Yes, I know! The article about my last trip in England hasn’t been published yet! And the video neither. So, why am I starting to write an article about my last trip in the south of France ??? EASY, because, I have already started to write the article about England trip… but after several months, I forgot the most part of details.
Flying is a passion. We could have two ways to fly: the first one is to go to another place. The second one is to fly just to fly. In a first way, flying alone or not is not a big deal. At that instance, it is just flying such as you would drive to your mother-in-law place. Of course, because you like flying, you enjoy that instance. But the motivation of this flight is after the flight: your mother-in-law place. In the second case, you want to fly just for flying. It is not necessary to fly into another place. The motivation of this flight… is this flight itself. Maybe sometimes you want to fly alone, but in this kind of flight, you just would rather share this hobby! So, on Monday, 6th I sent a message to all members of my flight club. I got an answer :).
Thursday, 10th: our choice
We met each other at flight club at 9:30 am for our first time. He is not only a pilot from Angoulême, he also flies at Meaux airfield. He is a teacher, 49 years old and younger than me for flying. He is really nice and he doesn’t have plenty fly hours. Yet, the most part of his experience has been got through large navigations… so very good experience. He doesn’t want to stop to fly far away !!! That is very good and interesting !! Why did not I meet this pilot earlier ?????
We checked the weather and noticed that is good. We decided to fly to Cannes, have a night there, and go back to Angoulême via Alpes mountains. The landscape and the views will be amazing !!!!!
Thursday, 10th: take off
We took off at 11h40 after getting ready. We made more seriously our route, take care about area crossing and mainly the most important: where can we eat? Ahah
First of all, I had thought about the famous restaurant in Auch… but it was a bit far from our route. He wanted to fly over the « Viaduc de Millau ». So, we went to eat in Millau :D. He flew first.
Thursday, 10th: lunch
1h30 later, we landed at Millau airfield. It is a quiet place near the highway. It has a small restaurant along the highway. After eating very well, we let our footprints on the ground… We were heavy!!! My tour to fly. We refuelled and we flew to Montpellier. In fact, not really to Montpellier, but near Montpellier before to change the direction to Cannes.
Thursday, 10th: flying to Cannes
Arrived at our checkpoint near Montpellier, we flew along the Mediterranean coast. A lot of planes in the sky. The Air Traffic Controller (ATC) spoke a lot. We let each other be indicated by the ATC, he told when we have to switch frequency… EXCEPT once.
“Victor Mike, Montpellier, report at Whiskey Lima point. Keep 1500ft.”
10min later, at WL point:
“- Montpellier, Victor Mike, Whiskey Lima point, 1500ft”
“- VM Report Sierra”
“ – Wilco”
A few minutes later…
“F-VM, Montpellier, contact Toulon control.”
Yes, the ATC indicated to each other to switch to next ATC frequency… but too late, because at that instance, we had been in the new area for 5 minutes. So, take care of the ATC area. Sometimes, it is the same people as manage several areas. So, they don’t ask to change, but sometimes, not.
Thursday, 10th: arriving at Cannes Airport
We landed at Cannes Airport at 5:00 pm (French Hour). 15min before my landing, I sent a message to my uncle. The truth, I called him in the morning and:
“- Serge, I told you that I can come into Cannes within the next days.” I told him.
“- Yes, you told. And when will you come?” he answered me.
“- in 5 hours, we will have a lunch in Millau. After flying along the Mediterranean Coast, we will arrive today around 4:30 / 5:00 pm.” I told him.
“- You really are the only one I know to do that…” he answered me.
Yes, basically, to go to Cannes from Angoulême, you have to drive between 8 hours and 12 hours. We landed at 4:50 J. 30 mins later, we were at my uncle’s place. Having a rest, filling out the administrative documents and getting ready to go to the restaurant.
“When will you come to Cannes?” my friend asked me.
“In 2 hours” I answered.
Ahah, I like to make the distance short thanks to the plane.
Thursday, 10th: where can we go tomorrow?
We would like to fly over Alpes. But in that instance, we don’t know because of the forecast. We decided to try and in the worse case, we will directly fly to Angoulême. So tomorrow, let’s get up at 8:00 am.
Thursday, 11th: the departure
7:50 am, I got up. Having my breakfast, checking weather and preparing the navigation on the aviation chart. We decided to fly to “Le Versoud” to eat at the restaurant at 1:00 pm. And after, we will go back to Angoulême via Chambery and Lyon.
But, first at all, we have to refuel and to pay taxes… 47€ at Cannes airport for 1 night and 1 landing.
Thursday, 11th: The lunch
We got 10’000 feet and crossing the mountain… it was wonderful. After 1h30 we landed at le Versoud airport. It was 12:55 pm.
After this really good lunch, we sat down next to the plane, aviation charts, Ipad, rules with us. We are making the route for the next step: Angoulême via Chambery. I checked all ATC frequencies. We have to refuel again. He took care of that meanwhile I put data to the GPS.
Thursday, 11th: Lyon ATC
We flew over Chambery and Le Lac du Bourget. This airfield was closed to the private traffic. Yet, it was intense around this area. I indicated to the ATC our route.
“[…] Sierra Echo ; Sierra Whisky ; Whisky Alpha ; Whisky Bravo ; Whisky Golf…” I told him
“[…] Clear to follow your route.” ATC answered me.
Fortunately, I planned a route to cross Lyon area. With that, it was really easy to cross it. The ATC asked us to report to each point. Finally, after having crossed their areas, I switched to Clermont ATC, and it was quiet until Angoulême.
This navigation was really gooooooood. The restaurant was amazing, the view of the airfield and planes was beautiful.
If you want me to write this article in French, let me know with a comment. / Si tu veux que j’écrive cet article en Français, laissez le moi savoir dans les commentaires
If you have any questions, remark or else, feel free to write me a comment :D.
With this article, a video in the next year.
A poor lonesome pilot... 