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The weather today was excellent for flying, which is odd as we’d been planning to go away today for at least one week, and that’s usually a sure-fire way of ensuring low cloud, wind and general nastiness. We set off from Andreas at 09:35 and returned at 14:35, and in that time we’d been to Newtownards airfield near Belfast to uplift some fuel, then on to Enniskillen Airfield in the south west corner of Northern Ireland.

We had excellent weather throughout the day and other than the Auster’s radio had no major problems. Belfast City and Aldergrove were very accommodating clearing us through the controlled airspace rather than having to drop down to low level whilst still off-shore.

Navigation wise both portable GPS units did an excellent job, and the Skydemon software is much easier to use than PocketFMS.

Newtownards was busy with loads of microlights and training aircraft, and Enniskillen was really quiet, and has a nice cafe.

Yesterday I got back from a week long trip to Deeside Gliding Club at Aboyne, Aberdeenshire. Unlike last year, the forecast weather for the week was excellent, so we were able to escape the Steam Packet racket and take the Auster.

We still didn’t manage to find any wave lift, where gliders can climb to very high altitudes on the lee side of hills, but at least I had the chance to convert onto the ASW19, which is a step up for me. I flew about 9 hours in total, including 7 in the ASW19. The weather during the first half of the trip was excellent, though there was some thunderstorm activity on Friday.

The trip back from Aboyne to Andreas took 2hrs 20mins, and thanks to the Auster’s new auxiliary fuel tank was done non-stop. Total cost for the there and back element of the trip was just under £300 including landing fees, and was far cheaper than we could have done with the car and boat, and about 10 hours quicker too…

Our Auster is back in the air, and back home. Now all I’ve got to do is get my tailwheel endorsement and I might be able to fly her!