Albi-Aurillac, July 28th

Today is the last halt of the HOP! Tour 2018… Well, maybe, because the weather doesn’t look so good.

At the weather briefing, the weather in Aurillac is abysmal, with stormy rain. We were due to take off this morning, but the departure has been postponed until this afternoon (maybe).

In the meantime, to keep us busy, we have another surprise quiz! This time, it’s about the history of aviation. A few examples:

• When was the first flying school founded?
• Which aircraft, B747 or Concorde, flew first?
• ….

Only questions where I wasn’t born yet, so it wasn’t easy…

After this surprise, a collective assessment of this Tour with the strong points and the points to improve then a presentation by Jean-Luc, who in life is a salesman at ATR, of the last gen airliner. I learned that this twin-engine equipped with 2 Pratt & Whitney turbines is one of the planes that land the shortest, since in 890 meters, the matter is done (in a commercial flight, it is 1200 meters, so the passengers don’t all end in Pekingese!). The pilot has augmented reality glasses which allow him to see the terrain in 3D at night via infrared cameras and a head-up display for flight parameters. It is also certified for 120 minutes on a single engine, which allows it to fly over hostile areas. Hostiles do not mean guerrilla but desert, maritime expanse, etc.

It’s noon, and there’s still no visibility. The Antonov and the DC3 have already departed. The A2 had to divert. Only the DC3 was able to land in Instrument Flight Rules (IFR) conditions at Aurillac, but it was raining so heavily that everyone stayed on board.

I’m taking this opportunity to have lunch with my ham and Emmental sandwiches, which were supposed to sustain me in flight, but will end up being eaten at “Albi”.

At 2:00 PM, the weather briefing announces a clearing in the afternoon. We need to be ready to take off quickly as soon as we get the green light. The original route, which included a loop over the Massif Central, has been reduced to a straight line to Aurillac, heading directly to the airfield via the valley. We need to get there quickly to ensure the last aircraft land before nightfall.

Finally, I take off at 4:30 PM. The ceiling is at 4500 feet, and I’m flying at 4000 feet. This might seem high, but around here, the ground is at 2700 feet, which means there’s only 1300 feet between me and the ground, or about 400 meters…

I arrive at Aurillac after 1 hour and 20 minutes of flight and park the aircraft for the night. That’s it for flying today and tomorrow. I won’t fly it again until my return to Rennes.

Everything is ready here for tomorrow’s finale. The Rafale aircraft have arrived and have been put in the hangar. By the way, I got to see the cockpit of the Marine Falcon 50 on the tarmac, and then it’s off to the “boulodrome”, which will be hosting us for the evening.