At 0800hrs I left home to catch a flight from Hawarden to Southend. This was a rather special day for me as it has been such a long time since I carried out a ferry flight of one of the Company aircraft. (CEO's don't usually get jobs like this!).

I arrived at Southend two hours later having enjoyed the flight down in the Company Piper. I was met by two of our engineers who had been doing final checks of Dash8-300 I-CWSU which had been at Southend having a repaint. This is not a new aircraft but is being leased. I was to be accompanied on the flight today by First Officer Frank Thornley who is on loan to us from Webster International. We would also have on board with us two cabin staff, Jenny Winsley and Fiona Rankin both cabin staff of Airwego who had just undergone aircraft training for the Dash8. Passengers would consist of one flight engineer, Jack Driscoll and 3 ground staff - Frank Solomon, Beryl Gomez and Tina Mostyn.
I hurried over to Flight Ops to give in the flight plan for the flight down to Rome and to do all the required weather checks Fine weather all the way down!

Southend

Once back at the aircraft we carried out visuals before boarding and settling into the cockpit for the 2hr plus flight. Everything was looking good and the weather at Southend was glorious.

At 1240hrs we started engines and carried out final checks before pushing back from the hangar and taxiing out to the threshold of Runway 6. With all systems go and having been given clearance for take off we sped off down the runway and up into the sunshine at 1305hrs which was 5 minutes earlier than our allotted time.

Up into the sunshine!

Once we got to our cruise altitude of FL220 we settled back for what we hoped to be a good flight. Coffee and sandwiches arrived and gratefully received as I hadn't eaten since very early in the morning!

We crossed the channel at Dover and headed south east over Boulogne on to Reims then more southwards over Dijon. We passed 17 miles to the east of Geneva and continued down over Torino.

High above Torino

Our course then took us down over the coast west of Genoa and on to the Island of Elba. The clouds had built up over the Italian Alps but now they were fast melting away again. We turned east to follow the Italian coast down towards Rome and before long we were in contact with Rome approach and beginning our descent into Rome Fiumicino. Our track was to remain to the west of the airport and make a left turn onto runway 34L.

Not far now!

We continued to follow the coastline and we got a good sighting of the airport as we passed it on the downwind leg. The sun was out and not too many clouds but some grey ones were beginning to bubble up to the north of the airport. Hoping we were going to miss it and have a good landing in clear skies. Fingers crossed! We had enough time now for a final coffee before landing and I must admit the excitement was rising as this was an historic moment for us as we would be the first of Airwego to land at our new hub. We knew that an MD80 piloted by Eddie Billings was on its way from Helsinki and would be joining us shortly.

Rome in the sunshine

On contact with the tower we were informed that we were clear to land runway 34L and the visibility was 25 miles or more and the pressure was at 29.91. There was no wind. The run in to the airport was smooth and clear looking out the window we could clearly see what was to be part of our new home on the western side of Italy.

Finals to 34L

The landing was sweet even though I say so myself and we turned off the runway and contacted ground who gave us taxi instructions to take us to the north of the airport to the cargo area where we were to park up for the time being.

Welcome to Rome

At 1751hrs local time engines were switched off and post flight checks carried out. We would need to carry out checks of the aircraft and call in at Airport ops to clear paperwork before pushing on through Customs and out of the airport into the early evening sunshine that bathed Rome and headed off for the hotel and a nice evening meal paid for by the Company.

Parked up at Fiumicino

Myself and my crew wish all those who fly from our new hub the very best and hope that your time in Italy will be a happy one.

Ian Mayes
CEO Group
Airwego Group VA