Month: February 2025

Almost! I looked closer at my route from Malbec to Morand and I found a much better alternative airfield to land at to top up 24ZN’s tanks than Bellac. Just to the west there’s a private airfield LF8753 Gajoubert and the reason it’s a better bet is because it has a long, hard runway.

I’ll be sure when I eventually take off that the grass runways at Malbec and Morand are safe for take off and landing but I wouldn’t know for sure until I landed whether a grass runway on an unknown airfield was suitable and safe until it was too late. This risk will be obviated if I land on a hard runway rather than a grass one and that’s why Gajoubert is ideal.

Gajoubert is a private aerodrome that requires prior permission to land and I fired off an email this afternoon. I’ve already received a very courteous reply with a form attached just as we do at Malbec so from now on in it should be just a formality, and I’ve been told I’ll get the approval on or after this coming week-end.

So that wraps up the basic planning for my flight in 24ZN from Malbec to Morand. All I’ll now have to do is ensure that the aircraft is totally ready to go, which it is, and crunch my fight plan numbers based on the weather. Hopefully the weather gods will be kind this time around and I’ll be able to go on 5th March as intended, although to be honest it’s now looking as though 6th March will be better. Watch this space for further news 😀

I bought 24ZN, my ‘ex-pat X-air’, off my friend who I’ll call ‘K’ in England in order to bring it to France and save it from being broken up for spare parts. ‘K’ had owned it since 2007 but shortly after acquiring it and having its engine overhauled, badly injured his arm and never got around to flying it. His brother ‘P’ did put a few hours on it but by the time I became involved, in 2019, its total hours were still very low and it had spent several years parked in a hangar under full covers without being flown at all.

British microlight aircraft are subject to an annual inspection and permit regime under the auspices of the British Microlight Aircraft Association (BMAA) which in my opinion is bureaucratic, expensive and unnecessary *. No such system exists in France and the levels of accidents and incidents are no higher here than in Britain and there are no ULMs (French microlights) falling out of the air as a result and killing children, puppies and little kittens.

Because it had been un-flown for so long, ‘K’ had been informed by an ‘inspector’ appointed by the BMAA that it would be uneconomic to get it inspected and re-permitted to fly again so ‘K’ was in a bit of a quandary. I suspect that if ‘K’ had shown a sign of going along with this assessment that the ‘inspector’ would either have made an offer for the aircraft himself or would, very conveniently, have known a third-party who would be interested in acquiring it, but at ‘scrap value’, of course, as it wasn’t airworthy and would only be fit to be broken up for parts.

And that’s when I heard about it, on one of my return visits to Britain in my Savannah. I was involved in the original purchase of the aircraft by ‘K’ back in 2007 and was impressed at the time by the condition it was in and when I rolled back the covers in 2019 my impression was that it had hardly changed. And unsurprisingly so in view of the small number of hours it had flown in the meantime and the fact that it had been stored at all times since then indoors under full covers. So I thought that the idea of breaking it for spare parts was a travesty and that’s when I offered to buy it to rescue it and bring it back to its homeland, France, where the decision as to whether it could or could not be flown again would be down to its owner and not a faceless bureaucrat or an opportunistic ‘inspector’.

And my decision was not made lightly. By doing so I would be putting myself and my life even, on the line because shortly after taking off from where the aircraft was located in Kent I would be undertaking a crossing of the English Channel. This is something not to be undertaken on a whim and without having confidence in the aircraft you’re flying in, but such was my confidence in what was to become 24ZN and in my own competence to get it into a fit state not only to do the crossing but also to complete an arduous, long day’s flight from south-east England to south-west France.

I began the restoration work in the late summer of 2019 and wanted to get 24ZN re-registered, ‘exported’ to France and actually on the other side of the Channel by the end of the autumn. But it was not to be. There were bureaucratic delays in obtaining a French registration (24ZN) due to needing to ‘prove’ the identity of the aircraft ie that it actually was the one specified on the paperwork when the kit was exported from France to be assembled in the UK back in 2002.

This I was eventually able to do, by which time the favourable UK summer weather had dissipated and the autumn was turning out to be very unsettled, both in the UK and France. In the end I had to leave the aircraft in the UK and pay for months of expensive hangarage and almost unbelievably the absence of suitable weather windows meant that it remained there until the first week of July 2020. Only then was I at last able to make the crossing to France and the flight down to the Dordogne.

