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Trip
to the
Piper Club
of France
"Rassemblement"
15th-19th June 2006
by
Phil Wiltshire
Malcolm R was to
have
gone on this trip but was unable to and Jim kindly offered the place to me. We
were
to have left Popham at dawn ( 7am ) on the Thursday but forecasted was
an
almost stationary front over The Channel at midday. But ....to the west
the UK was
CAVOK. So,
not wishing to waste good flyable weather, we flew the Vagabond down to
Dunkeswell for lunch.
Returning Popham
mid
afternoon we found that the front had moved east, away from The Channel.
Headcorn
could now be reached for a night stop. Off we set. On base leg for 11 the runway was
changed
to 29. "Just testing" said the chap on Control. But it didn't throw us. Staff there
were
very helpful, prepping our Flight Plan, giving a list of B & B's to
ring, etc.
Selecting
the closest B&B in Headcorn village, we tried to get a taxi, but obviously some
football match was on. Stopping at a little shack near the airfield for
a pint of orange
to keep
the dehydration at bay, the lad behind the bar said our B&B was just a 10 min
walk
away. Suckers that we were, we walked 4 miles down a busy road with no pavements,
before
reaching the village pub, the George & Dragon. A good meal there, after which the
B&B lady kindly fetched and took us the last two or three miles.
Next morning
fuelled
and loaded, we lifted off at 0825 and coasted out at Dymchurch for a quiet trip
across
the water to Abbeville. Flight Plan closed, the next leg was 2.3 hrs South to Blois.
Almost
missed lunch there. And afterwards, India Juliet was having a tantrum. We
primed, we
sucked in, we swung and swung in the heat, we pulled out plugs to find them
dry. We
sought the help of an engineer who was working on business jets. He encouraged us
to do
more of the same and eventually the wee beastie burst into life. This had delayed
our
next leg and we wondered about reaching Argenton in time for fuel. However the kind
lady
in the Tower at Blois phoned ahead to ask if they could stay open for us. So
finally
airborne, the leg to Argenton took 1.4hrs, landed just before they
closed.
Jim had planned
the
last leg to Belves in the Dordogne to run east of Limoges and we did start on that
track.
However the western edge of the Massif Central threatened to rise up into the cloud.
We
made a decision on the hoof to transfer to the west side of Limoges where the
terrain was
not only lower but there was a convenient power line running all the way down
toward
Perigourd. This we followed, trogging along above the cables and pylons with the
cabin
window open, admiring the scenery in the warm late afternoon sunshine, while
checking exact position against the chart using Jim's wonderful GPS.
Down in the
Dordogne
the skies were darkening - Cu Nims on the run in to Belves and we were last in,
arriving just before 9 pm. The earlier crews were just leaving by minibus.
Having tied `IJ
down
against the approaching storm, Guy Foudrain, organiser of the event, ran us
down the
hill to the town and hotel. The Brits were already seated at table outside the
hotel. "I
know him" said I, tapping a shoulder with a "Bonjour Monsieur". Yes, Malcolm had
hitched a lift in an Apache flown down from Thruxton by Ian.
During dinner, our hosts brought a moustachio'ed old chap over to the
table. "Ee's a wartime hero,
flew
into Paris and rescued it from the Germans". "Cor``, I said " I bet he was popular with
the
girls after that". Finally the flashing and banging of the storm dissolved into a
torrent and we went inside. Seven hours had been the trip time down from Headcorn,
then
with prop swinging in the heat at Blois, the good meal at the hotel, a little wine,
struggling to speak the Franglais .... we slept well that night.
Next day, we
wandered
round the narrow streets and square, taking a `Latte Grande` in a pavement cafe,
writing
the postcards. Belves is a quaint medieval walled town overlooking
wooded
valleys.At midday the
other
crews went up the hill to the field for lunch: I returned to the hotel
to meet Bill, a
friend
from RAF days who'd driven over from his place north of Perigourd.
Later we went up
to
the field, looked round the visiting aircraft; three other Vagabonds, a
Pacer and the
Apache
twin had made it to Belves. Bill was pleased to be speaking English again. In the
evening
the lightning was again flashing against the Cu Nims. We sat at two long tables in
the
hangar, 20 people per side, speeches from the Piper Club president, the
local Mayor,
etc.,
presentation of plaques, the launching of `Willy', a small bear in
pilot kit who was to
travel
around the world in Piper aircraft with his log book; many courses and dishes,
endless
bottles of wine - which we could only sniff at ( flying the next day).
Sunday
18th June
dawned with ground hugging stratus, but by 1130 it had lifted a little
and we left the
waving
onlookers at the side of the runway to head north. Belves field being high, short and
rough,
we had unloaded all spare clothes on to the Apache to take back and had uploaded
only
three quarters fuel. This took us all the way to Chauvigny as planned ( there
were
some bolt holes had a headwind developed or the fuel burn been higher than
expected ).
Chauvigny is
huge, two
Heathrows would fit in it. Substantial club premises are provided by the State as
recreational facilities, but only four people were there. And... they
were out of fuel.
Fortunately one chap had a small reserve in the hangar. This was enough
to get us over to
Potiers
to the west of planned track. France seems to close between 12 & 4 on a Sunday
afternoon.
Potiers is a busy commercial airfield and we were fortunate to get filled and away
before
the airspace resumed it's Class D status at four.
North again on a
long
leg up to Chartres arriving 6 pm. After fuelling we could have carried on to
Abbeville, but with nothing to eat being obtainable since continental breakfast (two
slices
of baguette), and many hours of hot flying, we called it a day, tied India Juliet
down, and
found a hotel.
Once again ground level stratus next morning, but we launched off into
acceptable VMC at 11.30. This
gradually lifted to CAVOK en-route to Abbeville.
The fine weather
leaving Cape Gris Nez deteriorated over the Channel. Beyond the FIR boundary the
wind
freshened and backed to Westerly. The trusty GPS helped keep us right on track
and
although we were prepared to return to the French coast if necessary, Dymchurch
appeared
ahead, still in VMC. This improved past the coast for the run in to Headcorn. Flight
Plan
closed and a good old British cottage pie tucked into.
A bumpy run of 1.6 hrs back to Popham in the stiff Westerly. Overall
the aircraft was flown for 21.2
hours,
used 314 litres fuel averaging 14.8 litres per hour, used 2 ltrs oil. We covered 1260
nautical miles, average speed 59nmph.
Jim's detailed preparation and PLOGS, his super GPS, accurate French
half million charts, the good
company and help we met with on the way....... and trusty old India Juliet (with
just 20
hrs on it's rebuilt engine when we set out), made for a great trip. The
only thing I
would do
differently would be to spread it out over a week and have more time to see
places.
Phil and Jim
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