the temporary runway, but couldn’t spot it. I had made the schoolboy error of flying straight there so it was initially obscured by the nose, then of course we were precisely overhead.

Small part of the line up of the 80-90 aircraft that made it


I didn’t want to hang around in the overhead, so a steep turn and I spotted the runway and oriented myself. I descended deadside and slotted in visually with three in front and one behind me onto the right downwind. The spacing with the guy immediately in front was as good as I was going to get and I called downwind and then final. I was following the guy in front and judged him far enough in front to continue. On very short final, he was about to turn off, so that would do me, I didn’t fancy another try in this crowded circuit. I was abit fast, but this bled off and we made a good landing on the grass runway and rolled to a stop. It wasn’t ‘billiard-table smooth’, but to be fair it wasn’t at all bad. I was marshalled in, parked up, closed down and popped the canopy as quickly as I could as we were already starting to bake!

Getting 'my' veteran signed in


We both went off to the main hangar which housed the Lancaster and the finds of the aviation archaeology society where tables and lunch had been set up. We registered with the organisers. Nick wanted to go off for a comfort break and I asked if he wanted me to wait, he seemed happy to find his chums. You have to find out if the veterans know anyone else as some of them don’t and wind up being quite lonely if you don’t stay and keep them company and prise their stories out of them. However, Nick seemed fine, so I went off for a look around and a chat with other pilots, some of which I knew from Flyer Forum.

A Lancaster they hope to get flyable again


The weather had attracted a full turnout and rumour has it that there were some 86 aircraft in the end, I can well believe it looking at the aircraft parking. East Kirkby was a really great little place, a proper museum, not just for aircraft, but the buildings are converted into exhibits and there was an excellent souvenir store and restaurant. I really didn’t know this place was here at all.

Lovely sight, a C47 with a drip tray - yes it's a flyer!


I listened to a talk by a Battle of Britain veteran who flew Hurricanes initially, then he was shipped out to Darwin and flew Spitfires against the Japanese. He was selling his book, so of course I had to have a signed copy didn’t I. Then of course I had to have one of the East Kirkby souvenir golf-shirts – my wife would kill me ‘Oh goody, another golf-shirt to go with your 25 other golf-shirts!’ (no – I don’t play golf!).

Not too tough to find then!


They had arranged for a BBMF Spitfire to do a few low passes of the airfield at 15:30. I was out by my plane early at 15:15 and heard that distinctive sound that could only be a Rolls Royce Merlin engine as the Spitfire arrived early and duly beat the airfield up. It was all to brief, but I managed a decent zoomed video clip, somewhat marred by my own excited voice encouraging the pilot! I met up with Nick and he asked when I wanted to go. I said I was perfectly fine to stay as long as he wanted and I had already set the day aside for this. He had seen and done all he wanted, so we agreed to leave once the Spitfire departed. Well, quite a few other had the same idea and we formed an orderly queue at the hold for 06. I did my power checks and departed with a slight crosswind take-off following the line of earlier departures to the south. It is amazing how quickly so many aircraft can disperse as I climbed to 3500’ in weather that we murkier than where we arrived, but still fine, just no real horizon.

I retraced my route up. I handed Nick the controls and while it was clear that he wasn’t a pilot, he did pretty well, especially as the RV is so responsive, it is very easy to get a 500 fpm climb going on without immediately realising it! We spotted a glider tug with glider in tow and avoided him, but I generally work on the principle that ‘if you can see them, we are already too close’. So I decided to get out of that area quickly as where there is one glider, there are generally several. We didn’t spot any others as I headed into Gloucester and picked up the ATIS. Gloucester have an ATCO shortage and there was only one guy on a combined Tower and Approach frequency. I was given a direct approach into runway 22 with minimal wind. The approach was good and the landing was smooth. We were down at about 16:50. I taxied in and we gratefully popped the canopy.

Nick was keen to have a cuppa and a chat and I was directing him to the aeroclub as I had to clean the plane and put it away, but he insisted on helping. We got the plane sorted out and had a cuppa in the Cotswold Aero Club and a chat. He really enjoyed himself and was keenly looking forward to next year. I confirmed that I would again be volunteering and perhaps we would get paired up again.

This was the best weather and consequently the best attended Project Propellor I have been on. But these guys aren’t getting any younger and I wonder how many more they can hold that are still attended by WW2 veterans.


PS: I later heard on Flyer Forum that one intrepid pilot landed at RAF Coningsby by mistake instead of East Kirkby. If this is true, I despair! I know East Kirkby is close to RAF Coningsby, but that is the sole similarity! The organisers sent us all out an aerial photo of East Kirkby that clearly showed a short ‘composite’ and somewhat ad-hoc runway of 500m of grass and 300m of concrete. How anyone can mistake this for a fast-jet (Typhoons and the BBMF actually) runway of 2700m of pristine tarmac for East Kirkby beggars belief!

Raduno 2010: Reprise

Well that was my big trip for 2010. The facts and figures were:

Facts and figures:
- Estimated distance flown: 2105 nautical miles
- Flying hours logged: 21.1
- Fuel burned: 464 litres
- Number of legs flown: 9
- Longest leg: 3.4 hours (Troyes to Avignon in headwind)
- Shortest leg: 1.4 hours (Vichy to Troyes)
- Cost: No, I am not going there!

Highlights:
- Troyes town centre, very picturesque
- Landing safely at Avignon in horrible winds
- Avignon town centre, ditto
- The wonderful VFR low-level coastal route around the French Mediterranean
- Making it to the toilet on landing in Tuscany!
- Great countryside and weather in Tuscany
- Wonderful meal at the agro-tourismo in Tuscany
- Vineyard tour and lunch at Carpintero vineyard in Tuscany
- Cannes airport – it is just so plush and classy!
- A forced divert inland and making my route up on the fly
- Vichy town centre

Lowlights:
- Getting stuck in Troyes for two days and missing out on Cannes
- Spending a fortune in taxis in Troyes
- Learning that another forumites had made it through Troyes on the day I cancelled
- Battling high winds in the Rhone valley
- The reported and actual winds on landing at Avignon
- Getting hot and bothered in the plane then throwing up and stomach cramps
- The airstrip at the agro-tourismo not being 200m longer
- Grosseto Approach, a radio service run by the Marx Brothers!
- Intensive gliding at Lasham – bloody sky rats!
- Cleaning the plane at the end of the trip
- Getting a puncture at Gloucester

What did I learn:
- The plane and I can handle crosswinds better than I thought
- The RV can be used for touring, but it really isn’t ideal for it
- My wife would sooner be driving with me than flying!
- Maybe all towns in France are really nice to visit
- Many French speak no English at all and maybe my French isn’t as bad as I thought!

I will be doing other day trips of course and maybe even an overnighter to near France later in the summer, but that is the big one.

Now, what’s the plan for the 2011 big trip. I think Iceland may be out if the rule regarding an instrument rating is true. If so, maybe Denmark and Sweden?

