The Extra arrives!

Last week we had a very exciting adventure across the channel and into France to collect our new addition to the Ultimate Aerobatics family. We set off in the Cherokee 6 (seen here on the pan at Cherbourg where we stopped to clear customs in both directions) - we must thank Tom for his help as we couldn't have done it without him. We were really impressed with this great stalwart (the Cherokee 6 rather than Tom although he was great too) - which not only took us across France at a reasonable speed, but also managed to fit our spare Extra canopy in the cockpit for the return journey. We don't think the French team believed us when we turned up explaining that the canopy was coming back with us!

Alex (one of our Pitts instructors) came with us for the trip and here you can see him and Emily enjoying the transit. Two hops and we had made it to our destination of La Roche-sur-Yon, where we were due to collect the new machine and before long we were retracing our steps and on route back to the UK - this time in two aircraft. We cannot thank the team at Top Gun Voltage enough for their hospitality, they really made us feel welcome. Below you can see us both in the Extra, about to take off back for the UK. We were pretty lucky with the weather; although it had started with a rather overcast sky for the journey down, the return journey was much more pleasant and you can see the beautiful French countryside below.

We've not got much time in her yet but we are really impressed with the Extra 330 LX (even more so given it has two seats) and we're really looking forward to offering advanced aerobatic training in it. That said, we are very sad to be selling our much loved Cap 232. This journey feels very much like the start of a new chapter - everyone keeps asking us if we are excited (which we obviously are) but it comes with a slightly bittersweet twist given it is also the end of an era for us. Maybe we'll see some of you in the skies before too long!