Tag: Europe

  • Mountain and Lake Adventures: A Flight to the Austrian Border

    I have always wanted to see the mountains and lakes near the Austrian border, and they are truly incredible. The only challenge is that one needs to climb up to 6000 feet to get a good view. Luckily, the weather today was perfect for it. I bet that glider pilots would have been envious of…

  • Crossing the Country: A Flight Adventure

    Today, I planned a long cross-country flight. It supposed to literally cover almost half of the country. The weather was not perfect, but acceptable, and I set out towards the east. A significant part of the route went through controlled airspace, making my workload higher than usual. As I’m not yet used to talking to…

  • Exploring New Routes: Flying to Stankovice

    The morning weather was not cooperating, and I thought my flight would be cancelled. But around 10 am, the clouds started to dissipate and the weather briefing showed no thunderstorms in the near future, so it seemed like we could take off after all! Our route today was to the southeast, and I was excited…

  • Flying Adventures: 100$ Hamburger Flight

    Today was a great day for me as I had the opportunity to fly a lot, and I am thrilled about it. I started with touch-and-goes at my home aerodrome, then took a short flight to LKPLES, which has a runway that is 1640 feet long and 15 meters wide. That airfield is pretty close…

  • Exploring New Runways: A Day of Challenging Landings

    Today, I finally had the opportunity to fly again. I know that landing and approaches are still my weak points, so I decided to practice them extensively. I flew to six different airports to increase the challenge. I started at my home aerodrome, which has a wide, long runway that I am familiar with. Then…

  • Resuming Flight Practice: Dealing with Turbulence

    After a break of about two months, I resumed my flying practice. The school required me to fly only with a safety pilot as my experience is still low. We took off normally, flew the standard pattern, and as we turned onto the base leg, we encountered a sudden and powerful downdraft. I began preparing…

  • Passing My IFR English Exam: A Step Towards Instrument Rating

    Today, I passed my IFR English exam, which is a requirement for the Instrument Rating in Europe. Although I don’t plan to obtain the European IR at the moment, I thought it would be beneficial to take the exam since my English skills are quite good. It was not hard at all, even with no…

  • First IFR Flight Experience

    Today, I went on my first IFR flight! Actually, it was not my flight but rather an opportunity to jump in during another student’s lesson in a Cessna 172. Since my theoretical background in IFR is low, practicing it on my own would be almost useless. But learning from someone else’s experience is extremely useful…

  • Obtaining My License: A Journey to the CAA and Beyond

    Today, I picked up my freshly issued license. Everything was okay, except for one small mistake in my home address, which caused some additional delay. The interior of the building resembled that of the Russian Traffic Inspection office (or any other legal department), but there were no queues at the CAA. Fortunately, I found a…

  • Passing the EASA Private Pilot Checkride: Reaching the First Milestone

    Finally, I made it! To be honest, I was worried that I would have to return to Moscow before completing my PPL because I didn’t have any possibility to stay here after the 1st of July. It’s much easier to take the exam right after finishing the course because of the fresh skills, and I…