Rarin’ to go!

My Savannah has now received the most thorough service and inspection than it’s had the whole of the time since I acquired it eight years ago. I did it for two reasons but mainly because it hasn’t been flown for months while I was concentrating on my house build and now that it needs to be got back in the air I wanted to ensure that it was in tip-top condition. It took longer than I expected due to the potentially serious problem I found with its cooling system which prevented me from completing its engine service as the system had to be drained.

This prevented me from running the engine to warm up and drain the oil but once I was able to do that and complete the engine service I was then able to embark on a thorough inspection of all of its controls. Yesterday I finished doing that by lubricating all of the control hinges and pulleys both externally on the wings and rear control surfaces and internally inside the fuselage, so all that I then had to do was give it a thorough clean externally and internally in the cabin.

As we’re still experiencing very hot days making it uncomfortable at the very least to work outside in the open, I made an early start this morning. Even so, it took me over four hours to complete the job and I had to push the Savannah back into the shade in the barn to finish the work off by vacuuming out the grit on the floor and the accumulation of dead insects. At the end it looked a treat as it always does but later on I shall have to remove a few more spots of surface corrosion and paint the affected areas before they get worse.

I took a few pictures but as I was inside the barn they were of very poor quality. Nevertheless here are a couple of shots taken of the panel and screen after I’d cleaned it inside and out with Plexus making it clear and clean again.

So what is the second reason for carrying out such a thorough inspection and service? It’s because I’ve decided that I’m going to take advantage of the current settled period of weather to make another return flight to the UK. I’ve already decided on my routes out and back as shown in this final image. I’ll provide more detailed routing information later on closer to the departure date but I’ve decided to go out to the UK via Saumur and back via Blois.

I’ve flown both routes previously so I know they work, mainly for taking on fuel as although you can purchase fuel at many aerodromes in France, not all of them accept a standard bank debit card and require payment by cash or a company card (Air Total or Air BP). The latter are uneconomic for pilots like myself because although you get invoices and a month’s credit you have to pay an annual subscription which is more than the cost of the fuel I’ll use going to the UK and back.

I have to go out and back via Le Touquet due to Schengen Area exit and re-entry rules but there’s an additional complication. If I top up my tanks at Saumur I’ll need to take on more fuel before commencing the Channel crossing. If I don’t depending on the wind direction I might make it – but then again I might not so I need somewhere that will accept my bank debit card and Le Touquet does not. Payment there is solely by Total credit card.

The solution to my problem is to land slightly off track at Dieppe which I don’t mind doing as the deviation is only very small plus it will give me the opportunity to land at a new airfield. An alternative would be to take on fuel at Abbeville but I’ve been there and done that. Also it’s closer to Le Touquet (and further from Saumur), and anyway, I’m always up for a new adventure 😉