Why I Gave Up Flying
My last flight as commander of an aircraft (known as P1) was on the 22nd of June 2008.
The flight was a good one. I took some friends to Alderney
for lunch. Alderney is my favourite destination. The food was good, the company was excellent, and then we went down to the harbour to admire the white sands of the small beach. We then had to return to my home airfield of Compton Abbas
as soon as we had seen the beach, as I needed to be at the David Hall, in time to set up for
the band playing there in the evening. This indicates one of the reasons I stopped. Too many other things to do!
What prompted me to do something about it was the sharp rise in fuel prices during the summer of 2008. I took a look at what flying was costing me,
and how little I was flying, and worked out it was no longer worth it. I also feared that if the prices kept rising many people would be
very reluctant to own a share in an aircraft that burns 35 litres per hour. If that happened I might be stuck with a very expensive but
useless lump of aluminium. Also on my mind was the environmental consequences of that 35L/H, and the wetter summers we have been having, that
has cut the number of days I could fly.
I sold my share in G-BRUB without much difficulty. It seems there are some people that
think that global warming is all hype, and that there is plenty of oil left. I don't!
