It’s all systems go!

It looks as though the long-awaited weather window for my flight up to the UK is at last about to materialise and that I’ll be taking off in my Savannah this coming Saturday morning. There’s no telling how long it’ll last though, at the UK end, and I recall how I had to make a dash for home the last time in 2016 as an unexpected period of nasty weather that was forecast to last for several days was about to roll in from the Atlantic.

This time it looks as though I’ll have at least a week and I’m planning to stay for around 7-10 days depending on how things work out, with friends, family and my dentist! I’m hoping that he’ll be able to fit me in because I need a little repair work that he usually does in a few minutes which the dentist here in Montignac wanted to turn into a major project that would have cost me several hundred euros. So that alone makes the trip well worthwhile. And while I’m there I’ll also be able to drop into Specsavers and get my glasses repaired and updated.

Since having my new radio and especially my new transponder installed, I’ve been able to completely revamp my flightplan. I can now fly more directly than I originally planned cutting across Class D airspace at Limoges, Chateauroux (although technically I should be above their upper limit) and Orléans. And also instead of having to fly up to Calais to file my outward flight plan and clear customs, I’ll be able to drop into Le Touquet which is inside Class D airspace, making a transponder necessary, directly on my route northwards and further south.

Although I would have liked to drop into Calais, as I’ve never landed there, that should save me a useful 15-30 minutes which will be very handy at that end of the flight as by then I’ll be starting to feel a bit tired. It’ll also be nice going into Le Touquet again where I’ve not been since the 1980s when we had our Cherokee 180, G-BGVU, and used to go there quite often for lunch and to collect the fuel tax drawback that more or less used to pay for the flight from Biggin or Rochester.

I’ve also changed my plans for the UK end of the flight. After checking in at Headcorn, I was originally going to land in a field at a private property in Kent owned by a friend of mine. That’s now not going to be possible because the field has been used by sheep and nobody is going to be there either before or when I arrive to ensure that it’s in a safe condition to land on. So instead I’ve decided on what I think will be a better solution anyway, which is to fly into a local farm strip at Laddingford.

This has two good size grass runways and is also closer to the home of my sister and brother-in-law, so it’s a win-win all round really. It has good approaches and is also secure as it’s located on an active farm on which the farmer and his family live, so I feel happy that if the Savannah is parked there for a week or so, it should be pretty safe and out of harm’s way.

Here are some shots showing my planned route. I’ve changed my planned first leg as originally I was probably going to land at Blois to take on fuel. However, it’s not clear from the published details whether the airfield is guaranteed to be open to make this possible. The automatic pump needs a BP card, which I don’t have and don’t intend to acquire and without it you need to pay at the aero club. If nobody’s there I’d be scuppered, so best not to take the chance.

Instead I’ll be going into LFYR, Romorantin Pruniers, which is slightly further east and a bit further south, but closer than Blois to my preferred track actually. There they have an automatic Total card system but which I think, much like that at La Rochelle, also accepts bank debit cards. But in any case, I’ll be giving them a ring beforehand to make absolutely sure.

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My second leg is direct Romorantin – LFAT Le Touquet, where there’ll be no problem as far as I’m aware buying fuel, although if everything goes as planned, I shouldn’t need to.

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And finally, my arrival into the UK. I’ve shown it as just a single leg although actually I’ll be landing initially at Headcorn to clear customs (not that there’s ever any ‘customs’ there to clear) and close my flightplan. Then I’ll have just a short final hop of a few minutes into Laddingford.

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I’ve got a bit to do before leaving, but not too much. Tonight I’m knackered after cutting my ‘grass’ and de-weeding it and several other areas. Tomorrow I really must get across to Malbec and adjust the idle speed of the Savannah which is too slow after I changed its carburettor rubbers and then hopefully it’ll just be domestic things to deal with.

Apart from that 77ASY should be all ready to go, so it’ll just be a matter of redoing my Schengen and GAR paperwork to take account of my new French departure and arrival points and editing my outward and inward flightplans. For one reason or another, I’ve not been getting as much flying in this year as I would have liked, so I have to say that I’m already quite excited by the prospect and really looking forward to the flight.