There’s an amusing story that arose because this was in the middle of the Covid debacle. I found out that certain categories of traveller were exempt from movement controls and permitted to enter into the UK, one of which was ‘aircrew’. So I crossed into the UK at Dover in my car, informed Border Force that I was aircrew and was there to reposition an aircraft and had my licence at the ready. I was told that I was the first person to come up with this explanation as to why I was exempt and they very considerately motioned me out of the long queue of travellers waiting to enter the UK and opened a side gate to get me on my way, for which I was very grateful.

But now it’s time for these stories and my relationship with 24ZN to come to an end. I still have my Savannah, which is my principal aircraft, and have hardly flow 24ZN in the years that I’ve owned it. I don’t now have anything like the time to fly and maintain two aircraft and 24ZN deserves so much more than to be left in the back of a hangar. Aircraft need to be flown and if they’re not they slowly deteriorate and become like museum pieces. And they need owners who understand that and are prepared to not only fly them but to also give them the care that they deserve.

So I put 24ZN up for sale in the autumn of last year in the hope of finding such a new owner for it. It took a while and although I had several replies to the ad, it was clear that quite a few were just ‘tyre kickers’ and most of the others would not come up to the mark. Until the right one turned up and decided to buy it and a deal was signed at Christmas time. Since then 24ZN has been a ‘lady in waiting’, waiting in its hangar until it could take to air and depart for its new home in Central France.

The new owner asked if I could deliver it and naturally I agreed to. The destination is Morand (LF3759) which is a flight of between 3 and 4 hours north from Malbec. Both locations have grass runways and up to now both have been too wet to take off and land at, as is fairly normal for this time of year. But the weather is changing, both are drying out and firming up and weather windows are beginning to appear (it would have been possible to do the flight this afternoon, for example, but not without the essential planning and preparations). The new owner and I have been exchanging messages and it now looks as though it might be possible to do the flight on 5th March.

But it’s not that simple, as planning such a flight never is. Even with a slight tail-wind, the duration of the flight means that for safety reasons, just over full tanks fuel will be required, meaning that there’ll have to be a landing en-route to add fuel that I’ll need to carry with me in a jerry-can. A prime stopping point would be Le Blanc, an airfield that I landed at when bringing 24ZN down back in 2020.

The trouble is that the airfield only accepts radio-equipped aircraft and since then the old-specification radio which is still fitted in 24ZN is not now officially approved. So I’ve whizzed off a request to land at an alternative airfield, Bellac, which also has a ‘new’ frequency but does not insist that aircraft using the airfield are radio-equipped. I’ll have to see what the response is, but there are one or two other small, privately owned airfields (similar to Malbec) to turn to as possible alternatives. Otherwise it’s just a matter of waiting now for the weather window and for 24ZN’s new owner to obtain written permission for me to land at Morand.

Parting with 24ZN will be a bit ‘bitter sweet’ in view of the long relationship I’ve had with it. It’s a lovely old aircraft with a great character and although I’ll be sorry in some ways to see it go, I know that Marc, its new owner, will be the right person to take it over. Until the day to hand it over finally arrives, here are a few photographs of the old girl that I took back in the autumn of last year when I put 24ZN up for sale.

The old girl still looks as good as ever – if not in her prime, not much past it, surely 😉

* I believe that a case can be made for mandatory inspections of microlights that are used in a Public category – eg at schools and for ‘pleasure’ and ‘trial’ flights for members of the public. I also think that provision should be made available for private microlight pilots who do not have either the experience or confidence to carry out their own safety inspections of their aircraft and wish to pay for another ‘qualified’ person to do so on their behalf. However, I believe that private microlight pilots who do wish to carry out their own safety inspections should be permitted to do so subject to certain safety requirements eg placarding on their aircraft, even if they wish to carry consenting passengers as they, the pilot, will still be subject to any claim made by their passenger or their estate in the event of an accident or incident whether the BMAA has been involved or not in ‘approving’ the airworthiness of their aircraft. Having a costly BMAA inspection sticker on their aircraft will not save them from this.

