Liverpool Airport Papa's logbook

Liverpool Airport Photo: a fantastic Liverpool Airport Photograph Featuring Papa's logbook

Photograph Taken On Monday, July 13, 2020

I have inherited the pilot's logbooks kept by my father. No question that he enjoyed his best years after he retired at the age of 60. Armed with an HGV Class 1 driving licence, he enjoyed five years as an agency driver, earning good money that topped up his generous civil service pension. That money funded his pilot's training course, which my father had resumed after it had been terminated with the end of World War II. My father gained his pilot's licence and upgraded to fly twin-engined aircraft, as well as gaining an instrument rating. He flew with a club that was initially based at Manchester Airport, later relocating to Liverpool Speke (John Lennon International, as it was later renamed.) I accompanied my father on several enjoyable occasions, supposedly his navigating assistant. Happy days indeed. This is the final page of my father's logbook. He flew various Piper PA-38 Tomahawks, including G-EMMS and G-DFLY. My father's type rating was valid to 10 December 2009, while he was not due a medical check till June 2009. The final entry is dated 23 July 2008, when my father flew G-RURL on an LPL round-trip. The reason for the story ending there? The club's insurers finally caught up with the fact that was father was then approaching his 82nd birthday. They reluctantly declined to provide any further cover, their protocol being to end coverage after a pilot turned 80 years old. My father was very sanguine at the ending of his flying days: he was grateful for those extra two years' flying.View image on Flickr

why not have a look at some of the Liverpool Airport videos and photos, you may even spot yourself! As an ideal antidote to rainy days.