Last ‘hurrah’ for 2016?

Possibly, as I’ve got family arriving soon and staying for a few weeks over Christmas and New Year, so I’ll not have the freedom to take off whenever I want to while they’re here. But today was just too good a flying day to miss, especially as I haven’t flown anything since back in September, with a lovely almost cloudless blue sky this afternoon, very little wind and a high of around 19 degrees C.

So Wim came up with the idea of a little local flight taking in Galinat and Condat, which would give me the opportunity to get a few landings in, before returning to Malbec. Here’s the route he suggested.

On climb out from Malbec, I took the opportunity to overfly Victor and Madeleine’s house as our good friend is now home from hospital, but hobbling around on crutches. As I expected, he’d heard the engines and was outside giving us a wave, so I did a quick circuit before heading off for Galinat.

I saw Wim going in ahead of me and landed after he’d had a chance to clear the runway. I was delighted that my first landing for over two months was a perfect greaser 🙂 After a quick stop, I went off for another, which was another good one, and then we both left for Condat with Wim leading the way.

Once again, Wim landed in front of me and we found that although there were vehicles there, the doors were open and the hangar was empty, so they were also off enjoying the flying weather. Here are some shots of 56NE and the Red Baron on Condat’s apron.

As there was nobody around, we decided to head for home and drop in at Victor’s. Wim again went off first and he’d landed back at Plazac before I overflew his airfield and turned for Malbec, where once again I pulled off a deliciously smooth landing. Very satisfying! Then it was covers on and round for a couple of drinks with Madeleine, Victor and a couple of friends. A great way to end a very pleasant day.