When we arrived at Mainz Airport this morning at about 0845 local time the air traffic controller, Martin, was outside on the car parking area beside the tower talking to the German Border Police who had come to greet us. We were slightly late at arriving at the airport; no doubt that didn’t go down well with German efficiency. But, in fairness, the reason why we were late was because the taxi that came to pick us up from the hotel decided to mount the curb and hit a step and in doing so, sliced the front tyre of his car! He ordered another taxi for us.
The ‘broken’ taxi…time to unload all our bags and order another taxi…
The weather was foggy and misty. We were going to have to wait to take-off. The Border Police said they would come back with 15 minute notice (obviously to make sure we actually left German soil). The cafe at the airport wasn’t open but Martin made us coffee up in the tower. We waited for the weather to clear.
Eventually, the weather started to clear. We put in the telephone call to the Border Police and they arrived about 25 minutes later. They checked our passports and wished us a pleasant and safe flight. It was time for take-off! We took off from runway 08 at Mainz and started the long flight back to Jersey. There was another headwind but not anything like the day before. We passed through Langen Air Traffic, other German controllers, Brussels, Paris, Deauville and Brest air traffic areas. I had spent a good deal of the night last night working out the various fuel burns over our various trips. It ranged from 28 litres an hour to 38 litres. I was concerned about fuel and getting back to Jersey without re-fuelling. When we got overhead Caen airport we had flown for about 4 hours. I had been monitoring the fuel and switching back and forth between the left and right tanks every half an hour. I worked out that if we flew on one tank from now on and it lasted then we could safely know that the other tank would have the same amount of fuel.
Below: my jottings during the flight home monitoring the fuel burn
The problem with running out of fuel (apart from the obvious) is that it is going to happen over the sea between the French coast and Jersey. I remember looking down and thanking the fact that the tide was out and therefore there was plenty of beach on which to land if it came to it.
What do you know….when we got to Jersey we were put in the hold while other planes were landing and some taking off. I can still vividly conjure up in my mind the feeling as we were circling south of Corbiere waiting for our slot to land and thinking, “engine please don’t stop….don’t stop”. We flew our final four miles of the trip as we lined up to land on runway 08 and moments later touched down safely on Jersey soil and taxied to the parking area to the east of airport.
It had been a long flight, 4 hours and 42 minutes to be precise. We were tired and ready for coffee and a stretch of the legs. Graham and Bob from CI Aero Services (the mechanical arm at Jersey Airport) were in the hanger and it was nice to see familiar faces.
It’s been a fantastic trip. I feel as though lazing in the sunshine at Elba Island was months ago. So much has happened so quickly. I honestly was forgetting which country I was in from time to time and the days just blended into one. As we unloaded the plane it was amazing to see quite how much ‘stuff’ we had packed in. It was just one case after another, after another, after another. As each one was pulled out it brought back fond memories. Over the next few days I’ll edit up some more video and post it on here. It was a pleasure flying Zulu Delta over such a long trip and she performed beautifully. She’s now having a well deserved rest on the parking area at the Airport and Bob and his team will look her over on Tuesday and make sure she is tip top again and ready for some more adventures…..
2015 Euro Flight 