Ten days ago, Julien – the editor of Making Time for Flying – sent me an e-mail to tell me he was in Germany for a couple of weeks, and proposed we meet. Meeting with a reader, fellow blogger, and pilot student, how could I say no ?
We decided to meet for a coffee in Frankfurt airport. As I did not resumed my flying here, and as Julien was as away of his Australian homebase as possible, no flying was planned. Can you guess what we talked about ? Yes, blogging and flying. Julien is only one or two flights away from his PPL exam, so keep your fingers crossed for him..
We compared flying in Australia and Europe, and amongst many topics came variation. You know, the difference between magnetic north and geographic north. For all European pilots trained in the last decade (if not longer), variation was a trap to avoid in theoretical examinations. But for people like Julien, flying where variation is above 10 degrees, it’s a rather important thing to know.
We discussed various topics, while looking at a Lufthansa Boeing 747, and we observed the full turn-around of a TAP Airbus 319 – yes, we discussed a lot. To keep track of this event, we asked the waiter to take a picture of us…
This is how two blogging pilots look like when they meet – Julien on the left, and myself on the right. When I told about “animating the general aviation community”, I was referring to this kind of things. It’s not much, but who knows where this can lead ?
Years ago, I answered the questions of a member wannabe, in Geneva aeroclub. I was the only one there, and spend a few minutes to present him the club. He became a very active member. If I just told him “come back when the office is open”, I’m not sure it would have been the same.
If we want to keep the flying community strong and alive, we have to make it happen. By the way, have you seen the slogan on the jetty, in the background of this picture ? How cool is that ?
{ 3 comments… read them below or add one }
I see we share the same opinions on many topics!
I agree with you on the pleasure of meeting other pilots.
I’ve already organized fly-ins and I’m going to one on June 21st.
It’s nice to have someone to welcome you on an airfield. Someone you’ve never seen before but who’s waiting for you; as eager as you to exchange more than emails.
This often ends up in an airplane!
If you ever come to Brittany, drop me an email
Pat
By the way, I appreciate to see what my favorite bloggers look like!
That’s copied, Pat. May be shall I establish a list of places where fellow readers are located
. Regarding putting the photo, I thought of it for a long time, for privacy reasons, and to avoid scarying the readers 
Hi Plastic Pilot,
Thanks for the post, it was great meeting up with you at FRA last week. Hope we can go flying together at a later point in time.
@PAT: I’m all in favor of pilot bloggers uniting to give visiting pilots a local point of contact wherever they fly!
I know Australia is a little bit out of the way for most European and American pilots, but if you happen to fly into Brisbane (YBBN), Archerfield (YBAF) or my home base of Redcliffe (YRED), just drop me an email and I’ll be happy to meet up, exchange stories and, of course, try to arrange a flight.
Julien.
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