Learn to fly in France

Sue Virr's Popularity

noreply@blogger.com (Sue) — Tue, 13 Dec 2011 10:48:00 +0000

Mum would have been proud and honoured by all the people she has inspired and encouraged. Her Funeral in France was extremely well attended, her memorial service in UK equally well attended. Her obituary in Ledbury Reporter was the most viewed article for the month of November and her own website and blog saw over six thousand unique visitors after her appearance on the ITV1 show Little England on 28th November, 2011.

I am awaiting my own statistics, but I know that the http://www.hayesblog.co.uk/ also saw a spike in numbers. She was a popular lady.

Sue Virr Ledbury Rporter Article: Most Viewed Article In November

noreply@blogger.com (Sue) — Mon, 12 Dec 2011 11:07:00 +0000

My mother, Sue Virr's popularity has taken my family and I aback. Her obituary was the most viewed article in the Month of November on the Ledbury Reporter Website. It has generated a further article in the Ledbury Reporter, which I will post a link to when it becomes available.

http://www.ledburyreporter.co.uk/announcements/deaths/memorial/9358274.Susan_Virr/#fullNoticeGift

Sue Virr: Email Problems

noreply@blogger.com (Sue) — Fri, 02 Dec 2011 12:27:00 +0000

Sorry to hijack this blog for very pragmatic reasons. If you are trying to contact Nearly Heaven or have any queries concerning Nearly Heaven (past or present) then please send them to me on email: craig.coldicott@hayesgb.com. Sadly I am struggling to access the Nearly Heaven Emails at present. Thank you. Craig Coldicott, Sue Virr's Son

Nearly Heaven: Animals: Homes Found Thank You

noreply@blogger.com (Sue) — Tue, 29 Nov 2011 13:38:00 +0000

Shortly after Susan Virr's death, I sent out an appeal to try to find homes for Mum's menagerie of horses, ponies, dogs, sheep, hens, ducks, geese and pig. I am pleased to say that all have found good homes. Thank you to everyone who has offered to re-home one or more animals.

For those that knew the animals, Blanchette has come to England and is living with my sister Kirsty.

Leco and Zach have also migrated to Stuttgart (together)

Meg and Teddy have stayed very local (together)

Woody and Kahn are teaching people to ride and are still with the pig!

Cocoa and Sinead are in semi retirement (together)

Ducks have moved just down the road.

Geese have become guard geese

Hens are now laying happily about 2 hours away.

Sheep are also fairly local.

Sue Virr: Little England and Nearly Heaven: Written by Craig Coldicott

noreply@blogger.com (Sue) — Tue, 29 Nov 2011 13:28:00 +0000

Last night, Little England on ITV1 featured my mother Susan Virr. My close family and I watched with mixed feelings, pride in Mum, sadness that she herself did not live long enough to see the programme.

For those that missed it, I attach a link to the programme here. Although clearly I am biased, I feel she came across very well and I felt that her passion for life, horses and flying came through. We could not have asked for a better tribute.

As I logged onto my email today, it amazed me how many people she inspired or helped. Even after her death, people seem to genuinely be uplifted by her love of life. A number of people have posted comments on this site and my own blog http://www.hayesblog.co.uk/; many comments are from people who knew Susan Virr, but a surprising number are from people whose first glimpse of her was through Little England.

Practical Note
Sadly with my mother's passing, Nearly Heaven is no longer a viable business, although the flying part may live on. The property Nearly Heaven, La Chataigneraie is now being marketed for sale by Hayes at a very reasonable price of £450,000 for details please click on this link. If you are interested, please get in touch with Colleen Hayes or myself Craig Coldicott

A Final Note

Thank you all for your kind comments. It has certainly made Mum's passing a little bit easier.

