Primarily for general aviation discussion, but other aviation topics are also welcome.
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By leiafee
FLYER Club Member  FLYER Club Member
#1868474
Only 15 hours but feeling much better about flying now than I was at the opening of the year.

Spent the first half of it trying to buy an aircraft during lockdown which was an utterly joyless chore.

Coupled with the expensive endeavour of renting to try at stay at least vaugely current.Tommyhawks are always comfortably familiar so pleasant flying but oh the cost!

Eventually picked up when we located and bought an aircraft and I started the slightly nerve racking process of becoming familiar with it and rebuilding currency and comfort with wind and weather.

Was having to really push myself to fly in anything other than perfect conditions.

Then a few weeks later, went and spent two summer holidays and 18months worth of lockdown flying budget all in one big glorious hit at Ultimate High to do the aeros rating.

And now I’m downright fidgety every time I’m on the ground for more than a day :lol:

Hoping we get a nice mild September so I can get good and familiar and get back to flying out and about to new places again.

And nosing about for what I can find to fly upside down around here…
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By Forfoxake
FLYER Club Member  FLYER Club Member
#1868475
Been a busy year for me too so far, after ending of full Scottish lockdown in April:

Hours so far: 97:30 Hrs, all private flying, a bit above my recent yearly average, including an NPPL revalidation test. Mostly in my Kitfox 5 but includes almost 9 hours in a RV-4 and my first flights in a Vagabond!

Highs: Visits to fly-ins at Lamb Holm on Orkney, Kilkeel in Northern Ireland, North Coates, Glenforsa on Mull, and Athey's Moor. Discovering the wonderful airfield at Beccles during my first visit to East Anglia and of course my regular visits to Bute.

Lows: Waiting for the CAA/DfT to sort out the PMD with LAPL debacle and not getting to the Flyer fly-in at Sleap!

Thoughts on the future: Fear that, with the onward march of drones and controlled airspace, we could be the last generation to experience so much freedom with private flying in the UK. So enjoy it while you can! In any event, we need a lot more young people to take up the hobby.
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By CessnaWarrior
#1868481
Hours so far: 55 Hours from March, missed Q1 almost entirely. Spread over 40 flights.

Highs: Landing at Newquay in CAVOK conditions on runway 12. Amazing short "break" exploring a new place.

Lows: Getting COVID right before the best weather in July with the group aircraft booked for a week. Missed out on two fly-ins and what promised to be an epic camping tour of Wales.

Thoughts on the future: Need to do my complex training and get a share in a complex airframe. Or just a share :).

Hoping to get more flying in though before the winter hits us like a brick.
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By ChampChump
FLYER Club Member  FLYER Club Member
#1868494
Interesting. 123 hours to date, slightly affected by more travelling and less spontaneity.

Low points: weather, as ever. (eg. the current high pressure 'ought' to be more user friendly than it has been, on the whole, down 'ere); rethinking the m.o. overall to do things without resorting to wailing Billy No Mates.

High points: a couple of new locations in the logbook; some rethinking of the m.o. overall to do things without resorting to wailing Billy No Mates; putting the 10,000th hour on 'CC; exploiting friendships.

Thoughts on the future: keep on trucking, treasuring the small stuff, knowing things can change in a moment from any quarter; more exploration.
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By oldbiggincfi
#1868503
Paul_Sengupta wrote:
oldbiggincfi wrote:
Paul_Sengupta wrote:The aeroplane went in for its annual in May...and had nothing wrong with it. :roll:


There will be when you get it back :cry:


Nah, I've already test flown it once (I have to do it again because of the bonkers LAA rules) and it was ok. That was about 45 mins of the aforementioned hour, the other 15 mins being the ferry flight to maintenance in May! :D



Tip : take the worked on engineer on the next test flight – it concentrates the mind !
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By Aerotech Flyer
FLYER Club Member  FLYER Club Member
#1868504
Goodness, yes, what a year already. The downside is easy for me with the loss of my EASA wide licence on the 1st January. I had just returned from Slovenia in late December where I had flown over a G-Reg Malibu for the new owner and did his differences and familiarisation training for him and signed his Slovenian logbook just before the deadline, when my own FI rating and licence became UK only. Sure enough, shortly afterwards I was asked to fly a D-reg Mooney from Portugal to the UK, to which I had to reply "unable" in the standard phraseology of flight. :cry:
The only revenge I have exacted so far is on a Brexit voting owner who requested a non-standard item fitted to his aircraft to which I had the pleasure to inform him that his type was not approved to have such item fitted. He told me that it was an EASA approved STC, but did not realise that it now needs to have a UK CAA Airworthiness Approval Note AAN, which of course it didn't and also of course he didn't want to pay for the costs of being the first owner to apply, naturally! Rather an ironic touché!

Anyway, looking for some plus sides to a year of downers, where we are now also fighting to keep Coventry airport from becoming either a battery factory or more cynically likely another selection of warehouses, I can at least say that my flying has been interesting.

