Across the Atlantic in a Skyhawk: Part 5

DONEGAL

When I started taking flying lessons at Houston Gulf Airport, I was fast closing in on forty, and my instructors were significantly younger than me. One of them was an ex-naval aviator and the other was so young he seemed like a kid. One of the things they kept on about was the dangers of carburetor ice, although it probably doesn't happen much here in the sultry southwest. One day while we were flying straight and level the kid went through the drill about carburetor ice. He pulled out the carb heat handle and noted the RPM drop, then pushed it back in then exclaimed "See the RPM jump! We had it! We actually had it!" He seemed delighted to have something interesting happen for a change, and I was happy for him.

That was a long time ago, but this morning, in the flight simulator world, I was in Donegal and I decided to hop over to Paris; to come so far and not fly in to Le Bourget (LFPB) seemed a waste of time. I guess I tarried too long over my scones and tea, because it was mid afternoon before I launched from EIDL, headed for LFPB, a distance of 624 nautical miles, according to the GPS.

THE IRISH SEA

I climbed slowly up to 8000 feet, just to make sure I didn't hit any mountains while crossing Ireland and Wales, then started a slow descent down to 1500 feet as I neared the English Channel.

ANGLESEY EGOV

Since I had plenty of gas, I flew past Le Bourget and got a look at the city at night, then turned back to the airport.

PARIS, AFTER DARK

The tower vectored me straight in to runway 3.

FINAL RUNWAY 3, LE BOURGET

I had about 18 gallons of fuel left when I parked the plane.

Thanks for taking us along. I enjoyed your commentary on each of the legs.

Greg