Day 5 - Stranded in Paris

Stranded in Paris

After a fair bit of early morning rain, the skies cleared out enough for take off from Paris. We loaded up the trike and took off heading south. After only 4 Nm the cloud base dropped right over us and forced us to return. Visibility was dangerously low.

Our return was spotted by one of the local ultra light pilots who can over from the other side of the field and ask us what was up. The old pilots name was Joel and he was quite a character. We sat around talking for the rest of the afternoon about flying in Alaska, flying around prisoners, his job working for the sheriff spotting marijuana crops and crop-dusting in ultralights. Joels Quicksilver Ultralight was set up and used for crop-dusting.

Joel owned a fuel truck with MOGAS, so he went home to get it and when he came back to the airport we top up MR P’s tank ready for the next break in the weather. Joel, being head of the local pilot association, also arranged for us to sleep in the Terminal building and drove us down to the shop to get some food for the night. It was a fantastic afternoon, it was great to be stranded in Paris. Like most people in aviation and, Joel was genuinely happy to be of help.