Sometimes it is important to realise yourself that you are a lucky man. One of those moments was today when I found myself at 4500 ft over the Channel in the cockpit of an Extra 300 L. Visibility of more than 30 km\'s and a tailwind, giving me a ground speed of more than 180 Kts. Yesterday I hopped on Ryanair from Eindhoven to Standsted to pick up an extra of my friend Rob. He is working so hard that he does not have the time to fly his toy. (Stupid man, with wrong priorities). He called me if I would be so kind in getting his aircraft. ;-) What a question.
I picked it up after its anual inspection in Meppershall. (Somewhere in the middle of nowhere!) I decided to combine hard flying and work with pleasure.
So I ferried the Extra in 12 minutes to High Wycombe where I was welcomed by good friend Adrian Judd and Nigel Huxtable. A nice fresh made capucino set the tone of talking about the good old times when everythinbg was better and more fun.
After a lunch at the airport (Ceasar salad and a Pint) Nigel Lamb picked me up. It was the first time since Perth 2008 I saw him again. Nigel and I met the first time in 1987 at the Eurobatics in Speichersdorf. :-) (Contest director was Hand Vogtmann)
We sspent the afternoon at Lambs place with the kids Max, Daniel and Ben, of course Hillary was there as well. A lovely afternoon with typical English weather. 27 degrees, bloody hot. So beers to cool down, and of course a jump in the pond. Refreshing.
The evening Bar B Que sitting around the African Television (fire) brought back the good old times. Discussing the values of life and of course those who do not understand that! :-)
At midnight the temp was still pleasant.
The morning breakfast was yoghurt and honey. What a sweet way to start the day. Some weather checking (IFR conditions at the moment) and flight planning.
ETD at mid day.
The plane was all ready and filled up with fuel. 2 nigels and adrian waved me off. A direct right turn out from rwy 21 and lety the tailwind do its work. Passing north of London, next to London City LCY airport brought memories back of my race here in 2007. What a shitty track it was at a terrible location, compared to Longleat.
I crossed Damyns Hall and hoped to see activity of Mike Dentith but unfortunately he was not there. The cloudbase went up and I decided not to go via Dover but cross at Manston. Direct to Costa. Mid channel, lots of tailwind, enjoying the view of the ferries, oilplatforms and other naval activities. The vis was perfect and the coastline was waiting for me. Changing from Manston to Oostend frequency.
What a pleasure being here. Flying and playing with aeroplanes is still, after 37 years of flying, the best you can do. |
