Merry Christmas

MERRY CHRISTMAS

AND

A HAPPY NEW YEAR

Limoges Airport closed due to snow

Limoges Airport was forced to close yesterday due to heavy snowfall.

The first flights of the day were able to land before the conditions deteriorated, and as a consequence all other flights were cancelled and the airport was closed.

The snow has caused mayhem throughout the Limousin region, canceling flights, trains and with unsuitable driving conditions, which is having a large affect on students, who broke up for the Christmas holidays yesterday, and are now stranded in Limoges and unable to return home for the start of the Christmas celebrations.

Poitiers and Tours airports have also been closed indefinitely with an even heavier snowfall expected on Sunday.

New summer route to Corsica

A new regular seasonal route will be established next spring by the tour operator Ollandini between Limoges and Bastia, Corsica.

This line will commence in late April 2010 and will be opereated throughout the summer until late September, every Thursday.

The route will be operated by Europe Airpost using a Boeing 737-300 with 147 seats.

The flight will depart Limoges at 10:55 and will fly via Poitiers before arriving in Bastia at 14:05. The return flight will depart from Bastia at 8:35 and will fly directly into Limoges arriving at 10.05.

New hanger under construction

A new hangar is being built between the terminal and hangar No.1 at Limoges Airport.

It is designed to accommodate equipment of the personnel in charge of ramp handling such as: stairs, defrosting equipment, power units and also one of the three baggage trucks.

This hanger is being built to optimize the efficiency of ground operations and due to it’s location, will decrease the time of moving equipment to the 737 processing zone.

It will also free up space in Hangar No.2 therefore allowing to respond to the high demand for accommodation of aircraft.

Another hanger (Hanger No.4) is due to be built in 2010 where the company IMAO will start operations at Limoges Airport.

Air France announces 5 flights to Nice

Air France has announced that their subsidiary Brit Air will be exceptionally operating 2 flights before the end of the year from Limoges to Nice and 3 during the February holidays 2010.

The dates and times of the flights are as follows:

Saturday 19/12/09:

AF5708 LIMOGES 10h40 – NICE 12h15

AF5709 NICE 13h00 – LIMOGES 14h30

Sunday 03/01/10:

AF5708 LIMOGES 17h50 – NICE 19h25

AF5709 NICE 20h00 – LIMOGES 21h30

Saturdays from the 06/02/10 to the 20/02/10:

AF5708 LIMOGES 10h40 – NICE 12h15

AF5709 NICE 13h00 – LIMOGES 14h30

Plane lost above Limoges

Gendarmerie training abord new helicopter

This Friday, the French Gendarmerie helicopter pilots based at Limoges airport were training abord this new Eurocopter EC-135.

The French government has singed a deal worth 233 million euros with Eurocopter for the purchase of 37 EC-135 helicopters.

The Eurocopter will be replacing the Aerospatiame Ecureuil which has served the Gendarmerie for many years.

The EC-135 has already been delivered to some departements and will continue to replace the older fleet, with the arrival expected in Limoges in early 2010.

Ryanair Announces New Route to Limoges

Ryanair and Limoges International Airport are pleased to announce another new route between Limoges and Leeds-Bradford Airport.

Ryanir will operate this new link with two weekly flights starting on the 28th March 2010 on Wednesdays and Sundays.

The flight times will be as follows:

Depart: Leeds 13h35 Arrive: Limoges 16h25

Depart: Limoges 16h50 Arrive: Leeds 17h45

Runway Closure at Limoges

Following the closure of the runway in the first week of August due to heavy maintenance, it will once again be closed tomorrow the 26th August 2009 from 06h00 to 12h300 for inspection.

In agreeance with the DGAC a NOTAM will be published acknowledging the closure of the runway at Limoges.

Record Traffic at Limoges

With 45,703 passengers passing through the Aéroport de Limoges in July 2009, it made a new record as the airport had never handled more than 45,000 passengers in one month.

An increase of 7.1% compared with July 2008, however with 207,441 passengers passing through the Aéroport de Limoges since the beginning of 2009 sees a decrease of 9.5% less passengers than in 2008.
This is believed to be the consequence of the discontinuation of the Limoges – Paris Charles de Gaulle line which was operated by Air France.

The traffic of the ‘low cost’ carriers remains relatively stable with a minor decrease of 2.4% since the beginning of the year.