After my visit in November of last year, I had to return to Istanbul for more dental work. I arrived at midnight on the 3rd of February and as my first appointment turned out not to be until 3pm on the 5th, I had the whole of the 4th to myself. And lucky I did because although it was very chilly with a cold northerly wind it turned out to be the only dry day, allowing me to get out and about to shoot enough material for a video.

4th February

Despite the stiff wind, I walked the length of Galataport overlooking the Bosphorus and was incredibly impressed. I do not know what it was like previously but now it has been developed and is lined with modern hotels, cafes, restaurants, coffee shops and other places of interest that must be wonderful in the summer months, but not so much now. Even so there were still plenty of tourists enjoying its attractions despite the weather.

And like everywhere else where tourists gather, the security was outstanding and highly visible. To get into Galataport you have to pass through security with metal detectors similar to those in airports. Even if you get in through a store with an entrance on the street there is security in the store entrance and once you are on the quayside there are security officers in uniform, but not police, many of them female, every 100 metres or so keeping their eyes peeled and watching what’s going on.

Istanbul is not the place for you if you’re not reasonably mobile. The walk down from my hotel to my dental clinic takes about half an hour. It’s all downhill on the way down, so uphill on the way back. And the hills are steep. After walking the length of Galataport on Tuesday I ended up way past the road that I would usually have taken to return to my hotel so with my new knowledge of the area I decided instead to head back up to the famous Galata Tower and then back along the main boulevard along which the Taksim trams run.

I was in for a nasty surprise because after leaving Galataport and the flat area next to the sea on which it is situated behind me, the hill up which I had to climb to get up to the Galata Tower, although not that long, was the steepest that I had come across so far, and consisting of large, uneven, bumpy cobblestones. I’m not now in the first flush of youth, or even in the peak of fitness, so this represented some challenge, but I doggedly stuck at it thinking that if I stopped I’d have problems getting going again and made it to the top out of breath and probably with heart pounding. I was then able to stop and take some video of the tower which gave me the respite I needed before continuing my ascent, but this time on far less of an incline.

5th February

A cold northerly wind and snow flurries today. I ended the day with a sore mouth, couldn’t feel my nose and didn’t know for the life of me what I would be able to eat in the evening. And if I thought my hill-climbing experience the day before was bad, it was totally eclipsed today. There’s a turning heading upwards just after leaving the dental clinic and my guess was that it would take me up to Taksim Square from where I could stroll down to my hotel. I checked in a fancy pastry shop on the main road and they confirmed that it would, so off I went and would I live to regret it.

The usual route I take ascends gradually and only has one steep uphill section that is fairly demanding for one of my age and fitness but not so as to cause great physical discomfort. The same could definitely not be said of this route which was one continuous incline right from the get go. And what I hadn’t realised is that Taksim Square is also at quite a higher elevation than my hotel so the climb was also greater as well as being longer.

Nevertheless I again resolved not to give up and did the whole climb without stopping, but I shan’t do it again as this one I did find demanding. I was temporarily shattered by the time I got up to the square and had to take a few moments to get myself together again. Sounds silly, but I’m glad I got back to doing my 10 minute morning work-outs after Christmas which I’m convinced have actually been of great benefit to me.

6th February

With the weather being so unkind this time around, being outside hasn’t been much fun. Today started with an unexpected period of blazing sunshine but I hadn’t planned to go out and was in my hotel room, which is now on the top floor with a small balcony overlooking the rooftops and a small table and chairs. But no chance of using them this visit.

My dental appointments have also cut the day in half leaving little time for other activities so taken all round, my list of things that I intended to do has so far gone untouched. I decided yesterday to have a further unscheduled implant to replace the bungled crown inserted in a right-hand front top tooth by my French dentist. It involved extracting the root and then immediately inserting the implant root, so the wound was a bit raw and painful despite the prescribed antibiotics and painkillers.

By the time I left for the afternoon’s appointment the sunshine was long gone and I stepped out into a chilly northerly wind interspersed by periods of light snow and frozen rain, so there was little incentive afterwards to do anything other than return to my hotel.

An observation I made during my walk to the clinic. I hadn’t really noticed last time how almost everyone in Istanbul is a smoker and I wouldn’t be at all surprised if that even included babies and young children who are probably initiated into the smoking habit at a very young age. As you walk past the shops there are invariably people (mainly staff) of both sexes and all ages standing outside alone or in small groups puffing away and outside many of them tables and chairs placed there specifically for the purpose.