Raduno 2010: Sunday 13th June

Up early in the morning as I was thinking about getting home today. The words of the old French guy at the aero club yesterday were still haunting me, as between his gestures and my poor French I understood him to say that tomorrow, thunderstorms are expected and I had better tie my plane down securely. This didn’t gel with the forecasts I had seen, but it got me worried anyway. The planned route today was for two legs, one shorter hop from Vichy to Troyes to clear customs and refuel and the next straight home from Troyes. So the route for the first leg was:

LFLV DCT MOU DCT LFQB

Indeed, from the hotel window the weather looked bad. Overcast with low-ish cloud and it had obviously been raining. So I went downstairs to pick up the WiFi on my netbook and check the forecasts and TAFs etc. I have to say I was very disappointed with my Skybook subscription as it seemed to only have the TAF’s and METARs for the same overseas airfields as the UK Met Office. So I won’t renew with them, instead I’ll switch to AvBrief as I was far more impressed with the facilities that Derek was showing me on that service in Cannes. But from what I could determine, the weather was going to be fine in Dijon and Troyes and north, just dodgy here. So if I could get out and scud-run the 130 odd miles to Troyes, I should be OK.

We eat breakfast at the Ibis Hotel and got a taxi to the airport. My plane was the only one still out, the others from last night must all be in the hangars. I prepped the plane and eyed the weather. It wasn’t quite as bad as it seemed in town now I had the horizons in sight. Lateral visibility was good and I thought the low stuff was few or scattered and thinnish, so maybe I could get on top. I didn’t refuel here as I didn’t need to, but wouldn’t be able to go too much past Troyes. I started up and called the tower and was not surprised to get no response. So I gave blind calls in French as I carried out power checks at the intersection for runway 01, which is what the windsock indicated. Vichy really was a very nice airfield. Huge runway (2200m) and a huge terminal and a thriving aeroclub, but absolutely nothing happening. If you go there, get AVGAS as soon as you can if you need it and be prepared to speak and understand French. They are very relaxed and happy for you to land. It almost reminds me of those deserted airfields in the US where you self-announce.

I lined up and was away. I levelled off initially at 1500’ (bearing in mind that Vichy was already at 800’ elevation. I quickly came to the conclusion that although I ‘could’ scud run safely enough to the north (but no other direction due to ridges and hills that surround Vichy in a sort of U shape), that I could also easily get on-top, so I climbed to 3500’ where I was clear of the cloud and in sight of the ground. I contacted Clermont Information and got the usual flight information service with no one else apparently on frequency.


VMC on top near Vichy

We trundled along towards the MOU VOR and I could see some big ‘vertical development’ in cloud in the distance over where I would guess Dijon would be – glad I wasn’t near that! I turned slightly at MOU on track for Troyes. With about 40 miles still left to go, the cloud was gradually rising and getting thicker so I would either have to climb a fair bit or dip below. Well, I had to go down in 30 miles or so so I may as well do so now. Well, the visibility below wasn’t good at all and I had to get down to 1200’ before I could see sensibly – oh well! So I scud ran the last 40 miles into Troyes.

I called up Troyes with 10 miles to run and they were their usual relaxed selves and asked me to report field in sight for a downwind join for runway 17. I saw it in the soup at 4 miles and carried out the join. Came in for probably the best landing of the trip and made it for the intersection to turn off. Straight to the pumps and this time I managed to get the self service working with my credit card and filled her up for the long last leg home.

Parked up and out into reception for a drink and the final bit if flight planning. Made A trip to the on airfield Meteo service and he gave me the good news, no problems on the flight back!!


So that's what Troyes looks like in the sunshine!

This was my last leg of the trip back to Gloucester from Troyes. The route was simple enough.

LFQB DCT CTL DCT LFAT DCT ALESO DCT SFD DCT GWC DCT EGBJ

I cleared customs out at Troyes (in reality no one there and probably never is, but there is a sign and desk for where they would sit!). I had already filled up at the automated AVGAS pump (which accepts UK credit cards) for what would be about a three hour leg. There was a minimal crosswind from the left, little more than a breath or air as I called ready for departure on runway 17. He asked me to line up and declare when ready for take-off (which they seem to do in France). I did and was immediately cleared for take-off. The take off and climb out was good as I carried out a climbing turn onto track in a NNW direction to the CTL VOR.

The cloud had thinned and risen a bit since landing but UI stayed under it at 2000’ for a few miles, then realised how scattered and thin it was and climbed to FL4500’ where I sat happy as Larry until the GWC VOR. Contacted the appropriate French ‘Information’ channels on the radio and given the usual squawk and occasional traffic information. This really is a good service and very quiet compared to the frenetic London Information or Farnborough Radar. Having said that, when I transferred to Lille Information, they sounded like they were talking down a drainpipe and were quite hard to pick out. There was another UK aircraft having trouble understanding them as well, but no big deal.


Typical French countryside

CTL came up soon enough and I noticed that the airspeed was pretty much the same as the reported groundspeed on the GPS. I also noticed smoke going nearly straight up, so no wind to speak of. I committed this to memory so in case of say engine failure and a forced landing, I wouldn’t have to worry about finding a field into wind, one less thing to worry about. These are the sort of thoughts that go through your head flying single engine aircraft!

Approaching Le Touquet I tried for some higher altitude photos of the airfield just for fun as I coasted out in a straight line to the SFD VOR passing the ALESO reporting point on the way. I said goodbye to Lille (and their drainpipe) and managed to get a word in edgeways to London Information. I trundled along over the channel where the sky was clear, but there was no horizon at all, just the usual thick band of grey. I had to fly partly by instruments as the visual clues were wrong and making me turn. We called coasting in over SFD then went on listening watch to a busy Farnborough Radar as we flew along past Brighton at 4000’.

Just past GWC VOR at 4000’ we started to pick up some scattered cumulus above us. We could maintain this altitude generally apart from a few dodges around some of the lower bits. We called Farnborough Radar and got a basic service. We were warned about intensive gliding around Lasham (as usual). This is a pain as there is a narrow airspace constriction between Lasham to the east and Southampton CTR to the west. Gliders and very hard to spot and are always twisting and turning (which I suppose should make them easier to spot, but it doesn’t seem to as they are such ‘skinny’ sods!). My wife is good at spotting these and got most of them before I did.


It could only be England

Around Membury we switched to Brize Radar who didn’t seem busy and warned us about parachuting at South Cerney (as usual), so I said I would route well clear over Fairford (as usual). We were still at 4000’ as I picked up the Gloucester ATIS. Wind 210 / 06 and runway in use 27 – damn, still not using 04 / 22, I wonder why this is closed. Never mind, hardly a crosswind at all given what we have been through on this trip, but don’t under estimate it either!

We switched to the combined Gloucester frequency and were given a straight in approach to left base for 27. Back in familiar territory now. Final looked good and a nice landing for my last landing of the trip. Asked for and given a backtrack to A2. Trundled in and parked up outside the hangar and shut down – silence – wow! My wife got out and I followed as she started to unload the plane while I hit the hangar for buckets, plane shampoo and sponges. We both gave the plane a quick wash paying particular attention to the fly-splat areas and getting all of this off.

We had just finished the washing when I noticed that the plane just didn’t look right. Then it dawned that it was lower on the right than the left…….. YOU ARE KIDDING! There was a cartoon style pancake flat tyre poking out from under the starboard spat! AAARRRGH! Well, I guess if it had to happen, my home base would be the best place. Manuel did explain how to get the spats off and how to fit the jacking plate, but I didn’t have any suitable tools, so started scuttling around the airfield to find tools to help me. I managed to get all of the spat screws off except two on the underside that I couldn’t get to as they were virtually on the ground. So I had to jack the plane. Out to the car to get my own car jack and some help from Steve Noujam who was in the hangar to show me how to fit the jacking plate (I had forgotten). I jacked it and got the final few screws off (please don’t ask me how many screws hold the spat together, it was too many to count!). OK, now the spat is off, how the hell do I get it into the hangar without damaging the wheel. So I went in and asked Phil Matthews the CFI at Cotswold Aero Club if he had any bright ideas. Between him and Steve Noujam, we used a compressor to re-inflate the tyre while Phil lifted the starboard wing, hoping it would stay inflated long enough for us to wheel it back into the hangar. It did but was flat again within 5 minutes. No obvious tyre damage and now sound or feel of air escaping.

