Latest / Flyer Magazine / General aviation in 2025: the good, the bad and the interesting - The FLYER Show - 18 December 2025

Transcript

General aviation in 2025: the good, the bad and the interesting - The FLYER Show - 18 December 2025 · Flyer Magazine

0:04
SPEAKER_06: From a festive watchmaking, welcome to a flyer show.
0:10
SPEAKER_05: Jingle bells jingle jingle.
0:19
SPEAKER_06: Hey!
0:20
SPEAKER_05: Hey!
0:21
SPEAKER_06: Welcome to the festive flyer show.
0:26
SPEAKER_06: I knew it was called something like that, and we're at Watch.
0:28
SPEAKER_06: We're at a very festive Wadswick, as you'd have seen.
0:30
SPEAKER_06: And tonight's show is a special show.
0:32
SPEAKER_06: We're looking back on 2025.
0:35
SPEAKER_06: But before we do, we would like to say a huge thank you to Sky Demon for their continued support of this show.
0:41
SPEAKER_06: And thank you very much.
0:43
SPEAKER_06: Uh without what am I talking about?
0:44
SPEAKER_06: Come on, get it right, Ian.
0:46
SPEAKER_06: Without them, it wouldn't be possible.
0:47
SPEAKER_06: So here is this week's tip.
0:50
SPEAKER_04: He's Ian Seeger, that's NBA Cook, and MetX.
0:54
SPEAKER_06: And this is still this week's tip.
0:59
SPEAKER_00: Hi, I'm Hannah from Sky Demon, and this is this week's top tip.
1:04
SPEAKER_00: It's possible to create checklists in Sky Demon as part of your aircraft profile setup, and I've given a little explanation of this in a previous video which you may find useful.
1:14
SPEAKER_00: To actually make use of your checklists, go to the Airfields tab.
1:19
SPEAKER_00: You can get to them here during the planning stage as well as in GoFlying Mode.
1:26
SPEAKER_00: Checklists are really easy to use.
1:29
SPEAKER_00: Just tap on items to tick them off.
1:31
SPEAKER_00: They'll turn green when checked.
1:34
SPEAKER_00: To reset a section that's been fully checked off, you can tap the grey banner at the top of the section, and you'll also find a reset all button at the very bottom of a checklist.
1:45
SPEAKER_00: Checklists are automatically fully reset when you go back to planning mode.
1:50
SPEAKER_00: To move between your checklists, use the previous and next buttons here at the top of the tab.
1:55
SPEAKER_00: And finally, you can quickly shortcut to the checklists tab by tapping on your aircraft symbol.
2:02
SPEAKER_00: For more information, go to our website skydemon.ero.
2:10
SPEAKER_06: Okay, so I think that means we've had three checklist tips so far.
2:14
SPEAKER_06: We've had creating a checklist, sharing a checklist, and now using a checklist.
2:18
SPEAKER_06: Great new feature, I think, from Sky Demon.
2:19
SPEAKER_06: Well, if you make one, you might as well share it.
2:21
SPEAKER_06: So I think we said at the time, you know, for people who've got groups or shared aircraft of some kind, it's an ideal.
2:28
SPEAKER_06: It's a good way to do it.
2:29
SPEAKER_06: Good way to do it.
2:30
SPEAKER_06: Well done, Sky Demon.
2:31
SPEAKER_04: So um weather here today is rubbish.
2:34
SPEAKER_04: Um so um, but maybe Simon's got some better weather for us.
2:38
SPEAKER_04: Come on, Simon, dig deep.
2:39
SPEAKER_04: As we head into Christmas week.
2:41
SPEAKER_03: That's all I want for Christmas is good weather from Simon.
2:44
SPEAKER_01: Evening all, I hope this evening finds you well and well underway for preparations for Christmas.
2:52
SPEAKER_01: Got a change in the weather next week as the winds turn more into a cooler Easterly, just in time for Christmas.
3:00
SPEAKER_01: Uh, but of course, I'll update you on that in the usual week ahead forecast on Monday.
3:05
SPEAKER_01: Um, this is where we are, though, for the time being, for Friday, front clearing away from the south-east at first on Friday.
3:12
SPEAKER_01: And then actually you can see it's a fairly decent day.
3:14
SPEAKER_01: Uh, well broken cloud looks to be in play.
3:18
SPEAKER_01: Uh, a few showers, probably affecting northern and western parts of Scotland, and one or two for northwest England Wales as well.
3:25
SPEAKER_01: But overall, it looks to be a fine day, pretty breezy there across the central and northern parts of Scotland.
3:32
SPEAKER_01: Getting into Saturday, another fair start today.
3:34
SPEAKER_01: One or two showers along the southern coast, but generally for most of us, it should be decent.
3:39
SPEAKER_01: Base is probably coming in at about three to four thousand feet, tops about ten to twelve thousand feet.
3:44
SPEAKER_01: Thickening cloud across Ireland, bringing some bits of rain into western Scotland through the late morning and into the afternoon.
3:51
SPEAKER_01: But you see there, most of that rain holds off well until the evening.
3:55
SPEAKER_01: By then, we might just get this little area of rain that spins up and comes into East Anchor and the southeast.
4:02
SPEAKER_01: Might make for marginal VFR conditions there, but overall it's looking pretty good.
4:07
SPEAKER_01: And then as we get into Sunday, the flow coming more into an east to south-easterly.
4:12
SPEAKER_01: More cloud around on Sunday.
4:14
SPEAKER_01: Could be quite a hazy day, actually.
4:17
SPEAKER_01: Um, a few bits of rain just getting into eastern Scotland and perhaps into northern England, basically a couple of thousand feet, tops at about 8,000 feet.
4:27
SPEAKER_01: Another area of rain through Ireland, through southwestern parts of Wales, southwest England, one or two spots of rain across the southern coast of England, and those spots of rain extending into the central and eastern channel, making for non-VFR here.
4:40
SPEAKER_01: But generally, most areas, probably VFR, as I say, visibility reduced.
4:44
SPEAKER_01: I'm thinking sort of five to ten kilometres basically coming in at around about the two to three thousand foot mark on tops up at about 10,000 feet.
4:53
SPEAKER_01: But overall, it's not too bad a day.
4:56
SPEAKER_01: Now, to make it a perfect Christmas, why not get yourself booked on, or even better, get somebody else to book you on?
5:02
SPEAKER_01: Aviation Weather School Part 1.
5:05
SPEAKER_01: Um, this is my live online course presented by me, which is going to take place on the consecutive Tuesday evenings of the 27th of January and the 3rd of February between 6:30 pm and 9 pm.
5:16
SPEAKER_01: Now, the beauty of this is that you get a recording of each of the sessions so you can watch it for up to a week afterwards.
5:21
SPEAKER_01: In fact, some pilots don't actually attend, they just watch the recording and then ask me questions because I'm totally open to you asking questions uh when you've been to a weather school.
5:30
SPEAKER_01: I'll take you beyond the PPL, show you what you really need to know about weather and get your planning up to five days in advance.
5:36
SPEAKER_01: You can book your place now by using the QR code or going to weatherschool.co.uk.
5:42
SPEAKER_01: It'll be super to see you there.
5:44
SPEAKER_01: And all that remains for me to do is to wish you all a very happy Christmas and a very peaceful new year.
5:50
SPEAKER_01: Let's hope we can get some flying in.
5:52
SPEAKER_01: You'll get forecast issued throughout the Christmas period.
5:56
SPEAKER_01: As I say, it looks like being a bit of an Easterly.
5:58
SPEAKER_01: So it's going to make for some interesting flying, particularly more eastern areas, but we'll keep you up to date throughout.
6:05
SPEAKER_01: Have a fantastic Christmas.
6:06
SPEAKER_01: Watch for the big fellow in the sky and these reindeers, won't you, on Christmas Eve?
6:11
SPEAKER_01: Uh, but for now, thanks again for watching, and I'll see you next year.
6:16
SPEAKER_01: Bye for now.
6:18
SPEAKER_06: So this week, something a little bit different.
6:19
SPEAKER_06: We're looking back on 2025, and we're kicking off with a bit of a review of our favourite and most important news stories of the year.
6:27
SPEAKER_06: Who's up first?
6:29
SPEAKER_06: I think that'll be Annabelle.
6:31
SPEAKER_06: Take it away, Annabelle.
6:32
SPEAKER_03: Yeah, so one of the most significant regulatory stories of the year was the change to UK PPL licensing.
6:40
SPEAKER_03: Um in short, the Lappa was discontinued.
6:43
SPEAKER_03: There were changes to the NPPL and the PPL.
6:46
SPEAKER_03: Um, one of the headline changes was greater credit for flight time gained in three-axis microlytes.
6:52
SPEAKER_03: The training syllabus was also updated with and about time, I think we'll agree.
6:57
SPEAKER_03: Formal introduction of partial power loss training and the use of VFR moving maps.
7:03
SPEAKER_06: Do you think there were people who like within the CA who shook when that when they saw that?
7:07
SPEAKER_03: Yeah, we're gonna really let them do this.
7:09
SPEAKER_03: Like, think about the paper chart.
7:11
SPEAKER_06: I know.
7:14
SPEAKER_03: I mean, I still carry one because it gets when on a hot summer day.
7:17
SPEAKER_03: It makes it's a good sunshine.
7:19
SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
7:20
SPEAKER_03: Um there were also current.
7:22
SPEAKER_03: Does it matter if you're just using it as a side?
7:24
SPEAKER_03: No, it doesn't.
7:26
SPEAKER_03: No, it's not.
7:27
SPEAKER_03: Um there were also smaller changes to revalidation requirements.
7:30
SPEAKER_03: Um so yeah, basically all the reforms were aimed at making the licensing simpler and more practical.
7:37
SPEAKER_03: Um and the question is, do we think it worked?
7:40
SPEAKER_06: I think, yeah.
7:41
SPEAKER_06: I think it was it's going through a bit of a bedding in process, but yeah, absolutely.
7:45
SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
7:45
SPEAKER_06: And I think there's there's another stage to come, isn't there, hopefully, this year, uh, which is going to improve things even more.
