The Auster Diaries

Ever since the Auster came back from its exhaust repair, a hectic mix of work, life and weather have conspired to prevent me from flying it. I had almost forgotten what it felt like to rumble aloft in the old thing.  It’s funny how the things that make us happy often seem to get the lowest priority; the last on the list. Getting the whole work / life / fun balance right, can be tricky. However, today, with the distant sun, shining in a cold, but bright blue sky, I drove down to the strip to re-address that balance.

Wheeling JT out of the dimly lit hangar and into the weak warmth of the sun, that old, familiar feeling of anticipation and well-being returned to remind me why I fly. It’s often easy to forget that feeling; stop missing it even and go on to do other things. Jim and Bob were warming the engine of their microlight and I gave them a smile and a wave; a genuine smile: happy. I watched them trundle off down the strip and get airborne, climbing up into the brightness of the day, their machine’s little silhouette shrinking against the blue. I pushed the Auster down to the start of the strip and readied myself to follow them. Within moments I was sat back in the musty, battered cockpit of JT and ready to fly. I opened the throttle and the Auster bounced its way down the strip and struggled into the air. Levelling out above the frosted, muddy fields and heading north, an internal smile carried me across the familiar landscape and the previous few months of hassle and stress, slipped away like the ground below.

It is often said that flying is an expensive pass-time, but, and like many have said before me; it’s cheaper than therapy and a whole lot more fun.

The wind is starting to blow and the leaves are beginning to turn – some of them to fall even and another anticlimatic summer bites the proverbial dust.

It’s not all bad, though. Autumn is often far better than summer as far as flying weather goes, up here in sunny Scotland and there’s nothing better than a nice flight on one of those cold but crisp, fresh autumn days, when you can fly above a landscape covered in trees bursting with colour. Wonderful blazing oranges, reds and yellows, burnished coppers and golds spread out across the fields and hills as far as you can see at this time of year.

I haven’t flown old JT for a while, now, but I’m looking forward to the next time we have a spell of stable weather and I can go out to the strip, the leaves fluttering playfully through the air on the long, winding drive down to the hangar, tucked so wonderfully away, as it is, amidst the trees and hedgrows. I’ll test the breeze and up we’ll go with not a care.

Summer’s gone, for sure, but Autumn brings its own delights.

JT has now been returned to the home strip after the exhaust repair and one of our syndicate members collected her on Thursday. As per usual, there’s been a lot of rain, so the strip was only suitable for the landing and we’ll all have to wait for conditions to improve before we can get back flying again. I won’t have the chance until next month, since I’m going on a little ‘staycation’ on Monday and will then be back to work ( and very busy ), so things will be a little quiet here for the next few weeks. I’d still like to get up to Orkney, at some point, so hopefully there’ll be some more entries before the winter hits.

Happy landings all.