So just how TOUGH is it then?


Here's what Sandra has to say about it

"Another brilliant Fly UK.

A lot of people we spoke to prior to departing, particularly some of our local club members, were under the impression that Fly UK is only for the gung-ho hard nuts. The truth couldn't be further from this!

Fly UK is as soft, or as gung ho as you want it to be. Despite the fact that Tom puts a huge amount of effort into organising the route and the pilots in advance (for which we are eternally grateful, thanks Tom), weather and other factors always see pilots scattered all over the place. That's part of the fun of it though. We naturally migrate into groups of like minded (and similar speed) groups, and we look after each other when the inevitable niggles happen.

Don't think this is limited to just aircraft and flying either. The biggest mess several of us got into this year was getting lost in the sunken lanes walking back from the pub in deepest Cornwall - not because we were sloshed, we just hadn't paid enough attention on the way there. Thank goodness we still had phone reception!

It's also a tour that you can dip in and out of quite easily if you can't make, or don't fancy the whole week. Also, if you're not going with anyone you know particularly well, it only seems to take a matter of minutes for everyone to start jabbering away together, and before you know it, you're swapping stories and have great friendships established. Despite the fact that we get scattered around the country, there are still several nights where loads of us end up at the same airfield, and Tom's mission 'to fly by day and socialise by night' really comes into its own.

If you can't get your mind around a huge trip around the UK, just think of it as two or three navs a day - sling them together for a few days and you've got yourself a bit of a tour. If you want to go all out and 'capture' as many airfields as you can, that's fine. Equally, if you get to a beautiful place that you've never been to before, stop for a day and enjoy it.

Fly UK can be all things to all people, and that's the fantastic thing about it for me. We ended up flying to Spamfield with three generations of one family in our group (couldn't quite fit them into one trike though!).

We're all supposed to be flying for fun, and Fly UK is one of the best ways I know of doing this. It's not so good being back to work today though!

Sandra
Pilot on Fly-UK 2004/5/6/7/8/9/10