7:52
SPEAKER_04: I think it's cool that you can go from you can start on micro light now and go from microlyte to ATPL.
7:58
SPEAKER_04: There is a there's a direct path there.
8:00
SPEAKER_04: That's I think that's one of the best things about it.
8:02
SPEAKER_03: Yeah, the partial power loss thing as well is really important because it's something that people just didn't even think about, but it yeah, it's much more likely than a full engine failure.
8:10
SPEAKER_06: So good.
8:13
SPEAKER_06: So good news.
8:13
SPEAKER_06: I think we'll start off awarding the Civil Aviation Authority a gold standard.
8:18
SPEAKER_03: Seven out of ten on that.
8:20
SPEAKER_03: Oh, I don't know, seven and a half.
8:21
SPEAKER_06: Seven and a half out of ten.
8:22
SPEAKER_06: Okay.
8:23
SPEAKER_06: Yeah, but no, good.
8:24
SPEAKER_06: That's good.
8:24
SPEAKER_06: Well done, well done.
8:25
SPEAKER_06: Right.
8:25
SPEAKER_06: In other news, someone at Textron woke up and said, you know what, this bonanza and barren kind of product line, we're gonna have to sunset it.
8:33
SPEAKER_06: They haven't been selling a huge amount and they've been getting quite expensive.
8:36
SPEAKER_06: Um, and so they kind of snuck it away.
8:39
SPEAKER_06: The aircraft with the longest continual production in history, 80 years for the bonanza.
8:44
SPEAKER_06: 80 years, and they went, I think, understandably, but I think that someone instead of going, we're gonna celebrate this, and but unfortunately, you know, things change, and here's something better, etc.
8:56
SPEAKER_06: No.
8:58
SPEAKER_06: It's like someone someone in IT got a memo going to be able to do it.
9:01
SPEAKER_04: Delete it off the website.
9:02
SPEAKER_04: Please delete the website.
9:03
SPEAKER_04: Okay, right, okay, right.
9:04
SPEAKER_04: And I I think for me that that shows it's I mean, Textron are a big company, and I know big companies often lose sight of some of the cool things in their heritage, but it just shows that Textron, you know, had you know don't have enough love for the cool stuff like the bananza and the baron.
9:20
SPEAKER_04: And I know not selling masses of them, but uh at least, like you say, celebrate them on their way out.
9:25
SPEAKER_04: Yeah.
9:26
SPEAKER_04: So you go, eighty years is an amazing time to have it.
9:29
SPEAKER_04: Own it.
9:29
SPEAKER_06: Yeah.
9:29
SPEAKER_06: Yeah.
9:30
SPEAKER_06: That's what I think they should have done.
9:31
SPEAKER_04: Yeah.
9:31
SPEAKER_04: You go, okay, you know, we've been making it for 80 years, but now it's time.
9:34
SPEAKER_06: It doesn't make sense anymore.
9:35
SPEAKER_06: Time to move on.
9:36
SPEAKER_06: Yeah.
9:36
SPEAKER_06: Yeah.
9:37
SPEAKER_06: But let's celebrate all of its achievements.
9:39
SPEAKER_04: That's it.
9:39
SPEAKER_04: And I think it was cool.
9:40
SPEAKER_04: We talked about this uh in a flyish uh flying flyer show uh a few weeks ago.
9:45
SPEAKER_06: Henry, link on screen, please.
9:47
SPEAKER_06: And this time, I mean actually put it on screen.
9:50
SPEAKER_04: Um but we uh discovered the interesting fact that um they were still still using some of the tooling from 1945 nowadays.
9:58
SPEAKER_03: Well, if it ain't broke ed, don't fix it.
10:01
SPEAKER_06: We need a jingle for interesting facts.
10:03
SPEAKER_06: We do.
10:04
SPEAKER_06: It says it we can do it interesting facts.
10:06
SPEAKER_06: Interesting facts.
10:07
SPEAKER_04: I can guarantee you it's always interesting, though.
10:09
SPEAKER_03: Interesting to add.
10:11
SPEAKER_04: Talking of interesting.
10:13
SPEAKER_04: Also interesting was the fact that uh this year we saw the R V15 uh go on sale.
10:18
SPEAKER_04: Now, this is the high-wing bushplane from Vans that's been in the works for a long time.
10:23
SPEAKER_04: Obviously, Vans chapter 11 bankruptcy got in the way of that, but that's all resolved.
10:29
SPEAKER_04: Um and they turned up at Oshkosh this year and went, hooray, good news.
10:33
SPEAKER_04: Uh the airplane is sufficiently developed enough that we can start selling wing kits.
10:38
SPEAKER_04: Uh, so those went on sale, a smidge under$20,000.
10:42
SPEAKER_04: Uh, with the whole kit, they gave a timeline for all the individual kits uh between now and end of next year being available.
10:49
SPEAKER_04: Um, and I think total cost is going to be somewhere around about$85,000 for the whole airframe.
10:55
SPEAKER_04: Uh, but then you need to add an engine and prop an avionics, so you could end up spending$150 to 200 grand on your RV-15.
11:03
SPEAKER_04: But this is a backcountry bush plane that'll do 150 knots, take you into the uh no, 140 knots take you into the backcountry, uh, lands really slow and will take 900 pounds of stuff.
11:16
SPEAKER_06: It's an impressive looking aircraft.
11:17
SPEAKER_06: Um it's a 200 ground aircraft, which is chunky, but at least with the kit, you can kind of spread those payments and feel like you've had a an experience.
11:28
SPEAKER_04: Um, because it's very, very advanced in terms of structure and design, and it's gonna be all pulled rivet.
11:34
SPEAKER_02: So I know.
11:36
SPEAKER_04: Do love to pull a rivet.
11:38
SPEAKER_04: Absolutely.
11:39
SPEAKER_04: Better to pull than to smash.
11:41
SPEAKER_04: You never smash rivet, Ian.
11:43
SPEAKER_04: When you're driving when you're driving rivets, it's a it's a it's a it's a dance between riveting gun and bucket.
11:49
SPEAKER_03: Speaking of riveting, talk amongst yourselves.
11:53
SPEAKER_06: Would you be interested in the video on riveting?
11:55
SPEAKER_06: Actually, I think it would be quite riveting.
11:57
SPEAKER_06: Um Ed doesn't agree, but let us know in the comments.
12:01
SPEAKER_06: I think we should.
12:02
SPEAKER_06: Yeah.
12:02
SPEAKER_03: Let's move on to talk about airspace because that would be more interesting.
12:06
SPEAKER_03: So this year there was a significant update to the Manchester low-level route.
12:11
SPEAKER_03: The VFR corridor squeeze between London and Manchester was renamed the Northwest Transit Corridor, and there were a number of operational changes.
12:20
SPEAKER_03: Uh the airspace was reclassified from class D to class G, a restricted area, and new requirements for pilots choosing the route as part of a wider effort to better integrate GA traffic in the area.
12:32
SPEAKER_03: Um there was an increase in the maximum altitude by 200 feet, taking it to 1500, and the uh the um corridor was widened by 0.65 nautical miles at the eastern side.
12:44
SPEAKER_06: Every little helps.
12:45
SPEAKER_03: It does.
12:46
SPEAKER_06: More height, more girl.
12:47
SPEAKER_06: Absolutely.
12:48
SPEAKER_06: Higher and wider, as they say.
12:51
SPEAKER_06: I've flown it before, I've flown it afterwards.
12:53
SPEAKER_06: You still need the transponder code to fly it.
12:56
SPEAKER_06: I can't remember.
12:57
SPEAKER_06: I have to rebrief myself every time I go and fly it to make sure I've got it support on.
13:01
SPEAKER_04: Still need that.
13:01
SPEAKER_04: Talk amongst yourselves.
13:03
SPEAKER_06: Yeah.
13:04
SPEAKER_04: But uh yeah, uh, so still need transponder code.
13:07
SPEAKER_04: But yeah, I a bit more space to avoid avoid infringements.
13:10
SPEAKER_04: I know when like going through there that low, did they?
13:13
SPEAKER_03: So especially when you pop out the other end and have a mag failure.
13:16
SPEAKER_06: Yeah.
13:17
SPEAKER_06: The trick is if you don't like it, you don't have to do it because Liverpool are very accommodating and giving great chances.
13:23
SPEAKER_02: Yeah, yeah.
13:24
SPEAKER_06: Manchester, not so much.
13:26
SPEAKER_06: Yeah.
13:27
SPEAKER_04: But there you go.
13:28
SPEAKER_04: Right.
13:28
SPEAKER_04: Uh I guess something you won't be transiting the low-level route in it will will be a blimp.
13:34
SPEAKER_04: That would be interesting.
13:34
SPEAKER_04: It's really slick.
13:35
SPEAKER_04: I know, yeah, I know.
13:36
SPEAKER_04: I thought so too.
13:37
SPEAKER_04: Um, so yeah, and and I mentioned blimps because this year was a hundred years of Goodyear operating uh their blimps.
13:44
SPEAKER_04: And uh I know uh I know lots of people, and it's not a blimp.
13:48
SPEAKER_04: Um we made a video about it too because I got to fly on the Goodyear blimp at Oscars this year, and lots of people told me off for going, it's not a blimp, it's a semi-rigid dirigible.
13:57
SPEAKER_04: Um that's essentially choice.
14:00
SPEAKER_04: Yeah, yeah, I know.
14:01
SPEAKER_04: Um which is true, but uh Goodyear call it the blimp, and you know, they've been doing that for a hundred years, so that was fine by me.
14:08
SPEAKER_04: But basically, they celebrated a hundred years of operation, they were doing a whole whole bunch of things across the US.
14:13
SPEAKER_04: They took two blimps to Oshkosh, which was cool.
14:16
SPEAKER_04: We got to see a blimp air display with two blimps.
14:18
SPEAKER_04: That's not a bit slow.
14:20
SPEAKER_04: It is it's really slow.
14:21
SPEAKER_04: It's like, oh, here they come, here they come, here they come.
14:25
SPEAKER_04: I know, yeah.