Sue: A Privelege

noreply@blogger.com (Sue) — Tue, 08 Nov 2011 09:36:00 +0000

Our heartfelt thanks to the family and Lucia for the celebration of Sues life held at her home. We feel it was a privilege to know Sue and even more to fly with her as we did. Sue was unique and impossible to replace. She was one of those people who make the world a better place, as well as being one of the few flying instructors who really do excel in their chosen profession, and live life to the full. She will be sadly missed by all who knew her, she leaves a big hole in our lives.

Robin & Ann Abrey.

Memorial Service UK for Sue Virr Nee Coldicott

noreply@blogger.com (Sue) — Thu, 03 Nov 2011 14:57:00 +0000

To commemorate Sue’s vibrant life her family are holding a gathering at The Feathers Hotel in Ledbury on the 20th of November from 11:00am until 1:00pm. This gathering is for those who knew Sue who could not make the funeral in France.

Address:

The Feathers Hotel

25 High Street

Ledbury

Herefordshire

HR8 1DS

Please confirm to Sue’s daughter Kirsty Coldicott via text message (07875162746) if you would like to attend.

There will be thirty minutes of readings followed by refreshments and bacon rolls.

Sue Virr's Obituary

noreply@blogger.com (Sue) — Thu, 03 Nov 2011 14:01:00 +0000

Susan Virr, previously Susan Coldicott, sadly passed away on the 15th of October. Sue, a talented flying instructor based in the Limousin in France, had also been a well known jockey in the Worcestershire area. She also ran the Moat House bed and breakfast in Longdon.

Sue’s funeral was held in France, on the 19th of October, where she had been living at the time.

To commemorate Sue’s vibrant life her family are holding a gathering at The Feathers Hotel in Ledbury on the 20th of November from 11:00am until 1:00pm. This gathering is for those who knew Sue who could not make the funeral in France.

Address:

The Feathers Hotel

25 High Street

Ledbury

Herefordshire

HR8 1DS

Please confirm to Sue’s daughter Kirsty Coldicott via text message (07875162746) if you would like to attend.

There will be thirty minutes of readings followed by refreshments and bacon rolls.

A Request for Help: Reference Nearly Heaven Animals

noreply@blogger.com (Sue) — Mon, 31 Oct 2011 09:08:00 +0000

Sadly, with the death of my mother Susan Virr, the family are selling her home in France. For those that are interested please do contact me: craig.coldicott@hayesgb.com

At the wake following the funeral a number of people expressed an interest in the animals here, stupidly we did not take down all your names.

We have a number:

Hens
Ducks
Geese
A pot bellied pig
Two horses

For which we are looking for good homes. Are you interested? If so please contact me at craig.coldicott@hayesgb.com

Many thanks for your help.

Sue Virr Eulogy: From Craig Coldicott

noreply@blogger.com (Sue) — Mon, 31 Oct 2011 09:04:00 +0000

At the moment, I am reading The Book Thief by Mark Zusak. It is sometimes sad, other times funny, and it is often thought provoking. I truly recommend it on its own merits. But, for me it has extra meaning: it will always be the book that I most associate with Mum.
Mum was a great reader, I don’t mean that she read the works of Solzhenitsyn or immersed herself in Dickens, they were far too boring for Mum; no she liked to read fast paced thrillers and intimate historical novels. She read them at a breakneck pace, read them and forgot them. In this respect Mum was very predictable.
Mum hated to be predictable.
A few years ago, her reading habits started to change, she started to read some science fantasy and dip into the more accessible literary works. She started recommending great books for me to read including her favourite: The Book Thief.
As all good dutiful sons do, I ignored her recommendation and carried on reading other novels.
But eventually, it reached the top of my reading pile.
The book thief of the title is Liesl, a little girl in Nazi Germany. Like all great literary creations, Liesl is unique, she has a clear love of life, a strong moral code and a desire to live by her own rules. She never accepts other people’s opinions as fact, rather she evaluates them, weighs them up and then makes up her own mind. She is courageous, daring, wild, tough… and she steals books.
In almost all ways Liesl is Mum or Mum is Liesl. Clearly Mum was a little older than Liesl and to the best of my knowledge Mum never wore a trenchcoat with deep pockets and made off with half the stock of Waterstones… but Liesl is Mum and Mum is Liesl.
Mum loved the Book Thief, she recommended it to everyone. To be fair to Mum I don’t think she realised that Liesl was a book stealing version of her. But Mum’s recommendation tells me three things:
1. She was a pretty good judge of a book’s worth
2. She may have been on some sort of kickback from the author or publisher
3. When Mum Died, she died happy, happy with the essence of who she was. In admiring Liesl, Mum was unknowingly admiring herself and I cannot think of a better way to die… being proud of who you are.

