Archive for February 2007

Bradley! I’ve wet myself!

Great - sunny windy day - but a flying day! Hurrah!! Debs took me down to Earls Colne again - well I need to keep an eye on Bradley and make sure he’s doing what I’ve taught him! :-) Well after today I’ve taught him not to go flying when it’s so windy!! We landed when it was gusting 27 - oooh my word my eyes were tightly closed and my fingers tightly crossed (as were my legs - oops! :-() I needed some time to recover after that flight I can tell you… so I helped Carolyn sell some raffle tickets - it’s great everyone wants me to go and live with them at the end of the year - wonderful, just as long as I go to a pilot - can’t “bear” (ha ha) not to fly again - even with Bradley in the wind :-)! I had another flight this afternoon with Roger doing circuits - Debs said she saw me when she was having a meeting with Elaine in Unit 10 (why was she looking out of the window? Was she bored or day-dreaming? :-)). Also gave Earls Colne a pressie - a picture of me!!

Go Flying!

Oh well no flying today - low cloud, rainy and just grotty. I did go to the flying club and help Hazel decide where to hang a picture, but that was it. While there I managed to pick up a copy of a new magazine - Go Flying. I really enjoyed reading that, especially the top 15 tips on how to land - I made sure I pointed that out to Debs, she’ll need that soon (oh no - hope I’m ready for that lesson!!). Another reason I liked that article was because there was a picture of G-BUCA in it and that’s what Debs is learning to fly in. I’m getting offers coming in for me to go flying now - Andy at Shoreham wants me to go Crime Busting for a few days and I might be going to Norway with Colin in April - Wow that’s soon! I’ve never been in a helicopter, hope I don’t get dizzy looking at the rotors…! :-) Another unusual flight will be in a hot air balloon with Annette and Bob Kent from Shoreham Airport Visitor Centre… they even have a Thomas the Tank Engine one… oooh quite fancy that one please!! :-) Still can’t stop thinking about my great weekend down south… can we go again please??

Short muddy memory

What a great weekend I’ve had – forgot to mention the lovely ladies at the Holiday Inn … Belinda loves men in uniform (I’m in!) & her friend wants a ride with me in JB … think Debs might have something to say about that!! But they did look after us at the Holiday Inn Brighton – we even had a table for 3 for dinner!! Talking of food (as I do!) I really liked the restaurant at Lydd … the paintings on the walls are fantastic (check out some of my pics!) & so is the lovely lady behind the counter – I think she’s fallen in love with me (well who wouldn’t??!) I managed to upset Nigel & Debs today by actually flying (hee hee :-)) as JB is grounded at Elmsett due to a waterlogged runway – ooh it was muddy when we landed Sunday afternoon – Nigel has a job & a half to get JB clean … wonder if Mattie wants to help this weekend?? Any way I spent the day at Earls Colne (& added a keyring to my collection of ‘stuff’ as I collected badges from North Weald & Shoreham over the weekend) & went on an IMC flight to Cambridge & back – hard work not being able to look out of the window when flying. Also then had a flight with my mate Bradley to Andrewsfield – shortfield landing … oooh! :-)

Transair Tower Police Balloons!

Back to Shoreham airport again and thanks to Bob we got a visit up the tower - I passed on some tips I’d learnt from Duxford! Hi to Andrew, Robin and Dan in the tower - really enjoyed meeting you and glad you liked our departure - we’ll make the low approach and go-around our trademark then! Made great friends with the “balloon guys” in the airport visitor centre - they bought lots of tickets and also made Bob buy some!! They took us on a tour of the surrounding clubs and companies (Transair Pilot Shop was one!), and helped me sell more tickets… then I was shopped to the Police!! But it’s OK coz Andy and Colin are really friendly and they showed me over the helicopter rather than put me in cuffs! Colin even wants to take me to Norway with him on the SeaKing simulator… wow! Andy has also said I can go on some sorties with them… can’t wait… going to be a crimebuster!! Also been promised some balloon flights too… oooh sounds scary! Finished off a great weekend at Earls Colne with our friends! Thanks to everyone for a brilliant weekend… watch out for your photo’s on my pages:-)

More photos are available from the photo album page

Girls, girls, girls!

What a busy but fantastic day I’ve had. It started with a trip to North Weald - what a wonderful airfield with “The Squadron”. I made friends with Lesa and Lynn, lovely ladies who made me a “full works” big breakfast - great! We then moved on to Lydd - ooh superstar bear coz the airport publicity officer took pics of me to go on their website… oh my fame is really spreading :-) We finally flew on to Shoreham and again I made friends with the lovely ladies at the reception desk and also the chef in the bar (do you see a theme occurring here??!) We’ve had great fun today meeting lots of people… having photo’s taken and selling raffle tickets. Debs has been flying again (Nigel tells me not to be cruel as she is doing really well - oops I’ll say nothing then!) Oh yes, forgot to mention Debs was in her element having her picture taken with the airport firemen - Oi! It’’s me who’s supposed to have photo’s taken, not you!! :-) Great people, great day!

