Every few weeks a little email pops up on my screen with the title Bateleurs Missions, this as it must be for all the other pilots is always reason for excitement. Here again is the prospect of another adventure to tear us away from the hectic life most of us lead.

When the highly regarded Joe Holmes told me about the Bateleurs mission to the Maputo Elephant reserve I didn't hesitate a moment. Here again was the opportunity to get away with my plane and do some serious flying again.

For many pilots, particularly of microlights, the idea of venturing more than a fuel tanks distance from the airfield is a daunting prospect, especially alone. So when a mission like this comes up I jump at it as a chance to venture away with other pilots, some less and some more experienced than I and fly to places I wouldn't dare venture alone. For me, part of the attraction of flying for the Bateleurs is the satisfaction of that fighter pilot wanna be in me, the chance to feel like , I'm flying in an organised mission based squadron, controlled and to the book with a mission objective in hand.

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