Saintes, July 20th

This morning, the weather is perfect… for staying on the ground! We slept in dormitories with four people per room and were surprised by a fire drill around 11:00 PM. Since we weren’t ready in time, we had to repeat the process. Long live safety!

We had a military breakfast and everyone enjoyed “amphicabine” (we invited the public aboard our aircraft and showcased the cockpit). As all pilots who aren’t flying due to being grounded, I spoke with Gabriel, whose name I particularly like – it’s easy to remember! He is the pilot of the DC3 for the HOP! Tour caravan. He landed on the runway in Cognac, likely to avoid strong braking, as the Saintes runway is 1000 meters shorter! From Landivisiau to Cognac, that’s 700 liters of AVGAS!

Kevin, the “air-shipwreck” victim at Redon, finally joined us in the afternoon. As the weather improved, we conducted maneuverability exercises. Just before taking off, I was delighted to meet Patrick Schmitz’s daughter, who came specifically to visit me. I would have loved to stay longer, but the HOP! Tour schedule must be stick down to the second!

During the maneuvers, usually accompanied by my instructor’s applause (see the video ), I was too high on the approach, despite maintaining optimal parameters; this was likely due to a rising thermal. It was impossible to perform S-turns to get closer to the landing point because the parallel runway was occupied by gliders – so much for the score! At 5:30 PM: Briefing for tomorrow’s flight, heading to Bourges.

A trip down memory lane!

A good memory with Patrick, during my first solo flight in March 2015. The video of that memorable landing is here .

And there, on April 29th, 2017, shortly after obtaining my PPL, my first solo flight in a PA28 to take the family for a ride. Thank you again, Patrick, for your patience, advice, and kindness.