I cleaned the Perspex and tidied the plane up and packed the seat covers that needed a wash after my episode near Pisa. I tried to ring Manuel, our aircraft maintenance member, but no answer on his mobile, so when we got home, I emailed all in the group about the flat tyre and that there was now about 1.6 tacho hours until the 25 hour check was due, hardly surprising as it was a planned 20 hour or so trip anyway.

Raduno 2010: Saturday 12th June

Well today was the day for me to start the journey back home. Two of us from the UK were headed home and two were going on to Venice lido. I did really fancy going to Venice, but I could not spare another days holiday and a trip back from Venice to the UK in one day would have been too much like hard work to me.

I woke early. The weather in Cortona was perfect, clear skies, still wind, great visibility. I tried not to disturb the wife as I dressed and took my netbook downstairs to reception so I could access the free hotel WiFi to get the en-route weather and file a flight plan etc. This was all going rather well, I got connected and the en-route weather was fine, much better than it had been. I filed a flight plan with Olivia and made sure to note down the number and French agency it was filed with just in case. By this time, others were stirring so I went back and roused the wife for breakfast.

We were packed and driven to the airfield by 09:30. I checked the plane carefully and loaded up. A short taxi to the fuel pumps and I was number two for fuel. Well this was the most expensive fuel on the trip, at EUR 2.40 – ouch! Fortunately, I didn’t need a huge amount, just enough to get to Cannes, my chosen refuelling stop. MY first leg for the day would be a re-trace of my route out.

MONTECCHIO DCT CASTIGNLIONCELLO COAST PISA COAST LASPEZIEA COAST GENOA COAST MONACO COAST LFMD


The UK contingent at Montecchio

I backtracked on the 800m grass runway with nil wind and carried out my power checks, then applied full power and skittered off down the runway. At about the halfway point I was airborne and did a single circuit of the airfield so I could take some photos.


Well there's a first on the trip!

A waggle of the wings as a goodbye and away we went headed for the coast south of Pisa.


Montecchio airfield from the air

I didn’t immediately speak to anyone on the radio as I was enjoying the moment. The approaching Siena I thought I should speak to Pisa, but they insisted I was outside their zone and that I should speak to Grosseto Approach – Oh boy was THAT a mistake! I contacted Grosseto and had to try a few times to raise them. When I did they were fairly hard to hear and had a very heavy Italian accent (fair enough, it is Italy after all!). Well I had to repeat everything three times and even then he would keep coming back asking the same question. They really didn’t understand that I came from Montecchio and that it didn’t have a formal ‘LI’ ICAO code. Here is an example:

GROSS: ‘Wherea you comma from’ GGDRV: ‘Departure airfield is Montecchio Podere, a private airfield near Siena’ …LONG PAUSE… GROSS: ‘You comma from Siena, ees correct?’ GGDRV: ‘NEGATIVE, depart from Montecchio Podere, I say again Montecchio Podere’ GROSS: ‘What is airfield code?’ GGDRV: ‘There IS no airfield code, it is a private airfield, I say again a private airfield’.

It went on in this vein with pretty much every single thing I said. Then of course they claimed that Rome said I didn’t have a flight plan, so I read the receipt number and originating agency on the radio. I know that one of the forumites was on frequency at the time and was doubtless crapping himself laughing, while I was literally at screaming pitch in the cockpit – ask my wife! Well I should have given up after five minutes and simply said ‘Going non-radio’ and switched the bloody thing off, but I didn’t did I?

I HAVE to relate another conversation I had with the, it’s a gem (but I didn’t think so at the time). GROSS: ‘Wherea you goto?’ GGDRV: ‘Destination Cannes in France, Lima Foxtrot Mike Delta’ GROSS: ‘OK, wherea you cross da FIR?’ – Now in the context of the previous question and reply, this isn’t too strange a question, he would be asking where I was planning to cross the FIR boundary between Italy and France, although having told him I was routing along the coast, it seemed a redundant question, but maybe he was just working through the list. So I said GGDRV: ‘Crossing FIR at Monaco’ (Yes, the one with Prince Ranier, loads of millionaires, a world famous formula 1 grand prix etc. GROSS: ‘We donna know Monaco, can you spell’ so I spelt it phonetically and they STILL did not know what I was talking about – AAAARRRGGGHHHHH!

Bottom line is that they decided I was out of their area (not to mention planet) when I was well inside the Pisa zone and by the time I contacted Pisa they wanted me to descend immediately to 1000’ along the coast etc. I had to put that incident behind me as we slipped along the Italian coast at 1000’.


Rosignano Marittimo in Italy

The weather on the coast was low, ill-defined clouds. I am sure I could have got on top at 3000’, but I was stuck at 1000’ occasionally going through low cloud. Pisa were in contrast excellent. I contacted Genoa for a 1000’ routing along the coast and specifically asked for a transit of La Spezia as if I had to route inland I would have to get VMC on top. They came back and agreed a transit without hesitation, perhaps like all military stuff it was closed on the weekend.


The headland at La Spezia

Well what a nice town it looked from the air, must be well worth a visit sometime. I carried on along the coast and contacted Albenga who asked me to report as usual at their three VRP’s, then they suggested I contact Nice (you simply cannot get Milano in this area at a low altitude).

Nice were OK except that they insisted that I must route inland as the coastal VFR route was not available for to the Nice runway in use, oh and by the way I must be at least 5000’ above and well clear of Monaco. I glanced at the low and dense looking clouds above me and extending inland, well no way! I replied that I was unable to do this in VMC. He called me back and gave me special permission for the VFR low level coastal route at 500’. Well the water was a lot calmer than last time and there were numerous expensive speedboats cutting dramatic large white wakes as they tore around the Med. They handed me over to Cannes who confirmed the QNH and that runway 17 was in use with a wind of 170 / 10 and I could join and report left downwind. I don’t believe it – no crosswind, how would I manage? I did my pre-landing checks and joined left downwind. I turned base and chopped the power to bring the airspeed back and dropped the flaps. 75kts coming in nicely and a good approach. Over the numbers, chop the power and let the speed bleed off. Hold off and off for what was the best landing of the trip, not quite a ‘greaser’ but not far off. Now why can’t I do those all the time? I recall the sage word of my first instructor like the disembodies voice of Obeywan in Start Wars ‘A good landing comes from a good approach’ – yes master!


G-GDRV at Cannes

We taxi in and when clear of the runway are told to contact ground. I ask ground for the AVGAS pumps and although they are broken, I am told to taxi there as the fuel truck is parked there. As I taxi in I see Derek and Tammy in their Cherokee six fuelling up that they flew direct IFR straight across the sea. Given that they took off before me, we must have made really good time to be that close behind them.

