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The Grumpy Gang

The Grumman Aircraft Pilots Association European Branch

Europe

by lan Matterface, Regional Director

AYA Europe '97 proved again how resilient our members are in making every effort to attend this annual gathering.

This year's event took place at Uetersen, close by the River Elbe near Hamburg, Germany. Our hosts were Gerhard and Barbara Krenz. Fifty-three members and guests arrived in 25 Grummans, for the first time including members from Switzerland.

The weather for the weekend was forecast to be hot and humid with a good chance of thunderstorms, and so it proved. Those that managed to get out of the UK on Friday were treated to good conditions once over mainland Europe. Unfortunately not all managed to get away from their home fields. Stalwarts James and Jane Allan from Scotland couldn't get airborne on Friday due to rain and low cloud. A better forecast for Saturday had them up early the next morning, only to be greeted by dense fog which lingered all day. This was the first AYA Europe James has missed. Allan Radford and Peter Curely from Derby were similarly affected.

AYA Europe '96 hosts Geoff and Margaret Duquemin from Guernsey were treated to a repeat of last year's fly-in weather: cloud and rain on the deck with no forecast of an improvement. Not deterred, they were on a scheduled flight to London Gatwick Friday morning for a connecting flight to Hamburg, arriving mid-evening in the middle of dinner to spontaneous applause. Selwyn Doran and crew set out from Northern Ireland early Saturday morning and were flying IFR in clouds at FL55, three and half hours into the flight, when they suffered a vacuum pump failure. The conditions at all airports within range were below limits for a limited panel approach, except London Gatwick, who normally don't accept small GA aircraft. Under the circumstances, they relented and accepted Selwyn. However, London Stansted improved to 5,000 metres and scattered 500 feet, so a diversion was made into there instead. Poorer by £208 for landing and parking on top of the airfare home, Selwyn faxed Germany with the story and apologies for not making it.

Paul Vickrage and I in G-BCEE flew out just behind Nigel Thomas in his AA1 via Rotterdam. On the last leg to Uetersen we took off just a few minutes behind Nigel.

and there was some concern when we hadn't arrived some 30 minutes after Nigel had landed. Unknown to him we had returned to Rotterdam to collect my passport and cheque book which I had left at the fuel pumps. Considering it was such an embarrassing mistake to make, I was treated with utmost courtesy. No need to return to the terminal. We didn't even have to leave the runway. On landing, a van came out to the runway, a man jumped out, handed over the documents with a smile, and we were cleared for take off again. Perhaps they were afraid if I got out of the plane I might leave something else behind. I only tell this story because everyone said if I didn't, they would

During the Friday night dinner we met up with a number of our guests from America. We were honoured to have Maybelle Fletcher and Kathy Rice from FletchAir with us. They were on a tour of Holland and Germany. Also just arrived after a 24-hour trip via Birmingham in the UK and Hanover were Greg Amy and his girlfriend, Thea Moritz, who had been awake for nearly 48 hours when they sat down for their evening meal.