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Prachaval
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Jean-Pierre, #1 instructor at Sisteron, decided to show David
Walsh, ex-Cambridge pilot now living in France, how to save money on the
aerotow, with inevitable consequences. They spent an hour in a Duo at 1000ft
above airfield height, while most towed to Hongrie or Trainon for an
immediate escape. Meanwhile, Team 13 had their own masterplan; to fly north
as far as the weather went and do a tour de provence. Same as our
plan in 220 - I only hoped that they would keep up.
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Right - let's conquer Provence
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Robbie Robertson (Talgarth) was today's First Officer in 220,
and after a fairly easy getaway we ploughed on to la Blanche where we met
our first surprise of the day; on a ridge packed with gliders we saw two
unusual flying objects, which turned out to be French airforce fighters
blatting their way southwards at warp speed through the assorted plastic.
Impressive...
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Phew - got away at last!
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Our second surprise was on reaching Prachaval. Team 13 were
there (yippee - we'd caught up!) and the ridge was not currently delivering
it's customary excellent service (boo!). We spent an hour there, trying to
get enough height to reach the third ridge up the valley where in olden days
the lift stepped up. Our first foray led to a hasty retreat back to
Prachaval for a top up - our second required a low level excursion to ridge
#3 which eventually delivered, booting us up to 11,000ft.
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Maurienne
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Now that was out of the way, the rest of the flight was
fairly easy. We flew to the col d'Etache and nipped into the Sollieres
valley for a short distance. I didn't like the look of the clouds towards
the col de Carro (and anyway the airfield at Aosta is still out of service)
and I couldn't see the Mont Blanc which must have been under a pile of
clouds. So we decided to tour the southern edge of the Modane valley towards
the Glacier Blanc, pas de la Cavale and the parcours before returning home.
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Which was exactly what the EB28 did. Well, ok, they did add a
few extra kilometers; after turning Bardonecchia they did find time to
squeeze in Fayence in the south. And the Vercors in the west.
And Jorg, local German pundit, somehow managed to get to
the Matterhorn through those clouds I didn't like the look of and over the
unlandable Aosta airfield. Ever done a great flight and still felt like a
novice? I need a talent injection...!
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Ecrins
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