It started with me buying into a new 1/6th share in an established group for G-GDRV, an RV6 based at Staverton. With a nasty confluence of problems of weather, my availability, instructor availability and aircraft availability, it took me until May to get formal tailwheel difference sign-off.
After that, the weather scotched a couple of planned trips to France. But then I got very lucky with truly horrific summer weather in the UK (the year that there was no summer) in July where as chance would have it, the two weekends that I had booked the plane for cross-channel trips, both turned out to be about the only two decent weekends we had all summer. So I managed a weekend trip with Mark, my Canadian neighbour to Caen with a low level flight along the invasion beaches in early July and a long-promised and oft cancelled trip to Deauville for Honfleur with my wife in late July.
I then did a local with Gavin, a new flying buddy I met at Gloucester and he reciprocated with a trip in his Robin tailwheel based at Oaksey Park on a lovely autumn evening.
My ‘big trip’ for 2008 was a one week holiday to see Dan, my buddy in Canada and then to do a four day flying tour between Canada and the USA. A lot of things could have fouled it up, not least of which being the weather, but it all fell into place and we managed to fly from Ottawa – New York – NY low level city flight – Niagara – Toronto City – Ottawa. It is hard for me to say whether this was the best tour I have ever done or whether it was the trip to Italy in 2006.
I managed one more local flight before damage to the RV6 canopy meant that we took the plane into early annual for running repairs. This lasted from early October until the end of the year.
In desperation, I resorted to full hire from Cotswolds and took the opportunity to get checkrides on types I have not flown before, specifically the Eurostar microlight and a Robin DR400. But even these trips needed several bookings to find sensible weather.
So, like an anorak’d train spotter, these are my ‘achievements’ in 2008:
• In 2008, 39.2 Hours total, 27.9 as P1 and 11.3 as P U/T
• Took and ‘passed’ FAA BFR
• Passed Canadian PPL ‘difference’ written exam to get a Canadian PPL based on my standalone FAA ticket.
• Tailwheel difference training and sign off
• First time flown as P1 in Canada
• First time flown as P1 in the USA
• First Canada / USA border crossing
• First low level city flight (New York)
• Flew 3 new aircraft types and 7 aircraft registrations
• First flight in a microlight
• Landed / taken off from 6 ‘new’ airfields
Well, that’s about it. I look forward to 2009 with trips to continental Europe with the wife and other flying friends and a ‘big trip’ maybe in October around Texas.
