Aurillac, July 29th

July 29, 2018

This morning, after sleeping at the Aurillac high school’s boarding house, it’s off to the airfield for the airshow.

The view from my room in the boarding house

I took advantage of the early morning to go and see the HOP! ATR. And since it’s open for visits, I went inside and sat in the cockpit.

It’s an aircraft with cable controls, and it reminds me, on a larger scale, of the Cessna 172 that I know so well.

Next, I visited the Marine’s Falcon 50, used for coastal surveillance. It has two enlarged windows on each side for visual observation. Then, as the public opening time approached, I headed to my plane to prepare my “amphicabine” and set up the various gadgets I made, perhaps too many. I have a feeling I’m going to be very generous with my visitors today (a flame, an F-22 model, a converter, an aviation compass for each).

At 12:00 PM, I am on duty at the welcome desk, allowing the other pilots to have lunch. I met a family from Rennes on vacation in Aurillac. I hope our conversation convinced them to come to ACRIV for a flight experience. At 1:30 PM, I’ll have a quick lunch because the airshow is about to start.