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| After
Kerry, we are back on the coast and looking for the Spanish Point airfield |
|
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| Here
it is, a lighter strip of grass. This part of the world is not very welcoming
in case of an engine failure, fields are small and bordered by low walls.
This is why we are quite intent to locate all of the fields, especially
since there are only 36 of those in the Republic, out of which only 12
with a runway length of at least 600m... |
|
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| Cliffs
coming closer to Galway. We have to be in within 30mn but that gives us
the time for a quick peak of Inishmere, the smallest of the Aran islands. |
|
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| The
three islands on the horizon : Inis Oirr (in Gaelic, Inisheer in English),
then Inis Meain (Inishmaan) and further west, the largest, Inis Mor (Inihsmore) |
|
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| The
runway in Inisheer si 520 m long on 18m wide, and it was stuck on the only
flat part of the island, which means endless crosswinds. |
|
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| Our
first sight of the dense lace of walls so characteristic of the Aran islands. |
|
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| Galway
is expecting us, let's sail west, and regain 50kt ground speed |
|
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| The
Galway bay welcomes us with a magnificient rainbow. |
|
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| Parking
in Galway seems peculiar. All aircraft are lined up facing the wind and
not tied down (except ours), in spite of the 25G35KT wind that will keep
on blowing during the night and which is rather calm for the place. |
|
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| Next
morning, Charlie Mike has slept well, no plane landed on its nose.
Sky is still active with squalls, CBs, wind from the south west gusting
to 35Kt, just another bout of Irish weather. |
|
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| The
three airfields of the Arans share the same peculiarities : they are short
(520 to 540m LDA), not too wide (18 to 20m), to the point that on the two
smaller ones you must park behind the line or the Air Aran BN22 won't be
able to land |
|
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| The
runways are "paved" with a few pebbles, laying 13/31, 14/32 and 15/33,
meaning a full crosswind today, and severe turbulences on final especially
with south westerly winds. And guess where the wind comes from today ?? |
|
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| Let's
go and see whether it's reasonable to land anywhere. This is Inishmaan,
the second island, and the airfield is also positioned on the flat part
of the island. Since the flat is bigger, they even have 2 runways
! What a luxury for a piece of rock inhabited by 200 souls |
|
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| The
walls are surrounding the hill with a concentric pattern |
|
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| Here
is the first of our celtic forts - but we'll be back for more later ! |
|