14:26
SPEAKER_04: Uh, but it was amazing.
14:27
SPEAKER_04: They're just they're really magical to watch.
14:29
SPEAKER_04: They're just so slow, so slow um and just floaty.
14:34
SPEAKER_04: Majestical.
14:35
SPEAKER_04: Majestical would be a word.
14:37
SPEAKER_04: Did you just make that up?
14:38
SPEAKER_04: Um, and certainly, and the flying experience on them is like I'm if you fly on a helicopter, you kind of get hoisted into the air by rotors, and you look down, you it all feels a bit scary.
14:48
SPEAKER_04: A blimp is just gentle and lovely.
14:50
SPEAKER_04: It adds sereneness, doesn't it?
14:52
SPEAKER_04: It is ser it is added sereneness, and it's just it's smooth and quiet, and um and it you kind of look down, you see this massive shadow, and you go, Oh, it's us.
15:02
SPEAKER_04: So um, but it was it was brilliant.
15:04
SPEAKER_04: We flew around Oshkosh flew around the Oshkosh site for kind of 20 minutes, 25 minutes, and it's just um yeah.
15:10
SPEAKER_04: I know it's a blimp is a lovely way to travel.
15:12
SPEAKER_04: Very impractical, you need a 600-foot parking area because uh you get blown around your um uh it gets parked on a big column, uh, which is usually attached to a truck which is really heavy to stop it blowing away.
15:26
SPEAKER_04: Um but yeah, so they don't they don't like let the gas out at night or anything, do they?
15:31
SPEAKER_04: No, you can't no.
15:31
SPEAKER_04: It needs it needs round the clock care.
15:34
SPEAKER_04: And as it gets hot, it does weird things and then it gets.
15:38
SPEAKER_04: It is a bit like that.
15:39
SPEAKER_04: It's like level of windows.
15:43
SPEAKER_04: It's like it's um it is the most it's the most needy aeroplane I think ever created.
15:49
SPEAKER_04: Because it just needs can continuous monitoring.
15:51
SPEAKER_04: Um anyway, we made a video.
15:53
SPEAKER_04: The video was really popular.
15:54
SPEAKER_04: If you haven't seen it, watch it.
15:56
SPEAKER_04: Henry's gonna put it on screen.
15:57
SPEAKER_06: Not a link, Henry.
15:58
SPEAKER_06: I don't know.
15:59
SPEAKER_06: You've got a lot of link work to do.
16:01
SPEAKER_03: Um fine.
16:04
SPEAKER_03: Can you I'm okay?
16:07
SPEAKER_03: Uh next story.
16:09
SPEAKER_03: Yes.
16:10
SPEAKER_03: Uh in June, Owen Johns was appointed as the new chief executive of the British Microlight Aircraft Association.
16:16
SPEAKER_03: Uh, for those who don't know Owen, he's a flex wing microlight pilot.
16:20
SPEAKER_03: Um and he organized the well microlight championships when they came to the UK in 2024.
16:26
SPEAKER_03: There were around 50 applications for the job.
16:29
SPEAKER_03: Um the PEMAA's chairman said that Owen was stood apart through his passion, enthusiasm, and vision for the association.
16:36
SPEAKER_03: And Owen actually joined us on the show back in October.
16:39
SPEAKER_06: Link, link.
16:40
SPEAKER_03: Yeah, link, please.
16:41
SPEAKER_03: So um, yeah, if you want to hear more about what he's got to say, you can watch that on catch up.
16:46
SPEAKER_03: Um, all the other episodes, of course, are available on catch up.
16:49
SPEAKER_03: Um and there was change elsewhere as well, because the British Women Pilot Association also got a new chair.
16:55
SPEAKER_06: When was that?
16:56
SPEAKER_03: Who was that?
16:57
SPEAKER_03: Yeah, that was that was about ten days ago.
17:00
SPEAKER_06: And it was me.
17:02
SPEAKER_06: Not spoiler alert, but it was Annabelle.
17:04
SPEAKER_06: I did half expect you to come with like a Christmas jumper embroidered with BWPA today, to be honest.
17:08
SPEAKER_03: I thought you probably would have made me stand outside.
17:10
SPEAKER_03: I probably would have done, but not that I've got anything against it.
17:13
SPEAKER_06: This is a flyer thing, not a BWPA thing, you know.
17:15
SPEAKER_06: Next year's merch.
17:17
SPEAKER_03: Yes, Christmas jumpers.
17:19
SPEAKER_06: So he was a good guy.
17:20
SPEAKER_06: I liked Owen.
17:21
SPEAKER_06: Yes.
17:21
SPEAKER_06: Yeah, I was gonna say, he he's I think he's got a lot of promise, I think.
17:26
SPEAKER_03: I'd say I thought yeah, Rob had big shoes to fill, but Owen's got big feet.
17:31
SPEAKER_06: Yeah.
17:31
SPEAKER_04: Rob left big shoes to fill for Owen.
17:34
SPEAKER_04: Yes.
17:34
SPEAKER_04: Yes, even yeah.
17:36
SPEAKER_06: Yeah, we need to we should probably email Owen and see how he's see if he's got any blisters or yeah.
17:41
SPEAKER_04: No, he was he was up for coming back, wasn't he?
17:43
SPEAKER_06: So we'll find out.
17:44
SPEAKER_06: Yeah.
17:45
SPEAKER_06: Uh small bit of news.
17:46
SPEAKER_06: Um earlier this year, um, Jepperson, who owned Foreflight, who themselves were owned by Boeing, was sold.
17:53
SPEAKER_06: So Jepperson and Foreflight, Boeing said, uh, we're having a well, they didn't actually say this, but what they meant to say is we're having a bit of a run of bad luck.
17:59
SPEAKER_06: We need some cash.
18:00
SPEAKER_06: Um, so we're gonna sell you because you're not kind of core activity.
18:03
SPEAKER_06: And they got sold 11 billion dollars.
18:06
SPEAKER_03: 11 billion dollars?
18:07
SPEAKER_03: That's huge.
18:09
SPEAKER_06: That is a huge amount of balls.
18:11
SPEAKER_03: It's almost as much as Seeker Enterprises is worth.
18:14
SPEAKER_06: I tell you what, if you're a uh private equity company in New York and you'd like to buy all of this, you wouldn't need to pay 11 billion dollars.
18:21
SPEAKER_06: I mean cheap.
18:23
SPEAKER_06: Some negotiation.
18:24
SPEAKER_06: A billion would sort it, I reckon.
18:26
SPEAKER_06: A billion per se tens.
18:28
SPEAKER_06: A billion, yeah.
18:28
SPEAKER_06: There's like a free subscription to Boeing or something.
18:32
SPEAKER_06: Um but yeah, so that was that was that was big news.
18:34
SPEAKER_06: Jefferson's a historic name in aviation.
18:36
SPEAKER_06: I guess Boeing is too, really.
18:38
SPEAKER_04: Yeah, and the combination of the two, that is that's a flight planning, you know, heavyweight, isn't it?
18:44
SPEAKER_06: Yeah, absolutely.
18:45
SPEAKER_06: Well, interesting to see what happens over the next year or two.
18:47
SPEAKER_06: Yeah.
18:48
SPEAKER_06: Interesting to see.
18:48
SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
18:50
SPEAKER_03: Something that didn't need flight planning, um, not in that sense, was uh back in October, Cupcrafter's Carbon Crab UL climbed its way to 37,609 feet over California, setting a new altitude record for GA piston aircraft.
19:06
SPEAKER_03: It was quite high.
19:07
SPEAKER_03: It is quite high, isn't it?
19:08
SPEAKER_03: I I wouldn't like that.
19:09
SPEAKER_03: Um pilot John can ever say this, John Cotwicky, um, climbed for just over an hour, uh, reaching temperatures as low as minus 46 degrees.
19:19
SPEAKER_03: Um, proper temperatures.
19:24
SPEAKER_03: Proper temperatures.
19:24
SPEAKER_03: Uh the um the record smashed one that had actually stood for 75 years, set by Caro Bailey, who reached 30,203 feet in a regular super cup.
19:34
SPEAKER_04: And I think that's that I mean what John did in the CL was very cool.
19:39
SPEAKER_04: But all of a sudden we're reminded that this were you know, that this this female aerobatic champion, because she'd been out and competed like the morning before she set her record, and she just went out and got up to 30,000 feet.
19:53
SPEAKER_03: Which is really cool.
19:53
SPEAKER_04: And then wearing a big there's photos of a like this giant suit.
19:58
SPEAKER_04: Yeah, just jumped in a regular aeroplane and and went to 30,000 feet.
20:03
SPEAKER_06: Yes.
20:05
SPEAKER_06: When was the super cub?
20:07
SPEAKER_06: When when did we get the first super cub?
20:09
SPEAKER_04: Uh first super cub was I think something like 4950.
20:15
SPEAKER_03: Okay.
20:16
SPEAKER_03: So it would have been brand new, basically.
20:18
SPEAKER_04: Did that uh uh yeah 75 years wasn't it?
20:21
SPEAKER_03: I think yeah.
20:22
SPEAKER_04: I certainly mine much earlier than I thought.
20:24
SPEAKER_04: It might in fact it might even be a little bit earlier than that.
20:27
SPEAKER_04: I mine's a 1950 one.
20:30
SPEAKER_04: Um and it's it's no no flaps and small engine.
20:33
SPEAKER_04: And I know hers was would have had the bigger lycoming.
20:37
SPEAKER_04: Um but so yeah, maybe yeah, worth checking the dates.
20:41
SPEAKER_04: But yeah, super cubs would have been relatively new at that point.
20:44
SPEAKER_04: So um but yeah, it was an amazing, amazing accomplishment.
20:48
SPEAKER_04: And I love that the the Cubcrafter's record made us remember this cool achievement by Carol.
20:53
SPEAKER_04: Absolutely, absolutely.
20:54
SPEAKER_03: Yeah, she does recognition, doesn't she?
20:56
SPEAKER_06: Yeah.
20:56
SPEAKER_06: Well done, Carol.
20:58
SPEAKER_06: Keep on track.
