You can’t. Our authorities have said nothing about GA flying but given Ronaldsway (the only source of avgas) is closed to all except pre-approved cargo flights, and our borders are closed (so going across for fuel is not an option) GA is effectively grounded unless you can run mogas. Unfortunately this means I’m almost certainly going to need an early engine overhaul and there’s really nothing I can do about it other than a ground run on Sunday and put fresh oil in it.
Anyone know how France are applying the regs to GA?
Various info further back. It seems to be pretty strict. Reportedly TOTAL have locked their avgas pumps (but not jet-a1 pumps 
).
Clearly anybody with any sense is making sure they don’t show up on FR24…
How does one get fuel for the “engine preservation” flight if a land away is barred?
I doubt anybody is going to bust you on that, especially given that all this is not law but “guidance”. However it clearly makes sense to try to stretch this out because say a flight every 2-3 weeks (should be ok if hangared and with Camguard) is going to make a full tank last beyond the end of this crisis.
Unfortunately this means I’m almost certainly going to need an early engine overhaul and there’s really nothing I can do about it other than a ground run on Sunday and put fresh oil in it.
I would preserve the engine. If you can’t get preserving oil, stick fresh oil in, Camguard, and silica gel on the intake, exhaust, crankcase breather, and spark plug holes.
A really good engine ground run for say 1hr total, IO540, burns about 3 USG (12 litres) which could be carried in jerrycans.
I do wonder what effect this plague will have on pilots who have gone through a Corona illness. I am reading here that in more and more people, even with few symptoms, irreparable lung damage has been diagnosed after they have been declared healed. I suppose this would present a huge problem for anyone who has had this illness in keeping/regaining their medicals…
Silvaire wrote:
That said, I think the best approach is just to close beach parking lots and leave it at that. It eliminates the crowd fairly effectively.
Correct, that’s what was done in L.A. There’s nowhere to park close to the beach (except some narrow side streets which are mostly residential parking only) = no crowds. Pretty effective crowd control measure.
Peter wrote:
Not even access to the aircraft for engine preservation or ground running?
The law is usually enforced fairly pragmatically here, so if there was a check point and you explained the situation to the police, most of them would understand. I suppose you run the risk of getting a stickler though. Weston have amended their shut down from the end of May to ‘indefinitely’. I’m not sure why. Anyone with an aircraft still there is in real trouble as it’s completely closed for access. Maybe a phone call to the right person could get the job done.
If there is no law forcing an airport to close, yet they do so, denying access to your plane, you could sue them for your economic loss, which could be a few tens of k.
The fact that there is a virus going around is irrelevant.
Peter wrote:
The CAA text says the manufacturer guidance is to be followed.
Continental have now published SB20-03 – Engine Preservation during COVID-19 Pandemic. (local copy)
It refers to the M-0 maintenance manual, which from what I can tell isn’t free to download (only via ATP).
Continental’s SIL99-1 – ENGINE PRESERVATION FOR ACTIVE AND STORED AIRCRAFT (local copy) has been superseded by said M-0, but it does say “The best method of reducing thelikelihood of corrosive attack is to fly the aircraft atleast once every week for a minimum of one hour.”
Good luck…
@airways – this may be of interest, and I forgot which other thread we mentioned this in.
@tmo it was page 39 of this thread.
A weekly flight is nearly impossible, even without COVID19 restrictions. I’m confident that one flight a month will suffice for now.
If the lockdown continues then I might need to move the acft to a controlled aerodrome from where I can fly 100% IFR…every day if needed.
