For a number of reasons, some good, some bad, I haven’t done near as much flying this year as I normally would.
But today the magic things came together. Aircraft availability, weather and time. It’s been an extremely busy few weeks in work, so the opportunity to de-stress a little was welcome, so I took the opportunity to have a nice trip.
The flight was one that I’ve done many times before, but hopefully it’s interesting for you guys. The trip was from my home base EIWT Weston, near Dublin to EIIM Inishmor, a small island just off the west coast of Ireland.
I’d intended to bring a client of mine who loves flying but he was called away on work at the evening before. So my wife jumped at the opportunity to come. She’s really starting to enjoy flying 
The weather was perfect with hardly a cloud in the sky, and visibility of probably 30km. This is somewhere in the midlands of Ireland.
This is Lough Ree. It’s situation on the River Shannon adjacent to Athlone. We have no shortage of lakes in Ireland!
This is the town of Athlone. It’s one of the principal crossing points on the River Shannon.
A rather poor photo of Galway Airport. It’s still in use by the local club.
Galway bay with it’s many little Islands
Galway City, which a curious little island. Galway ATC used to have a very curious practice of sending VFR transit traffic an invoice for ATC services! ATC is gone now and the zone isn’t active, so that’s no longer an issue.
Coasting out now from Galway city to the Arran Islands. I always think that sun and water make lovely views!
Inisheir is the island in the centre, and Inishmaan on the right.
All three (sort of) in one photos. Inisheir on the left, Inishmaan in the centre and Inishmor on the right.
They all have a hard runway of approximately 500mtrs, though they all seem to have some tiny stones on the surface that can catch you out if you do your power checks on the hard surface. Aer Arran services the islands in their Islanders from the Galway cost, rarely venturing as high as 1000ft for the 5-8 minute crossing.
This is Inishmor airport, our destination today.
On the way into the town.
The sprawling metropolis of Kilronan, the main village on Inishmor!
Main street, Inishmor. It was very quiet today; very much the off season with most places closed. During the summer this place is very busy.
These look like very small holiday properties. They are under construction. They seem to consist of a small room with a bathroom, bed, counter top and chairs. Overall smaller than your typical hotel room.
Inishmor on departure
Lighthouse on a little island beside Inishmor airport
The Burren is an area designated as a National Park in Ireland. It’s famous for it’s exposed limestone landscape. Some of you may have visited the Ailwee caves here.
Loughrea (the town, which has nothing to do with the lake “Lough Ree” mentioned earlier, despite the names!)
The shadows getting longer and the light red-er as evening approaches.
An airfield that I spotted that I hadn’t previously noticed.
All in all, a nice day out!
Colm
dublinpilot wrote:
Some of you may have visited the Ailwee caves here.
Yes! One of my dreams is to spend a couple of years before retirement with Aer Arran… (on the other hand I know someone who used to fly for them and is now a simulator instructor – so obviously not all is as nice as it seems).
Nice trip report, thanks for sharing. Looks chilly!
Beautiful, thanks for sharing
Nice report, thanks! Is the Galway airport available nowadays?
Great report, looks lovely! I keep meaning to fly up the West coast to Donegal, as I have family on Arranmore. Maybe next Summer!
What a/c do you fly, Colm? That runway is pretty short!
Thanks guys
Is the Galway airport available nowadays?
Unfortunately not. The Galway flying club still operate from there, but nobody else is allowed to use it unfortunately.
What a/c do you fly, Colm? That runway is pretty short!
I fly a Piper Arrow II. The runway is 500mtrs. It has a significant slope in the middle which can make things much harder or easier depending on the direction!