More photos are available from the photo album page

Windy Dale

Wowee - a sunny start to the day! We flew to Norwich today for Debs first proper flying lesson - rather a quiet flight thanks to a grumpy Debs this time because of a misunderstanding on the radio with Wattisham (just don’t ask!). Met Dale (Anglia Flight) properly for the first time today… and he’s nothing like Nigel has said and he seems to be a very good instructor! We completed exercise 4 on the lesson today and even I was impressed - Debs managed to nail the art of trimming and was able to maintain her altitude and heading, all she has to do now is crack taxiing… think Dale has his work cut out there!! :-) Had a good flight home too even though Debs had another go… hasn’t she had enough today! Think I’m not too keen on windy weather though - ooh it was gusty on the way back to Norwich - I had my eyes shut… “So did I” said Dale!! But he still managed a really good landing - ooh I’m so glad to be back on the ground I could kiss him!! :-) Only joking Dale!!

More photos are available from the photo album page

Just like mum

Hmmm :-( Boring day today. After all my moaning yesterday Debs took me to work today - great a chance to fly with my mate Bradley again! Unfortunately it was raining on the way to work… and it rained… and it rained… so therefore no flying for me… boy was I cheesed off! Anyway it gave me a chance to catch up with my mate - the lovely Ania. She has just returned from Baxters Poland and has been busy selling my raffle tickets - thanks to Robert Parker and his Polish workers! She is going back to Poland next week and I am going too… wow - beats sitting around here waiting for the rain to stop - better start reading my Polish dictionary then… Ania has been teaching me some words from her PC Polish - English dictionary! As I’ve been grumpy today (bad weather) Debs told me to get an early night as we have a busy flying weekend… oooh good! :-) Before bed I helped Ben choose his options for next year… he’s such a clever boy all his teachers think he’s wondeful - just like his mum then!! :-)

PC Pilot

Well keep raining now so that you’re dry & bright for the long weekend … :-) - well that didn’t last long coz it soon brighten up & the planes were flying at Earls Colne (so Debs said …) – so why didn’t she take me to work then?? My webpages have been taking lots of hits … my fame is really spreading far & wide – just need the raffle tickets to start selling now! Quite a boring day for me really although I did manage to hack into Deb’s pc (passwords are easy to obtain when you’re just a little bear quietly minding his own business!!) & have a go on Flight Sim … I surprised even myself when I managed to land an Extra 300 at Norwich (& that’s something that even Nigel can’t do – his attempt ended up with a wing buried in the runway!!). I’ve mastered the art of straight & level flight, also turns & even a roll!! Taking off is a piece of cake, but landing is more difficult … mind you I’m sure I could fly the yak solo now … wonder if Nigel will let me have a go … oops judging by the look on his face the answer is NO!!

Bandits!

Poor weather again… but at least it gave me the chance to supervise Nigel doing my web pages from the last few days (and yes, he needs supervising too!). Just waiting to get my real pictures back to go in my album… it’s growing!! I had a lovely time yesterday at Duxford, I can’t stop thinking about it… and hoping to go back there - there’s loads of planes there, including a couple of Yaks! :-) I had great fun in the shop posing in the model planes… I was transported to another era; at one point when sitting in the “Spitfire” - thought I was chasing “bandits”… until I noticed I’d been invaded by lots of other bears!! It made the guys in the shop laugh! We met some lovely people in the cafe who bought loads of raffle tickets (they must really want me to go and live with them!). One of them has connections with a flying club in the Isle of Man, and he promised to put my poster up over there… ooh my fame is spreading!! Hi to everyone in the Isle of Man!

More photos are available from the photo album page

Duxford!

I went to Duxford today - eventually! Weather was OK at Duxford - but poor at Elmsett, so had to wait until after lunch when it was good enough to go. Spent some of the waiting time at Aero Anglia supervising the work there - well that David Young needs supervising, as do his oppos! Looking forward to the opening of his new kitchen - will get a cup of tea in a clean cup then!! Anyway, a break in the weather meant a quick departure to Duxford - with Deb doing the radio (Oh my goodness will we get there??). Had a great time at Duxford, the people there are great! Met Colin in the control tower and had my photo taken… think I could handle this job - piece of cake talking to pilots and telling them yes or no for landing!! :-) Highlight of the visit was a look over “Sally B” - oh wow! Mind you, I don’t know who was more excited Debs or me - she got to sit in the pilots seat! Thanks a lot Sally B guys - can’t wait until I get to fly with you in the display season - oh sorry Debs did I forget to mention that!! :-) Love Duxford can’t wait to go back!

More photos are available from the photo album page