20:58
SPEAKER_06: I think we're on number nine now.
21:00
SPEAKER_06: Number nine.
21:01
SPEAKER_04: Number nine is Sky Fly Axe.
21:04
SPEAKER_04: Yeah.
21:04
SPEAKER_04: Yeah, so from something very conventional like a super cub to something very unconventional like the Skyfly Axe, which is the British EV Toll that's not like other EV tolls because the motors are fixed at like a 45-degree angle on the wingtips.
21:20
SPEAKER_04: It's got two wings, front and back.
21:22
SPEAKER_04: Um, um it's got a pair of motors on each wing on these little angular mounts.
21:28
SPEAKER_04: And Skyfly were the underdogs all this year because they were getting out and getting stuff done.
21:33
SPEAKER_04: They were the first people um to uh go uh flying beyond the circuit with an with an electric EV toll uh in the UK.
21:42
SPEAKER_04: And then they went and flew this cross country flight from To Western to Bista, which you might go, that's not setting the world on fire, but it was a big achievement.
21:50
SPEAKER_04: You've got to start somewhere.
21:51
SPEAKER_04: You've got to start somewhere.
21:52
SPEAKER_04: Uh and I got to watch it happen because I was taking some photos for them.
21:56
SPEAKER_04: And Bill Brooks, uh, the brilliant Dr.
21:58
SPEAKER_04: Bill Brooks was their test pilot.
22:00
SPEAKER_04: And uh very um very well planned, but uh but completely relaxed.
22:04
SPEAKER_04: He went out, flew this sortie, um, and uh flew from flew to Bister, got out, celebrated the fact they'd got somewhere.
22:13
SPEAKER_04: Uh, interesting, got to Bister, couldn't use the Vertiport that's actually built there because that belongs to another brand.
22:19
SPEAKER_04: Um, uh, and got back in, flew back to Toweston, got to To Weston, and the batteries needed um depleting in charge because they were going to load it in a box and take it to Oshkosh um later on that month.
22:30
SPEAKER_04: So Bill flew around for another 10 minutes or so, flattening the batteries, went up to altitude.
22:35
SPEAKER_04: Um, and it was just brilliant.
22:37
SPEAKER_04: And that that aeroplane has a lot of promise, I feel.
22:40
SPEAKER_04: And I know people get turned off by the whole EVTOL thing, but this is quite clever.
22:45
SPEAKER_04: Um, it's quite a good solution.
22:47
SPEAKER_04: And they obviously needs a problem now.
22:50
SPEAKER_04: It just needs a problem.
22:51
SPEAKER_04: Yeah.
22:51
SPEAKER_04: Um I th but they've they're selling a few, and they've taken it to the States and the and the American market has really warmed to it, partly because mosaic, um, the changes in uh the uh FAA mosaic rules, uh, means that electric and EV toll and other things, batteries, uh battery use, will be kind of uh well, is permitted now over there.
23:10
SPEAKER_06: So two things about the the Skyfly Axe uh kind of interest me.
23:15
SPEAKER_06: One is how did they ever come up with the name of the Skyfly?
23:18
SPEAKER_06: I've got that.
23:19
SPEAKER_06: Great name.
23:21
SPEAKER_06: Don't know.
23:21
SPEAKER_06: What did they have like too many letters left over in their kit or something?
23:25
SPEAKER_06: I know.
23:26
SPEAKER_06: Just call it the Skyflyer.
23:28
SPEAKER_04: Yes, yeah, is yeah, is it's cool.
23:30
SPEAKER_04: Uh and I I always felt I felt a little bit sorry for Skyfly all through the year.
23:33
SPEAKER_04: Because every time they did something, one of the bigger EV toll people would come along and go, We've done this.
23:38
SPEAKER_04: And it's like we kept having to go, you know, Skyfly has done that a few weeks before you guys.
23:44
SPEAKER_06: Yeah.
23:44
SPEAKER_06: So the other thing that I like about it is from a distance, yeah.
23:49
SPEAKER_06: You've got all of this like mega billions going into all of these projects.
23:52
SPEAKER_06: Yes.
23:53
SPEAKER_06: This is your typical, I'm sure it isn't, but it just feels like there's a bloke in a shed.
23:58
SPEAKER_06: It's very pretty.
24:01
SPEAKER_04: Yeah.
24:01
SPEAKER_04: Favering away with little.
24:03
SPEAKER_04: It's an it's an amazing, they're an amazing they're a small team, but an amazing team of of people doing this, and they're not doing it with mega budgets.
24:11
SPEAKER_04: Tiny but mighty.
24:12
SPEAKER_04: Yeah, tiny but mighty, I think is that's that is a good way to describe Skyfly X.
24:16
SPEAKER_06: So that's all that's all I think I'm just gonna call it Skyfly.
24:19
SPEAKER_06: Even if they've got the wrong name, I'm just gonna call it the Skyfly from now on.
24:23
SPEAKER_06: Um so from some very kind of like leading edge aircraft, as it were.
24:28
SPEAKER_06: Um, back in the summer I flew the Sky Leader 400, which got approved.
24:31
SPEAKER_06: We'd seen it at all sorts of shows over the years saying it's just on the verge of being approved.
24:36
SPEAKER_06: It went through, it went through, it went through.
24:37
SPEAKER_06: And eventually it got it got there, and so they brought it down to Lideway, jumped in, went for a flight.
24:42
SPEAKER_06: Nice, you know, two seats side by side, metal aircraft, fairly traditional, powered by Rotax.
24:48
SPEAKER_06: Um exactly as you'd expect.
24:51
SPEAKER_04: This with the advent of 600 kg microlites, this is like an the next gen trainer, isn't it?
24:56
SPEAKER_04: It's one of a fo it's one of a range of kind of next gen trainers that make advantage take advantage of this weight limit.
25:03
SPEAKER_06: And it's quite it's quite interesting.
25:04
SPEAKER_06: The 600 kilogram weight limit kind of does actually make a fairly significant difference to the way the aircraft feels.
25:10
SPEAKER_06: I don't mean the way it flies, I just mean the way it's you know, some of the very lightweight aircraft you notice.
25:16
SPEAKER_06: You notice you just have to be a little bit careful about how you treat them on the ground.
25:19
SPEAKER_06: Yeah.
25:20
SPEAKER_06: But 150 kilos more is quite an extra chunk of structure.
25:24
SPEAKER_04: Yeah.
25:25
SPEAKER_04: And I think that they seem to be um uh they seem to be selling, they seem to be selling some.
25:29
SPEAKER_04: So um it's like it's like all these things.
25:31
SPEAKER_04: I don't think we're gonna see, I don't think we will see one particular brand that sells hundreds of them.
25:37
SPEAKER_04: But I know that BMA have been very successful in adding 600 kg types, and I think they must be like 33 or 35.
25:45
SPEAKER_06: When we come to talk a bit later, later on, we've got our choice for aircraft of the year.
25:50
SPEAKER_06: Um, and I think we'll see some interesting stuff there when we talk about that.
25:53
SPEAKER_06: So make sure you watch to the end for that.
25:56
SPEAKER_06: Um, right, where are we?
25:57
SPEAKER_06: Number 11.
25:59
SPEAKER_06: I think that's you.
26:01
SPEAKER_04: That's that is the yeah, Cirrus added autoland.
26:05
SPEAKER_04: Um and we've seen autoland in uh turbine types.
26:09
SPEAKER_04: Uh I know you can get it.
26:10
SPEAKER_04: And so turbine, so um TBM have it, uh Pilates have it.
26:15
SPEAKER_04: I'm not sure Pilates don't have to do it.
26:16
SPEAKER_04: No, not sure.
26:16
SPEAKER_04: No, Pilates don't have it.
26:18
SPEAKER_04: Um oh um uh Piper.
26:20
SPEAKER_04: Piper have it.
26:21
SPEAKER_04: So Piper, yeah, and Cirrus Jet.
26:23
SPEAKER_04: So we've seen Autoland in in very kind of high-level technical types, but not Autoland in a piston single.
26:31
SPEAKER_04: And basically Cirrus uh have have got there first uh working with Garmin after a long, long time.
26:37
SPEAKER_04: Uh but it's just brilliant.
26:38
SPEAKER_04: You can, if you have pilot in capacitation, besides having the chute now, you have the option of pushing a button.
26:45
SPEAKER_06: The pilot broken switch.
26:46
SPEAKER_04: The pilot broken switch, yeah.
26:48
SPEAKER_04: Uh and the airplane will take over and explain to whoever is left in the aeroplane that it's doing a job and it's taking you to somewhere and to sit back and just enjoy the ride.
26:58
SPEAKER_04: Um it requires the airfield to be um, I think, uh 4,500 feet long runway.
27:06
SPEAKER_04: Uh it has to be minimum 75 feet wide, doesn't it?
27:09
SPEAKER_04: So um and have a GNS.
27:12
SPEAKER_04: Precision approach, yeah.
27:13
SPEAKER_04: Yeah.
27:13
SPEAKER_04: Um but basically that's I mean this all came with the the round of changes of G7 Plus, didn't it?
27:19
SPEAKER_04: Yeah, absolutely.
27:20
SPEAKER_04: And it's it's it is amazing tech.
27:23
SPEAKER_04: I mean, whoever thought that you would be able to push a button and an aeroplane would take over and fly you somewhere and land and do a good job of it.
27:31
SPEAKER_06: Um, in other news, flight design, the company behind the very popular CT.
27:37
SPEAKER_06: The company, there's plenty of CTs around, great little aircraft.
27:40
SPEAKER_06: There's been lots of different ones over the years, CTLSs and all sorts of.
27:43
SPEAKER_06: There was even a CT4 at one point.
27:45
SPEAKER_06: I don't think that ever.
27:46
SPEAKER_04: That flew, didn't it?
27:47
SPEAKER_04: It flew.
27:48
SPEAKER_06: It flew just before they went bust one of the times.
27:50
SPEAKER_06: Yeah, absolutely.
27:51
SPEAKER_06: And that was the one where they were, when they were launching it, all the press conference.
