WOW! It’s been nearly 3 months since I last wrote on here and that’s kind of a shock and I’ve got plenty of photos of the trip so far. So I guess I should start with exactly where I am, I’ve made to Georgia and laid over in at a small mountainous airfield in Ambrolauri at about 1800ft above sea level and is about 130miles north west from Tbilisi. I have had a few changes in terms of flying commitments during this trip and the aircraft will now be taking a break with our engineers arriving Saturday from Tbilisi (they will be bringing the 747 with a few trucks of equipment and a portable engineering workshop). I’ve set out Thursday and Friday for the work to be completed and not expecting any major issues. The airplane has been operating beyond all expectations with a nearly flawless performance mechanically, however, we have had a few issues with the ILS receivers and avionics systems relating to navigation radios so they’re going to get looked out.

Continue reading “Grand Tour Update”

Finally some downtime since the weekend and I’ve managed to set some time aside to update the Travelogue, there’s simple nothing better than feet up with a Norwegian Ice cold beer on my room balcony at Knudsen Hotel, with a space heater on, our last flight was Sunday from Humberside (via Wick), I’ve got a couple of weeks here before we head north east to Trondheim and continue our trip across Norway. This week I will have to go into town and find a technology shop to get my cameras looked at as I have been having issues recording video and audio at decent qualities and levels.

Continue reading “European Grand Tour – Leg 2 & 3 | Humberside to Wick | Wick to Bergan”

Finally some downtime since the weekend and I’ve managed to set some time aside to update the Travelogue, there’s simple nothing better than feet up with a Norwegian Ice cold beer on my room balcony at Knudsen Hotel, with a space heater on, our last flight was Sunday from Humberside (via Wick), I’ve got a couple of weeks here before we head north east to Trondheim and continue our trip across Norway. This week I will have to go into town and find a technology shop to get my cameras looked at as I have been having issues recording video and audio at decent qualities and levels.

Continue reading “European Grand Tour – Leg 2 & 3 | Humberside to Wick | Wick to Bergan”

Good morning, today is the day! We are starting on our Grand Tour of Europe well when I see we I mean me 🙂 I’m currently sitting my office looking towards the aircraft hangar here at Blackpool Airport with a fresh mug of Coffee and my charts on my tablet and I’m waiting for the tower to open at around 0745.

The Piper is looking stunning after a final inspection and loaded with a few tools, luggage and parts for this trip. So where are we going today? 

Continue reading “European Grand Tour – Leg 1 | Blackpool to Humberside”

Little over 100 years ago two amateur pilots built a little wooden motorised aircraft on the sands of Kitty Hawk, North Carolina in what was to become the first power flight. From that day aviators have long dreamed of far-off places to visit in search of adventure intrigue and fun. Well here in 2022 it’s still no different, recently out from the shadow of a global pandemic we aviators are itching to stretch our wings, throttle up our engines and take flight into the wild blue yonder.

Usually found on the flight deck of an airliner hurtling along at 500 knots and up in the bitterly cold upper atmosphere I would be flying passengers or freight to their destinations, with usually a 12hour stop over before heading back to England’s shores, well I’m about to change that, well at least for a little while at least. Putting this out there and whilst work is continuing on our new hanger and with personal circumstances on the verge of a radical change, I have opted to hanger up my jet engine steads for awhile in the hope of rediscovering myself and parts of the European Continent in which this island of Great Britain is amongst. Simply put it’s time for a “Grand Tour”.

Continue reading “The Grand Tour | Europe”