Flight to Cuneo

It is sometimes surprising how much of an impact luck, both good and bad, has on general aviation. I was very lucky to be offered a second delivery flight by Martin Rutty of Fly-Q.co.uk, but the beginning of the trip was dogged by some of the worst luck I had yet encountered.

The plan was simple: Simon Lichtenstein, Ziggy Latiff and I would set off from Herefordshire and fly G-STAA, an R44, to its new home in Cuneo, Italy.  However, right from the off, nothing went to plan. Marginal weather meant that Martin and Ziggy, who were flying an R22 down from Aberdeen to meet us, were delayed by several hours, by which time the weather in Herefordshire had also closed in. We retired to the local Pub to plan for the following day’s assault. That was the first day gone. Distance travelled: 0 miles.

In the morning we tried again. Ziggy, Simon and I took off early and flew towards the first obstacle of the day, the Malvern Hills...