Cessna 182

The initial plan was to fly together with Luxembourger Guy and my son Alejandro to Billund, Denmark to visit Legoland. Denmark is complicated this year because of Covid-19. Therefore, the plans changed and we agreed to go for a weekend with Guy, his spouse Chantal en my nephew Franky to Fayence in Southern France. The Cessna 182 with call sign LX-AIX is perfectly suited for this.

Take-off in Luxembourg goes smoothly and we are heading south. Views are stunning as always. Some two hours later, we land at Bourg-Cyzerat (LFHS) for refueling and changing pilots. Corona 19 made a victim as the airfield restaurant disappeared. Continuing with an empty stomach is not an option. Whilst considering options, I get into talks with a Czech pilot who also landed at Bourg. He transports some stuff for a Quad. The van driver of the quad company is willing to drive us to a nearby restaurant. Great plan for hungry souls ! The ride proved to be rough as we had to stay in the back of the van (completely dark, sitting on the ground between machines)

Windy mountains

As the Mistral blows hefty in the Rhone Valley and the weather maps shows me that there is way less wind in the mountains, I decide after Grenoble to follow the mountain route. After a couple of minutes, we see that the ceilings do not allow us to fly over the mountains. Tricky. Further, in no time, the wind picks up and we get in some heavy wind gusts. Damned, this is not good and I’m glad we have other pilots on board. Being thrown with your head to the ceiling of your plane is not funny.

As we get shaken more and more, we decide to climb out and plot a new route out of these wind fields in the pre-Alps. Let’s get out of here! Things calm down again shortly after. We continue our flight and arrived seamlessly to my beloved Fayence airfield (LFMF). Only a couple minutes after our landing, a thunderstorm comes over the airfield…it rains and rains