27:54
SPEAKER_04: The CT4 is going to do 180 knots on three litres, and I sometimes wonder whether it's probably not true, but I'll make this up anyway, that flight design had like a spinning wheel of specifications and they just spun it to select numbers.
28:07
SPEAKER_04: One of those things you turn around.
28:10
SPEAKER_06: Absolutely.
28:10
SPEAKER_06: But the probably anyway, they they went bust and they were bought by Shangong Group, um, who the Shangong group in China, the same people who own Icon after Icon went bust.
28:19
SPEAKER_06: Another company that made some rather bold projections about how many of they were going to build and sell every year.
28:25
SPEAKER_06: Um, good news is they're keeping CT production in the Czech Republic, so we look forward to seeing how that develops and seeing that uh, you know, what is a nice little aircraft is not lost forever.
28:36
SPEAKER_06: So that's a good thing.
28:39
SPEAKER_06: Which brings us to the final item, which is number 13 on the list.
28:44
SPEAKER_04: Yeah, and this was um a great people story.
28:48
SPEAKER_04: Um at the time when this person was affected initially, it wasn't a great people story.
28:53
SPEAKER_04: But YouTuber Zyla Foxlin, um, you will have seen her making rockets and doing a whole bunch of STEM stuff.
28:59
SPEAKER_03: And joining us as a guest on the flyer show.
29:01
SPEAKER_03: She has been a guest.
29:03
SPEAKER_04: Link.
29:04
SPEAKER_04: Yeah.
29:04
SPEAKER_06: Um link so you can check a sticker.
29:06
SPEAKER_04: Xyla, also a PPL, um, achieved her dream of owning a of buying a Cessna 140, which she's flown a lot.
29:12
SPEAKER_04: She's also building a Peton pole.
29:14
SPEAKER_04: Um, but she was grounded by the FAA um due to mental health concerns they had, which were linked to her use of um birth control.
29:23
SPEAKER_04: Um, and this caused some questions, uh, and Xyla went into it in fairly big detail.
29:30
SPEAKER_04: And it was a big blow for her because she loves flying, and to have your flying taken away from you, no pilot wants that.
29:36
SPEAKER_04: Um, but she basically used um YouTube as a medium to start a wider discussion on pilot mental health and the fact that you can't have a pilot community who go, Well, I won't talk about that because it may affect my ability to hold a license.
29:53
SPEAKER_04: Uh and basically this went all the way to Congress uh in the States, and um, this has created a mental health change.
30:00
SPEAKER_04: Uh well, there's a the Mental Health in Aviation Act, uh, which is fantastic.
30:04
SPEAKER_04: So well done, Zila.
30:06
SPEAKER_04: And this, I think this is just the start of a wider discussion, isn't it?
30:10
SPEAKER_06: Absolutely.
30:10
SPEAKER_06: Absolutely.
30:12
SPEAKER_06: Okay, on that note, we're gonna take a little break from our review of 2025, and we're gonna now feature Annabelle, who's gonna tell you all about the club news.
30:22
SPEAKER_06: Annabelle.
30:23
SPEAKER_03: Yeah, so it's not quite the end of December, so you still have uh a few days left to use free landings.
30:28
SPEAKER_03: This month we have Carnothan, Tibbonum, Manchester, Barton, Yatesbury, and 50% off at sundown, which, if you uh fly a four-seater aircraft, will save you£73 for the month.
30:41
SPEAKER_03: Only if you obviously land at all those places and use the vouchers.
30:44
SPEAKER_03: Um, which means for 2025 as a whole, all of the landing vouchers have had a value of around£607.
30:52
SPEAKER_04: Wow.
30:53
SPEAKER_04: So 10 as almost 10 times the value of a flyer club.
30:57
SPEAKER_04: More than 10 times the value.
30:59
SPEAKER_04: How many things can you be a member of where you get 10 times more value than your membership?
31:04
SPEAKER_03: Only one.
31:05
SPEAKER_04: Yes.
31:06
SPEAKER_03: Flyer Club.
31:07
SPEAKER_03: Join.
31:08
SPEAKER_06: Fly.co.uk for membership.
31:12
SPEAKER_03: And if you'd like to prepare for January, three of the four landing fees are already confirmed.
31:17
SPEAKER_03: We have Redford at Gamston, Edsfield, and Longside.
31:21
SPEAKER_03: Edsfield?
31:22
SPEAKER_03: So I have my own airfield.
31:24
SPEAKER_03: No, it's double.
31:25
SPEAKER_06: Okay.
31:27
SPEAKER_06: That would be cool, wouldn't it?
31:28
SPEAKER_06: You should call it Edsfield if you had your own field.
31:30
SPEAKER_04: If I had my own airfield, when are you going to get your own airfield?
31:33
SPEAKER_03: Um is owned by a bloke called Ed.
31:35
SPEAKER_03: Is it?
31:35
SPEAKER_03: Well, that makes sense, doesn't it?
31:37
SPEAKER_03: Ed Peacock.
31:37
SPEAKER_03: Okay, I didn't know that.
31:39
SPEAKER_03: Yeah, nice guy.
31:40
SPEAKER_04: That's very cool.
31:40
SPEAKER_04: But yeah, I would love my own airfield.
31:42
SPEAKER_04: I I'm sure it will never happen unless I have a lottery win.
31:44
SPEAKER_03: Well, if Ed Peacock ever wants to sell his airfield, you'd have to do it.
31:46
SPEAKER_03: That would be my first choice to go the lottery.
31:49
SPEAKER_04: I don't know.
31:50
SPEAKER_04: That's probably the first step.
31:51
SPEAKER_03: And at the moment, if you are not a Flyer Club member and you would like to be, we've got a bit of a discount on for Christmas, so you can get 25% off annual membership using the code FlyerChristmas25.
32:04
SPEAKER_03: And that is valid until Christmas Eve.
32:06
SPEAKER_06: Wow.
32:06
SPEAKER_06: A whole week of 25% off.
32:08
SPEAKER_06: That's quite bargained.
32:09
SPEAKER_06: There's probably not many other bargains.
32:10
SPEAKER_06: I like that.
32:11
SPEAKER_06: Buy it now.
32:12
SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
32:13
SPEAKER_06: Hurry up.
32:13
SPEAKER_03: Last minute Christmas presents sorted.
32:16
SPEAKER_06: I want to be able to eat at Christmas.
32:18
SPEAKER_03: No.
32:19
SPEAKER_04: It's a tiny turkey for you.
32:21
SPEAKER_03: With a tiny violin.
32:26
SPEAKER_06: Okay, some good news for Airfields.
32:28
SPEAKER_06: The uh Swansea, what was it called again?
32:30
SPEAKER_06: Uh TASA.
32:32
SPEAKER_06: Swansea Airport Stakeholders Association have been uh have the opportunity to take a long lease on Swansea.
32:38
SPEAKER_06: Swansea is one of those airports, has a bit of a checkered history.
32:41
SPEAKER_06: It's in an absolutely stunning part of the country, probably needed a it's it's not had its infrastructure developed over the years.
32:49
SPEAKER_06: Um, but it's uh recently it's had a lot of work done, lots of good things happening.
32:54
SPEAKER_04: So I think one of the key things recently is that there's a group there of really motivated individuals who have really put the effort in.
33:04
SPEAKER_04: Yeah.
33:04
SPEAKER_06: Absolutely.
33:05
SPEAKER_04: And I think that's key to its latest success.
33:08
SPEAKER_06: I remember reading the story when the when they took over, the the volunteers took over, and thinking that's a that's a that's a big mountain for volunteers to to climb.
33:15
SPEAKER_06: But they've clearly got there, summited, yeah, as it were.
33:19
SPEAKER_06: Great news, great, great airfield.
33:20
SPEAKER_06: Great news.
33:21
SPEAKER_06: Yeah.
33:21
SPEAKER_06: Let's have some more positive airfield news in 2026.
33:24
SPEAKER_06: And and now, in fact.
33:26
SPEAKER_04: Yeah.
33:26
SPEAKER_04: Uh and I think maybe well, I've got it's smaller scale, but um, but uh Brown Shutters Airfield, which is a small strip.
33:34
SPEAKER_04: Yeah, that kind of that that direction that's useful for everyone in this in the world of uh world of video, isn't it?
33:39
SPEAKER_04: Um but Brown Shutters is a fabulous little strip, um uh northeast and uh uh north, south, and east-west runways.
33:47
SPEAKER_04: Uh but they had some planning, uh some luck with uh planning applications.
33:51
SPEAKER_04: They've on their site they've got some um some fishing lakes um and a nature kind of area.
33:58
SPEAKER_04: Uh but along with that, which was approved, they've got um permission to move their access track, uh, which will enable them to widen runways and basically improve a whole bunch of things around the airfield.
34:10
SPEAKER_04: So that was it's a little strip, but it's great news for a little strip in the UK.
34:15
SPEAKER_06: I have been in there, but I need to go a bit more.
34:17
SPEAKER_06: It's it's just too, it's just really close.
34:19
SPEAKER_04: Yeah, it's one of those that you almost don't think about visiting.
34:21
SPEAKER_04: But you know how if you go to Compton Abbas, you it's a beautiful it's an aeroplane, it's an aeroplane, it's an airfield where you stand at Comptonabus and you've got this beautiful vista, and that's where you're looking north.
34:31
SPEAKER_04: Brown shutters, you land and you look south, and it's kind of similar.
34:34
SPEAKER_04: It's it's a beautiful place to visit and and just admire the view from.
34:38
SPEAKER_06: Well, I'm gonna make sure I pop into there at some point in the future.
34:43
SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
34:44
SPEAKER_03: And you could pop into there from your hangar home on Enniskillen Aero Park because it's been given the go-ahead.
34:51
SPEAKER_03: So, this project, led by Peter Day, has taken ten years of work, including seven years working with Enniskillen.
34:57
SPEAKER_03: Um, there were no objections by the CAA or the airport operator, which is fantastic.
35:03
SPEAKER_03: Um, and this is just the start of things because Peter is continuing to try and have mixed-use hangers approved at Solent as well.
