Flight test today after annual from Gloucester to TRA2 near Boscombe Down. All right when we started but weather really clogged up this afternoon. Highlight was the simulated emergency descent from FL280. 6000fpm is fun.
Fun when not an emergency Jason, lol
Indeed.
6000 fpm was a standard rate for Concorde with the in-flight-idle-reverse set on the two inboard engines. At a push it could also be set up to a decrease rate of 11,000 fpm!, though only subsonic and for four minutes maximum. I guess that would help the caviar and champagne slide down the throat nicely when dropping out the sky at that rate ;-)
Mine was at flight idle with landing gear extended.
First flight of the year was my shortest flight “ever”.
I hadn’t been flying in November and December and was hence desperate to get airborne again, so I went on the first possible day. Sunday was actually a really nice and sunny spring-like day hereabouts.
Plan was to do some Touch & Go landings, but everything took a little bit longer that morning. Took a while to fire up the engine (C152, parked outside, not been moved for a couple of days) and then frankly, after two months, me processing the checklists took longer than at my best times, too. 
Paired with noise abatement restrictions after 12:00UTC at my airfield, I really just made it for one take-off and landing. Flight time 7 minutes. Definitely worth it, though.
Last weekend I flew for the first time this year from Teuge (EHTE) to Borkum (EDWR) and back again. Was very nice weather indeed. Can’t wait for the days to lengthen.
My first flight of the year was to Haxterberg, across Hochsauerland to Meschede and back along the Moehnesee…. lovely weather for it….
En route, flew close to the Wewelsburg which is Germany’s only triangular castle:
And, as the weather was pretty good, I wasn’t the only one in the air…..
As others have said, looking forward to the days getting longer…..
My first flight for 2014 showed me both the good and the bad of winter flying…
The good was on the outbound flight:
The bad was on the return flight Ouch!
Why are headwinds always stronger when returning on the reciprocal course? 
WOW that is the first KFD840 I have actually seen installed! What plane is that? Not the SR22 clearly… Their subcontractor stopped making the KFD840 around April 2013.
