Motorbikes and the Dordogne

Microlights in France - The English way

As some of my regular readers will know, I used to fly microlights. Jude and I have decided that we should look into getting another one as we live in the perfect place for this sort of hobby.
After a search of the internet, I found this website: http://www.wanafly.co.uk/
We made a phone call to Dave and Amanda and yesterday, my birthday, we took the bikes out to visit. These are the pictures that we took. Click on any picture to see more detail.

The bikes on arrival at Dave and Amandas Farm.
There is plenty of room for accommodation for students wanting to spend time here and learn to fly, and also for visiting microlight pilots. There is also an area for camping if needed.
Daves Skyranger, not my kind of microlight, but with the Rotax 912 engine, I'll bet that it is nice to fly.
Typical French farm with loads of buildings and space to park aircraft.
This barn is to be the hangar, Dave has plans to open the doorway up to allow better access.
A view inside the barn with a resident Pegasus Quik.
The man himself, Dave getting his Quik 912s ready to take me for a flight.
Dave and me trying the headset for size, at this point I couldn't hear a thing that he was saying!
Off we go. Notice the smooth well kept taxiway out to the airfield at the back of the farm.
I find it good that despite this three or four hundred year old farm being used for such a modern sport, there is still room for the wildlife and the natural flora.
Another view of how Dave and Amanda have built a nice smooth taxiway, but kept the feel of the farm.
The runway. It is big and wide. In this picture you can just see the top of the wing at the far end as we warmed the engine for take off.
And we are up! Jude had got bored waiting and was taking pictures of flowers and grass at this stage, so she missed the takeoff.
After 10 minutes or so we were back.
Along the runway to a very nice cup of tea supplied by Amanda.
As Dave is a UK flying instructor, people can come here and not only train in fantastic flying weather, but there is also accommodation on site.
I was so impressed with the Pegasus Quik 912s, that I have decided that it is the microlight for us. It is one of the fastest flexwings on the market and is very well equipped.
For further information about microlight flying with Dave, please have a look at his website.

posted by madman @ 10:34 am