My last post was bought forward due to the new eruption of an Icelandic volcano that again is affecting flying around Europe. I thought I would write an updated blog, telling you my experience of this new ash cloud, and how flying a high performance turbo-prop compares to the simpler twin piston in such conditions.

This time round I didn’t hear of the Grimsvotn eruption through my operations team. Due to the nature of the Eyjafjallajökull volcano in 2010 (yes, I did have to ...

I had this post ready to go last week well before the Grimsvotn volcano decided to erupt this week. But it seems timely as it was just one year ago that the last ash cloud swept over Europe.

It was the 15th of April 2010; I had just had a few days off from flying and was looking forward to getting back into the cockpit. The weather was due to be unexpectedly pleasant over the next week, and the company had a few simple jobs for me to do, the first one was a cargo run, from Eindhoven ...

At the end of every school year, I couldn't wait to get back to the airfield. Cleaning microlights wasn't fun. I'd usually be covered head to toe in muck but I knew that 8 hours of cleaning for 5 days, meant a free flight at the end of the week. Even at that stage in my life I was just desperate to be around aircraft.

When I was 16, the thought of getting my driving license didn't even cross my mind. All my time was dedicated to getting my piloting license. Every waking hour outside ...