Touring Group to France - Part One

D-Day Beaches, Adam Stone (PIC LAPL VFR) Pilot 16th-19th September 2016

Firstly thank you Aerobility for making this possible, I had such a wonderful time with the touring group to France and Jersey.

The  Journey Begins - Tuesday  6th  September

We are ready to go! But the weather at Blackbushe Airport EGLK doesn’t want us to leave.  The cloud base is unserviceable. We are left waiting for a break, which sadly does not arrive.  Our mission is terminated for now, but tomorrow is another day! 

Wednesday  7th  September EGLK - LFAT   LAFT  -  LFRK

The weather forecast is better but the cloud base at HQ Blackbushe is still very low.  The other more experienced members of the group managed to take off leaving me behind!  But I was not giving up, the clouds had to break sometime. We waited all morning for a break and finally it arrived. Wow! The green light, we are good to go!  Take off commencing at 13:30 Zulu Tecnam. 

 G-UCAN with Damian as my passenger. I was playing catch up with the rest of touring group. When Mike rang me from le Touquet and said that the weather was lovely and that they were all having a wonderful lunch in the sun, I had a Top Gear Moment playing in my head. James May left behind as Hammond and Clarkson steam ahead.   

The first leg Blackbushe to le Touquet France. We arrived safely, my first flight abroad as pilot in command conquered! What a sense of achievement and a fresh pair of pants required!

The second leg, le Touquet  to Caen ( Northern France).  Such amazing weather. My personal high-lights on this leg were the views from the cockpit, seeing a  French Chateau, the meandering curves of the River Seine, the D-Day Beach, WWII code name (Sword), the famous Pegasus Bridge, the Horsa Glider and the Northern approach over the city of Caen. 

After we Landed at Caen I went to re- fuel, the rest of the touring group had the same idea!  Finally we were all together.  Whilst at the fuel pumps we had an amazing surprise, an original World War II Corsair, restored by RED BULL, came in to re-fuel along side us. What were the chances of that happening? We even managed to say hello to the pilot before he had to take off to Jersey.

We all made our way to the holding hanger at Caen where we received a wonderful welcome from  Didier and his team. I cannot thank them enough for their warm welcome and hospitality during our stay. 

Read about the remainder of the tour in Part Two, by Adam C. Stone.