35:10
SPEAKER_04: And it's it's amazing, really, isn't it?
35:12
SPEAKER_04: Because hangar homes in the UK has just been this ball thing, isn't it?
35:17
SPEAKER_04: And all of a sudden he hit this success with being extremely persistent.
35:21
SPEAKER_06: He is relentless.
35:22
SPEAKER_06: He is, absolutely.
35:24
SPEAKER_06: But it just goes to show.
35:25
SPEAKER_03: If you are relentless, you might indeed you can get a plane market and a skillen.
35:29
SPEAKER_06: Brilliant.
35:30
SPEAKER_06: Absolutely, absolutely.
35:31
SPEAKER_06: Unfortunately, as a flip side to the good news, there have been some bits of bad news.
35:35
SPEAKER_06: Um, a couple of bits of bad news I'll kick off with for item number 17 on our list of Coventry.
35:41
SPEAKER_06: Coventry is closing on June the 26th.
35:44
SPEAKER_06: You'll remember that Coventry was uh there was a whole load of talk about a big Giga factory and thousands and thousands of jobs, etc.
35:51
SPEAKER_06: etc.
35:52
SPEAKER_06: I don't think the Giga Factory worked out, but funnily enough, the airfield is still closing.
35:55
SPEAKER_06: We'll be visiting Coventry sometime in January and creating a video interviewing some of the residents there, so look out for that.
36:02
SPEAKER_06: Uh, equally, Cambridge, Marshals of Cambridge have announced that Cambridge will be closing in 2028.
36:07
SPEAKER_06: They were going to move to Cranfield.
36:09
SPEAKER_06: That's now not on because it's no longer financially viable.
36:11
SPEAKER_06: And we don't currently know where they might be moving instead.
36:15
SPEAKER_06: Um, but it does look like Cambridge uh will be closing in 2028 to become Cambridge East, which will effectively be a new residential area of Cambridge.
36:24
SPEAKER_06: Marshalls have uh lost, I think it was something like 55 million or something.
36:29
SPEAKER_06: Um, on and clearly property development is is a way of turning that around.
36:34
SPEAKER_06: But a historic airfield that we're gonna lose next to a fantastic place to visit.
36:38
SPEAKER_04: Yeah, and those are those are two big hard surface runways.
36:42
SPEAKER_04: You well, I would I would almost bet money that we those are resources that we will never replace.
36:48
SPEAKER_06: Yeah, absolutely.
36:50
SPEAKER_06: So I can't remember when the last hard surface runway was.
36:53
SPEAKER_06: I mean, Hapney Green put in a new hard surface, but that wasn't a new runway.
36:57
SPEAKER_06: That was resurfacing.
36:58
SPEAKER_06: That's fantastic.
36:59
SPEAKER_06: That was brilliant, yeah.
37:00
SPEAKER_06: Um but I can't remember the last new runway.
37:03
SPEAKER_06: I don't know.
37:04
SPEAKER_04: Someone will tell us in the comments.
37:06
SPEAKER_04: Yes.
37:06
SPEAKER_03: I'm surprised you don't know Ed.
37:09
SPEAKER_03: Maybe that's the next news item is Ed doesn't know something.
37:12
SPEAKER_02: Uh-oh.
37:14
SPEAKER_03: Yeah, so this was really bad.
37:15
SPEAKER_03: So back in back in April, just as we were starting the broadcast broadcast of that evening's live stream, we got the news that Hangar 3 old Serum was on fire.
37:24
SPEAKER_03: Um so actually the the hangar and the cafe ended up being destroyed.
37:29
SPEAKER_03: Wiltshire police and fire and rescue service did carry out an investigation, and there was an arrest made, um, but the person was released and no charges have been brought.
37:39
SPEAKER_03: Um, even worse, just a couple of weeks later, there's another fire destroyed, another grade two listed build uh listed hangar at Bista.
37:47
SPEAKER_03: Um, and sadly, in in that event, three people did lose their lives, two firefighters, Jenny Logan and Martin Sadler, and a member of the public, David Chester.
37:58
SPEAKER_06: Unbelievable.
37:59
SPEAKER_06: Yeah, it was bad news, huh?
38:00
SPEAKER_03: And I think, yeah, inquiries for that one are still ongoing.
38:04
SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
38:04
SPEAKER_04: Yeah.
38:05
SPEAKER_04: And uh yeah, I'll round off the airfield bad news.
38:09
SPEAKER_04: Uh Popham, obviously fantastic airfield, one of the one of the bits of lifeblood of GA activity in the UK.
38:17
SPEAKER_04: I don't think anyone would disagree with that.
38:19
SPEAKER_04: Absolutely.
38:20
SPEAKER_04: Uh they celebrated 50 fabulous years of operation um since they were literally cut out of a wooded area.
38:26
SPEAKER_04: I went down for the 50th birthday flying, it was amazing.
38:29
SPEAKER_04: Uh, we made a video.
38:30
SPEAKER_04: Henry might stick it in the car in the on screen.
38:33
SPEAKER_04: Link in the video.
38:33
SPEAKER_04: Plus, we had Brian Lloyd.
38:35
SPEAKER_04: We had Brian Lloyd Popham at it.
38:37
SPEAKER_04: Another link, please.
38:37
SPEAKER_04: And he was here because having uh so Popham survived.
38:41
SPEAKER_04: Uh obviously, there's uh the landowner once has uh contributed Popham as a Popham Airfield as a site for future housing um in that area.
38:51
SPEAKER_04: Um initially, on that first consultation, that was turned, it looked like that was going to be um turned down, but now that's gone back.
39:00
SPEAKER_04: There's a second consultation now active, and obviously Brian, when he came up to see us uh a few weeks ago, that was all about the the new threat because there's a new application in with more houses, uh, and it requires everyone who uh may have sent uh comments on that consultation to act again because Popham is it's another resource that once we lose it, it will be gone.
39:25
SPEAKER_03: And let's not forget the local council saying it was, oh, let me check, not significant.
39:30
SPEAKER_06: I know.
39:30
SPEAKER_04: Yeah, I don't know, I don't know what yeah, what they woke up that day and they'd lost their minds, maybe.
39:36
SPEAKER_03: I mean, I think I still want a t-shirt that says I am not significant.
39:40
SPEAKER_03: Not significant.
39:41
SPEAKER_06: Yeah, I I think there's a there's a bit of a trend here with local councils, uh, whether they own the airfield in the case of Gloucester, um, or we're talking about planning commission, do seem to be not entirely well informed on the importance and significance of of airfields and what they're doing and the role they play.
40:00
SPEAKER_06: Yeah.
40:01
SPEAKER_06: Um yeah, so there's there's some there's some stuff not good.
40:05
SPEAKER_06: In fact, just a quick addition.
40:06
SPEAKER_06: This is not an this is not another number.
40:08
SPEAKER_06: I'm gonna sneak this one in here.
40:09
SPEAKER_06: There's a whole bunch of reporting at the moment about there's some questions being asked about the Gloucester sale about whether it's still gonna go ahead and whether I mean uh nothing official has been released, but certainly in the local press around there, there's a kind of like Yeah, there's some skepticism.
40:22
SPEAKER_06: I mean, it was going through due diligence, so that's where you, if there are any skeletons in the particular cupboard, that's where you'd hope to discover those, and maybe I don't know what happened or not, but we'll we'll find out.
40:31
SPEAKER_06: Hopefully, we'll be reporting positive news about it this time in a year's time.
40:34
SPEAKER_06: Yeah.
40:35
SPEAKER_06: Um, right, so that's enough of the airfields.
40:39
SPEAKER_06: I think it's time for a little break and to talk about the webinars.
40:45
SPEAKER_03: Back to me.
40:46
SPEAKER_06: Back to you.
40:47
SPEAKER_03: Um yeah, for flyer club members, of course, you have access to all of the free webinars.
40:53
SPEAKER_03: Um, this week we had a new one, so it's an update on icing with Nigel Webb.
40:58
SPEAKER_03: Uh, if you missed that, of course, then you can get that on catch up.
41:01
SPEAKER_03: Uh, I think we have now something like 30 um in the archives from the last three years.
41:07
SPEAKER_03: Some of the recent highlights uh include our very own, Ed, talking about air-to-air photography, uh, Dr.
41:14
SPEAKER_03: Frank Furton on five lifestyle changes keeping you flying, um, and Greeners talking about uh forced landing.
41:21
SPEAKER_03: All of those are available on the members' dashboard, along with all the other bargains that you can get by being a member.
41:30
SPEAKER_06: Some really good high-quality information that's there for permanent, permanent looking at by members.
41:35
SPEAKER_06: Yeah.
41:35
SPEAKER_06: Consider it your own video library.
41:37
SPEAKER_06: And then if you're a member, if you're not, why not?
41:40
SPEAKER_06: Why not?
41:41
SPEAKER_06: Why not?
41:41
SPEAKER_06: Come on.
41:42
SPEAKER_06: Particular 25% off at the moment.
41:44
SPEAKER_03: Yeah, fly at Christmas, 25.
41:46
SPEAKER_06: Absolutely.
41:49
SPEAKER_06: Right.
41:51
SPEAKER_06: Event of the year.
41:53
SPEAKER_04: Event of the year.
41:54
SPEAKER_06: That is that's a a biggie.
41:57
SPEAKER_06: It is a biggie.
41:58
SPEAKER_04: What would you pick?
41:59
SPEAKER_06: Well, I have I thought about this long and hard, and for me, it's got to be Aero, Friedrichs Haven.
42:08
SPEAKER_06: Oh, yeah.
42:08
SPEAKER_06: That is an absolute fantastic show.
42:11
SPEAKER_06: It's it's indoors, so it doesn't matter what the weather's like.
42:14
SPEAKER_06: Yeah, there is huge, you it's pretty much impossible to do it justice and visit all of it.
42:19
SPEAKER_06: The facilities are fantastic, the area is amazing.
42:23
SPEAKER_06: It's everything about it is just if you haven't been, Germany.
42:26
SPEAKER_06: Why not?
42:26
SPEAKER_04: German, if it it's it's it's an aviation event with German efficiency.
