 |
|
Friday 18, July, 7:10 am Tony and myself arrived at Otherton at 7:10 am (local time) having arranged to meet Gordon and Rosemary at 7:30 am. Sam was already at the field washing Echo Papa.
'We are flying Shadows, Gordon, not Hercules'. 'Rosemary had made some special bags to fit behind the seat in the Shadow so it all fitted in somehow.' The wind direction at Otherton favoured the western route via Halfpenny Green, Oaksey Park, Popham and into Southampton. Engines started, we taxied to the threshold of 34. India Fox lifted off no problem with one stage of flap and as we climbed in the circuit I watched Gordon take off, just clearing the fence. We later found out this lack of lift was due to the extra weight created by Rosemary's hairdryer. Near Gloucester we were passed to Lyneham Radar. Then just past Kemble we then heard 'Golf India Fox formation turn left 180 and descend to pass overhead Lyneham 500 ft'.
After booking in at Southampton we asked where the loos were and where could we eat. The girls behind the desk told us the facilities were in the main terminal building (a long walk) and just outside was a courtesy car that would take us there. Now this is a nice change, microlight pilots being treated just like any other visiting aircrew! The girls told us that to return, just pick up the courtesy phone next to the information desk and they would come and collect us. Brilliant! What service, we thought. Upon returning to the aircraft, again via the courtesy car, we arranged for fuel and they brought a fuel truck to us! We donned our lifejackets and looking like refugees from a shipwreck we climbed back into the aircraft. Routing via Calshot VRP to the Isle of Wight we climbed steadily, although the cloud was still keeping the sun from making an appearance. The Isle of Wight looks very small from 2,000 ft. 'No ULM (pronounced 'No Ou A Lem') Crossing the French coast, Brest told us to free call Cherbourg. 'Cherbourg this is Golf Mike Yankee India Foxtrot and Golf Mike Yankee Echo Papa'. 'Golf India Foxtrot pass your message.' (said with a French accent). 'Golf India Fox and Golf Echo Papa are two CFM Shadows currently approaching MP373 at 2,000 ft on 1024 inbound to you request landing and joining instruction.' 'Golf India Fox are you ULM?' 'Oui, yes Golf India Fax. 'We do not accept ULM monsieur.' Now this wouldn't have been so bad, but we had phoned this turkey (or should I say dindon as we are now in France,) before leaving Otherton and again before leaving Southampton and had been told 'Yes you can land here. We do accept microlights.' On both occasions. However Tony kept his cool. 'We request to land as we require fuel.' This seemed to work as he came back with the QFE and wind direction/strength and runway in use. After landing he asked us to leave the active by the first exit which only led to a patch of concrete. The main buildings were on the other side of the runway! He then kept us waiting for 25 min with our engines running while he cleared commercial and other light traffic to depart the airfield. Gordon's patience was wearing thin. 'Cherbourg this is Golf Echo Papa. Do you have any further instructions for us?' 'After departing aircraft cross the runway and park next to other aircraft.' Entering the main building and finding the cafe bar we sat down for a cup of coffee and to study the maps once again. It had taken just over an hour from Southampton to Cherbourg if you didn't count the 25 min sitting on the taxiway. Cherbourg to Dinan
Once airborne we turned south for our first waypoint, Granville. With 10 nm to run to Granville we contacted Dinard approach (about 8 nm north of Dinan) as we would be entering their airspace. After giving our details the controller asked 'Would you like to fly down the coast at 1,000 ft via Mont St Michel?' Would we ever! He was inviting us to fly low enough to be able to enjoy the most scenic route. It was as if he understood what microlighting was about. We weren't disappointed, the view was fantastic and as Mont St Michel came into view the cameras started clicking. Overhead Dinan we could get no reply on the radio, and unable to see any activity on the ground, we though they may be closed. After all it was 6 pm (actually 7 pm - we had forgotten to reset our watches at Cherbourg) when I noticed a car driving round the perimeter track. 'It's okay, ' I said 'there is movement on the ground.' Landing was pretty straightforward as there was little wind, and we taxied to the parking area and climbed out to be greeted by a smiling Frenchman who spoke fairly good English. After explaining who we were and where we had come from he opened the hanger and made room for us to put both aircraft inside. This was a relief as we didn't want to have to worry about the aircraft being left our overnight. Wandering round Dinan that evening we came across a bar (surprise, surprise!) with blues music emanating from it. Rose was already inside dancing. We stopped for a swift half litre, then moved on in search of food. We decided upon a restaurant in a small square. The food was excellent and suitably refreshed we returned to the blues bar, staying to about midnight and consuming more beer/wine, after which so sleep was not hard to attain. Saturday 19 July Dinan, Ploermel, Vannes, La Baule & back After a late breakfast we called a taxi to return us to the airfield and, having sorted out some confusion on the taxi driver's part between Dinard and Dinan, we eventually arrived back at Dinan. Following the recommendation of one of the guys in the clubhouse, we decided to fly to Baule via Ploermel, returning via Vannes and Ploermel. The flight to Ploermel was uneventful and as we continued on course I spotted a large airfield dead ahead. It was too soon to be La Baule. I relayed this information to my navigator, who decided it was Vannes. Using Vannes as a waypoint we turned towards La Baule, arriving overhead 1:40 h later. We could get no response on the radio, so joined downwind and landed without incident. The field at La Baule was home to several vintage aircraft and as they were having a bit of an open day the aircraft were lined up in the brilliant sunshine. As we sat drinking coffee on the terrace and answering numerous questions about the Shadows from the locals - where we had flown from etc - Gordon gave us a brief history of the aircraft on show. Coffee over, we decided to visit the town of La Baule, about mile away right on the coast. The taxi driver pointed out several local points of interest and said that the beach was the place to be. Having dropped us off we made our way to the beach and found a restaurant right on the sands. Ordering the food we surveyed the beach, about 3 miles long and covered with golden sand (very Mediterranean in appearance as it's situated at the mouth of the Loire valley). The food arrived soon afterwards. The return flight was uneventful and it took about 2h to reach Dinan, landing at about 8:30 pm local time. There was no one around so after securing the aircraft Gordon headed off down the road to find someone to phone a taxi for us. He returned with a house owner who very kindly gave us a lift to town. On the way he told us that the mayor of Dinan was the cousin of his wife. If's amazing the people we run into. Getting Home... Our route home was planned to be Dinan, Avranches, Deauville (refuelling here), Eu Mers and into Le Touquet, possibly crossing the Channel and staying in Lydd overnight. I would like to tell you how we ended up at Le Havre landing in a 20 kt crosswind and staying overnight when Gordon had an engine problem, but I've run out of space. Suffice it to say that we crossed the Channel and arrived back in Otherton on Monday evening when the day had cooled down and the last leg was as smooth as a baby's pink bits. This brought to an end what was an unforgettable trip; the weather had been brilliant and to all those people who helped us, a very big than you. - Reproduced from Microlight Flying Magazine, May-June 1998, with permision. |
| OTHER ARTICLES OF ASI JULY'98 ISSUE | News In Brief | Letters To The Editor | World Records | | Surface To Air | | Flying For The Tasman Trophy | | Got A Little Arm Pain ? | | Champagne Soaring | | Otherton International |  More articles on Microlight
|
|
|
|
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means, electrical, mechanical, photo-copying, recording or otherwise, without acknowledgement to FAI or AIR SPORTS INTERNATIONAL. |
