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The Grumpy Gang

The Grumman Aircraft Pilots Association European Branch

Before starting the trip I had been in touch with Marco Petroni, an Italian AYA member, who suggested we visit and stay at Lucca (LIQL) and he would make all the necessary arrangements for us. We had decided to take him up on this kind offer and so set off into Italy. Because we were inbound from a non-European Community country we had to clear formalities before we could land in Italy. The best option was for us to land at the grass airfield of San Nicolo - Lido the general aviation airfield of Venice. Again it was a place we had visited during our GUST-RAC trip but this time the weather was far better and the approach in to the runway gave us an even better view of the City of Venice and its flooded streets. A quick drink and a snack - a bit of paper shuffling with the Polizie & Customs and we were off again, down past Bologna and Florence. This time we did have a few problems!

The weather was in the 40°C's (100°F's), there were heavy clouds and we had some highish mountains to get over. The big boys in their Tigers struggled to gain height whilst us little'uns had severe problems! By now I was taking Pauline as passenger in my AA1, whilst hubby Dave and bald Paul took all our luggage and tents etc. It needed loads of circling, climbing and stall warnings before enough altitude could be gained in order to get safely across the lumpy bits. In addition we all had problems (again!) with the Italian ATC. They didn't want to talk sensibly to us! Kept mixing us all up with each other and didn't quite seem to understand where or what we were trying to achieve - bless their little cotton socks!!

Eventually we all landed safely and were met by Marco who had done a sterling job in getting all the necessities done. A couple of very posh black limo's appeared right on schedule and we were off to the apartments that Marco had booked for us. Splendid it was. Swimming pool, beer, sun loungers and the medieval town of Lucca "only a few minutes down the road" (or at least that's what we thought she said!). We decided to stay two nights.

On the first night our limo's came, picked us up and whisked us in to town for a sumptuous dinner - imagine our surprise when, all seated round the rectangular table we were asked for our orders by a lovely lady with a humongous Scottish accent - Just like Jane Allan's. We walked home that night replete (and it was a much longer walk than we thought and blisters started to be mentioned!!).

On day two our limos took us on a tour to Pisa where we all did the tourist bit and took loads of photographs amongst the thousands of other snap-happy visitors. I lost count of the number of people who posed, pretending to be holding up the leaning tower! That night we plodded our way back in to Lucca to find a place to eat and ended up in some back street, surrounded by young American students on a cultural tour. (Big Ed kept his head down so as not to reveal his identity) We had another long trek back to our apartment (and it did seem to get longer each time we did it!)

The next morning our limo service arrived right on time to take us, and all our stuff, back to our aeroplanes (If you are ever near Lucca I would recommend Tau Touring (Tel: 328 3197280) - the limousine providers - They had had a family bereavement that same weekend but were still professional enough to fulfil their obligations) Our thanks too, to Marco for all his help - it bodes well for our 2005 European AYA gathering - Yes, hopefully it's Italy for 2005! (More details later in the year- Have a look a the planned venue - ' Valdera' and its website: http://www.ulm.it/vend/aecpisa/default_en.htm) - keep your fingers crossed