My australian friend that was in St-Gaudens in November just sent me this picture of me in my tug. So I'm sharing it with you :)
I hope I can fly a lot this year in it !

Happy 2010 !

I wish everybody a very happy and successful 2010 !
For pilots, especially low timers and unemployed ones, let's wish that 2010 will see the market look up again and that we'll all be able to quench our thirst of flights and to live from our jobs in the air !

I found a nice picture on the internet with a plane (of course) and fireworks. I find it perfect for today...

It's a long time since I posted something here... I've been pretty much out here at LFIM, either towing gliders, moving them around, or just hanging out on the airfield. LFIM is my home now, I'm here at least a few hours everyday. My logbook is increasing little bit by little bit, I expect to tow here during the next summer season as well before I'll try to move on to something else.
Here are some pictures of what the gliders/towing activity can look like here...
See ya

Nice rides I got to drive :)

Here are a few pictures of the cars I could try out and drive on last saturday evening and on sunday all day.
Very nice cars, crazy accelerations, and my friend is quite good at driving sport cars, so he gave me some tips on how to better (faster) drive these wonderful toys on countryside winding roads. ( cars are : -Lotus Elise ; - KTM Xbow)

Nice Week End, Plane & race cars : good mix !

This Week-End was the Airfield Open Day. Lots of people came and lots of them wanted to go up for introrides in the gliders. That means I had a lot of towing to do, which is great news for me.
A friend of mine also came from Toulouse with a Caterham car, and I got to try it and drive it !!!! Really nice toy ! 175HP for 500kgs, crazy accelerations and awesome to drive. I love it !
I've got a picture from the internet of the exact same car, same paint job, same everything, I'll post a pict of the one I drove when I'll empty my camera's memory card.

Quick update

I've been busy since I arrived here at LFIM, and I didn't updated that blog since. So it's time for a quick update...
I'm now flying that MS893A Rallye, it's an easy aircraft to handle, very nice to fly, ultra simple instrumentation, rugged. I like it so far, it's really different from IFR flying, but I like the way of flying as a tug pilot.
I take off and land every 5 to 10 minutes, descents at high rates, trying to optimize flight time and shorten it, and performing soft-field, short runway and high slope angle approaches in the same time. I think it's gonna sharpen my pilots skills more than any runway patterns I ever did during initial training.
I also got to fly some gliders which is also nice, especially if that is a competition glider like the latest Binder (EB28 Edition), with a wing-span over 28 meters !! and a best glide ratio at 65 !! Amazing.

Some more news to follow someday next weeks. I upload here a few photos of the amazing Binder Glider.

Moving to South-West France.

On sunday, I'm moving to my new location in South-Western France near the Pyrenees Mountains.
My new task there is to be a tow pilot for a glider club, and hopefully I can fly a lot for free ! I need these flight hours to be ready for hiring when the airlines will figure out that they suddenly lack a lot of pilots after the recent lay-offs (or so I hope).
My plane is gonna be a Morane Saulnier Rallye MS89, 180HP. I've never flown that type yet, I'll tell you how it feels soon.
Here is a picture of that plane from the gliders club website :



This is MY plane now :)