Sue Virr: Eulogy from her son Kieran Virr

noreply@blogger.com (Sue) — Mon, 31 Oct 2011 09:00:00 +0000

My mother was truly unique. She lived her life according to no ones rules but her own. She never let anyone or anything stop her from pursuing her dreams, and she never failed in turning them into a reality.

She completely broke the mould of what one would consider a traditional parent. She was an extremely loving mum, and was always supportive. But her greatest lesson in life for her children was that of learning independence. To say her parenting style was a little hands-off would be putting it mildly – but she was always devoted to her children and I owe everything to her for shaping me into the person I am today.

When I was growing up the rules that Mum set were always pretty simple: “Work hard at school.” “Don’t ever bully anyone.” “If anyone bullies you, whatever you do don’t tell a teacher – just punch them in the face” She wasn’t a traditional parent as I think I already mentioned – perhaps a little controversial at times but she did know how the world really worked. When it came to rules and good behaviour – the guidance was generally along the lines of “I don’t really mind what you do – so long as you don’t get caught” Mum was at heart a rebel through and through, and it was always quite clear to me that she had no expectation for her children to behave differently – after all if there was anything that Mum wasn’t: it was a hypocrite. She always taught the importance of being honest and that stood for being honest with your self as much as with others.

One of her most defining characteristics was Mum’s passionate love for nature. And the reason for that is simple. She was herself a beautiful wild creature. She was a free-spirit who knew that life was there to be lived. She never ever stopped; her passion, drive and determination in achieving her goals was truly remarkable. She always lived her life to the absolute maximum; approaching each new day as an opportunity to climb that little bit higher up the side of whichever great mountain she was in the process of conquering.

She may be done conquering mountains now. But her achievements and lust for life will never be forgotten. She was a force of nature. Often thundering through the lives of those close to her, like an indomitable and untameable natural storm; powerful, sometimes frightening, but always amazing to behold.

Mum you lived your life the only way you knew how, and from it I have learned the most valuable lesson that can be learned – you only get one go at this game called life, and you never know when your time is up, so you better make the most of every single moment and never ever let anything stop you from achieving what your heart wants.

I love you Mum forever and always - goodbye.

Sue Virr Eulogies

noreply@blogger.com (Sue) — Mon, 31 Oct 2011 08:56:00 +0000

This is the Eulogy from my wonderful Sister Kirsty Coldicott

My Mother,
If life is measured in experiences and achievements, my mother lived a thousand years.

She has always refused to accept the boundaries of life, instead seeking out her own pathway... beyond.

Always ensuring the next chapter in life was more fulfilling, more adventurous, and sometimes even more dangerous than the last...

We are not here to mourn her passing but to celebrate a thousand lives lived...

So here is a brief glimpse of that life.

So our story begins, when she was a young girl, born not with a silver spoon in her mouth, but with the feeling of reins in her hands and stirrups beneath her feet – she was not allowed a pony of her own but that did not deter her...so what did she do?

Each night as the parents retired to bed she would creep out and claim the neighbour’s pony as her own, riding in the night time, she refused to be constrained by the normal limitations of life, and this shaped the philosophy of her future.

