Today I went to inspect a beautifully built Kitfox Series 7. Magnum equipped, secondary door latches, Dynon panel, etc, etc. It is always a pleasure to inspect those homebuilts, most of them putting to shame most of the certified stuff. The attention to detail, the pride in workmanship, the countless hours “invested”, all shine thru the final product 
Different countries, different systems and rules. Over here our homebuilder association EAS oversees all aircraft being built (we even have hot air balloons). Thru a network of building advisors we help those dreamers achieve their goal.
Then prior to the final NAA (FOCA in our case) inspection, and issue of a provisional PtF, the head of advisors does a pre-inspection, kind of clearing the way for the NAA. Right now I’m the head of Maintenance, but will switch to the other job next year, so still learning 
As to flying, went RC flying yesterday, and this afternoon. 3D RC requires constant practice, and though I master the basic figures, I have yet so much to learn…
Wifey’s gone on vacations for a week, so there might be some 1/1 flying this WE… just need a mission
Yesterday I made something crazy. I’ve flown more than 1200 nm on one day in about 8 hours flying time.
First part of my flight was with huge tailwind of 30+ knots (190 over ground) from near Frankfurt to Mielec short of the Ukrainian border to deliver some medical stuff for an NGO. The stuff actually came from the UK, where it was flown from the UK to Germany by another EuroGA member pilot (hi there! 😉)
As for the return flight back from Mielec we didn’t mean to turn the nose into an increasing headwind that was reported to go up to 40 knots we opted for a route over Slovenia to Vienna right along the high Tatra. We landed in Vienna just for a short break. I’ve never seen so many diamonds! Crazy! And then along the Alps and back to Germany.
As I was luckily flying with an IRI I could log the time towards my rating.
What a flight! Took me a totally exhausting flight preparation to be prepared for anything starting from possible loss of GPS signal there over weather alternates over military areas that are activated in hours (try to get a flight plan validated in these circumstances, what a mess!) and ended in a spectacular training session that anyone should enjoy in the training time towards the rating. That’s something I’ll never forget!
I’m sorry I was quite busy flying and trying to stay ahead of the aircraft, so I’ve got not too many pictures. Will see if I have something to share.
As of course we had some focus on the training part we had some funny moments. The IFR clearance in Poland was a joke. “Climb as filed direct (our waypoint)”. That’s it. Later, right before the border, we got a Squawk, too. And in Germany we were cleared to a waypoint that no longer existed. I was confused and we got a heading, but my instructor got it and told ATC.
And another one is the RNAV approach to Wiener Neustadt, that is only LNAV. That means that no “glideslope indicator” appeared in the display. We both didn’t catch it before the approach, so we did (in perfect VMC) what was expected (maintain the lateral indicator and your descend angle) but only afterwards found out the reason.
Many lessons learned!
Regarding the RNP-A into LOAN: The reason for the missing glide path indication is rather simple. I believe there‘s no +V on this approach because there‘s no runway at the end of the approach. Typically you’ll get an advisory glideslope on approaches with only an LNAV minimum. See this information straight from the GARMIN website:
The glide path that is generated is based on the information that is used for the Localizer Performance with Vertical guidance (LPV) and Lateral Navigation / Vertical Navigation (LNAV/VNAV) procedures. It uses a specified decent angle that is centered at the MAWP (Missed Approach Waypoint) and at the TCH (Threshold Crossing Height). If this information is included in the electronic database for the approach, the 400W/500W series, G1000 with WAAS, G1000 NXi, GTN 6XX/7XX, and GTN 6XX Xi/7XX Xi series will generate a glide path.
That sure was a nice flight, I was stunned by the Comanche‘s performance.
Ok so all are here! 😎 I wasn’t sure whether I could include this, so I wrote it impersonal.
thanks @Caba for the debriefing update! Glad that I’m still learning! I wouldn’t have made the flight without you. And it was an honour (and pleasure) to meet you!
Now this was what I call a mission
Well done guys!
Wonderful to pack so many different elements into one voyage. And also to show how Euroga can bring people together. (I hope I am not assuming too much).
Well done the 3 of you.
Yesterday (06-Oct) I finally made it to Shoreham! Proof:
On the return to aircraft found that the following plane was parked next to us:
The weather was interesting – not much of a cloud cover North of London (~Oxfordshire):
And BKN/OVC around Shoreham/Lydd:
Funny… I was flying there yesterday
Peter wrote:
Funny… I was flying there yesterday
:) I’ve just checked the FlightAware – you took off only a few minutes after me!