Runaway Closure at Limoges

Due to heavy maintenance being carried on the runway at Limoges Airport, it will be closed on the following days:


Tuesday 12th August: From 06H00 to 13H00
Wednesday 13th August: From 06H00 to 13H00
Thursday 14th August: From 06H00 to 13H00
Friday 15th August: From 06H00 to 13H00

In the case of unsuitable weather (rain, fog, etc) the work will be postponed until further notice.

In agreement with the DGAC a NOTAM will be published acknowledging the closure of the runway at Limoges on the specified dates.

Private Boeing 737

Yesterday saw the arrival of a Boeing 737-800 Boeing Business Jet at Limoges.

The Boeing 737 was the Private Jet of Rafik Hariri, a self-made billionaire and business tycoon who was the Prime Minister of Lebanon from 1992 to 1998 and agian from 2000 to 2004.

After his assassination in 2005, the eight and a half year old Boeing Business Jet was added to the private fleet of aircraft of Saudi Oger LTD, a Saudi Arabian Construction, Facilities Management Service Provider and Infrastructure Project Development company founded by Rafik Hariri.

The Rolls Royce of SEP Aircraft

Yesterday, a dull cloudy but flyable day was brightened up with the arrival of a Beechcraft Bonaza G36. From Cannes heading to Quiberon it had stopped off at Limoges for fuel.

The 300hp, six seater with ‘club sitting’ and full G1000 ‘glass cockpit’ is the best SEP aircraft money can buy according to the owner and the Chief Flight Instructor of the Aéroclub de Limoges.

With a cruising speed of 180knts (202mph) at FL85, a range of 870nm and with a takeoff distance the same of that of a Robin the Bonanza outperforms all other aircraft in its class.

*

F-HDBM is the only one of its type registered in France and is currently on a provisional registration as all the paperwork has yet to be completed as it is only one and a half years hold.

*

Unfortunately with a risk of storms, the pilots wanted to make sure that they arrived at their destination airfield so had to depart. They tookoff on Runways 21 from the intersection Charlie and the Bonanza G36 showed off her performance, taking off after a short takeoff run and a powerful steep climb into the sky.

Trip to Cannes

Last Week, Sue Virr from the Aéroclub de Limoges, a student of hers and I embarked on a journey to Cannes in the cote d'azur to meet up with another student of Sue's who lives near Cuers.

We spent a few days flying along the fabulous south coast, in and out of the valleys and mountaines with some of the most breath-taking views I have ever seen.

Please click here to see the Cannes Trip photo album:
http://picasaweb.google.com/limogeslimoges/Cannes2009#

Limoges-London-Limoges in a day

Yesterday I embarked on a short trip to England and back in one day.


Thanks to Ryanair's summer schedule providing Limoges with two flights to London Stansted per day I was able to make the trip to England and return to Limoges in less than 10 hours.

My first flight to Stansted left Limoges at 13:30 and after 1 hour and 25 minutes crusing at 34.000ft we landed 20 minutes ahead of schedule where I was invited up into the cockpit to have a look and a talk to the Captin.

I was then embarked on a 4 hour wait as Stansted untill my return flight to Limoges at 19:00.

However the 4 hours flew by in between the shopping, aircraft spotting, etc and I found myself queuing up at gate 47 for my return flight.

Unfortunately apparently due to early ATC restriction the aircraft was late in, however the crew manage an amazing 15 minute turn around and we were soon blasting down the runway.

This time crusing at 28.000ft due to cloud above, after 1 hour and 15 minutes, a sunset descent and aproach we touched down on runway 21 at Limoges.

A fantastic day out with two amazing flights. A big thankyou to the two Ryanair crews!!!!

New Aéroport de Limoges Website

Since the 2nd July 2009 the new website of the Aéroport de Limoges has been operational.

The new website is now full of information on the area ,the economy and of course everthing to do with aviation at Limoges.

http://www.aeroportlimoges.com/

Mirage 2000 at Limoges

The Aéroport de Limoges welcomed a Mirage 2000 this Friday and Saturday to celebrate the 80th anniversary of the Aéroclub du Limousin.

The public were allowed to visit the aircraft and the luckiest ones had chance to sit in the cockpit and have everything explained to them by the pilots.

On depature the jet performed a low-level pass at less than 10ft above the runway followed by a vertical climb and finished of by a low-level flyby at full power and vertical climb.