...Fast forward to her late teens, early twenties, passing by a brief spell as a model, she was something of a local celebrity in the horse world – being the first lady jockey to ride with men at Worcester and Hereford racecourse, despite whippings and kickings from her fellow male jockeys, undeterred she paved the way for many a female jockey, including hrh princess anne another female compatriot in the male dominated horse world.

(She even allowed me to be included in this experience when we won a race together... I’ll let you work that one out)

...Then she became a cordon bleu chef and of course a record label owner, boasting UB40 as one of their bands to add to her many achievements that we have little time to disclose.

But nothing compared to flying...

She had an accident that prevented her from pursuing her life long career with horses... and as a result a new chapter began...

She took to the skies and I believe this was her one true passion, and actually although there is so much more to tell this is where my story ends.

I would like to summarise, not with nostalgic conjecture, but with a poem I feel is most befitting...

To my mum, the woman who lived a thousand years and who I love dearly...

Impressions of a Pilot

Flight is freedom in its purest form,
To dance with the clouds which follow a storm;

To roll and glide, to wheel and spin,
To feel the joy that swells within;

To leave the earth with its troubles and fly,
And know the warmth of a clear spring sky;

Then back to earth at the end of a day,
Released from the tensions which melted away;

Should my end come while I am in flight,
Whether brightest day or darkest night;

Spare me your pity and shrug off the pain,
Secure in the knowledge that I'd do it again;

For each of us is created to die,
And within me I know,
I was born to fly.

Gary Claud Stokor

Sue Virr's Final Journey: ITV1

noreply@blogger.com (Sue) — Mon, 24 Oct 2011 13:45:00 +0000

Earlier this year my Mother Sue Virr was filmed and interviewed for the programme Little England. She is in two episodes: 28th November and 5th December, 2011 at 8.00am on ITV1.

It is the family's intention to continue to intermittently post blogs on this site and leave it running. We have all been touched and pleased by the depth and breadth of feeling that Mum engendered in almost everyone that knows her.

Sue Virr's Funeral to be held at 9.00am not 9.30am

noreply@blogger.com (Sue) — Sun, 16 Oct 2011 10:30:00 +0000

Sue Virr's Funeral is to be held at 9.00am (not 9.30am as previously stated) on Wednesday 19th October at the Crematorium de la ville de Limoges Le Cavou Landouge, 87100 Limoges

After the service, the family will hold a celebration of Mum's life at her home in Gorre. Everyone is welcome, wild stories and anecdotes are mandatory.

Sue Virr's Wings Permanently Clipped

noreply@blogger.com (Sue) — Sat, 15 Oct 2011 17:59:00 +0000

Sadly at 8.50am today, Sue Virr passed away. She died peacefully in her sleep.

As highlighted in a previous blog, my mother, had developed a particularly insidious and aggressive cancer. The first that she learnt of its existence was a little over a month ago. She has been fighting it ever since, but sadly this was one battle she was destined to lose.

Mum was an inspiring and inspired person, she had many passions in life, including her family, her horses and her dogs, but perhaps her greatest passion was sharing the joy of flying with her students. For this her family would like to thank you.

Her funeral will be held at Crematorium de la ville de Limoges, Le Cavou Landouge, 87100 Limoges at 9.30am on Wednesday 19th October, 2011. It is open to all.

It is the family's intention to hold a memorial service in the UK at a future date. We will update you via the blog and if possible individual emails.

No visitors please!

noreply@blogger.com (Sue) — Wed, 05 Oct 2011 06:58:00 +0000

No visitors please!

As some of you are aware, I am in Hospital and have been since 8th September, 2011. In the latest chapter in my life, it appears that I have cancer, completely unexpected, the prognosis is a bit scary, nut I have a habit of surviving and intend to continue. Clearly I am in good hands with the French Health Service but for the near medium future, my flying has been curtailed.

Meanwhile, I need time to rest and recuperate and would appreciate no visitors for the time being.
The gite business at la Chataigneraie continues to be run by my able assistant Lucia, for all the bookings please go to http://www.nearlyheaven.com/.

