Air Charter, Pleasure Flights, Training, General

One of the pleasures of being a charter pilot is that every so often you find spectacular places you have never heard of before. Today I took two clients to Kortrijk which is a small medieval town just inside Belgium close to the French border. After landing and seeing the clients to their taxi, I made my way to the Damier Hotel which overlooks the central Grott Markt square. A short tour of the town uncovered a metropolis of bars, cafe bistros and restaurants spread evenly around some beautiful architecture. This town has all the ingredients for a great weekend away.

Aero Alliance manages and supplies pilots to fly a number of privately owned aircraft at Shoreham Airport. These aircraft are flown under private category regulations.

Fellow European pilots travelling to the UK to attend combined MEP/CPL courses should be aware that although the UK CAA, for JAR licence issue purposes, accept 28 hours of training as a minimum; some other European States do not. A student returning to their own country for licence issue could well have their licence application rejected, due to few hours flown. Although the JAA have ceased to exist (as of June 2009), individual European nations are still issuing licenses on the basis of the JAR. This will continue until the implementation of EASA licensing.

This winter saw significant snow falls and low temperatures along the South Coast of the UK. Many of the major airports such as Gatwick and Southampton were forced to closed during this period. However, Shoreham Airport faired somewhat better than it's nearby competitors due to its own microclimate being situated close to the sea and the South Downs.