More pictures of the Mirage 2000 can be found here: http://picasaweb.google.com/limogeslimoges/Mirage2000#

Limoges Control Tower

Today I had the pleasure of visiting the Limoges control tower. It was a truley fantastic experience to see what goes on up here high above the airport while planes takeoff, land and taxi on the ground.

A special thankyou to the controllers for making me feel welcome and for taking the time to explain how everything works and operates.

Cirrus SR22

D-EJLH

Cirrus SR22 Turbo GTS G3

Minor collison

F-GNJS a Diamond Star DA40-180 was damaged today when the wing of F-GYDD from the Aéroclub de Limoges came into contact with it's Rudder .

F-GNJS was parked too far back making it difficult for club aircraft to pass behind it to return to the apron. Due to the extensive damage to the rudder the aircraft will be spending a little time at Limoges until the rudder can be replaced.

Pairs Airshow at Limoges

Two aircraft that featured in the Paris Airshow 2009 which took place this weekend were today found transiting through Limoges Airport.








EC-KTP

Air Tractor AT-802A














F-HCCX

Dassault Falcon 7x

Unusal Visitors At Limoges

F-ZBGC

Cessna T260H Stationair TC

French Customes



N208AE

Cessna 208B Grand Caravan

Cessna Aircraft Company



EC-HJC

Fairchild Swearingen SA-226TC Metro II

ZOREX Air Transport

First flight in Piper N30385

I personally flew N30385 for the first time yesterday. It was the perfect day to fly, sun beautiful clear blue skies and very little wind.

I had invited Esteban to come and sit in the back, as he is also interested in flying the Piper and even purchasing something similar.

So Esteban and I pulled it out of the hanger and up to the fuel pumps where we refuelled and completed the pre-flight preparation and checks.

We were then ready to venture into the large cabin to have a look at the cockpit and start the internal checks. The cockpit is very crowded and complicated compared to those of the Robins, as the aircraft has TCAS, a weather radar, two types of GPS, DVD player, and music input so all of this equipment means there is quite a lot of little buttons. Anyway once I had worked out what everything was and how to use it, we started it up and taxied to S2 for a runway 21 departure.

Previously I had only ever flown the Robins and the Diamond which are fairly light aircraft, so at 1,156kg nearly twice that of a Robin, N30385 is heavy and quite a large aircraft and as soon as you start taxiing you immediately notice the effects of the extra weight, as quiet a lot of power is required to get the aircraft rolling, however once you have got it going it feels a lot more stable while taxiing.

The pre-takeoff checks were completed and we were cleared to takeoff runway 21. I advanced the throttle completely forward and despite being a 180 hp like F-GMKT it obviously has to carry twice the weight and was fairly slow of the mark. However the speed soon came up and we were rolling down the runway, compared to the Robins that are rather wobbly while going down the runway needing a lot of rudder to keep it on the white line N30385 did not move, it was so stable it needed hardly any rudder input, it just stuck on the white line. We hit the 60knt takeoff speed and tugged back on the yoke before getting it off the ground. This was a new experience for me as you can pull back with one flinger on the control column of a Robin and it will come up straight away however it was more like trying to get a tank off the ground in the Piper.

However once we were up the Piper performed really well, climbing up to 3000ft very easily. At first we just flew around the local area so I could get a feel for the aircraft before heading over to Gajoubert where Esteban has a private strip, and where his new home will soon be located, for a few steep turns and Practice Forced Landings. Again during the flight it was incredibly stable hardly ever moving. We completed a few Practice Forced Landings where unlike the Robins once the throttle was closed the aircraft came down like a ton of bricks and then we did a few ‘Go Around's’.


We then tracked the Limoges VOR (LMG) so I could see how the instruments worked and needed to be operated. We arrived at LMG and asked for rejoining instructions to complete the training in the circuit with a few touch and go’s, glide approaches. This was hard work as first of all the aspect from the cockpit is so different from those of the other aircraft in the fleet and a lot of force was needed on the yoke to keep the aircraft straight, flare and turning at low speeds however it was great fun.

Finally we finished on a flapless landing, and taxied N30385 back to the apron after an hour and a half of flying. Upon landing the previous owner of the aircraft was at the aéroclub and kindly explained anything I had not understood and we ran though all the instruments and equipment again so I fully understood.

I really enjoyed flying the Piper and cannot wait to fly it again, however I think this aircraft will come into its own when being flown on a long journey and then you could not find a better aircraft.

Welcome back F-GUVE

F-GUVE is now once again operational after it’s 2000 hour service.