We will up as far as I dare for weight and balance as the next trip may be a long leg then call for short term parking. They ground guy is extremely helpful as we taxi past lines of top of the line business jets. We park up and wander into the extremely plush, air-conditioned terminal, staffed seemingly exclusively by female models working at the airport in their spare time – did I die somewhere along the route and this is heaven? No, if it was, I would be Richard Gere dressed in cool crisp linen and a pressed white cotton shirt with a jacket tossed in a studied casual over my shoulder. As it is, I am in ‘zipped-off’ hiking trousers with a smelly ‘Air Combat USA’ golf shirt and an ‘I am Canadian’ baseball hat and a camera and ELT hanging from my belt. I get glanced at like I just crawled out from under a rock (no change there then!).


Yep - that's Cannes airport alright!

I want a quick turnaround, so we gently re-hydrate in the bar (soft drinks only of course) while I recheck the weather for the last leg to Vichy. The weather is fine and we pay the modest landing and handling fees and the fuel of course (actually a good prices, about EUR 1:80) and back to the plane to mount up. We take off from 17 as I resume my march along the VFR coastal route.

My route was planned to be:

LFMD COAST MARSEILLE DCT CM DCT MTL DCT VNE DCT ROU DCT LFLV

At St Tropez I contact XXXXXXXXXXXXX Information and they tell me that the coastal route is close as there is an event at Toulon (now why didn’t I spot that in the NOTAMs?). Bugger! He helpfully suggests I divert inland, say from STP to LUC VOR. I flap around with the map while my wife holds the plane. OK, I see what he is getting at. At LUC I wonder where the hell to go next and how to avoid the mess of airspace at the bottom of the coast around Marseille. I decide to follow the large highway below me, the A8 and fly to the various marked VRP’s to the West and North West and pick my way along those to Avignon. I am advised to stay above 3000’ to avoid Aix airspace and the clouds are plenty high enough to allow me to do this. Provence Information are really helpful warning me about traffic and airspace as I announce various VRP’s. I pick my way through to Avignon and now I am back on familiar territory and breath a sigh of relief.

I start to position myself for the low level route around Orange to the west and tell Provence that I am doing this when they tell me Orange is closed (of course, it is military and it is the weekend!) and I can go across at any altitude. I opt for FL45 and sit up there making my stately way up the valley like royalty. I can hear traffic behind me following the same route. The weather is still good with a high and thin overcast and pretty much nil wind (makes a nice change!). At VNE south of Lyon I route direct to MOU to the north west and inform Lyon. I am soon told to contact Clermont Information. The ground below has changed and is now quite hilly and generally ‘corrugated’. I am sure FL45 is enough to clear these ridges, but it certainly isn’t generous.

We reach Roanne and then set direct track to Vichy airfield, LFLV. At 15 miles out, I ask to change to Vichy tower. Clermont ask me to stay on frequency and I hear them call some other traffic apparently near Vichy and tell them that I am inbound. Seems strange? I am asked to contact Vichy Tower. I give them the usual call and ask for airfield information and joining instructions. I get a brief three word reply in French. This puzzles me, so I call again and again the same reply. Eventually between myself and my wife it dawns on us that he is saying something like ‘Report Final’ in French. Not quite what I was expecting, so I check my printed plate and I see that it says when the tower is closed it is a radio service in French only. Then I clicks. I dig out my French airfield call card and start giving blind calls in my best French hoping to God that they don’t reply in a torrent of French that I am not expecting. I gather from another aircraft landing that it is runway 01 in use, which surprises me as what little wind there is was I though from the south, but then I could see that in nil wind, 01 would be best as it is closest to the terminal and aero club. I mean this was one very big runway at 2200m!

I was high on approach and had to side-slip fairly hard to get down and hold airspeed. I was still fast, but chopped the power and gently held off and off while we floated in a stately manner well past the convenient turnoff. Well, no hurry and no other traffic. The stall warner blared as we touched nicely and I trundled on rather than backtrack for the next exit. I taxied in to where there were about half a dozen light aircraft parked up, which was past the main (and deserted looking) terminal to outside a busy Aeroclub. Lots of people around as I taxied in and parked next to an aircraft at the end of the row. We were drawing quite an audience and I was hoping that the ‘Chasing the Morning Sun’ decal on the fin wasn’t making them think that I was the ‘Earthrounder’ (that was of course Manuel, the founding member of our group as he flew this plane around the world when he owned it outright).


Vichy airport

I parked up and shutdown. I clambered out and wandered over to someone at the aeroclub to ask if I was OK to park there for the night in my very halting French. He immediately pointed me at someone else who understood me and from his French reply, I gathered that there may be thunderstorms tonight and would I like to park over some tie downs – well you bet. He lead me out to the apron and showed me the tie down points and I moved the aircraft to park there and tied it down securely. The time was about 16:30 local.


Nice place, Vichy

We unpacked and I asked if anyone knew how I could get a taxi. A very kind soul said in English that it was OK, he was headed back to town anyway and would give us a lift. We got dropped off at the town centre Ibis hotel that I already had booked and got freshened up. We were out quite quickly as we wanted to explore the town. It is very much a real, working town, but also still very much a spa town. It had a fairly ‘upmarket’ feel about with some great and unusual household furnishing and lighting stores. It is a nice place and would be well worth a full days stay and poke around. We found a nice looking Moroccan restaurant and I treated us to a decent bottle of Sancerre and a Tagine meal and very good it was too. Great start to a great days flying in really good weather. Now if only the weather would hold into tomorrow for us to make it back to base in the UK. Could that old French guy be right? Thunderstorms tomorrow? I had not seen it on the forecasts. I slept well but that ‘thunderstorms’ thing was at the back of my mind…..

Raduno 2010: Friday 11th June

This was a non-flying day and we were in the proven and capable hands of Riccardo for the days entertainment.

The numbers were much down on what was anticipated. The UK contingent had been around a dozen aircraft, but we were now down to three and a total of five UK occupants. The weather was the enemy and it was this that ‘did’ for most of them, being particularly bad to the west of France where most of them were coming from after an earlier meet up. There was an Italian contingent who had flown up from Latina with Riccardo in a couple of planes with about the same number of people. Unfortunately, other than Riccardo, only one of the other Italians spoke English well enough to attempt to converse (of course none of the UK contingent could speak Italian). So conversation tended to be in these two separate groups.

Well I was feeling much better after my ‘gastric episode’ and ready for the day. The weather could not have been better, sunny and warm and little wind. We had a mini-bus and driver for the stay and after breakfast at the converted Convent, we piled in the minibus for a drive to Pienza, the highest town in Tuscany and as it happened the birthplace of Pope Pius the second. Well the Pope was keen to leave his mark by making a few civic improvements to his birthplace so he virtually rebuilt the town in very grand architecture and put an enormous church in the centre. It is a very picturesque town and well worth a visit.


The church in Pienza


Stunning views from Pienza

We didn’t have long, so after an authentic cappuccino we were back on the bus for a drive to the Carpineto vineyard. One of the Italian guys on our tour was very much involved in brand management and the wine business and he apparently talked a contact in to giving us a vineyard tour and lunch. This was a fair sized commercial vineyard and they had three or four more vineyards and production centres around Tuscany, so although it was a family business, it was a very sizeable and professionally run business.


Roses in the vineyard, there for a reason!

We were met by the owner and his son who walked us around the vineyard explaining how things worked as we went. We saw the vines, the roses at the end of each row of vines (apparently they are more susceptible to pests and mildew so they get it two or three days before the vines, allowing the grower to treat the vines). We saw the vast warehouse of ageing barrels and the stainless steel fermentation tanks.


Derek and Tammy figuring they could get a barrel back in the Cherokee 6!


