Dan’s 2018 Flying Review

Its been an amazing year of flying for me, one in which I almost achieved my aim of invalidating my life insurance…

Er, not quite like that, I mean, I nearly, so nearly flew more than 49 hours in one year, which is the limit on my insurance.  Nearly but not quite.  I flew 46 hours and 35 minutes in 2018. 

My flying year actually began in January in 2018.  I’d not flown for nearly five months and so I booked a session with Marcus at Mainair to ensure I hadn’t forgotten how to fly.  Happily, after nearly an hour we landed and Marcus was satisfied that if I took the Eurostar up on my own I would be capable of returning in one piece. This was a great way to start the year as I had already taken the plunge and booked my LAPL conversion course for February and so wanted to get back in the saddle with an aircraft I am comfortable with.

January TT 1hr 30 minutes – Eurostar

Moving on to February I flew nearly 11 hours, with just over 8 of those spent flying the Citabria as I attempted my LAPL conversion.  Unfortunately, due to a combination of terribly bad weather (snow.  Lots of snow.) I did not manage to complete the course before the April deadline but, I did gain loads of experience flying into unfamiliar fields, flying circuits at a controlled airfield, operating out of small strips erm hills, flying in IMC and much more.  I put this experience to great use the following month.

February TT 10hrs 55 minutes – 8hrs 10 minutes Citabria and 2hrs 45 minutes Ikarus C42

A trip I’d always wanted to do was Caernarfon.  Thanks to my new-found confidence gained from my February flying experience down at Bosbury in February I took my girlfriend Kaz for an expensive bacon sandwich down the Welsh coast.  This was my longest trip to date, with a return flight time of nearly three hours in the Ikarus.  It was a beautiful trip with lots of memorable landmarks scrolling under my wings.  I also took a Eurostar into Rossall for my first landing at the field where my own AX3 is now based.

March TT 3hrs 55 minutes – 2hrs 45 minutes Ikarus C42 and 1hr 10 minutes Eurostar

During April I managed to get airborne several times, the highlight for me was a trip down the low-level corridor to Otherton near Stafford, an airfield I’ve looked at for many years as I’ve passed it on the M6.  Nice little field and the local fliers made me very welcome, despite their being nowhere to get a cuppa.  One even kindly offering me a coffee from his flask.

April TT 4 hours – 3hrs 10 minutes Ikarus C42 and 50 minutes Eurostar

I did plenty of flying in May as well with two trips down to Sleap and a first flight into ‘Huddersfield International’ or Crosland Moor as its actually called.  These flights were great fun and I learned a lot but the highlight for me from May was my first circuit in my AX3 at Rossall.  Yankee Lima had just passed her annual permit but it was windy, it was miserable and it was borderline not flyable, but we managed a single circuit on 02.

May TT 4 hrs 10 minutes split across three different types – 3hrs 10 minutes Ikarus C42, 45 minutes Eurostar and 15 minutes AX3

Into the summer months and during June I was a little less adventurous.  Getting airborne frequently but all local flights from Barton or Rossall.  I completed my conversion to the AX3 with James from Attitude Airsports and flew my first solo circuits in my own plane.  This was something I’d dreamed about since being a little boy, and there I was flying my own plane, solo.  Magic!

June TT 3hrs 45 minutes – 2hrs 55 minutes Ikarus C42 and 50 minutes AX3

My most active month as pilot in command came during July where I logged just over 6 hours including trips between Barton and Rossall (twice), Barton to Sleap and also my first land away in the AX3 with a short hop from Rossall to the wings and wheels fly in at St Michaels a navigationally challenging 6 nautical miles away.

July TT 6hrs 5 minutes – 4hrs 35 minutes Ikarus C42 and 1hr 30 minutes in my AX3

At the back end of August and after a few weeks away in the sunshine I managed to squeeze in four local flights in six days – mostly in the AX3, with one trip around the North West in the Ikarus.  This was great for practising RT and requesting transits through controlled airspace.

August TT 4 hours with  1hr 30 minutes in the Ikarus C42 and 2 hrs 30 minutes AX3 time

As summer turned towards autumn you may remember I took my little AX3 out to the beach in September and did my first landing at Knott End, I’ve written about this for MF and I think it may be in the February edition of the magazine so look out for that in the next few weeks.  I also did several local flights as I continued to get to know my aircraft.

September TT 1hr 45 minutes all AX3

Into October and managed to get out to Sleap for my final land away of 2018, this was the trip I caught a puncture on that I wrote about late last year.  I also took my eldest daughter flying in YL and we climbed to the heady heights of 3500 feet.  It was cold, very cold.. So cold in fact my daughter was amused that she could see her breath!

October TT 2hrs 20 minutes – 1hr 40 minutes Ikarus C42 and 40 minutes AX3

During the last couple of months of the year I managed a few locals and managed to get flights in, in both November and December to keep my record of flying in every month this year.

November and December TT 4 hrs and 10 minutes 3hrs 25 minutes in the Ikarus C42 and 45 minutes in the AX3.

Some statistics (for those that like them):

Total Time: 46hrs 35 mins

AX3: 8hrs 15 mins

Eurostar: 4hrs 15 mins

Ikarus C42: 25hrs 55 mins

Citabria: 8hrs 10 mins

PIC: 36hrs 5 mins

PUT: 10hrs 30 mins

Tailwheel time: 8hrs 10 mins

11 airfields (9 of them new – Rossall Field, Halfpenny Green, Bosbury International, Gloucester, Crosland, Otherton, St Michaels, Knott End Beach, Caernarfon)

So, as I said at the top, it’s been an exceptionally good year for flying for me with loads of great experiences.

I took to the skies in my own plane for the first time, attended my first fly in, did some tail wheel training, landed on a beach and flew a GA aircraft as well whilst working towards the LAPL licence. I also passed 100 hours P1 and flew a total of 4 different types this year, also managing to more than double the number of airfields I’ve visited. Not to mention getting my first printed published pieces in Microlight Flying magazine.

It’s been a good year. I look forwards to more this year!