Hi Robert,
Enniskillen still sell Avgas duty free (£1.35ltr yesterday). The Gardaí are incorrect. The problem is nothing to do with them, but is instead from the British side. It’s the UK Anti Terrorism Act 2000 that imposes the obligation on any flight coming from the Republic to any part of the UK, to pre-notify with a GAR. Section 12 (3) of schedule 7 if my memory serves me correct!
There is a requirement from the Irish side too, but it’s nothing to do with the Gardaí and instead comes from customs. It doesn’t have legislative backup, so you’re much less likely to get into serious trouble over not complying.
Colm
Nice trip :) I always try to close the year with some flying on Dec 30 or 31 and I did it this year as well.
Nice report. I recognise some of those sights 
Your story about the landing gear pump is logically impossible 
The wx here has been CAT3C for days, only partly clearing today to CAT3A
Thanks Colm. Wow, 6 months to locate working hydraulic pump… once more I am glad for my manual gear.
RobertL18C wrote:
Are they still offering to train for a float plane rating?
Can’t answer that sorry. I’ve no idea.
Steve Powell moved back to England a few years back. He is still offering Seaplane ratings using G-DRAM out of Prestwick (http://specialistflighttraining.co.uk/seaplane-rating.html). The other option for Seaplane training is Clipper Seaplanes in Rochester with Anna Walker. Funny now but there was 2x Seaplane ratings providers in Ireland, and 2x Seaplane rating providers on Lough Earn in Scotland and now they have all ceased doing it for various reasons.
The photos of the bad weather in EIDL reminds me of the day my wife did her solo XC qualifier and enroute from Derry to Donegal and the weather got down to 300ft OVC and 1km vis in sea fog. She was initially refused a clearance to land at EIDL and she told them she was going to land on the local golf course. That got their attention and she found her way in. Next flight was her skills test, and she never flew solo again after that day. Licence lapsed now.
Happy new year! I don’t wish anyone their last flight of the year today, or for the next 360 some days! Global warming is a reality, which has resulted in unprecedented amounts of snow here for the last few days (the closer to freezing it is, the more snow we get, and harder it is to clear). So my hopes for a last day of the year flight were dashed by 8" of fresh snow yesterday, on top of the 4" already on the ground. I spent all day clearing driveway, cars, and planes, but not time for my runway. I’ll try today, but probably won’t have enough time.
However, my last flight of the year a couple of days ago, was the first flight for a restoration project I’d been working on for a couple of years, so that was really nice.
A new year of aviation adventure awaits!
….And first flight of the new year today! After three hours of relocating snow off my runway, it was time to fly, before the forecast freezing drizzle and snow expected in the days to come.