Stainless steel fermentation tanks

After this we wandered around and saw the ancient olive oil trees and back to the main house for a simple but truly excellent lunch, with of course lots of wine sampling! We were joined by the owner wife and his sons wife and had a truly excellent lunch. They bade us farewell with more take home samples – great, that’s two litres less of fuel then (for weight and balance), but in a good cause!


Lunch at the Carpineto vineyard


You can just imagine Russell Crowe as Gladiator walking up the road!

One the way back, Riccardo got the news that another forumites and his lady were on their way from the party in the west of France and had flown through some very interesting weather to get here. We immediately agreed to divert to the airfield to pick him up.


Skydriller with his well deserved Raduno plaque

Back to the hotel for an evening meal as a group at the hotel, which I suppose after what we had experienced so far was always going to suffer in comparison. After the meal, we all wandered the 1k or so up hill into the town of Cortona by night. I think the main group went for an ice cream and grappa, while my wife and I split off to explore the town. It is a lovely and very interesting town with loads of narrow passages and quite hilly and well worth a more detailed explore.

Although I was feeling fine, I wasn’t up for any late night drinking, not with flying the next day, so we both slipped away to bed at a sensible hour.

Raduno 2010: Thursday 10th June

Woke up early and looked out the hotel window at the weather. Overcast, but cloud didn’t look low, but oh cr*p…..the wind! It was very gusty in the town centre where I was, God knows what it would be like at the exposed airfield, but then all I had to do was take-off??

We popped out for a breakfast and I had a ‘full English’. Caught the taxi to Avignon airport and yes, it was still windy with even stronger gusts to boot! My instant reaction was that I could not take off in this, but I went into the terminal to get some weather anyway. The weather was saying basically that there would be a strong wind and I would again be beating into a headwind all the way to Genoa, but that it would smooth out and it was actually quite calm and CAVOK at my destination in the heart of Tuscany.

I went out to the plane and loaded it up and carried out a thorough A-check. While I was out there, it was clear that although the wind was solid with some heavy gusts, the solid wind was only slightly off the runway heading and the gusts weren’t that frequent – yes, I was starting to talk myself into giving it a try! I wandered back to arrivals and announced to Mazzie that we would give it a try and that if we could get airborne, we could certainly make it to our destination – maybe I need to sell the message better, what do you think?


Parked up at Avignon in a nasty breeze

However one thing was for sure, I had no intention of trying my planned inland straight line route from Avignon to St Tropez across some of the lower foothills in this wind, the chop would probably throw us around all over the place. So I was faced with an equally daunting prospect, that of trying to find a route through the tangle of controlled airspace and prohibited zones that clog the bottom of the Rhone valley as it enters the Mediterranean at Marseilles – oh for a 1-250,000 map! So I asked at reception if I could speak to the guy in the tower at Avignon. Well from the look on the lady’s face you would have thought I asked to speak to President Sarkozy of France! She said she was sure she could help me, so I said OK, tell me how I get through this mess to the low level VFR coastal route as I waved the map under her face. She blanched and said ‘I contact de tower!’ (yeah – thought you might!).

The guy in the tower was of course brilliant. I explained my problem and the impenetrability of getting through from here to south of Marseille and he chuckled and said ‘Yes, it does not look good, but ees not bad really’. He then explained that I would be routed via various published and marked VRP. First I would have to go to Avignon VPR SE (basically the Durance River) at 1500’ then contact Salon Approach on 135.15. They would route me via ME and LB VRP's again at 1500’ then pass me on to Marseille Tower for a transit of the Marseille / Provence International Airport at 1500’ across the runway centreline to the VRP S, where I would contact Provence Information who would then feed me along the various VRP’s that comprise the low level coastal route all the way to the Italian border. Well all that sounded pretty busy at low altitude (one of the ridges I would have to cross peaked at over 1500’) with a few frequency changes, but I knew once I was on the coast I was home and dry. I had done that route a few times and was quite comfortable with it.

So we bought a bottle of water for what would be a hot and long trip, put our lifejackets on and clambered in. I had already seen two other aircraft take off before me (albeit they were both nosewheel aircraft) and they both looked OK, so let’s give it a try. I started up, taxied to the hold for runway 17 at an intersection, as I most certainly did not need the full runway length in this wind, probably the same as yesterday, although this time only 20 degrees off to the left. Power checks complete, I buttoned up and taxied onto the runway. I carefully turned the aircraft onto the runway heading, applied into wind aileron and applied power, eyes fixed firmly on a point at the end of the runway and feet ready to dance on the peddles. We were up and away – PHEW! I climbed to 1500’, levelled off and went into economy cruise (for me that is about 2050 RPM, lean it back and I get about 125kts for 18 – 20 Litre per hour fuel burn. I certainly don’t want to go any faster on this trick low level navigation leg. The GPS had most of the VRP’s already in the database and I zoomed the moving map in to a scale of 3 nautical miles so I could see each of the closely bunched VRP’s clearly.


1500' max out of Avignon for a low level transit to the coastal VFR route

I made the first VRP, that of Avignon SE easily. This was easy to spot as it was simply fly SE to the edge of the Avignon zone to the River Durance. I then called Salon Approach on 135.15. I had trouble understanding him with his strong accent, he was clearly giving me a VRP, but I couldn’t quite make it out. After a few ‘say agains’, he eventually tumbled and said ‘eeet eees ze pointe to follow ze Durance reever’ aaahhhhh! Now I see it, it is Salon VRP ME. I find it on the map and the GPS, now we are in business. I report when I have arrived and he directs me onto VRP LB, still at 1500’ max. Ah! I can see this point on the map and GPS and there is a ridge directly in the way that I have to cross. I can see that we will make it over through a saddle in the ridge but the wife asks if I am sure we will cross at this altitude. Ridges look like that from aircraft, you are sure you are too low, but in reality you cross with a few hundred feet to spare. I assure her that we are fine and we clear the ridge by probably 200’.


The route through the mess of airspace at Marseille

I reach the VRP, which seems to be a small town. Salon Approach then tell me to contact Marseille Tower on 118.37 for transit. Great, I am left here, so I orbit while I change frequencies and put in a full call to Marseille. They are of course fine and tell me to head for Marseille VRP AN which will be followed by AW. It takes me minute or so to find it on the map and GPS, while still orbiting low-ish level – no pressure eh? I spot the VRP’s and head towards them I report at each. Then at AW he asked me to contact Marseille Tower on a different frequency. I do so and they explain that I am clear to transit at 1500’ and that basically they want me to go straight across the main runway at 90 degrees and right overhead the tower at 1500’ – OK this is familiar, it is unheard of in the UK, but very common in the US and when you think about it, it is pretty much the safest place to be at a busy international airport – oh this is cooooollll!


Transit approved - across Marseille Provence airport centreline

I cross the runway and head toward SA VRP. Well I obviously strayed as the Tower comes on and says that SA is virtually due south and I am headed SW. I correct and head for SA. Nearly there, one more VRP and I am on the coastal VFR route. I make SA then head for S. The Tower ask me to contact Provence Information – yippee, now I am on the coastal VFR route. I breathe an audible sigh of relief, that was hard work, but now I have done it and know what to expect, I would be quite happy to do it again. I stay at 1500’ and start the slow march from one VRP to another as I report reaching each and progressively change from one Information service to another. I am beating into quite a headwind of about 25 – 30 kts. The sea below is a bit sporty and white-capped. Having said that, at least the flying is smooth enough, no real turbulence. I don’t want to think too much what would happen if the engine quit!