Two First Solo flights in one day!

noreply@blogger.com (Sue) — Mon, 29 Aug 2011 07:21:00 +0000

This year as many of you know, life has been too hectic for me.

I have been working 7 days per week, whenever the weather has permitted ( and that has been virtually all of the time).

Fog over the Vienne river in August

I have been fully booked for months and sadly some students have been unable to train with me this year.
However,despite the huge problems involving the work in progress at Limoges Bellegarde Airport, which has been a nightmare, it has been a hugely positive year.

Work in progress at Limoges due to finish mid September

I have two students who actually live in the Limousin and to be truthful, they have constantly been pushed back,owing to the impending deadlines of some of my international students.

However it is with great pleasure that I can announce that my two stalwarts, Greg and Barry both flew their first solo flights on the same day last week.

Greg Parkhouse

This is quite a feat as neither of them had flown since June!

They both flew a few circuits with me and then I was happy to send them off on their first solo flights.

Barry Creighton

In fact Barry completed six circuits during that day, then to finish off, he passed one of his ground examinations too!

It will not be too long before these guys will be off doing their qualifying cross country flights.
Well done to both of you!

Bleriot video from Martyn Rangely

noreply@blogger.com (Sue) — Thu, 25 Aug 2011 18:56:00 +0000

Hello Sue,

I hope everyone is well at Nearly Heaven, thanks for posting the last blogspot for me, I thought you might like to post this small video clip from La Boule's history hangar, its Louis Bleriot's plane, or a replica should I say. But the engine is a genuine Anzani exactly like the one used by Louis to cross the channel - all 25 horsepower of it can be seen and heard in the clip.

25 horsepower doesn't sound much these days but by the way it was straining against its tie down rope they must have been big horses.

Its a few weeks since I was there so it may have made its maiden flight by now, although how many test pilots can handle wing-warped flight controls these days!

Regards, Martyn.

Another PPL for the Walters family !

noreply@blogger.com (Sue) — Sun, 21 Aug 2011 17:31:00 +0000

For the past four years, during the last week in July and the first week of August, the Walters family come to Limoges for their " flying holidays" and they certainly break records, Robert and eldest son Christopher started the ball rolling during their first year, by both flying their first solo on the same day, Christopher passed his PPL that year, Dad was ready to take his skill test too, but at the last minute the examiner was unavailable, therefore owing to important business commitments, he delayed his skill test until the following summer.

Nicholas, Robert, Christopher, Sebastian

The next son in the pipeline was Nicholas; I started teaching him when he was 15 years old.
Like all of the family he is an excellent student.

Last year I sent him on his first solo flight.

This year, as he had come of age, he worked diligently to obtain his skill test.
Mike Grierson the examiner, was highly impressed with his performance.

However, it was not all plain sailing for Nicholas, the first test date was abandoned owing to bad weather, and as the forecast was equally poor for the subsequent days, the family decided to go home, until later in the week.

The day of the test was perfect, Mathew Galvin flew the Robin DR400/180 down to Figeac airport to collect Nicholas and Robert, however within a short time into the flight,he realised that most of his flight instruments were not working, after telephoning me from Figeac, (what did we ever do without mobile phones?) Matthew went directly to Saint Junien airport to meet our mechanic Anthony Valade.

Unfortunately, KT was grounded and Nicholas had to borrow a DR400/140 from Aero Club de Saint Junien to use for his test.

What a start to his skill test!

However, Nicholas remained cool, calm, and collected and performed an exemplary skill test.

However, after arriving at the club house, after his debriefing, it was discovered that he did not have the mandatory 45 hours for PPL licence issue.

So Nicholas went out, once again to log more time to enable him to gain his PPL.
Finally after what seemed and age, he returned with a huge smile on his face, and the remark"I have done it"

Well done Nicholas you certainly deserve great praise for your excellent flying skills and cool head.

