Andrew and I flew to Stapleford with G-EJBI as Andrew was doing some flight training there for a CPL. I was sitting outside the cafe enjoying a coffee when Andrew with his instructor flew a low pass which I thought was nice of them. It turns out it was not for my benefit at all, they were having problems with the gear and wanted the tower to check the wheels were down. They landed safely.
Cherbourg
Time to catch up with the blog! A few days after our wonderful trip to Old Warden, Paola and I took G-EJBI to Cherbourg. I am still a little unsure how keen Paola (my wife) is, regarding flying in the Bölkow, I suspect it is more the pilot than the plane which concerns her. For a while I have wanted to check out Cherbourg as a gateway to France and the Channel Islands. It is well worth a visit, we didn’t leave the airfield but a reasonably priced refuel, nice meal and the purchase of a dozen bottles of wine made for a good trip.
Old Warden Season Opener
We applied for a landing slot as soon as this event was advertised at the begining of the year which seemed wise as the event was a sell out. The weather was absolutely superb and the airshow excellent, starting with a Typhoon and ending with a Boxkite. Take a nice picnic and some friends for a perfect day out.
April 2018
We flew a few local flights and made another trip to Duxford. My father was visiting and we were able to fly him on a couple of occasions and hence the visit to Duxford to see some of the planes he flew as an R.A.F. and B.O.A.C. pilot. It was a great pleasure to be able to fly him in G-EJBI again and rather poignant as he was to pass away the following month.
March 2018
Not a great deal of flying in March but we did take G-EJBI to Duxford again. I like to stick with hard runways in the winter as I am not a fan of possibly damaging grass and cleaning mud off the wing. Duxford is the ideal winter destination, great value, good food and warm hangars. Oh, did I mention the rather good museum!
Jan & Feb 2018
A bit of a slow start to the year flying G-EJBI. January saw just a couple of local flights and February had a local flight and a trip to Turweston. After Richard (G-EFTE) kindly pointed out a supplier in Germany, I have managed to install the secondary door locks which gives some peace of mind, the primary door locks are not the most substantial item and a door open in flight would be pretty alarming.
End of Year
November and December were very quiet for G-EJBI. I flew my daughter Lucy on a trip and likewise Andrew took Lucy up to teach some basic flying skills. A Sky Echo unit was an early Christmas present to myself which is now mounted with a RAM mount on the cabin centre pole. It feels good to be conspicuous and will feel even better, if and when, we get approval to run it alongside the mode C.
Annual Maintenance
Our next trip after Donauwörth was to Farley Farm for annual maintenance. I flew down in the left seat, must have all of 5 hours logged on type now! The idea was that I would go back down and help out with some of the work but when I called Mike a few weeks latter, somewhat surprised, G-EJBI was ready to be collected. Well not quite, she would not start. It was off with the old ‘lightweight’ starter motor and a new ‘heavy’ one fitted. I will discuss G-EJBI’s new found reluctance to start in a latter post. Here is a picture of D-EBLI which has been at the farm for a few years now, would love to see her back in the skies.
Donauwörth to Home
Andrew and I talked a lot about taking G-EJBI a little closer to Munich so we could enjoy a visit to Oktoberfest. In the end we decided to use the fine weather on the Sunday and head home. The fly-in had been expertly organised and included many firsts, I doubt I will ever see another hot air balloon display with burners lit in time to a Queen soundtrack! Richard and Brian had flown their 207 G-EFTE from the UK so it was great to meet them, Rolf and Sylvie flew in a very beautiful Klemm 107 and all the other 207, 208 and 209 owners made us most welcome. Routing in pretty much a straight line to the coast, we stumbled across Hockenhiem motor racing circuit and saw the Concorde and TU-144 on Sinsheim museum roof. A quick stop at Calais for Schengen and fuel, then back home.
Donauwörth 4
Saturday and G-EJBI was part of a fly out to the Messershmitt Museum at Manching. Manching is another Airbus facility which produces the Eurofighter but with limited access to the museum this trip was quite a privilege. The trip is very well summed up in this video by Stefan Langer, Stefan is a german junior gliding champion, his blog is well worth a look. Returning from Manching we took a detour south of Munich to go and see the Alps. No luck this time, Munich radar would not let us above 5000′ due to our intermittent Mode c return. Saturday night and more food and beer as we join the celebrations in the hangars for the 50 year MDG celebrations. We are being well looked after by our hosts.