25/02/2008 by Mr Shoe Wingtips.

When i woke this morning, I hadn’t expected that i would be doing some flying. Days that are this full of surprise are magical. Through my home window in West London, i could see the sun beaming through the high clouds. With my morning coffee , I called Cranfield having checked the TAFS and METARS on the web to book G-ECGC.

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29/01/2008 by Mr Shoe Wingtips.

A wonderful article by Peter J. Kuznick:

On November 1, Paul Warfield Tibbets, Jr., the man who piloted the plane that dropped the atomic bomb on Hiroshima, died at his Columbus, Ohio home at age 92. Read the rest of this entry »

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28/01/2008 by Mr Shoe Wingtips.

The last few times i flew G- ECGE have not been so great. i have been trying to master how a different set of hand controls are used on a type of aeroplane that i did not learn on. When i say not great, i had to get used to taxiing, and knowing how the steering works on the Cessna 172, with the differential breaking. Fine tuning the landing was also took a few hrs to get right. Read the rest of this entry »

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17/01/2008 by Mr Shoe Wingtips.

Cranfield (EGTC) to Peterborough Connington (EGSF)

Wind: 280 / 20 - TAS: 100knots

To introduce my friend Rusty to the world of general aviation, i planned a short route to Peterborough Connington. A sweet little airfield. Read the rest of this entry »

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17/01/2008 by Mr Shoe Wingtips.

Yesterday, Wednesday 16th, the weather was sublime for January. The sky was clear, the wind was gentle and both myself, the aeroplane and one of my greatest friends were all free to do some flying.

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09/01/2008 by Mr Shoe Wingtips.

Last year we interviewed Barry Cardno from Wanaka in New Zealand. He is a terrific person who is in the later stages of publishing his book about his experiences of having a plane crash and life before and afterwards. He sent us this brilliant video of hi flying in NZ. You can just make out him using the bolt on hand controls during take off and landing..

He told me “You might be able to tell its warm here by how my 160hp Cessna 172 never lept into the air off any of the airstrips (all at 1000+ ft ASL, and 28-30′C). There was three of us on board, but the trick is always fly to the conditions.”

His interview for those who have not read it yet can be found here…please click to read the full text

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01/12/2007 by Mr Shoe Wingtips.

It has been over a month since i last flew any aeroplane. Then the weather was just starting to get wintry. Now it is windy, grey and not so bright. I met Mike (chief instructor) at Cranfield flight training to discuss their new website which i am building for them. By lunchtime Donald hat become free to fly with me. It felt great to be sitting on the left hand seat doing the pre flight checks. Read the rest of this entry »

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