The DA40 was taken out of operation on Christmas Eve 2008 and now, about 5 and a half months later returned to the skies this afternoon on a test flight with the mechanic and was returned to it’s hanger this evening.

Pictures that were taken during the service can be on the Aéroclub de Limoges website:
http://pagesperso-orange.fr/aeroclub.limoges/images/revda40/revda40.html

Video of Ryanair FR8776 arrival

Ryanair Flight FR8876 arriving from London Stanted today and taxiing to the stand.

The History of Limoges Airport

The first airfield in Limoges was opened in the commune of Couzeix in the 1920s and was then transferred in 1933 to the commune of Feytiat on the site of the current municipal golf course. The company, Air Limousin, began an air taxi service here in 1967 and then continued regular flights to and from Limoges.

The current site at Bellegarde was built in 1972 and Air Inter opened a regular service continuing on from Air Limousin which became Alta and finally merged with Air Alps. After bankruptcy and the later takeover of Air Inter by Air France in 1997, Air France remained the only airline to operate domestic routes with its subsidiaries Brit Air, Regional and Airlinair.

In 1982 the helicopter section of the Gendarmerie opened a base at the airport. A special artificial threshold approach system was developed to the north of the runway to enable the pilots to conduct instrument landings. Limoges airport remains the only airport in France to have this system.

Limoges airport has one of the longest runways of any airport in France, at 2500m, it is longer than some of the runways located at the larger Paris airports of Charles de Gaulle and Orly.

La Poste' opened an air freight line to Limoges in 1992 which carries an average of 1500 tons of mail per year. To qualify for the opening of this line Airbus needed to complete 320 'Touch and Go's' at the airport.

Limoges Bellegarde saw the start of a new era in 2004 when the two British low cost airlines Ryanair and Flybe began operating new routes to Limoges from the UK.

A new control tower was built in the 1990s and with the success of the international flights to and from Limoges, a new terminal capable of receiving 500 000 passengers per year was built in 2005.

In September 2007, the airline Airlinair, a subsidiary of Air France opened a maintenance center for its ATR turboprops at the airport.

The success of the airport and the intention to futher expand the number of flights and passengers, a new parking facility with 560 parking places was set up in 2008.

Starting in 2009, from March to October, two buses provide a daily link from the airport to Limoges Benedictins train station and to ‘place de Winston Churchill’ in the centre of Limoges.

Today in 2009 Limoges airport continues to grow with new routes to Bristol, Edinburgh and London Luton with the hope of receiving over 400 000 passengers.

Ryanair commences newest route to Limoges from Bournemouth

Thursday 2nd April saw the start of Ryanirs latest flight linking Limoges and Bournemouth.

Ryanair will operate this flight every Thursday and Saturday.

The flight will depart Bournemouth at 06:30 arriving in Limoges at 08:50 and the return flight will depart Limoges at 09:15 and arrive in Bournemouth at 09:30.

New aircraft for the Aéroclub de Limoges

N30385 is the latest addition to the fleet of the ‘Aéroclub de Limoges’

The Piper PA28-181 was built in the USA in 1982 where it was privately owned.

N30385 was then once again bought privately by the ‘Auberge De Savoie’ and was flown all the way over the Atlantic to Limoges in two days, flying 12 hours at a time.

The aircarft will now serve the Aéroclub de Limoges and it's members.

2 weeks work experience with Sue at the Aéroclub de Limoges

As part of the French school curriculum, I have to complete 2 weeks work experience in June with any business, company or association.

I asked my former flying instructor Sue at the Aéroclub de Limoges if it was possible to do it with her at the Aéroclub, and she was kind enough to accept me as a apprentice for 2 weeks.

I cannot wait!!!!!!!

Ryanair commences new Limoges-Edinburgh route

Last week came the start of Ryanairs new route linking Limoges and Edinburgh.

The flight will be operated twice a week on Mondays and Fridays, departing Edinburgh at 14:20 and arriving in Limoges at 17:40 and the return flight departing Limoges at 18:05 and arriving in Edinbugh at 19:25.

Sunset approach into Limoges on a ATR 42

On a recent flight to Limoges from Paris Olry the stewardess saw me taking photos during the takeoff and asked me if I would like to visit the cockpit once the Captain had turned off the seatbelt signs.
And as soon as the seatbelt signs were turned off she came back to escort me the flight deck where I was made so welcome by the two pilots and I was invited to stay and have the jump seat for the decent and landing.