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I can’t close the series about my flying in England without talking about my temporary home-base there: the West London Aero Club, at White Waltham (EGLM) airfield. There is a short and easy way to describe White Waltham: three grass runways, 11 nautical miles west of Heathrow. The airfield was created in 1935, and was requisitioned by the Minstry of Defense during WWII. It is now the homebase of the West London Aeroclub. To read more about it, go to www.wlac.co.uk.

I flew there as a (temporary) member for the first time during my english trip, mid of August, but I already visited Waltham as a passenger, after flying to Biggin-Hill with a friend of mine. This friend is now an instructor there, and this explains how I “landed” there. As many things in aviation (life ?), it was a matter of luck. As a visitor, I already noticed something different in this club, compared to other clubs and school I visited: the social aspect of the club is at least as important as the flying aspect. Even on week days, with less than optimal weather (and in England this means something…), the club house bar is almost full.

Is that because of the restaurant itself ? Possible. I can’t imagine going there and not having one of their full english breakfast. The bar is in the same building as the theory rooms, briefing room, and ops room. No need to get your feet wet to check if weather improves. And if someone is in doubt about a decision, there’s always an instructor nearby ready to help. This high-level of social activity makes it a very attractive club, and reinforces the feeling of being part of a flying community. Something else that I like the the presence of someone in the ops room, answering on the radio, all the time the field is open.

That being said, the activities and the fleet of the club are also rather impressive. Typical aircrafts like Warriors and C172 are the basis of the fleet, like in almost all flying clubs. My favorite G-registered PA32 G-ELLA is there for longer trips, and IFR / IMC flights. If you like aerobatics, you can train in a C150 Aerobat. Not enough power ? What about the Extra 300… or the Pitts Special ? Oh, you prefer a taildragger ? No problem, there is a SuperCub as well in the fleet. Did I mention that some Russian aircrafts are also based at White Waltham ?

The airfield itself is interesting, with its three grass runways, arranged in a triangle. This reduces the probability of crosswind… reduces, don’t anihilate.

Because of the Heathrow CTR on the east, and the proximity of other airports, the circuits are rather tiny, particularly in a quick airplane like the Saratoga.

This video shows the base, final, and landing on runway 25. The landing is made on the left side of the centerline on purpose, as the centerline markings are rather deep.

If the message was not clear until then, don’t miss the opportunity to fly there if you can. As visitor or member, this is a place you’ll never forget. And to make things clear, I’m a member there… for the next 10 days.

This is the time before the next flight I planned in a light aircraft. This will be the longer interruption in my flying activities ever. Before starting training for my IFR, I went through a shorter non-flying period, to put enough money aside.

We have been living in Frankfurt area for one month now, and thing get settled slowly. We feel more and more “at home”, but budget-wise it’s too soon for flying. My priority is still to keep my ratings alive. So I need 12 hours after the 5th of August 2008.

The plan now is to go to both London and Geneva. We’ll drive to Geneva to see family and friends, and then fly out of there to London, thus taking benefit of EasyJet prices. The flying part of the trip will be at both West London Aero Club (WLAC) and Geneva Aeroclub.

There is no exact planning for London right now. The fleet there is varied, ranging from Piper SuperCub to Piper Saratoga. Flying a Saratoga over England sounds tempting, and given the number of airfields in the London area, this could be the opportunity to realize the 12 Airports Project, but in a different region. For budget and objective, the Saratoga is may be not the best plane: it flies fast, so flies less, and is not exactly cheap.

A SuperCub familiarization - first tail-wheel for me - also sounds tempting. The White-Waltham grass is perfect for that, and it seems possible to pack it within the time we’ll spend there. Another variant could be simply flying around London in a PA28.

The Geneva part is more easy. The club recently received a DA40 TDI with G1000, so I’ll profit from it. It will probably be a mixture of VFR and IFR, and I’ll try to bring G1000 photos for the blog, possibly with the terrain page when flying in the Alps. I don’t know if this G1000 will already be retrofitted with the Synthetic Vision System… that would be a dream.

As always when making plans with short and fixed time frame, I now have to cross fingers for having good weather. August shall not be that bad, but if you could cross fingers as well for me, I’ll appreciate that !