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Leg 10: Athens to Rhodes (Greece)
Date: 26th June 2002
Another nice flight over the many and varied Greek Islands dotted around the Aegean Sea. Took a picture of Mikonos and Paxos which can be seen on the pictures page.
The main note about this flight was the 22 knot cross wind that kept trying to push me off course. Never knew heat and strong winds went together, but then again this is not England!
Leg 9: Corfu to Athens (Greece)
Date: 25th June 2002
This flight was at the heady heights of 9,000 ft to avoid the mountains in Greece that go up to 8,000 ft in places.
The mountains in FS2002 certainly look good and appear pretty realistic, especially when close up!
Took a spin over the city before landing off the coast near Athens airport. See the photo's page for a picture of the landing.
Leg 8: Bari to Corfu (Greece)
Date: 25th June 2002
A hot morning flight down the east coast of Italy and then on to the Greek Island of Corfu.
The coast of Greece looked very picturesque, mountain ranges strtching down most of the way. The Island of Corfu mainly covered in trees until you get to the airport and the coastal resorts.
Safely down in the harbour, off to Athens later today. Lots of mountains to dodge!
Leg 7: Rome to Bari (Italy)
Date: 24th June 2002
Another hot flight (30 deg C) in Italy. Across the mountains from the west to the east coast. With Mount Miletta getting up to almost 6000 ft, they look scarily close when flying at 8,000 ft
Safely down in the Adriatic just off the coast at Bari.
Think I am getting the hang of flying the Clipper now!
Leg 6: Pisa to Rome (Italy)
Date: 20th June 2002
A flight down the west coast of Italy. Good weather, 29 deg C on the ground (or should I say on the water) at Rome.
I took a spin over Rome before landing just down the coast from Fiumicino. A picture of the Clipper flying over St Peters Basillica/Square in Rome is on the pictures page.
Leg 5: Nice to Pisa (Italy)
Date: 12th June 2002
Another early morning departure. The main talking point on this flight was the early morning mist when I arrived in Pisa. Again, you have to remember there is no ILS/DME/VOR/NDB's to help you land at sea.
So it's a case of get down low on the water so you can see the surface, fly until you get to see the coast, fly back out and then fly into the wind to land. Luckily the visability was still 5000 ft so it wasn't too bad. But if I get any real pea soupers later on it is going to get fairly hairy!
Anyway I took a snapshot of the mist on the south coast of France. You can see this on the pictures page.
I also managed to solve my RPM lever problem. the area you need to click with your mouse to adjust this is VERY small. But now I know life should get a bit easier just before landing.
Leg 4: Montpellier to Nice (France)
Date: 10th June 2002
An early morning flight in Provence to Nice in the Cote d'Azur. A nice sunrise to add spice to the flight.
There are quite a few mountains on the approach to Nice so it was not as straight forward approach as I first expected. Still no problems, although taxiing at dawn at sea is not that easy, the sea and the sky are as dark as each other!
Leg 3: La Rochelle to Montpellier (France)
Date: 9th June 2002
Spent most of the flight trying to dodge clouds, which seemed to follow me no matter what altitude I was at!
Still there were some breaks to see some picturesque scenery in the Dordogne, a snap shot can be seen on the pictures page.
It's a bit warmer now I am on the Mediterranean coast, but very windy. It was hard work taxiing into the wind getting the Clipper beached.
Time for an overnight break before flying on to Nice.
Leg 2: Jersey to La Rochelle (France)
Date: 9th June 2002
Well apart from the strong winds and rain at Jersey and La Rochelle the flight was pretty good.
I am finally getting used to the Gyropilot on the Clipper. As long as you remember to compensate for crosswinds it seems pretty good at tracking a course.
Still having problems with the RPM levers on descent, but now I know what to expect it is OK.
Landing is interesting, not having a runway means you can always land into the wind, but it can mean a long water taxi back to the beach!
Leg 1: Southampton to Jersey
Date: 9th June 2002
The first leg is a short hop from the Clippers home port of Southampton to the island of Jersey. This is really a get to know the aircraft better flight. Not too complicated (weather permitting!) and a chance to see what the Clipper is like on a real flight, following the trials I have been doing up until now.
So here I am sitting in Jersey. The flight went quite well considering it's my first real flight in the Clipper.
Found it much easier to take off with a much reduced fuel load (only 850 gal). The Clipper took off like a shot! The flight took 1 hr 12 mins. Cloudy most of the way but no major winds, so I have still to see how the Clipper copes with high winds on takeoff/landing
I am still getting used to the instruments, found that there is more than one Radio ON switch which caused some confusion on the ATC front I can tell you! I also had a stuck RPM lever which could only be fixed on the Engineers Panel. That's one to keep an eye on, no idea why it did that...
Anyway, down safe and sound. Hope to do the leg to La Rochelle later today.
Author/Pilot: Barry Perfect