Denmark, “on our way” from the south of France back to the UK. Mix of IFR to get there and local VFR flights. Managed to fly more than 100h despite the plane being out of action for a number of weeks in the spring for a panel modification, so a good year!
Tartu-Prague – which is was the only one which could be called a trip (14h total)..
Total 70h, would have been more but the plane was on 100h service on sept-okt.. Good year.
The greatest/ most exiting/ relaxing/ beautiful trip this year was our rather spontaneously planned Easter vacation flight to LIPV from EDDP.
It started with the unnerving experience of realising that the disintegration of the drain valves during preflifght would require us to drain 30 gls of AVGAS from the freshly refuelled Cardinal (sigh). My family however is well trained to be resilient regarding the adventures of GA.
Luckily a friend of mine offered us his P210, so off we went. So apart from two hours delay nothing serious happened and after arriving at Venice ( we were even offered concrete parking) we enjoyed our time so much that we decided to extend the stay. Try that with CAT.
Visiting four countries in six days. C172 VFR trip, hectic a bit, challenging weather, exciting. Prague to lake Balaton, Hungary (Siofok, LHSK). Departure from Siofok avoiding closing storm, crossing all of Slovenia to Portoroz LJPZ in marginal VMC. Experiencing Formula 1 like pit-stop in Portoroz; parked, refueled and on our way to Piran in about ten minutes. Flying the beautiful coast of Croatia to Brac LDSB and overlooking the Golden Horn from the rooftop of brand new hotel of surprisingly high standards. Visit of Mali Losinj LDLO fell behind our expectation a little, but still nice to see. Quick pit-stop in Portoroz again followed by crossing northern tip of Adriatic Sea to Venice Lido LIPV. Crossing the Alps in challenging weather, lots of clouds and showers but luckily not much wind. Three different routes prepared paid off.
Sherburn to Lelystad. Lelystad to Wiener Neustadt, dodging weather before following the Danube. Then on to Losinj, back to Pula (recommended) and onwards to Cannes via TORTU. Final day, Cannes to Le Touquet and Le Touquet to Sherburn. PA39 C/R. Just under 2 weeks in total done as a family with a one year old child.
I had a great 4 day trip from Budapest to Massa de Cinquale, which looks pretty easy, but I almost left my partner behind, becasue of nasty performance limitation at that field. Due to strict Italian noise requlation you cannot take off towards to the sea (where the wind comes from), so you have to manage your weight, in order to be out of the trees at the departure end. Additionally, it was wise to monitor the wind forecast to depart in the least wind period. Additonal challange was, that the wall of trees, which protected the field from the winds, but as soon you climbed out above 10 meters, the tail wind kicked. It was tight, but the calcuation matched the life. 4 POB, with bagagge, or 2 with more fuel big NOGO.
Happy New Year to all of You !!!
Very difficult to say… I’ve made four major trips this year.
1. Ardeche, France (via Swiss Alps)
2. Southern Norway (via Denmark and Helgoland)
3. Croatia/Italy/San Marino (via Austrian/Swiss Alps)
4. Alps Tour (CH, AT and IT)
The best one would be the very spontaneous tour to southern Norway. Just 3 days, including a day visit to Helgoland on the way back. But the rest was awesome too. One highlight during the Alps tour was definitely my first altiport in Italy. Very challenging including an awesome fly-inn party at LIGT.
But also my smaller daytrips to Belgium or the Netherlands was very enjoyable too. And not to forget my frist little EuroGA meetup at EDFN. 
Fortunately, that restriction (NOTAM) was temporary and is no more now. Also, it wasn‘t due to noise, but due to obstacles (trees).
I guess my biggest trip in 2019 was from LFOL (l’Aigle Saint-Michel) to LFRD (Dinard) with some friends from the US, including, of course, an overflight of the Mont-Saint-Michel. Otherwise, a lot of short flights in Trondheim area. I almost forgot, a long Navigation with the Cub, from Værnes to Meråker with 20 knots headwind, took almost 45 minutes instead of the usual 20 minutes :-).
In total, around 30 hours of flying in 2019, which is quite high for me. For 2020, I’m hoping to keep the number high, get my VFR-Night qualification and do my CRI.
Happy and safe flying everyone!!!