This year I was introduced to Sebastian Walters, he is 15 years old, he logged more than seven hours and was ready to fly solo, however he will have to wait until next summer when he is sixteen years old to obtain that milestone in his flying programme.

It is an instructors dream to have such focused, hard working students.

After a superb party at the club,organised by Lucia, the Walters family finally flew home with Matthew in the left hand seat,(he was the only pilot who had not had any champagne) they arrived too late for Mat to return home, therefore he stayed the night and duly returned back to Limoges the following morning.
A big thank you to Matthew for all of his help this summer.

Learning to Fly

noreply@blogger.com (Toby Walker) — Sat, 06 Aug 2011 14:18:00 +0000

Hi.

I recently spent about 1 and a half weeks with Sue and Lucia at Nearly Heaven and did my first ever lessons there. It was probably the greatest experience of my life. Sue is a fantastic instructor and is really motivational... and, it's cheaper than here in England.

The weather was great almost all the time, unlike Britain, and I flew every day. The Robins are great training aircraft, absolutely fantastic and very easy to control (mostly).

They made me feel right at home, and, the amazing culinary skills of Lucia kept me well fed and never hungry. I couldn't be more thankful about the time I spent there. Hopefully I'll be able to do the same again next year.

Once again

Thank You

Toby

Latest News from Martyn Rangely ( little Martyn)

noreply@blogger.com (Sue) — Sat, 30 Jul 2011 07:38:00 +0000

Martyn (Rangeley) here,

I thought you might like to hear what I’ve been up to since gaining my ppl licence with you at Nearly Heaven and also give regular blog readers (like me) another flying story.

However to quickly re-cap why I went to Nearly Heaven in France in the first place.

Many years ago now, having gained a microlight licence I bought an X’air microlight hoping to have it built and be flying in a year or two.

The actual building was enjoyable but the technical side of the BMAA (British Microlight Aircraft Association) proved impossible to deal with. This was quite a shock to me as the flight training side of the BMAA were quite a reasonable lot, yet here I was with 4 years of constant paperwork and still no end in sight - the last straw had come and gone!

‘Come to France with your plane, they’re aircraft friendly here’, said a pal who lived here.

I did and within three weeks my X’air was registered and legally entitled to fly, yes that’s three weeks, after the UK, it was a breath of fresh air.

I was totally smitten by France after that, and was ready to be sworn in, sing the Marseilles, sell onions from a bike or whatever.

However I wasn’t legal to fly my X’air because I didn’t have a French ULM licence, (they are called ultralights here.)

Sue to the rescue.

Unable to speak French left me with one option, to take a full PPL and thus be exempted from the French written part of the ULM exam, thanks to Sue, and as I’ve already written about on this blog, it was a success.

Then came the ULM licence, which was purely flying and I have to say a lot of fun.

I went to a French ULM centre and had an instructor who liked to do circuits but with a huge dog-leg on the downwind, I later learned that it was important not to fly over the farm there (hence the dog-leg) as the Farmer was likely to have a crack at you with his shotgun (you couldn’t make this up!).

Meanwhile the X’air was safely tucked away in the ULM hangar at St.Nazaire and this year was surely going to be the start of its flying career or so I hoped. There seemed no end of complications because now I needed a French radio and a transponder.

St.Nazaire is a good place to be based but being inside class D airspace complicates things even further for a ULM, however with help from two other club members 44AKZ was dragged out of the hanger and took to the French skies lunchtime 22 July.

To have finally managed to fly a plane I built myself is a dream come true and I owe thanks to an awful lot of people but none more so than Sue, who put me back on track after what seemed like going through a nightmare.

For any pilots wanting to try something different a few lessons in a microlight may be more of a challenge than you might think and for any microlight pilots I can absolutely recommend taking a few lessons inside class D, its not nearly as scarey as it’s made out to be.

Best wishes to everyone,

Martyn.

