Decisions still unmade, a choice between Charlie or another aircraft – nearer to home but we knew in our hearts it wasn’t for us. We hadn’t even seen it, let alone given it a name!
The final part of the process, before we parted with any money, was to give Charlie a try. Now Will, having left flying a few years ago and despite all good intentions to regain and keep his PPL has unfortunately let it lapse, so all we could do was rely on another member of the syndicate to spend their Sunday taking us out. The plan was made to go to Sandown on the Isle of Wight.
After perusing multiple charts and maps, checking the aircraft and putting fuel in the tank, we were off. There wasn’t a huge amount of room in the back, but I didn’t expect the full hospitality service so that was fine. We were also limited to three people due to mass and balance – a bit of a shame as it meant the pilot’s wife couldn’t come, but the only alternative if we do want four on any trip in the future, will be to give everyone a couple of year’s notice so that we can all lose half our body weight!
It took about an hour to get to Sandown, through a few clouds, skirting round Salisbury Plain and over the channel at Lymington.
Sandown Airport was quiet. Very quiet. But it did mean that the owner had the chance to show us round. Let’s just say that I can’t wait to go back next summer. Live bands, barbecue, camping, and, oh wow, if Carlsberg did showers…! As he explained, he wants it to be somewhere he’d like to go. It’s definitely a passion project. Next time I’ll take more photos (the blog idea wasn’t even a seed when we went) and I’ll hopefully get the chance to talk more to the owner about plans and lineup for next year.
Sandown itself is just a couple of miles away, around £6-£6.50 by taxi each way to the pier. There are a few taxi companies to choose from, but we went with A-Cabs (01983 866772), then wandered along the sea front for lunch at The Reef – I’d definitely recommend their fish & chips, though the bbq burgers looked pretty good too.
Some of the highlights for me were:
- The weather. We were really lucky as the following day it absolutely spanked it down with rain. In fact it was so hot we had to make sure we didn’t get sunburnt whilst eating lunch on the terrace.
- Orbiting over ‘Downton Abbey’ (Highclere Castle) on the return flight.
- The gorgeous sunset as we headed back towards home.
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And here’s a completely unrelated question to finish…. does Gloucester Services seriously expect people to crawl under the table to exit the shop !!???
A Pilot's Companion 