My flying week in England and Switzerland taught me a lot about flying, about my skills, and about local usages.

Local procedures
Before that week, I flew VFR in Switerland, France, and Germany (only once…). When flying to controlled airports, the procedures are always similar, but they vary on uncontrolled airfields. The main difference comes from the way to join the circuit pattern.

In Switzerland we tend to join it in downwind, with a 90° turn. French pilots are used to join using a 270° turn, to get a better view of other traffics. In England, I discovered the overhead join with descent on the dead side. This starts with by passing over the airport, then overfly the cirtuit at higher altitude, then descend on the other side of the runway (dead side) to finally join downind.

This is not trivial, nor complex to fly, but it requires a good orientation, and some preparation, particularly if you’re not used to it. Using other joining procedure could be hazardous, as local pilots won’t know what you’re doing.

US readers can probably say more about the 45° joins. It is important to know such local procedures to smoothly integrate the pattern. Flying a couple of hours with an instructor to discover and practice them is definetly worth.

IFR vs. VFR
Here again, flying IFR makes life easier. IFR procedures and phraseology are much more standard than their VFR counterparts. VFR navigation in Switzerland is super easy. Mountains and lakes with typical and easy to spot shapes make perfect landmarks.

England and France are not the same… at all. No mountains, no significant lakes, only roads and towns… most of them fitted with castles and churches. Navigating using only map, compass and clock is much more challenging. VFR pilots can use GPS and radio-navigation to make it easier.

IFR navigation and procedures are the same everywhere. As soon as you can track a radial, fly a reversal procedure and a holding, you’re done with it. No need to find ambiguous landmarks. The simplicity of IFR is not new to me, but this flying week confirmed it one more time.

One never forget
Many rules define the minimum flight hours required over the last period of time by a pilot to be “current”. It is also part of the pilot responsibilities to know his own limits, and not fly without appropriate recency. As I stopped flying five months before that flying week, I was well beyond my personal limits, and the limit to carry passengers.

I flew all the time with a friend of mine, who is also instructor. The first flight was to regain currency, and he acted as safety pilot on the other legs. On the second day, I had to fly IMC, and manually – the autopilot was unable to maintain altitude within 100 feet.

This is one the advantages of flying in England: low level clouds, but no icing, and no high grounds – the perfect conditions for flying IMC. My last IMC time was probably something like one year away, and the ability to fly with sole reference to the instruments is the hardest part of IFR.

I was however positively surprised: my flying skills were much better than I expected, and this from the very first seconds spent in IMC. The good old principles I learned came back nearly instantly: take decisions on the instruments, implement them on the horizon, monitor the instruments.

I can not seriously advise anyone to start an IFR flight alone with no recent experience, that would be foolish. But the time required to regain comfort is much shorter than I expected.

Weather and plans
Light aviation plans are always weather dependent. The conditions I got in both England and Switzerland were perfect for what I wanted to practice. Flying VFR only would probably have been possible, but in marginal conditions.

I would probably have fly anyway, except in cases of CB’s, because training in adverse conditions is the best way to keep or regain sharp skills.

Long lasting and new friends
The last lesson I learned is a human one. No human factors this time, but about friendship. While I was in Geneva, I met old friends, some of which I did not see for months or even years. This is one of the best part of light aviation: we talked like if I never went away. Mostly about flying, but not only.

I also met new people, with different backgrounds, speaking different languages, but all sharing the same passion for aviation. Discussions started instantly. The same thing probably exist around different fields of activity, but this is one of the thing I appreciate the most in the flying community: it is a strong community.