After seven years of aircraft ownership, EBAN reader James Strauss has finally found an operator he’s completely happy with. He explained: “My PA34 is now with [Sussex-based] Redhill Aviation and I’m very impressed with them. My previous situation was entirely my fault because I put the aircraft with

a couple of operators who didn’t really market it.

“I was keen to recoup some of the costs by chartering the aircraft out and Redhill have already found a lot of work for it. The charter passengers seem to be very happy and it’s a good all-rounder for both IR training and charter. My agreement is on a first come, first served basis, so I book the weekends I want at the beginning of the year.”

The owner pilot registers the aircraft under the name Stonehurst Aviation. He said: “I chose the PA34 because I learnt in it. I bought it off Swallow Aviation and originally planned to lease back to them to offset some of the costs, but unfort-unately the company went bust six to nine months later. I then put it with a variety of companies, until recently disovering Redhill. They’re a seriously professional bunch of people who are really going places.”

Strauss mainly uses the aircraft for his own private use, but occasionally utilises it for business needs. “I’m a stockbroker and we’ve got some outlying offices around the country, so sometimes I’ll fly out to them.

“But what it’s really ideal for is flying over to my house on the west coast of Ireland, when it can carry four of us comfortably.

“The furthest I’ve personally been with it is the south of France, although it did actually fly to Malta recently with Redhill.”