" Pups Leaving Home"

 Unfortunately, the weather was not too kind to Jason and Nicole during the last week of their holiday though they managed to complete quite a lot of their training and passed several ground examinations.
However, a gusting crosswind prevented them from completing their first solo flights so I shall look forward to their next visit sometime in the near future.
NearlyHeaven is certainly becoming a school with an international flavour and my most recent student is a Turkish lawyer who works in Strasbourg for the Court of Human Rights.
Ugur has done some previous PPL training with a French instructor but soon realised that his language skills were not good enough for the ground examinations and therefore decided to complete his training with me as he is fluent in English.
After training at a small, uncontrolled, airfield, Limoges International airport came as a bit of a shock but a few hours of flying with me has made him confident with flying in Class D airspace.
I am delighted with his rapid progress during the last few days and, as well as going solo in the circuit, he has just completed his qualifying cross-country in fine style.
Sadly, he must return to Strasbourg this weekend but he is almost ready to take his PPL 'skill test' and has managed to pass all of the ground exams this week.
As Strasbourg is a nine-hour car journey from Limoges and Ugur has no more holidays available, we will continue his training at the weekends―to make life easier, I will arrange to collect him from his home airfield for the next scheduled training session.
This might sound like an upmarket 'school run' but it is quite easy to arrange as I fly all over France with my Limoges-based students.
Last week, I boarded Ryanair for a whirlwind UK visit to renew my Class One Medical which is a bit more difficult to arrange here in France,
Normally, I use this enforced event to spend time with my family and friends but with good weather and eager students awaiting my return, I completed the round-trip in a couple of days. Upon arrival at Limoges, I literally got out of a Boeing 737 and jumped into a Robin DR400―after passing through immigration, of course.
The Aéroclub de Limoges have added another aircraft to their fleet, a PA28 Archer which is fully IFR equipped.
I have spent several hours this week introducing our pilots to the fun of flying a different aircraft so all UK pilots who refer the PA28 to the Robin have no reason not to visit.
The other good news is that, thankfully, the DA40 Diamond Star is back in service after waiting several months for a spare part!
Later in the year, I am hoping to arrange some flying trips from Limoges to perhaps Spain, Italy or Portugal so all suggestions are welcome.
The puppies are now eight weeks old and three have just left for their new homes, with more going this weekend.
We are all sad to see them leave but confident that they are going to excellent homes.
There are, incidentally, two male puppies still unsold―females always seem to go quicker―so it's not too late to buy one.