For all of you stuck in Blighty.

[effortless]

So the sun woke me up at 08.00. Blue sky with high cirrus. Sun low but warming as it rose higher. What to do, what to do? Shall I have a coffee and croissant and wander around until it is warm enough for the pool or shall I go flying. MMmmm hard one in't it? A quick look at the mountains towards St' Tropez and then north west nothing but very light and high wispy clouds. So, ten minutes drive later and the smell of oil and mogas is making me feel very young indeed. 09.30 and the sun is warming nicely but it is still cool enough. The "piste" is only a thousand feet of rockery but the little Sky Ranger gets up and off beautifully. A quick bank left to avoid the mountains and hack off to the coast. Watch out for that bloody Gazelle and contact Luc mil. to listen to them say "Qu'esqe il dit?" Classic, the sun is warming now and the draughts are fun. Over the mountains and the med is laid out ahead. To the right Hyeres and the islands, to the left St. Tropez with a tall ship in the marina. Notice a white pusher climbing below me waggle me wings a bit to let him know I'm here but he is going somewhere by the looks of it. Nice slow descent to one thousand and a little tool around. The air is very much cooler over the coast but it is still glorious. The sun isn't too bright. Right hand seat points out more traffic and indicates his watch. Ok it's his aircraft. Climb to two thousand and turn right before Hyeres. The view is everything that I could want. Sea, mountains, forest and that lovely sun warming me. Over the mountains again. Still enough high cloud to take the glare off. In the distance the Auvergne and I can just make out some volcanoes. Bliss, bliss, bliss bloody bliss and I am still in a state of bliss. "Gazelle, Bonjour, what are your intentions please?" "Qu'esqe il dit?" He is just lurking in the next field but just as I begin my descent he hovers a second or so, screams of along my runway at less than fifty feet and disappears into the green of the mountainside. I notice him climbing above the skyline as I touch down. Back to the Ponderosa in time for more coffee. I have not felt so happy for years. This why I learned to fly. Not to defend our green and pleasant, not to get more sex (ok that one did seem to work quite well for a while.) and not becase my willy was as small as my watch. I just wanted days like this. Warm, cold, above or below the clag. I just wanted to feel exhilerated and today I am.

Lunch on the terrace and now I am just going out into the sunny garden in view of green mountains to loll around in the pool.

Now what to do tomorrow?

Bliss it is to be alive.:ok:

[shortstripper]

Actually ... I quite enjoy scud running. :p


SS :D

[Fuji Abound]

Well if you had been stuck on the ground at Shoreham today the only blue you would have seen would have been on the hangar door! :bored:

[IO540]

That's very poetic, effortless. Why not tell us about the sex? ;)

Yes, the #1 job is to get over the Alps. Everything changes then :)

The southern UK is particularly bad for these OVC006 warm fronts. Loads of times I have flown over say France, in perfect sunshine, only to hit a wall of solid IMC at about mid-channel to the UK.

[effortless]

That's very poetic, effortless. Why not tell us about the sex? ;)
Well you need an Auster and a map of Le Touquet. In addition you need to have the ability to say "Oh dear m'dear we seem to have engine, fuel, fog over the channel problems. But as luck would have it I know a nice little pension close by. Do you like lobster?"

Yes, the #1 job is to get over the Alps. Everything changes then :):ok:
The southern UK is particularly bad for these OVC006 warm fronts. Loads of times I have flown over say France, in perfect sunshine, only to hit a wall of solid IMC at about mid-channel to the UK.
I look at the home TAF every day just to gloat but well I'll be back in dear old EKGA next week and I suppose I will be grateful for a couple of days flying in the next four months. Back to eath with a figurative (I hope) bump.:{

[littco]

I'm off the California next weekend and can't wait.. I've been looking at TAF's and METAR'S (uk) for weeks now all depressing so it's good to know as ca_flyer has shown good weather is waiting me.... Don't think i've ever done a landing in still conditions, non cross wind.... going to be a novel experience:)

[IO540]

The autumn is the hardest time to fly. Being based at an airport without an ILS, even with an IR I can't go to most places, not because I could not get there and land but because I would not get back home.

[pistongone]

Surely you could find a base with an ILS or at least a VOR or NDB approach that isnt too far away IO540? That would aid your home comings in the British weather.:ok: :ok: How about getting to know the nearest radar operators and getting an un-official let down? With GPS i am sure you would be within a mile of your base, so happy to decend to say 400' in clagg? If you want to go into Staplefordand its clagged in, try 218 on LAM and at 300' on the QFE you will be a mile out and easy to make a 5-10 degree correction, thats a tip i learned from someone based there. How about a thread of un official approaches?

[IO540]

How about a thread of un official approaches

That could get very long, especially by the time certain protagonists have dropped in :)

I can't get a radar letdown anywhere within some 150nm; nearest ILS is about 50nm away and the journey back home is half a day on the train with some train changes; taxi about £150. I have an NDB/DME but the MDH is not low enough for much of the weather. I can descend over the sea and do a low circling approach (because the wind is usually from the sea) but there is high terrain close to the MAP so I would not like to do that in heavy rain.

Being an N-reg pilot there is also FAR 91.175 which appears to prohibit DIY approaches. In practice this means one can do a DIY approach with an MDH equal to the MOCA i.e. down to 1000ft, but the whole issue is clouded by the lack of sub-airways ATS service in the UK which, when OCAS, prevents what in the USA would be regarded as legal IFR in the first place. All very messy.

[pistongone]

Well IO540, what area of the world do you live? Sounds like a pretty remote area and 50 miles isnt that far is it:confused: My local base is about 30 miles, nearest strip is 3 miles but its for parachutists and they wont accomodate:{ :{ Another strip 15 miles away has trees at the end of the easterly and a Crematorium on the other side of them:eek: :eek: could cut out the middle man i suppose:ok: So its a 30 mile drive for me, but the roads are clear and it usually takes 45 minutes. Compare that to when i lived in London:yuk: :yuk:

[IO540]

If I had to drive 50nm to my local airport I wouldn't bother with flying.

[S-Works]

My local airport is 300m away.....

I agree with IO it is difficult to get back into the UK during these miserable warm fronts due to the lack of usuable Instrument procedures. My nearest is Cranfield and the subsequent problems of getting home and then recovering the aircraftf later.

I do have a DIY approach but have a 600ft "limit" on it which is not much use in the drizzle 200ft we have this morning.

[pistongone]

See my earlier thread re- Di Blasi folding motorbikes:} :} No more worries of displacement. Only trouble is you would normally be displaced due to weather. So that means you would be getting the bike out in the rain, which isnt the most appealing proposition i must agree.

[englishal]

Ah yes, the santa ana winds, I have fond memories of V186 during the Santa Ana's.....The wind whistling over the mountains did not make for a smooth ride....:eek:

Still, at least there is no smog here ;) (I'll be there in November for some high tech fun:) )