Floods: Pierre Pouchès tells us about his intervention

From Wednesday 10 February 2021, Pierre Pouchès (CNFTE) was hard at work at Fourques, getting several machines damaged by the floods back into working order. He tells us how he managed to save them all!

At the beginning of February several microlight strips in the South-West were hit by floods. Which strips did you work at?

I only worked at Fourques! Then there is La Réole, whom I spoke to by phone. They only had paramotors. They had started to take the engines apart. There was also an aeroplane, but the engine was not affected: the machine was made of wood and it floated… There will be some carpentry to do!

What was the damage to the machines at Fourques?

The engines were completely flooded! There was 1.60 m of water! The engines and the tanks were full of water. There was also a lot of mud! I was contacted on the Monday, once the Garonne had started to go down and they had begun to see the damage. I told them to clean up, to remove as much mud as possible to stop everything from oxidising.

How were you able to get these machines working again?

I set off with the CNFTE truck and workshop trailer. When I arrived the water had gone down, but there was still 30 to 40 cm of water in the hangars. We could get around, so we were still able to work. There were also pumps to lower the water level.

I didn't change anything. We used a pressure washer through the spark plug holes. That got rid of all the mud that was left. We dried the engines. Then we looked at the carburettors, did the oil changes and restarted the engines.

Nothing more needed?

No, these were dry-sump engines. Water doesn't get in, they are completely sealed. Water still gets in through the valves, the air filters, the carburettors… we put everything right again!

So the machines are now in working order?

All the engines I worked on are repaired, yes. The problem that remains is the electrical side, the radios, the dials, all the machine's instruments. But that is a matter of repair, and the instruments will have to be replaced.

Pierre Pouchès - known as Peyo - after getting an engine back in working order © Fourques microlight strip