Ah, finally, our flight to Caen (LFRK) that was cancelled two weeks ago due to severe weather has come about. A freezing but clear sky Sunday brought four pilots together for brunch. Two licensed IFR pilots and two VFR pilots on board of the Mooney M20J. Filled our IFR flight plan the day before ready for 10:30 AM departure the next day. Steven made a detailed flight log with weight and balance. Plane had enough fuel for the one way to Caen. No full fuel with four persons on board ! Pre-flighted and loaded our gear and cameras ready for action.

Rwy 08 in use that morning so decided to back track to that one. No IFR departures on secondary runway. Received our clearance and performed the necessary checks before taking the runway. Do to the cold weather we were airborne swiftly. Departed on the ABB2E STAR but requested a direct to Abbeville VOR. Lille responded with a direct Diepe VOR. Nice, even beter, that saved about 10 minutes. Climbed out to FL080, passing 1000 ft I reset my altimeters to 29.92. Topping out at FL080 Lille approach told me I was At FL075. Wups, 10.13 was the correct setting. Reset and continued my climb to FL080. Same thing but in wrong plane and altimeters. Flying pretty much along the coastline the sites were breathtaking. Paris control gave us our descent before handing us over to Deauville. 500 ft/min down we went at the speed of 200 kts ground speed! Speed record on this plane ? Kept the airspeed indicator just below the redline. Deauville approach gave us a direct to CN NDB to set up ILS 31 circle to land Rwy 13. Steven called out telling me I was to high on the approach. Since this was a circle to land had no need to follow glide. Gradual descent to 1000 ft were called for on the circle to land. Great landing on the president markers and back track to the only taxi lane. After 1:05 minutes flight time we disembarked the aircraft and got our winter jackets out of the luggage compartment. Man it was cold ! Walked to the terminal checking on where we could get out. Fuel and fees would be paid on return. 20 minutes later a taxi whisked us away to town. A charming looking city with great architecture and plenty of people out and about. Strolled through the X-mas outdoor market and found our way to the “ tourist “ restaurant. The name fitted our visit perfectly. After a nice lunch we called for a cab to take us back to the airport. I taxied the aircraft to the fuel station and waited my turn. After the freezing wait and talk with local pilots we topped the Mooney to 20 gallons on each side. Got our clearance direct DPE VOR, no need for the SID I guess.

At FL070 above Diepe Vor I requested a direct LEQ VOR which was approved and shaved about 15 min. off of the flite time.  Yep, headwinds on way back with a maximum ground speed of 120 kts. Closing in on Lille the sun was setting behind us and my first night/dusk landing in this aircraft was initiated.

Asked for our descent at 10 nm out which was short since we were calculating from the 5000 ft difference and 500 ft/min. This was correct but we were still on 10.13 with local altimeter at 10.36. Wasn’t planning an overshoot and shot down at 1000 ft per minute. Lille vectored me to the VOR Rwy 08 Approach and I arrived on time and at the 2000 ft necessary for approach. Slowed the plane down and dropped the gear and 1st increment of flaps. The approach was smooth, stable and perfectly on par with the Jep approach plate. Landed nicely and taxied back to our hangar. Flashlights came out and helped removing our gear and the finding the light switch in the hangar. Pushed plane back into position and took care of the paperwork. 3.3 hrs total flight time and a great day with fellow pilots/friends. Lille night landing movie HERE and flight pictures HERE soon !