Only flown about 50 hours so far this year, but this has been done on over 80 flights and due the nature of our maintenance work at Aerotech has included flying Cherokees, Warriors, Arrows, C150, C152, C182T, Bonanza, Mooney, Maule, Seneca, C310 and C340. So variety is there, but also a little excitement, where I have had to nurse an O-200 engine back to the airfield with no oil pressure for Rob to despatch said engine to the shop for new main bearings and also finding out how a six cylinder turbo flies on only three cylinders after the inlet valve springs break on one cylinder and muck up the fuel mixture flow to its two neighbours.

Also managing some PPL instruction and SEP revalidations in there, as well as some strip/tailwheel refresher training for an owner. Other highlights have been my first time landing an Auster, then again and again! :roll: And getting back into the IR groove on a trip to Donegal in proper Irish weather!! Yes, like I mentioned at the start quite a year already, just hope that I still have an airport to fly from in the near future!
Cheers AF :salut:
Last edited by Aerotech Flyer on Thu Sep 02, 2021 7:32 am, edited 1 time in total.
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By JAFO
#1868506
26:55 - which is pretty good for me, actually. Every minute rented so please don't ask me to add that up.

I've visited a couple of airfields that I'd never flown to before, I've taken friends and family flying, I've started flying a new type and I've gained confidence.

All in all, nothing spectacular but nothing to grumble about.
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By shortwing
FLYER Club Member  FLYER Club Member
#1868554
I've managed 78 hours since 1/1/21 although that includes my FI course.

I suspect things will slow down now but then the weathers been shocking at weekends.
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By WelshRichy
FLYER Club Member  FLYER Club Member
#1868556
Adding up my hours this year I've only managed slightly over 15 but the majority of these are in the last two months due to a later lifting of lockdown in Scotland as well as major house renovations during May and June (we moved last October and our renovations had to wait due to lockdown).

Highs: flying regularly once again (my group PA28 and the club Robin DR400). Right hand seat checkout in the club Robin last week. A trip to Islay and Oban for lunch. We've had some beautiful weather with calm and silky smooth days recently. Taking my family flying, wife, sister, mum, father-in-law and brother-in-law. All good fun.

Lows: Trying to land the robin from the right hand seat, getting there, not very gracefully but they're getting better. They must be safe as our CFI told me to go and practice on my own after the first three. Alternator failure in Glasgow CTR whilst flying over our village in our Archer. Although ATC were fabulous, they cleared us direct to right base R30 at Prestwick from overhead Kilmacolm just in case we lost comms. I did shred everything bar the transponder and com1 and probably had a good amount of battery power left.

Looking forward to more flying over the next few months and my FI course that is all booked for March next year. Due to lockdowns hopefully this is third time lucky for my course going ahead.
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By AfricanEagle
FLYER Club Member  FLYER Club Member
#1868567
Seemed to me that I wasn't flying much but looking at my logbook I am at 50 hours since the beginning of the year, which is my usual amount.
Managed to log three new airports, one situated at 4500ft which was fun.
Participated in a couple of aero rally competitions (arriving last).
Took part in some filming for a documentary of the local Indian community.
Did some formation flying with a camera ship which has resulted in my photo being on the cover of Italy's most read GA magazine.
Fingers crossed for the remaining part of the year.
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By Rob P
#1868571
AfricanEagle wrote:Did some formation flying with a camera ship which has resulted in my photo being on the cover of Italy's most read GA magazine.


Let's see it then!

Rob P
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By Longfinal
FLYER Club Member  FLYER Club Member
#1868578
Remarkably good year given the circumstances. Part time FI and some private flying in our group aeroplane resulted in 208 hrs so far this year.

Highs: Learning from my students and seing them achieve their goals.
Lows: Seeing increasing constraints with 3+ notifications of RA(T)s per day and a regulator that seems in disarray.
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By gfry
#1868643
Total Hours so far this year 130.5 of which 58.4 are instructing hours.

Aircraft Flown
C140
C152
C177
PA28
PA32
Grob 115
Extra 200
Extra 300
Bristell NG

15 Airfields Visited

Renewed IRR

Bought an Extra 300
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By Genghis the Engineer
FLYER Club Member  FLYER Club Member
#1868659
75hrs in 6 types, 3 of those types I'd not flown before this year. On the whole, a slightly above average year - not unaffected by Covid, but overall not adversely affected either.

G
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By akg1486
#1868664
Up to and including 1 September, I've had 21 flights and 19 hours. I usually end up with 30 hours for the year and I'm a little bit behind my usual hours by this time of year. I flew more than usual in Q1, but less than usual in the summer.

Highs: As always, the summer trip with my fellow club members. Just as last year, it was a domestic five-day trip due to you-know-what. It was also shorter than usual, but on the other hand we flew more legs.

Lows: From January until early July (post vaccination) I didn't share the cockpit with anyone. That means that I not only have been flying slightly less, but I've been a lot less in the air: riding shotgun or even in the backseat is also flying.

Future: I'll be doing my difference training to single engine electric as soon as I can fit my schedule with that of the CFI. It's a side track and a bit of a gimmick, but it'll be fun nonetheless. And I'm really hoping to get back to flying abroad in 2022. Now with the vaccine we've been playing day trips to Denmark, but the weather hasn't cooperated.
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