Stunning coastal scenery from 1500' on the coastal VFR transit route

The VRP’s come and go, at least until I start to reach Nice, where they want me to descend to 500’ around Nice airport and keep a very close eye on my track and altitude to keep me from setting off TCAS on commercial traffic landing at Nice. If the engine failed now, I would probably only be able to get off a very quick ‘Oh crap’ on the radio before we ditched, best not to think about it eh? We start to get traffic warnings about opposite direction traffic at 12 o’clock, that’ll be the helicopters that ply their trade between Monaco and Nice then! I turn on all my lights and weave a bit left to right, both so that I can see them, but also so that they can see me. Mazzie is eagle eyed and usually spots them before I do, strong instinct for self-preservation I guess.


Lovely coastal scenery

We pass Nice and they relax the 500’ so I climb back to a dizzying 1500’ as we pass in front of the high rise and crowded Monaco. We cross the border and I switch to Milano Information and call them. No reply to several calls, but then I expected that as I didn’t get any response from them last time I was this way. So I stay on listening watch and consider my options. I am getting quite hot and although sipping water, I clearly didn’t bring enough and am starting to feel thirsty (dehydrated). My time planning is shot to pieces by this headwind which doesn’t look like letting up until we are well inland and near our destination. All things considered, a single long leg to Montecchio does not now seem like a good idea. I check Albenga (which I had nominated as an alternate on the flight plan anyway). I call them and check the wind, they are giving runway in use as 09 with the wind as 090/17 – phew, tough wind, but at least straight down the runway. That’s my mind made up, we divert into Albenga for a break, refuel, rehydrate etc.

I call Albenga and he is great, but he does struggle with my callsign of G-GDRV. I had to repeat it five times, eventually spelling it out like ‘First letter: Golf, second letter: Golf, third letter: Delta’ etc. I think he was struggling with the two ‘G’s’ at the start of the callsign, maybe he thought I had a stutter or something! Albenga is very easy to find as it sits in a valley about 4 miles inland. However, the final approach for 09 is interesting as it sits in a small and narrow valley, so as I am asked to join right downwind for 09, I decide to fly into the valley next door and cross the ridge between the two to position for final for 09. This of course leaves me high, so I side-slip a lot of this off and come in for a landing. Well the approach wasn’t good and I am a bit long and a bit fast and I am of course punished by this a gusting wind with good bounce, then another, well that was it, power on and go around, no sense in fooling around, let’s try that one again. As there is no traffic at the airfield, I fly a tight downwind and fly into the airfield valley and have to pull off a base turn that is so small that I am virtually doing a 180 turn on final. Approach much better this time and I am rewarded with a good landing. I have to backtrack as there is only one exit from the runway and that is at the threshold of 09. I ask the guy in the tower if he can close our flight plan and he is happy to do so.


Albenga airfield

We are really cooking in the sun under the bubble canopy as I trundle in to the AVGAS pumps, shut down and pop the hatch like a deep see free-diver coming up for air! The pompier does his thing under my close supervision. A chap who was sat under the tied down wing of what looks like a very nice N registration PA18 taildragger saunters over and we have a chat. He is an American touring Europe and is waiting for the winds to subside so he can get into Cannes. I give him the bad news that the winds I head Cannes giving were something like 100 / 25G35, he is philosophical and says he thought he would have to wait for early evening anyway. Turns out he knows Cheltenham very well and often stays in ‘The House in the Tree’ about two miles from Gloucestershire airport. Well that makes him either a ‘spy’ working at GCHQ or more likely someone working for one of the American aerospace outfits in the locale – small world!


Parked up at Albenga while I over-rehydrated!

I park up and head eagerly into the air-conditioned terminal feeling very hot, somewhat bothered and with my tongue literally sticking to my mouth! I fo straight over to the small café counter and down a Gatorade in one before I have paid for it. I buy another while I am at it. Of course the wife tells me to sip it slowly bless her. The next one goes down in five minutes and I grab a third, that lasts about 15 minutes while I check the internet for weather.

I spot the reception desk and realise I haven’t paid so wander over. Well what a world class performance this was. I was asked a huge battery of question by the lady at the desk, many of which seemed entirely pointless. She bashes away at the computer for at least 10 – 15 minutes then prints a multi-page bill which itemises pretty much everything with a small charge for each. They didn’t record my use of the toilet for a pee, but I think that was an error on their part! I have never seen such a performance or such an itemised by for a ‘slash and dash’ – the entertainment value made it all worthwhile.

I felt a lot better now, I had gotten pretty hot and bothered and dehydrated. I cooled down a bit more in the terminal then dragged the wife away from her cappuccino and loaded back into the plane for a one and a half hour flight along the coast to just south of Pisa, then head inland to Montecchio. The route was plan:

LIMG COAST GENOA COAST LA SPEZIA COAST PISA COAST CASTIGLIONCELLO DCT MONTECCHIO

I climbed to 1500’ and reported out of Albenga via the VRP’s then switched to Genoa for a transit along the coast. They gave me this at 1500’. Once passed their airport, I asked for a transit of La Spezia danger zone and was told that was not possible in no uncertain terms (what the hell have they got in there anyway?). The weather was clear so it was no problem to climb to 4000’ and route inland to the east. The sun and heat were starting to bother me again. I had been wearing a light coloured baseball hat to keep the sun off my head and the glare away, but I was hot alright. The just past the prominent marble quarry in the hillside and descending back towards the coast at Viareggio I felt very odd indeed. I ask Mazzie for a bag of some sort, ANY SORT. I just managed to get a sick bag before I threw up energetically twice. Most of it made it into the bag, some settled nicely on my T-shirt and trousers. OK, this was not good. I felt a bit woozy for a few seconds then sorted myself out. I was also starting to feel stomach cramps. This was not a good way to fly, but I didn’t judge it to be an emergency either. I could have called a PAN and diverted into Pisa or maybe back to Genoa, but that would have been an over-reaction. OK, I felt like crap and it wasn’t pleasant for my wife, but I carried on, knowing that there were a few airfields I could go into south and inland of Pisa if I felt I had to.

I was flying OK and speaking on the radio, but very keen to get to the airfield. The stomach cramps were coming every 15 minutes or so, but I could hold them for a while. I turned inland at Castiglioncello as planned and climbed to about 4000’. I willed the GPS to move faster as closed in on Montecchio. I eyed Siena airfield carefully, it would be an easy divert, but I know I could hold out until Montecchio and I didn’t come this far to be beaten by a bit of puke on my T-shirt (it was my stomach cramps that worried me more!). I heard another forumites on the same frequency who was ahead of me, but I was closing fast. Eventually I switched to Montecchio and advised them that there was a serious pilot urgency for a toilet immediately on arrival. Riccardo replied thinking I was hamming it up, but I assured him that I was quite serious. I spotted G-AXTA landing as I was approaching. I did a semi-overhead join and made a bit of a hash of the approach being too high and too fast. Side-slipping helped, but I was too fast so did a go-around. My next circuit could be described as ‘low level’ as I hauled her around at a modest altitude and back onto final, chopped the power, pulled on the flaps and came in and landed this time. Not an elegant landing, but it did the job and in the circumstances I was pretty pleased. Montecchio airfield is a private grass strip about 800m long, but with a pretty active flying community based there (No Dan, this is not where we went last time, this is different part of Italy well to the north of Rome)

I turned around and taxied to the hangar and parked where Riccardo indicated, popped the hatch and dashed for the toilet inside at the back of the hangar. I made it OK and suffered what you could call ‘explosive decompression’. I sorted myself out and noticed that they had a shower – fantastic. I stripped off and had a cold / lukewarm shower which cooled me down and cleaned me up a bit. The T-shirt was for the bin and the trousers were for a plastic bag. Mazzie dropped some spare clothes in and I donned swimming trunks and a T-shirt and made my formal appearance to my fellow forumites and apologised for my brief but dramatic entrance. Mazzie had been busy cleaning up any spots that got onto the aircraft interior and took out the removable seat cushions for a wash at the hotel. I do NOT get any form of motion sickness and I never have, it was not that. I can only assume it was a combination of a lot of things, but maybe mainly a bit of over-heating and over-energetic rehydration at Albenga! Riccardo did ask me if I was alright and I said I would be sure I was alright when I could fart without worrying about it!


