After the winter revamp of the club's
administrative and operational structures, we were keen to find out how
these changes would affect visitors to Sisteron this year. We need not have
been concerned: from the outset, everyone on the Sisteron team provided
information and encouragement in a relaxed, informal manner.
Alex
conducted most of the morning briefings which I felt gave out the right
amount of information, along with some invaluable extra interpretation based
on his experience at the club. Occasionally Michel, the club's mechanic and
tug pilot, took over briefing duties.
Briefings
from Rene, the CFI, were as eagerly awaited as would be a song from Jeremy
Hardy. Rene has graciously come to accept the roars of derision that meet
his attempts to master the weather computer at briefing, while Gilles, the
Aussie Frenchman, was happy to act as a multilingual insult translator for the
benefit of non-French speakers.
Alex is
an excellent tug pilot; sadly, he may not remain at Sisteron for too long as
he has set his sights on a career as a professional airline pilot.
Wednesday
evenings
remain aperitif occasions, when the club invites all pilots to beer,
wine and nibbles for an hour or two. At one of these events Jean Cosnard,
club president, introduced us to the new owners of the Janus restaurant which
re-opened during the first week of July. After the frosty relationship the
club had endured with the previous owners, we are sure that all will go well with the
new team.
