It was always my dream, that my private pilot license would allow me to take the family on holiday. Now, that dream is finally coming true.
As many of you will have realised, I live a somewhat unconventional life. I’m married to a man, and we are adoptive parents to a 10 year old boy. My husband James has supported my flying adventures, but has always been a little nervous in the cockpit, hence, we haven’t really travelled much together. After gradually increasing his exposure to flights over the last few years, we finally reached the point where we both felt comfortable undertaking a longer flight, over water, to Jersey.
Psychologically, I imagined flying over water would be a big deal for James, so for this trip over to Jersey from Redhill, I opted to go the long way around – crossing the channel at it’s shortest point, and then tracking along northern France. This added about 45-60 minutes to the journey time.
James found the flight very comfortable. We climbed up high, and found some very calm air. He said it was almost like being in an airliner. The descent over north-west France, as we closed in on Jersey though, was more bumpy and James could be seen mouthing f*****g h*** as we hit some turbulence!
The ATIS for Jersey was telling us there was scattered cloud at 1600ft. Jersey does not have the UK’s exemption from the Class D separation from cloud minima below 3000ft in a CTR, and so that would have meant us routing in at 600ft, to keep 1000ft clear of cloud. When I asked for special VFR clearance though, which was the solution to that problem, I was told ‘we are VFR’. I had to dodge a little bit of cloud to remain VFR, but it turned out ok.
James said he enjoyed the flight, and was looking forward to our return leg. We were checked over by Customs before leaving Jersey Aero Club in a taxi. We then had a lovely long weekend together, relaxing, walking, and visiting the Jersey War Tunnels.
You can see the flight tracks from this journey here.
Video: Redhill to Jersey VFR
Our flight home had to be IFR. That’s coming soon!