42:31
SPEAKER_06: Yeah, it's and it's really nice, super friendly, it's pretty accessible.
42:35
SPEAKER_06: We normally jump on a there have been times in the past when we flowed down ourselves.
42:38
SPEAKER_06: Yeah, there's more of us now, and that becomes a bit more difficult.
42:41
SPEAKER_06: So we we tend to go airlines, but we just fly into Zurich, I think.
42:45
SPEAKER_06: A couple of hours drive hours drive.
42:47
SPEAKER_06: And we you if if you take the right route, you get the ferry you go across uh Lake Constance, yeah, into Meersburg, and then drive along.
42:54
SPEAKER_06: There's there's other ferries are available.
42:56
SPEAKER_03: And I've done it as I've done it as a road trip as well, which yeah, it takes takes a while, but it's uh it's a really nice road trip.
43:02
SPEAKER_03: It's a beautiful drive through France and every couple of days.
43:04
SPEAKER_04: And it's it's Wednesday, Wednesday through Saturday, isn't it?
43:08
SPEAKER_04: Yeah.
43:08
SPEAKER_04: Uh and it's it's at a it's basically it's like it's two giant halls of hangars, isn't it?
43:15
SPEAKER_03: It's uh it's it's about eight giant halls.
43:17
SPEAKER_04: Oh, yeah, yeah, they're all individual spaces, but uh but yeah, no, it's um it's massive.
43:23
SPEAKER_04: Yeah, it's if you haven't been, then you owe it to yourself.
43:27
SPEAKER_06: And it and it logistically it's much easier than going to some of the other events, some of the big events in the US.
43:32
SPEAKER_06: Yeah.
43:33
SPEAKER_06: Um you know what?
43:34
SPEAKER_06: When you go through customs, they don't ask you for your social media record.
43:39
SPEAKER_04: There's I guess there is that about it.
43:41
SPEAKER_06: Yes.
43:41
SPEAKER_03: It's also a really nice social event.
43:43
SPEAKER_03: So just walking around there, you bump into all sorts of people you know.
43:46
SPEAKER_03: Absolutely.
43:46
SPEAKER_04: Yeah.
43:47
SPEAKER_04: No, great and great beer.
43:49
SPEAKER_03: Oh yeah, uh and the sausages.
43:50
SPEAKER_04: Oh, though, don't forget this year, the but the do you remember the um uh the the big wooden chalet that served beer caught caught fire?
43:59
SPEAKER_04: I know.
44:00
SPEAKER_06: That was a bit of a but anyway, Aero would be my choice for the show of the year.
44:04
SPEAKER_06: How about you, Ed?
44:05
SPEAKER_04: Um one choice for me, and that's got to be Oshkosh.
44:09
SPEAKER_04: And I know people go, oh Oskosh, but actually, if you haven't experienced it, it is incredible.
44:15
SPEAKER_04: Um, there's nothing like it, and it is the world's biggest.
44:18
SPEAKER_04: Um, okay, the weather can be it can be brutally hot.
44:22
SPEAKER_04: This year was brutally hot.
44:24
SPEAKER_04: Um uh but your chance to see more than 10,000 aeroplanes, and the site is enormous.
44:30
SPEAKER_04: It's like if you I I know I've measured it in the past, it's like two kilometres corner to corner.
44:34
SPEAKER_04: I don't know what you were doing when you looked at it.
44:36
SPEAKER_04: With with Metake Measure, you know, uh four feet at a time.
44:39
SPEAKER_04: Yeah, sorry.
44:41
SPEAKER_04: But yeah, as as a show, it's Monday, it runs uh Monday through Sunday, so it's a seven-day event, and it's um and the air the airport itself that it happens at is enormous, and within that site, there's a separate ultralight airfield, there's a Warbird community, there's a home-built community.
45:00
SPEAKER_03: There's a lake for float planes?
45:02
SPEAKER_04: No, well, that's you can there is a lake, it's a little bit further away on a bus or a seaplane or a float plane, but um there is there's a whole float plane community as well.
45:12
SPEAKER_04: There's a helicopter, there's there's continuous helicopter rides and all sorts, but as an event to just have a completely immersive experience um for a week.
45:24
SPEAKER_06: Oh that's yeah, no, it is fantastic.
45:27
SPEAKER_06: I mean, if I had to choose into I'd personally I'd still choose Aero, but it I I love going to Oshkosh.
45:32
SPEAKER_04: Um Yeah, and you will see uh we've said it before, but you will go to Oshkosh and you in the UK you might go, Oh my gosh, there's a so-and-so, and you've that's it's one you've seen that one example.
45:44
SPEAKER_04: But you go to Oshkosh and you go, Oh my god, there's a dozen of them, and they're all perfect.
45:48
SPEAKER_06: I mean, that you knew by the by day three, when you see four Mustangs in formation flying around the field, yeah, whatever.
45:55
SPEAKER_04: Yeah, seen that a hundred times.
45:57
SPEAKER_06: But yeah, Oshkosh is incredible.
46:00
SPEAKER_06: Yeah, absolutely.
46:01
SPEAKER_06: You should go to all of them if you can.
46:03
SPEAKER_03: Well, yeah.
46:04
SPEAKER_03: How about you?
46:04
SPEAKER_03: Well, yeah, if you want to stay a little bit closer to home, we have, of course, the UK's biggest fly in the year, which was Sleepkosh.
46:11
SPEAKER_03: Um, you were saying about Oshkosh being hot, so that weekend I think temperatures reached high 30s, which uh there were people camping, which cannot have been fun.
46:19
SPEAKER_03: No.
46:20
SPEAKER_03: Um over 400 aircraft.
46:21
SPEAKER_03: Is it ever fun?
46:22
SPEAKER_03: Camping?
46:23
SPEAKER_03: No.
46:23
SPEAKER_03: No.
46:24
SPEAKER_03: Um over 400 aircraft turned up.
46:27
SPEAKER_03: Um, and apparently the event sold out of beer on the first day.
46:31
SPEAKER_03: Some say Johnny drunk it all.
46:34
SPEAKER_04: But uh he was there, because we know, because he made a video.
46:36
SPEAKER_04: He did make a video.
46:37
SPEAKER_04: Link, link, link, yeah.
46:38
SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
46:39
SPEAKER_03: Um and yeah, if you if you miss that, like me, and you want to get that in for next year, it's gonna be back on the 10th to the 12th of July.
46:47
SPEAKER_04: That is, yeah, that's it's an event that's it's in in in time relatively new.
46:52
SPEAKER_04: It's only been going like four or five years.
46:54
SPEAKER_04: Yeah.
46:54
SPEAKER_04: But it's grown massively.
46:56
SPEAKER_06: And the community at Slate, lots of young enthusiasm is I really want to go, but it always clashes with with our our event in Manchester, Pilot Careers Live.
47:05
SPEAKER_06: And so but hopefully this year.
47:07
SPEAKER_04: Definitely one to put in your calendar.
47:08
SPEAKER_06: Yeah, no, absolutely, absolutely.
47:13
SPEAKER_06: Which brings us to our aeroplane of the year.
47:16
SPEAKER_04: Wow, this could be the thing that everyone has been waiting for.
47:20
SPEAKER_03: Aircraft of sorry, aircraft of the year.
47:22
SPEAKER_06: You're right, absolutely.
47:24
SPEAKER_06: That might give you a clue as to what Annabel might be picking.
47:27
SPEAKER_06: Um, but okay, my aircraft of the year is the Groppo in Jiro.
47:31
SPEAKER_06: First saw it at Aero.
47:33
SPEAKER_06: It was like, oh my god, this is the aeroplane of the show.
47:36
SPEAKER_06: Imagine a site side-by-side, Rotax aircraft, taildriga, high wing.
47:41
SPEAKER_06: This particular one had been built by a German chap who put some big tundra tiles on it, an extra special shock absorbed tailwheel.
47:50
SPEAKER_06: It was clearly, it was clearly built for kind of rough strips, and it just looked like a fantastic adventurous aeroplane.
47:56
SPEAKER_06: It was spacious inside, it's not outrageously expensive.
47:59
SPEAKER_06: The prices they were talking about, we'll have to wait and see what happens when it finally gets to market.
48:03
SPEAKER_04: Yeah.
48:03
SPEAKER_04: Um but that was that you're right.
48:06
SPEAKER_04: That was an airplane that we weren't expecting to see.
48:08
SPEAKER_04: And actually, and for the during the show, people were talking, it was an airplane people were talking about, going, have you seen that?
48:15
SPEAKER_06: Absolutely, absolutely.
48:16
SPEAKER_06: The the the company uh behind it is is Groppo in Italy, in the UK's ISC Aviation.
48:22
SPEAKER_06: Yep.
48:22
SPEAKER_06: Um and they're applying at the moment for the A81 approval and hoping to get the Engiro um BMA approved as 600 kilogram micro-right.
48:30
SPEAKER_06: It's one of those, it's not gonna be the fastest.
48:32
SPEAKER_06: It's probably, you know, maybe 100 knots.
48:34
SPEAKER_06: Um, but it's it's I think it's a pretty good set of um it's gonna be a significantly cheaper RV 15, but slower.
48:42
SPEAKER_04: It is, yeah.
48:43
SPEAKER_04: But I think in the UK, that is probably a great product for the market.
48:48
SPEAKER_04: I think so too.
48:49
SPEAKER_04: Yeah.
48:49
SPEAKER_06: So I think so.
48:50
SPEAKER_06: And so I've kind of got my that's kind of that's been put into the potential contender field for one today.
48:56
SPEAKER_06: I need potential.
48:57
SPEAKER_06: I'm trying to build up a short list.
48:58
SPEAKER_04: Well, you need yeah, you need a list.
49:00
SPEAKER_04: You need a list.
49:01
SPEAKER_06: Yeah, but that looks that look like a yeah, that looked like a good one.
49:05
SPEAKER_06: So that'd be mine.
49:06
SPEAKER_06: Um, Annabelle.
49:07
SPEAKER_03: Yeah, so I've gone all rotary now, haven't I?
