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.
So what’s been happening in terms of other events, well after a long time of contemplation and soul searching I have decided to hang up my wings and a captain’s hat with Fly UK VA due to constraining personal circumstances and time commitments not to mention being across the other side of Europe, I’ve had a really enjoyable time with Fly UK and got to fly to many stunning places across the world and love getting behind yoke and sidestick of various aircraft, although that is something I am looking forward to flying some of my own fleet and hopefully adding some more.
In terms of the hanger well guess what! Those big doors that was supposed to keep my fleet safe, they’re not happening still, I really need to get that in hand later this year. But for now I’ll relax in this beautiful country of Georgia prepare for my next flight on Sunday morning. Here are some photos from our flights up to where I am now.
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Sunday 19th March
Welcome to the Greek island of Rhodes, today’s been a long day but also a good day to shake the airplane down (quite literally thanks to the weather around Cyprus) but the engineers are leaving today but their work has been completed without incident and test flights last night where successful. Weather around Ambrolauri was cold with sweeping cloud banks but safe to take off and proceed, with another high cruise at 30,000ft but honestly it did give me a chance to get above some of todays thundery weather and above some of the most severe turbulence.
The camera batteries died on the descent to Pafos, Cyprus but was a very bumpy landing with the autopilot struggling to stablise on the first landing attempt, however the second shot was successful and we spent the day on the island before heading to Rhodes.
