Going for a long distance, possibly foreign trip in your helicopter for the first time can be daunting, and the further you go, the more planning and preparation you need to do to make a success of it.
I always recommend people try something quite modest to start with, before doing anything too extreme. Modest doesn’t have to mean boring or unglamorous, however, but start with a few manageable elements first. A sea crossing, which could even be within the UK, a trip to the far end of the UK, a hop across to Ireland, to northern France, can be a good way of building up to something more extreme such as a trip to Southern Spain, or even North Africa.
Of course, regional politics and conflicts have a way of getting in the way of helicopter tourism. It’s clearly not wise to place an attractive asset like a helicopter in temptation’s way when an area is in turmoil. So that tends to mean staying within Europe.
Spain is a perfect destination. You fly across the Channel from Lydd to Le Touquet, and overnight at Biarritz. Then follow the coast round into Spain, avoiding the mountainous border, which further south becomes the Pyrannees. Then into the high arid desert that surrounds Madrid, and then due south, getting hotter all the time.
The picture on this page shows my R22 G-SPEE on the beach at Cadiz.
