A bit disappointing: we’ve not flown off the island since early July mainly due to free time and good weather never occurring at the same time.
Too bad. I already wondered about that in Peter’s post where he mentions 10 weeks of good summer weather in the S. UK but bad weather in central Europe preventing further trips.
Well in this part of central Europe, namely Northern Germany, we had possibly the best summer of all time, with basically min. 20°C and CAVOK from mid April to mid October. If weather alone was my limiting factor for flying I’d have racked up 800 hrs instead of 8 this year…
Hit my annual goal of 150 hours in 2018. My competence seems to improve markedly if I can fly well over 100 hrs each year. Of this about 120 hours in PA46 Malibu Mirage and 30 hrs in J3 Piper Cub (but number of landings is the inverse ratio – maybe 150 in the cub and 80 in the Mirage). Achieved some key goals: flew to a really cool new destination for me – Venice Lido LIPV, and started flying night again after a long time with no night hours.
Goals for 2019: again minimum of 150 hours, start flying longer distances night IFR, start flying to Germany, Poland and points east. Maybe because of where I initially trained as a pilot (French Switzerland), and the fact that I am familiar French RT phraseology I have found over the years that I am pulled from my base in the UK mostly to France, Switzerland and the Alps generally and points south. I have no German language skills and have got the point (perhaps due to age) that I am slightly intimidated by the idea of flying in Germany and the surrounding countries, so I have to break that mental barrier this year.
Last one, do some proper long distance flying in the US. I manage to do a couple of hours most years in the US, on holiday trips, but all local VFR stuff. So it would be good to get up into the airways in the US.
16 hours for me considering that I got my license in July. I took my friend, wife and kid with me. I even managed to do a few business trips ;-)
For 2019, I have lot on the list:
- fly outside Germany
- get UL rating and fly a lot and cheap, not too far I suppose
- get FAA piggyback license and fly there
So, checking my logbook, 85 hours this year, including my longest non stop flight of just shy of 4 hours from Jersey to Paderborn – glad my bladder held up. Achieved a few aims, amongst which was flying to Scotland. Attended a Cirrus training session in Rotterdam.
Most interesting experience was to be cleared into Class A Airspace – as a VFR pilot on a VFR flight plan – when leaving Hawarden and climbing up to Flight Level 50, seeing a SqueezyJet A319 cross us at FL 060 on it’s way into Liverpool. I was asked – can you accept an IFR clearing at FL 050 and decided to accept it, after all, it was CAVOK and I preferred being higher in case of engine failure – the engine had just been overhauled…..
About 85+ hours total in 2018. A solid, average number for me. However, yet again, only just a few hours of instruction given.
Two bigger trips this year, one to Greece in May and one to Portugal in July. Both in the SR22. Plus several smaller trips, one of which was a great flight to the Swiss Alps in the Arrow IV. And an unforgettable short trip to Norway, where we had sunshine and 30 degrees. All in all, the weather was fantastic and I hardly ever “needed” the IR.
More than anything however, 2018 has been the year of type diversity for me. In addition to the Cirrus SR22 and the Piper Arrow IV, I flew the Grumman AA5A, the Morane-Saulnier MS880B, the Cessna 177RG, the Beech 35-C33 and the Cessna 172H. Loving them all!
As always: knock on wood, all went well.
80+ something of varied flying. A few hours of glider towing in the WT-9. Zephyr and Faeta instructing most of it. A few trips with the Army Cub and even C-172s, and acro in the Safir. Each summer I hope to be finished with at least one of my homebuilt aircraft, but there is always a summer coming so… , it will be finished in the summer, not totally sure which summer And with all these other cool planes to fly. I eventually got hangar space from the summer, so I need something with wings to fill up that space.
So many cool planes to fly, so many cool ways to fly, so little time to do it. Next year will probably be much like this year. Lots of instructing, but I think I will focus on Cub and Safir exclusively for the rest, so I don’t lose my “edge” in stick and rudder handling and procedures. The Safir is a very good plane to keep current in. It’s complex enough for procedural stuff (retract, CS prop) and aerobatics surely hones the stick and rudder skills. What it lacks is a tail wheel, which is where the Cub fits in. If I only had more time then I would also do more towing and seriously pick up gliding again.
In the beginning of the year I was halfway through my CPL training, ATPL exams, and hadn’t yet began instrument training.
My goals were to finish my US Commercial, IR, and multi engine; finish my EASA ATPL exams and then convert my FAA commercial, multi and IR. I’m happy to say I completed all those goals. I had traveled back to the US in September (2017) to begin the process and rented a small apartment for a year to do all of it at a small community college.
In the first half of 2018 I completed my FAA Commercial and IR, got my complex endorsement and flew the G1000 for the first time.
I started multi training in July after completing the FAA commercial and IR, and after some trouble finding a DPE completed the ME in the beginning of September. Learning the DA42 was great (except for the drain on my wallet), there is so much to love about that plane.
I came back to Sweden and finished my last 7 ATPL exams in the beginning of October. Right after that I did my conversion training and finished early in November. It’s been a busy busy year.
I flew 132 hours so far this year and will probably tack on 2-3 more by the end of it.
Next year I hope to complete my MCC by early February and then start applying for jobs more aggressively. I want to be flying for pay by september. Related to this is that I want to gain my Swedish citizenship as it’s needed to work in Europe and to open up job opportunities (right now, I’m limited to just Sweden).
I want to continue building on the skills I learned last year (especially IFR flying) and fly at least as many hours as this year.
About 30 hrs in total. Got the night rating. Got some flights in South-Africa and USA. Some new types: Warrior, Archer and C177RG. Prices in the club increased with 5-10%… If only I had more money…
2018 achievements are in the old thread.
2019: CPL theory by February, FI theory by April. Hope to have CPL/ IR / FI all finished by October. Want to fly a new type, do some gliding, fly with a kid to keep a promise. Take my family to the sea, finally visit EDXH. By the end of 2019 I´d love to see 100+ more hours in my logbook and a big smile on my face.
British but flying in the Eastern Caribbean.
Had a target to make 300 hours – got to it in November.
Flew up to St.Barths and did the scary landings training.
Horrible experience in Tobago.
Overall a good year, planning the special training to land on Mustique in 2019.