Balconies on upstairs floors of tall buildings invariably have individuals or small groups on them puffing away and shivering in the cold while they get their nicotine kick and it’s not very nice when the person you are walking behind in the street turns out to be a smoker when they exhale a foul smelling cloud of smoke which you walk into.

But if you think that’s bad, although there are what appear to be ‘No Smoking’ signs in my hotel’s restaurant, ash trays are actually handed out to patrons who then make constant use of them with their stinky fumes then drifting in your direction while you’re eating. And the previous evening I was next to a group of four guys who did just that, and I mean constant, because one, or usually more, of them smoked the whole time, before, during and after their meal even while they were actually eating. I couldn’t believe it but that’s Istanbul for you.

I could really only eat soft stuff for now and this morning I only had a few slices of bread (with its crusts cut off) and honey washed down with several cups of sweet Turkish tea. No lunch so I bought a box of Turkish Delight and some fruit jellies as I made my way back along the boulevard from Taksim Square. I managed a bowl of chicken soup and a bowl of spaghetti bolognese (Turkish style) for dinner this evening… but come bedtime I’d already eaten half of the sweets that I’d bought. I reckon I needed the sugar to replace all the energy I expended climbing those hills 😉

7th February

Off again this morning leaving the hotel at about 12.30 to have a temporary crown fitted to the new implant. We woke this morning to a thunderstorm and although it eased off, the rain pelted down while I was having a similar breakfast to yesterday’s and during my walk to the clinic.

8th February

Although theoretically my treatment was over for now, I couldn’t leave until 12th February as my flight and hotel had been pre-booked and pre-paid, so I was stuck in a cold, wintery Istanbul up until then. Here are some of my thoughts in the meantime.

With inflation running at just over 42% p.a. in Turkey, one of the things that’s noticeable is by how much the cost of ‘eating out’ has increased even since I was here in November of last year. In the first three days after arriving in Istanbul I had three evening meals which were relatively simple and the food not particularly noteworthy.

On the first evening I had a beer with my meal and the bill came to 1450 TL. At an exchange rate of around 37 TL to one euro (it’s currently standing at 37.06) that works out to 39€ which I considered a bit extreme for what was delivered.

While I was sore following dental treatment I had two evening meals here in my hotel. On both occasions they were very simple – just soup and pasta with a drink followed by a ‘Nescafé with milk’. The first one was fish soup followed by chicken noodles with which I also had a white wine and that came to 1400 TL, equivalent to just over 37,80€. The second was chicken soup followed by spaghetti bolognese (very much Turkish style!) with a red wine, and that came to 1300 TL, equivalent to just over 35€.

But both of these were beaten on the 7th when, despite the constant heavy rain, I decided I’d ‘hit the town’ and find somewhere a bit more amenable than my hotel’s restaurant. I also now had a more adequate set of teeth at my disposal but under the circumstances I didn’t want to go too far and just ended up at the Astral Fish and Steak Restaurant on the boulevard leading up to Taksim Square.

Many of the eating establishments are covered but fully open to the weather and people were eating in them despite it being cold, windy and extremely wet but the Astral offered enclosed eating, although I still found it rather cold inside. The food on the other hand, I found more than adequate – although it came at a price. I ordered a platter of three lamb chops that came on a base of pitta bread with a few chips, some chopped red onion and peppers, a large chunk of grilled tomato and a very tasty large grilled green pepper. I also ordered a bowl of mixed salad on the side, which turned out to be huge, and a 50cl glass of local beer and finished off with a small coffee that had sludge in the bottom, which I quite like.

This came to 1782,50 TL, which is equivalent to just over 48€. The chops were absolutely delicious – tender and perfectly cooked – but I think the cost of the meal was way over the top for what it was. Imagine if you came for 10 days with a partner. Your ‘eating out’ costs alone in that period would be around 1000€!

At these rates I think the level of tourism will eventually be affected as Turkey’s reputation as an ‘economic’ holiday destination will be badly dented. Or is it just me? Am I expecting to pay too little?