A cross wind did not stop Kathryn flying her first solo!

noreply@blogger.com (Sue) — Sun, 24 Jul 2011 07:31:00 +0000

Kathryn Morrison has flown her first solo in F-GMKG, the Robin HR200/120 and despite a crosswind she executed an excellent landing.
Kathryn from Leicestershire, has been staying here for the last few weeks,with the goal of obtaining her PPL, her husband is a pilot and he is a part owner of a Tiger Moth!

She is also an experienced sailor and regularly sails with an all girl crew!

Kathryn and I have been battling with these unusual "summer weather" storms,cloudbursts, turbulence and crosswinds, it seemed that we were in the middle of November not July.The only gratifying thing about this low pressure system was that according to the weather forecasts it was much worse in the UK!

We used this time to concentrate on navigation exercises and other less demanding lessons.
However one evening after doing an hour of intensive cross wind landings, I was confident enough to send Kathryn for her first solo.

Of course confident is not the word I should use,because my nature is such, that every time I send someone on a first solo, the only sound that I hear is the beating of my own heart!

Of course we had a celebration that evening, with quite a few glasses of champagne followed by supper,
for Kathryn this day will be forever imprinted on her memory.

Next we need some stable weather to crack on and finish her PPL.

Back to flying in the South of France

noreply@blogger.com (Global Express Pilot ) — Sat, 16 Jul 2011 14:24:00 +0000

The PA28

I was asked by my work to go and photograph a house down here in the south of France where I am currently working. So I managed to get the local club to let me rent their Piper PA28 for the trip which took a couple of hours.

Presque Isle Gian

To be back in a heavy plane after the delights of the light-sport in Miami was certainly a shock to the system, in a good way as I need to get back into Piper mode for the next part of my training, the CPL as a lot of this will be in the PA28 before moving onto a more complex plane.

Six-Fours

The airport at Cuers is uncontrolled yet is also a military base, so there are all sorts of local rules and regulations, the main one being that all of it is in French here, but its not to tough to understand. Also getting back into the overhead joining of the circuit which is often the case on uncontrolled fields like this one.

The best bit about today was being up in the air for my job I had my camera with me, so on the way to and from the job I had to do I got to take some pictures of the gorgeous south of France scenery:

Les Calanques

Casis

An Update from The Prodigal Student

noreply@blogger.com (Patrick Salmond) — Mon, 11 Jul 2011 17:05:00 +0000

Hi Sue & Lucia,

Just a quick message to let you know that after months of painful exam preparations, I passed all my ground school exams and have now started the flying phase of the Flybe MPL.

Things are going ok so far - though it's incredible how much of my PPL has been pushed out of my brain to make way for ATPL knowledge. I feel like I've regressed behind the controls! It's early days though, as I'm only around the 9 hour mark on the course. The style of training is quite different and we don't fly off to nice French airfields for lunch. You'd be forgiven for thinking we were in France with the weather we'd had over the last couple of weeks though...it can't last!

Hope all's well on the farm and at the club.

All the best,

Patrick

Praise for Rob from a Ryanair pilot!

noreply@blogger.com (Sue) — Tue, 05 Jul 2011 18:56:00 +0000

As mentioned in my last blog report, Rob had to take a bit of a back seat during the time that Drew and Ciaran were racing against time to complete their PPL training.

Rob savouring his first solo, with Kathryn and Lucia

Today, Rob flew his "first solo," it certainly has not taken him long to achieve this important milestone in his flight training.
We started the morning circuits, with calm conditions, I put Rob through his paces and I was waiting for the right moment to send him solo.This was proving difficult, as we had a constant stream of IFR arrivals this morning.

Eventually, I managed to find a gap between two Ryanair flights, It was time for my bird to try his wings on his own.
I did not need to worry, he performed admirably and as he taxied back across the commercial apron, he was congratulated by the pilot of the Ryanair aircraft.

A most memorable occasion!