This was our second attempt to fly KK to Le Touquet. The first didn't go well either. You'd think that would have been a sign.
Le Touquet in Frnce is one of those trips that every GA pilot in the UK has either done or wants to do. Cross the channel - it is wider than it looks, land in France, have lunch, fly home. Simple. In theory. In practice, flying a 1977 Cessna across the Channel has a way of finding things to go wrong. You have to get the simple stuff right. paper work. and more paperwork.
If you watch the video you will find that things didn't go entirely to plan. At one point ATC asked us the immortal question that nobody particularly wants to be asked. Do you wish to declare an emergency? We didn't. It wasn't that kind of situation. But being asked that question in a real aircraft about to fly over over real water has a way of focusing the mind rather sharply.
The training kicked in, we worked through it, and we got down safely. It sounds more dramatic that it actually was.
Le Touquet is still on the list. We'll try again. Probably.
