Slowflyer is back. Slower. But flying.

It's been a while. Maximaus and Hurricane Harry, my first grandchildren, have landed. Two little miracles, born 8 days apart, now 16 months old. Max, like a motor glider, composed, thoughtful, angelic (except when he's not); Harry, quick, funny and irrepressible, like,well, a Hurricane. Max is bilingual. In his head. Harry's vocabulary is rooted in the word Car!! which he uses liberally and with emphasis to describe everything from a squirrel to a croissant.

Oh, and I'm back flying after a break following two major surgical procedures and my circumnavigation of Africa in Alpha Charlie, sadly now with a new owner in Holland. I recently completed a conversion to the Cirrus SR20 and am back pootling around British skies and thinking of going further afield.

 The human mind is the strongest and the weakest part of us. It governs how we feel and what we do. If you can accept that thoughts are not facts you can change the way you respond to inner squalls by changing the way you think. I discovered this, hobbling at first like an elderly pilgrim, then slowly breaking through to a sunnier place where horizons are limited only by what you an imagine.

The Cirrus is a comfy, spacious aircraft with lots of funky systems, a sort of BMW of the sky. It has nice big screens that tell you where you are, how the aircraft is feeling and if you're about to bump into someone; a side-yoke like an Airbus and excellent visibility. Not everybody's people's idea of "real" flying but it can take you far and fast. Nor is it as slippery as I feared once you get speed control right using the electronic trim. I find the lack of nosewheel steering and having to slide from brakes to rudder on take-off and landing a pain. Its ace is its parachute which sits on top of the fuselage. Its for the plane not the pilots. You pull a lever if in trouble and, in theory, the aircraft falls gently to earth and lands with a mild thud.                                                                                                                                                        

Cirrus SR20

We are off to Southern Africa shortly. I shall be doing a bush pilot course with the celebrated "CC" Pockock who, I'm told, makes you do improbable things with his Cessna . I shall report back. Assuming I can. 
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CCs Cessna 172