I needed 50 hours of flight time for my CPL course, and that wasn't going to happen living in windy, rainy Ireland in February! So with some searching online and my due diligence done - I found www.hour-building.com for those who don´t know, they are based in Granada in sunny Southern Spain.

I contact Clifford 4 weeks prior to starting my hour building, and I was extremely impressed with the speed and professionalism that he showed regarding organising my accommodation, transport, and paperwork. The hotel was five mins from the hanger, and with a three-course meal costing 10 euros, and a further bar within walking distance it was perfect.

I opted to fly the PA-28 Cherokee (G-LTFB), the aircraft is maintained on-site by Fran (MROAviation) and the engine doesn’t miss a beat!

As I was planning on flying over 5 hours a day, Clifford offered to join me as a safety pilot. It was fantastic to have someone with a vast knowledge of the area, airspace, and procedures, it was also nice to have someone to talk to!

Over the first few days, we focused on different training, staying within the local Granada area. But after that, Clifford suggested that whilst we were flying we might as well go somewhere nice so we flew to Portimao in Portugal for lunch, flying along the Algarve on the way back.

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Towards the end of the first week, we ventured further north to Ocaña, this is a great airfield outside Madrid which has a busy skydive Centre and a nice Café.

We headed to Salamanca next, crossing the mountains of Sierra de Gredos, it was on this leg that I had my first-ever experience with Carb Icing. It was invaluable to finally experience what it sounds and feels like, as up until this point it was only ever something I had learned the theory on.

After becoming comfortable with local procedures and airspace we both thought it would be fun to fly into Jerez, a large commercial airport with lots of light training aircraft, it was really helpful having Clifford beside me as an extra set of eyes and ears. We had a great lunch and headed back to Granada.

The following day was the most challenging as weather systems had moved in from the Mediterranean, (although it was a normal VFR day in the UK :) - we had to dodge a few clouds and rain but eventually, we made our way up the coast to Alicante, flying over Almeria and Murcia on the way.

Toward the end of my 10 days, we flew to Seville and Trebujena, with each airfield having its own unique challenges and quirks.

One of the main things I will take away from this experience is how easy flying in Spain is, much easier than flying in the UK, with considerably less VFR traffic and usually more accommodating ATC.

These 10 days were the most enjoyable part of my training so far, the weather was exceptional for February, and the aircraft was brilliant and great fun to fly.

I’m already planning to return in the Summer after I get my CPL!

I’d highly recommend anyone looking to Hour Build or rent an aircraft in Spain for pleasure flights to contact Clifford.