One more Cirrus post – not about the plane but the pilots
Flying the Cirrus with Matthew, testing the Avidyne Entegra, and visiting the Cirrus final assembly site in Bembridge all on the same day was really exciting, and definitly worth the trip to London through Frankfurt and Heathrow airports. The barbecue organized after the visit was also a memorable part of the day. There were six Cirrus, and a couple of other aircrafts all flown by the members of the FreeFlight aviation, also known as the Cirrus 147 flying group. The group operates 6 Cirrus aircraft, based at four airfields in the London area. You can imagine what the discussions were about during the barbecue…
Being amongst such a group, even for a a short period of time, boosted my passion for aviation even more. They are all passionated about flying, and particularly about flying the Cirrus. Half of them are IFR rated, and the group also contains commercial pilots, and instructors.
As we were eating, one member shown us pictures of one of their last “events”: formation flying. I know a couple of clubs who organize such courses, where two or three aircraft fly together, teaching pilots how to get synchronized and remain safe. But what I saw there was… well… a couple of steps beyond that. With the help of formation flight specialists the “team” flew 9 Cirrus in a diamond formation ! Not exactly a beginners thing… Click here to see photos of their formation.
Their website is full of photos, and trip reports, and visiting it gives a good idea of what high-performance single engine aircraft makes possible. Trips to Switzerland, southern France, Danemark, Belgium, Germany are reported in great details and with photos. Be careful if you visit it, it’s very time consuming, and almost addictive.
All in all, this is a group of highly skilled and motivated pilots, flying what is probably the best high-performance single engine aircraft available on the market today. Ah, if I only was living in the London area… Anyway, the simple fact of knowing that such a group exists helps me to remain optimistic about the future of general aviation. Thank you guys for doing that, and thank you again Matthew for the invitation.
One final thing: the group already ordered a Cirrus Jet, and will receive the one with serial number… 006 ! Certainly the first one in Europe.
To find out more about this group, visit www.cirrus147.com.
2 Comments, Comment or Ping
Stan
Do you have any idea why such a group is non-existent on the other side of the Channel ? It seems perfect for people who want to fly Cirrus but cannot afford to buy one, or just don’t fly enough to justify the purchase.
Oct 28th, 2008
PlasticPilot
Stan, I don’t know about such groups anywhere. An important factor is that as all high-performance aircraft, the Cirrus is unlikely to be flown by clubs.
The standard club pilot simply do not fly engough to remain comfortable and safe with the speed and complexity.
If any of you has experience about that, and knows clubs operating Cirrus, or other high performance (Bonanza, Mooney, C210, …), I’m interested in reading more about that.
Oct 29th, 2008
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