5 hours on the Costa Brava

An opportunity to increase my hours flying on Gulfstreams couldn't be passed up so yesterday I could be found checking in to the Harrods terminal at Luton with my good friend Wes just after 6am. A minimal queue at reception and at just the mention of our names, we were escorted in to the lounge where we helped ourselves to coffee. We were flying on Pen-Avia's G450 and just before departure, the captain came for a chat and then we were climbing in to a van that took us to the steps of G-ULFM. A few photos were taken although the sun had only just risen.

Once on board, emergency procedures were explained and I was strapped in to the jump seat for the departure. We taxied off stand 71, headed up Delta and were cleared to backtrack and depart from runway 26. Airborne at 0720 and a steady climb to FL450. I returned to the cabin where coffee was served. Tried to soak in the whole experience but all too soon, we were descending and we landed in Girona, Spain (GRO/LEGE) at 0854z (0954 local) which gave us a flying time of 1 hour 34 minutes. Some more pics were taken as the weather was slightly better than home and then driven to the terminal. We picked up a hire car, drove to Barcelona for an Easyjet flight back to Luton which just wasn't the same.

A day (and flight) to remember

On Saturday, 10th October, a group of enthusiasts arrived at Lanseria airport, near Johannesburg, South Africa to check in for the flight of a lifetime. The destination was Maun in Botswana but honestly it could have flown anywhere and we'd have gone. The aircraft in question was Gulfstream G-1159A Gulfstream 3
ZS-VIP (con 444) operated by Zenith Air. I first saw this at Gatwick in 1985 as N110MT. See pic - click here
We were airborne off runway 07 at 0814 and climbed to FL400 in 16 minutes. We landed on 08 at Maun at 0925, 1 hour and 11 minutes later. I also did the return leg. Some of the group flew in a Cessna 401 which took a bit longer. We were airborne at 1403 climbing to FL450 in 18 minutes and returned home at 1511, 1 hour and 8 minutes later. See the video
Thanks to Michael Flebbe for all the organisation.



>> A few more pictures can be seen here <<