By the way, a ‘grande’ but in reality medium-size latte and awful sticky donut at Starbucks at the Galataport cost 249 TL (equivalent to 6,73€) which was 139 TL (3,75€) for the coffee and 110 TL (2,97€) for the disgusting donut, so perhaps all is not lost. Or maybe it is, if that’s where people will be forced to eat and drink at economic prices, away from the establishments offering more traditional and local fare.

The rain continued almost non-stop. I wanted to get across the Bosphorus on the ferry, visit the Grand Bazaar and climb the Galata Tower but I decided to leave all of my plans until the following week before returning home, when the weather was forecast to improve very slightly. I had nothing else to do as I had no need to revisit the dental clinic – just keep taking the antibiotics every 12 hours. Even the prescribed pain killers were no longer needed (5 days antibiotics and pain killers came in at 226 TL equivalent to 6,11€ which I think is very reasonable).

Although it stopped raining at around midday and it turned quite bright, thick low clouds were zipping across the sky and wind gusts of up to 45kmh or more were forecast for the afternoon. So I decided to stay indoors and nip out for a burger or something later. I was fed up with getting soaked through every time I went out.

In order to complete the work on the extra implant I have to return to Istanbul in early May. I booked my flights today because prices will undoubtedly begin to rise as the weather improves and we begin to enter the main tourist season. The cost of the return flight last November was 246€. The figure increased to 260€ for this current trip and I paid 293€ for the return flight in May. The trick is to be flexible on dates and I increased my stay by one day in May at the cost of an extra night in the hotel in order to obtain a much greater saving on my air fare.

The hotel I’m staying at, the Mien Suites, is typical of the dozens of small, privately owned hotels in Istanbul. It doesn’t have lots of stars to its name and its prices reflect that but it’s clean and comfortable and its staff are friendly and remembered me from my last visit. It’s also well placed in Beyoglu and just a 20 minute walk to the dental clinic, so that’s all good for me.

My 9 night stay this time around cost me 301€, booked through Agoda. When I arrived I was greeted by the owner and he said that I should have contacted him direct, so I passed a note to one of his sons with details of my upcoming 8 night stay in May. I’d hoped to get a good price on the same room I stayed in this time but it was not to be and I ended up booking a room in the Mara hotel that’s next to the Aral restaurant where I enjoyed an excellent, but pricey meal, a few evenings previously.

9th February

The weather forecast for Istanbul was ‘Mostly cloudy and chilly, a shower in spots late this morning followed by occasional rain and drizzle this afternoon’. At the time I made the posting it was 4 degrees C but with a stiff north-easterly wind making it feel like 0 degrees at best and possibly lower.

So it wasn’t much fun being there and I’d rather have been at home, but there was nothing I could do about it. It was so cold and wet the previous day that apart from going out for a Burger King (265 TL, just over 7€, for a burger with fries and a Coca Cola) in the afternoon I stayed in my hotel room for the rest of the day. And I couldn’t see much incentive for doing anything different today.

Back on the subject of food again.

Burger King Whopper meal with fries and a Coca Cola yesterday, 265 TL (7,16€).

Take-away kebab skewer today from a small local cafe with chick-peas, chopped onion, a smallish grilled green pepper and half a grilled tomato, albeit in a plastic container with plastic knife and fork, 525 TL (14,19€).

So the ‘simple’ traditional dish costs twice as much. Is it worth it? I don’t think so. What do you think? Are they pricing themselves out of the fast food market?

10th February

Still stuck in my hotel room stuffing my face with Turkish Delight and getting fat. And to top it all, the temporary crown inserted last week had just fallen out, so it turned out to be fortunate in a way that my stay in Istanbul was extended because it enabled a replacement to be fitted.

11th February

A late appointment (6.30 pm) to give the dental lab time to make a new temporary crown in under 24 hours, which I thought was vey impressive as it basically consists of a small plate with a single false tooth. My gum was, and still is, a bit sore with it in place but as the dentist said, it’s not surprising as the wound was still very raw even though he removed a few of the remaining stitches he’d inserted last week before fitting it.

So that was it for this visit and I’m looking forward to going back in May when I’ll be in Istanbul for 8 nights and the weather is bound to be much kinder So I should be able to do a few activities that I have planned as there are lots of things to do and see.

In the meantime, here’s the video that I shot the day after I arrived on 4th February.