Down safely at Montecchio airstrip, I must be OK as I am taking photos again!

I was in no condition to take advantage of the wine and olives on offer and sipped what water I could scrounge and I was now dehydrated again. I moved the plane to a proper parking position and we loaded up after a while and headed for our converted convent hotel just outside Cortona. We got into the room and I got myself properly cleaned up and helped cleaning the aircraft upholstery. We didn’t actually have much time as we were going out to the big meal of the trip at Residence Serristori, a fantastic agro-tourismo near Castiglion Fiorentino. I washed my only set of trousers and realised I would just have to wear them wet, either than or swimming trunks! Fortunately, they were proper hiking trousers, so would dry quick enough, it also helped to keep me cool, that’s for sure!


Fantastic meal at the agro-tourismo

This particular agro-tourismo is quite a complex. It has it’s own airfield, with a hard and soft runway (unfortunately the runways are only 550m long and a bit too challenging for the some of the aircraft), it’s own hotel type room, a great pool and a huge agro-tourismo type eatery. The meal turned out to be by far the best of the entire trip. The pasta was exquisite and the steaks probably the second best I have ever had. I was taking it very, very easy though and sipping water with a glass or two of wine and very modest amounts of food. It is a shame as I was so looking forward to really letting rip! We all agreed that my friend Dan who was at the last Raduno would have really appreciated the evening. All for the very modest cost of EUR 35 per head – all the food, wine and grappa you could drink!


Now THAT's a steak!!!

Raduno 2010: Wednesday 9th June

OK, now we are into Plan B type stuff. Having failed to get away from Troyes yesterday for a single log hop to Cannes, the plan was not to try this again today. The planned route was:

LFQB DCT ATN DCT VNE DCT MTL DCT CM DCT LFMD

So off to the airfield in unpromising weather. Low cloud and occasional light rain, but it looked to me like there was a brighter and higher overcast, maybe the low stuff was scattered and I could get 'on top'. First thing was to check with the Meteo guy on the airfield. He showed me the radar and TAFS and METARS en-route and they didn't look too bad and seemed to confirm that there was some low stuff but the solid overcast was quite high. So I decided to go for it and see how far we got, hoping of course for really good weather down south so we could cut across the low foothills of the Alps to Cannes.

Packed up and careful A-Check as the plane had been out in the rain all night. There was some water contamination in the first two samples from the port tank, so I wobbled the plane a lot to shake any more water out, but nothing more. mental note to take off drawing from the starboard tank!


The weather and rain at Troyes airfield in the morning

I carried out the power checks with only to controller in the tower for company at the airfield and on the airwaves. Lined up and off on runway 17. I climbed to 1500' and saw that the low grey stuff was indeed well scattered and carried right on up to an easy 4500' sort of 'between layers' but with plenty of view of the ground.


That's not so bad! Getting between layers at Troyes

Contacts Seine Information on 120.32 who handed me over to Paris Information on 126.10. Paris warned me about some military area if I continued up to 5000' (it certainly wasn't there on my map), so I climbed to FL55 abnd everyone was happy.

The airspeed and groundspeed readout on the GPS was telling me something pretty scary. I was getting my usual economy cruise 125kts indicated, but only 85kts groundspeed - holy high winds Batman, we got ourselves a real headwind here!

About 30 miles NNW of Lyon is a range of hills, with peaks at 3000'. They didn't look too scary from FL55, but they sure were kicking up some turbulence which knocked us about for 20 minutes or so as we battled away with the headwinds and now turbulence.

Lyon Information were very happy for me to transit on a direct track to VNE at FL55.


Lyon from the air at FL55

We ploughed on past Lyon on direct track for MTL and past Valence. I was starting to get worried about making it to Cannes in one long hop with the wind and the time it was taking (and of course the impact on fuel). A few calculations and I figured if the weather for Cannes was fine and if the weather was good enough to get over the lowe bits of the hills between Avignon and St Tropez, that I would still go for it.

I called Marseille information and got the actuals for Cannes. They gave me 4000m visibility and winds of 140 / 25 - AAAHHH! Plan C, divert to Avignon, one of the alternates I had already planned for.

I called orange Tower for a zone transit of their military class D airspace as they sit astride the whole damn valley. They were most certainly active. I had trouble making out the accent of the French controller who first told me to report at Valreas, then I was sure he said report '3 miles West of Caritat' (Caritat being the name for Orange airbase). So I complied only to be ticked off with a 'Why have you gone to the west, I told you three mile EAST'. I was given two orbits west abeam the airfield as he got a flight of what looked like Mirages off then authorised me to continue to the Avignon NW VRP and call Avignon.

Avignon Tower were fantastic, although I was alarmed when they gave me the airfield information. Runway in use, 17 with winds 140 / 17G37kts - yikes! That is some crosswind component in this little twitchy taildragger!

I decided to give it a couple ot tries anyway. the tower were great and routed me over the runway at 2000' while traffic behind lined up for a practice instrument approach. I went around left downwind for my first attempt at a landing. I vowed to be instantly ready for a go around and rehearsed the crosswind landing in my head then turned base and final. he did offer me 17 grass (me being a taildragger and all), but I decided on the hard runway as I didn't know how smooth the grass was.

The approach was OK and I could certainly feel the gusts. I eased her down and carefully felt for the ground as I chopped the power, held off and kicked her straight at the same time applying into wind aileron, then kept on holding off and off. Stall warner pretty constant and we touched but didn't stay down for long as a gust caught and put us back into the air for what was in effect a high bounce, I applied a squirt of power to stabalise things and though about a go around for an instant, but decided to try again, I wasn't going to run out of runway anytime soon! It seemed like a good decision because the second attempt was much better and managed to stay put as I danced on the peddles to control the plane while we rolled to a taxi pace. PHEW! That was without doubt the worst set of conditions I have landed the RV in. I wasn't smug yet though coz it ain't over until it is successfully tied down!

I even got a compliment from the tower, perhaps he was just relieved not to have to clear wreckage away!

We taxied in and I fuelled up and tied the plane down very securely facing into wind.


Avignon airport tower, too busy with approach and landing for any airborne photos!

We got a taxi into town at the terminal and he took us to the Best Western Bristol hotel in the town centre. Pricey and basic, but clean and fine for me. What a really nice tyown Avignon is by the way. A very old walled town with the walls still 100% intact and it was the seat of the Catholic Papacy before the Vatican (I didn't know that).


Yep, that's a walled city alright!

So we had a very good explore and a very good meal. It would be well worth visiting Avignon and environs properly for a few days some time.


The famous 'Pont sur Avignon' - I wouldn't mind, but it doesn't even go across the river!

Raduno 2010: Tuesday 8th June

Plan was for Troyes direct to Cannes.

The weather when we woke up looked OK out of the window, not windy and overcast but with what looked like quite high cloud, so still do-able. We packed and checked out and got a taxi to the airport. I prepped and packed the plane then wandered over to the Meteo building next to the tower for a weather brief. I told him in broken French of my intentions and I got a simple ‘C’est non possible pour le VFR!!’. I looked surprised as it didn’t seem that bad, but then he showed me the rainfall radar, with really nasty stuff with what he said was embedded CB’s being blown directly across my proposed route from the south west to the north east most of the day until maybe mid-afternoon. There was already a nasty patch over Dijon to the south as I did even consider a ‘dash’ to Dijon, a mere 70 miles or so south.

So I decided to abandon the attempt until the afternoon and go back to town for lunch, as the airfield café looked excellent but was never open once when I was there. So back into town for lunch. Sure enough the wind picked up and it was indeed raining.


Sheltering from the rain

About 14:00 I thought I could see it becoming brighter rainy weather, so another taxi fare back to the airfield and a trip to la Meteo. But the rainfall radar showed a nasty trailing part of the clag still due to go over between Troyes and Dijon until at least 18:00. With heavy heart and a lighter wallet I decided to quit for today. I then recalled someone said if you go to the Hotel Relais St Jean in the town centre, the owner who is also a pilot would pick you up and drop you off. So I asked at reception and this is what happened. It really is an excellent hotel, but at EUR 100 a night not hugely cheap, but beautifully done in a very old building with bags of character.


Excellent room at the very 'pilot friendly' Relais St Jean Hotel in the town centre

We met up with some American freighter pilots also staying in the hotel in the bar (where else) who had been in Troye for three days waiting for their DC8 freighter to arrive at the huge runway at Chalon Vatry. We swapped stories for a bit, before going our separate ways for the evening meal. Troyes is still a very nice town, but when you are a pilot that couldn’t fly that day, it can be pretty frustrating, but such is VRFR touring in Europe!


Rather nice restaurant

I was not made any happier by learning on the Flyer Forum internet that another Raduno attendee had flown into Troyes around lunchtime on the same day, refuelled and pressed on and made it to Avignon, although they did have the grace to say that there was some pretty 'interesting' weather along the way!

Raduno 2010: Monday 7th June

The plan was to fly two legs today, the first from Gloucester to LeTouquet (to clear customs), then from Le Touquet to Troyes, to stay overnight in Troyes. The route for the first leg was very simple.

EGBJ DCT GWC DCT SFD DCT LFAT

Well that is exactly what happened.

Loaded up at Gloucester, filed a flight plan and had previously filed the GAR. Filled the plane to the correct fuel level for our weight and balance and took off in OK weather. Climbed to 2000’ and plodded the familiar route direct from EGBJ to the GWC VOR at Goodwood airfield. Called Brize Radar for basic service and went overhead Fairford (inactive as usual). Transferred to Farnboro Radar at Membury and stayed with them until passed GWC.


2000' scraping my head on the clouds in the UK

Managed 2000’ close to base of clouds all the way. Along the coast the clouds disappeared and I climbed to 4500’ going along passed Brighton towards SFD VOR for the channel crossing. Blue skies all over the channel and a very good horizon for a change.


Unusual 'severe VFR' in the channel!

Crossing was easy and picked up first Lille Information, then of course Le Touquet Tower.

There was some quite low cloud / lifted fog literally along the coast at Le Touquet and the wind was a perfect crosswind at 250 / 10kts. They were not at all busy on a Monday and said that although the ATIS runway in use was 32, I could use 14 as the headwind component was much the same on either. So got a long direct into runway 14. I had to descend to below 700’ before I got below this low cloud, the scuttled into final for 14. I could feel the crosswind and held approach track, at least it wasn’t gusting. I was ready for the crosswind landing and did a reasonable job of it and parked up. Clocked up a logged 1.7 hours flying on this leg.


Mazzie at Le Touquet airfield

Off with the cross-channel gear and popped into the very good airfield restaurant for a coffee and a croissant. Refuelled, paid the bill, and turned around in about 1:15. Fuel was a not unreasonable EUR 1.85 a litre. Given that we are paying GBP 1.78 a litre at Gloucester.....


Le Touquet airfield from the air

The last leg for the day was again simple and to make it to Troyes.

LFAT DCT CTL DCT LFQB

The low cloud bothered me a bit, but I got the METAR’s and TAF’s for Troyes and they were much more encouraging. The cloud at L2K seemed to have lifted a bit as well and of course the coast is normally worse that either out to sea or inland, so decided to fly as it would also be easy to get VFR above the cloud in sight of ground.

We took off and climbed initially to 2000’, then later to 3000’ and stayed there just below scattered 'fair weather' CU all the way. A nice easy run to Troyes, talking to various French ‘Information’ radio centres for flight information service along then way. Always given a squawk and occasional traffic reports. Flying in France is very easy like this compared to the UK.

The scenery on the ground is very much a patchwork of forests and strip type farming field layouts that make for an interesting patchwork as they slide by beneath you.


French strip type fields

Spotted Troyes and contacted the Tower there. There were very happy for me to join as I wished, although I mistakenly joined for a left downwind join for runway 17 rather than the published right hand circuit.


Troyes airfield from the air

They were not at all bothered though. Wind was given as 240/05, so no real crosswind to worry about and made an easy landing. Asked for a granted a backtrack and I was happily trundling back along the runway to the taxiway for the terminal when I spotted a crank-wing Robin on very short final heading towards me. I did not hear any earlier call to clear him to land, either in English or French (which I have a vague understanding of aviation terms). I called out on the radio in English that I was on the runway and that he must go around immediately – it was my life here and the Controller didn’t seem to be doing much! The plane went around to my relief. Yet another example I guess of the consequences of using mixed languages at an airfield giving rise to a lack of situational awareness.

Refuelled immediately for a quicker getaway. I struggled badly with the automated refuelling pumps and credit card machine and the reception guys took pity and announced over an intercom that I could pay later and turned the pumps on for me.


Troyes airfield

I fuelled up then moved the plan to parking where they told me. They assured me there were tie downs. I parked up and shut down, but for the life of me I couldn’t find the ties downs they referred to, all I could see were a few obvious drain-hole inspection covers. Someone obviously spotted my strange behaviour and came out and lifted one of the ‘drain covers’ to reveal a hollow where chains and rope are stored and anchored for tie downs – DOH! Well, I can’t say I have seen it done like that before. I secured the plane as we unpacked and headed to reception.

Reception was excellent. Very new, very well organised and even though the guy there genuinely spoke almost no English, we managed with my appalling French to tell him what we were doing and order a taxi. I had previously booked a cheap Etap Hotel in Troyes town centre as I find the Accor Hotel chain excellent for internet booking AND you can cancel same day – vital for a VFR pilot (as it turned out).


The quite lovely town centre in Troyes

Troyes as a town is really lovely. It is the French equivalent to loads of Tudor timbered buildings in an old walled town. Only a couple of the gates still stand of the walls, but most of the building survive with narrow streets and extensive pedestrian streets. It really is a great place to stay, even if just for one night. Really, do NOT make the mistake of booking into the Novotel that you can walk to from the airport. Stump up the EUR 20 taxi fare and make it into this lovely town!