49:10
SPEAKER_03: I know I'm losing my mind.
49:11
SPEAKER_06: You should be selling it like this.
49:15
SPEAKER_06: We've got all the helicopter pilots on my radio.
49:17
SPEAKER_03: The art list fall over.
49:20
SPEAKER_03: So uh yeah, in March, Robinson unveiled the R-88, its first all-new helicopter in 15 years, and a significant step up in size from the rest of their range.
49:31
SPEAKER_03: Um, the R-88 is designed to be highly configurable, um, with roles including firefighting, medical transport, and passenger ops.
49:40
SPEAKER_03: Um, and later in the year, they also celebrated 50 years since the first flight of the R-22, which was the aircraft that kick-started their company.
49:50
SPEAKER_03: Um, nearly 4,000 R22s later, the family of Robinson aircraft has grown to include the four C R44, the turbine-powered R66 and the R88, of course.
50:02
SPEAKER_04: So, what state is the R88 exist?
50:06
SPEAKER_04: We have seen we've seen renders and I think we've seen mock-ups, but not a physical entity aeroplane.
50:15
SPEAKER_04: Aircraft, yes, yet.
50:17
SPEAKER_04: Um, but I'm guessing that's coming.
50:18
SPEAKER_04: I'm guessing that maybe next year, maybe.
50:21
SPEAKER_04: Yeah.
50:21
SPEAKER_04: I mean, you know, they've got they've got a they know how to build aircraft.
50:24
SPEAKER_04: Yeah, they know how to build helicopters for sure.
50:27
SPEAKER_04: Um, and yeah, I know that's and like you say, uh it's a bigger deal for them.
50:31
SPEAKER_06: Yeah, I th I remember seeing the rendering and seeing the front of it and saying, I think the front of it looks okay.
50:36
SPEAKER_06: And then when you see the whole thing with the tail stuck in, you're like, whoa, okay, that's just got hit with the ugly stick.
50:44
SPEAKER_04: Yeah, it's um yeah, it's it's it's perhaps a lot because I'm the the 22, very utilitarian, but a perfect form, really, isn't it?
50:53
SPEAKER_04: And the same with the 44 and the 66.
50:55
SPEAKER_03: Yeah, nice looking.
50:56
SPEAKER_04: I think I have to say, I I I struggle to say R88.
51:00
SPEAKER_04: It's it's like I agree.
51:01
SPEAKER_06: But you know, when it does all of those things all of those bits of firefighting and all the rest of that, that's just like commercial boring.
51:09
SPEAKER_06: Yeah.
51:09
SPEAKER_06: I mean, it's important for the company, yeah.
51:11
SPEAKER_06: But you know, we're we're we're in this for the passion of aviation.
51:13
SPEAKER_06: And I've said it before, it doesn't matter what the aircraft is, you need to open the hangar door and go, oh my god, that's mine, or oh my god, I'm gonna fly that, it looks amazing.
51:20
SPEAKER_06: And if you do that to the R-88, you can like look at a bit of it and go, I'm just gonna be like this bit of it's amazing.
51:27
SPEAKER_06: Not so much.
51:28
SPEAKER_04: Still, still a cool, um, cool addition to the list of uh aircraft of the year, though.
51:33
SPEAKER_06: Yeah, yeah.
51:34
SPEAKER_04: So however, however, comma, none of your aircraft hold a candle to it.
51:40
SPEAKER_04: I know, hold a candle to my aircraft.
51:43
SPEAKER_04: And this is probably the aero, this is the aircraft that has set the internet on fire.
51:50
SPEAKER_03: It's gonna cry in a minute.
51:51
SPEAKER_04: No, it's not that dramatic.
51:53
SPEAKER_06: But I think it is fair to say that you might have set the internet smoldering slightly in a corner.
51:58
SPEAKER_06: It's not really on fire.
51:59
SPEAKER_03: People with very specialist interests.
52:01
SPEAKER_04: Well, that's that's me all uh all over.
52:04
SPEAKER_04: Um But if you're if you're into specialist interest airplanes, like little single seaters with lovely trousers and undercarriage, then the Spirit SE1 will fulfill that fantasy for you.
52:18
SPEAKER_04: Um and this and actually, uh so this was the the Spirit SE1, and it was an aircraft that had been completely conceived in and um brought to flight in secrecy.
52:30
SPEAKER_04: Uh, and they brought four, it's this wasn't one of these, it turns up as a render one year, and they talk about it, and you spend a long time going, is that ever going to turn up?
52:38
SPEAKER_04: And so Spirit brought four aeroplanes to the show, um, all new airframe, all new engine, their own aircraft, their own engine, 42 horsepower V-twin that they've designed and built.
52:49
SPEAKER_04: Um, and this is a beautiful little thing, all metal folding wings.
52:55
SPEAKER_04: I know, I know.
52:57
SPEAKER_04: Um, but they can polish it all.
52:59
SPEAKER_04: You can polish it.
53:00
SPEAKER_04: Yeah, you start one end, finish it.
53:02
SPEAKER_04: But amazingly, all for the bargain price of$69,500, which people were astonished at, really.
53:08
SPEAKER_04: And this is because Spirit have uh there's a guy behind me, astonished.
53:12
SPEAKER_04: Yeah.
53:12
SPEAKER_04: Well no.
53:13
SPEAKER_04: Well, there's a guy behind Spirit called Steve Wood, who has had a long history in aviation, but he's also all about if I can't productionize it and build it economically and productionise the American.
53:25
SPEAKER_04: Yes.
53:26
SPEAKER_04: With a Z.
53:27
SPEAKER_04: Then then this is not viable.
53:29
SPEAKER_04: And actually so and it would appear to be very viable because um I've heard rumor that they're they're they've got orders now for fifty, uh I think around about 50 aircraft.
53:40
SPEAKER_04: There's they had photos of uh that were shown at Oshkosh, which everyone thought were AI, because there was like 25 aircraft on the production line.
53:48
SPEAKER_04: People are like, oh, that's made up.
53:49
SPEAKER_04: No, that was actually real back in their factory in Grand Junction, Colorado.
53:53
SPEAKER_04: Um and the rumour is that they've sold two batches of production, which would put it around about 20, uh around about 50 aircraft.
54:01
SPEAKER_04: In the UK, even because we don't have uh the aircraft would need approval to come over here, but it would fit in the 600 kg microlyte category.
54:09
SPEAKER_04: Unfortunately, it's just outside SSDR numbers.
54:12
SPEAKER_04: Um, but it's looking like the LAA will pick that up.
54:16
SPEAKER_04: And Spirit, I know have had conversations with the LAA, and it's looking like that will move forwards.
54:22
SPEAKER_04: And I think I think Spirit has had maybe in the double digits inquiries for the UK.
54:27
SPEAKER_03: And how many of those were you?
54:29
SPEAKER_04: They were only one of those was me.
54:31
SPEAKER_04: It wasn't me.
54:36
SPEAKER_06: It is a beautiful aircraft.
54:37
SPEAKER_06: Um so I would say to those people out there, well, let us know in the comments what you think is your favourite aircraft of 2025.
54:44
SPEAKER_06: I'm gonna predict, sadly, that um that Annabelle's gonna come in third place.
54:48
SPEAKER_06: Edwin.
54:49
SPEAKER_06: Um it may it wouldn't be a shock to see that Edwins.
54:52
SPEAKER_06: Just depends whether people like the the appearance that you can polish that's got long trousers.
54:57
SPEAKER_04: I know, I know single or something that's practical like the single seat isn't for everybody everybody, but I think what Spirit demonstrated is that you could still go.
55:05
SPEAKER_04: I know, yeah, is that you could turn up with an aeroplane that was um completely market ready and go, surprise, it's for sale.
55:13
SPEAKER_06: Yeah, yeah.
55:14
SPEAKER_06: Uh well, okay, so that ends our review of 2025.
55:18
SPEAKER_06: So it remains only to say a huge thank you to everyone out there for watching, a huge thank you to the team, a huge thank you to Sky Demon, to Simon who provides the weather, to Henry behind the camera, to the people at Wadsworth who feed us at lunchtime, which must be coming up fairly soon.
55:33
SPEAKER_06: Um, and yes, so let us know.
55:35
SPEAKER_06: And by the way, one more thing a huge thank you to people who have believed in us and who have joined the Flyer Club.
55:41
SPEAKER_06: Yeah.
55:41
SPEAKER_06: Uh six pounds a week, six, six pounds a month, six pounds a month.
55:45
SPEAKER_06: Don't get that wrong again, Ian.
55:46
SPEAKER_06: Six pounds a month, sixty-two pounds a year.
55:49
SPEAKER_06: Um, flyer.co.uk forward slash membership.
55:53
SPEAKER_06: And if you if you do that between now and Christmas Eve, you can save yourself 25%, which makes it a huge, huge bargain.
56:00
SPEAKER_06: So on that note, thank you very much.
56:02
SPEAKER_06: Time for us to go carol singing again.
56:05
SPEAKER_03: Um yeah, Merry Christmas!
56:07
SPEAKER_06: Yeah, wish you a Merry Christmas.
56:09
SPEAKER_06: We wish you a Merry Christmas.
56:10
SPEAKER_06: All right, cut.
56:11
SPEAKER_06: That's enough of that.
56:12
SPEAKER_06: Thank you.
56:13
SPEAKER_04: Like everybody, happy new year.
56:15
SPEAKER_04: Bye, happy new year.
56:17
SPEAKER_04: I know.
56:18
SPEAKER_06: I was thinking ahead.
56:19
SPEAKER_06: Oops, forgot to say we'll be back on the 7th.
56:22
SPEAKER_06: So have a good one.
56:23
SPEAKER_06: Watch those Brussels sprouts.
56:25
SPEAKER_06: Happy New Year.
56:27
SPEAKER_03: Happy Easter.
56:29
SPEAKER_06: I think so.
56:30
SPEAKER_06: We've got these 25 items, and we're not gonna have any news.
56:34
SPEAKER_03: Yep.
56:35
SPEAKER_06: So how about we deliver it through the medium of songs?
56:40
SPEAKER_03: Yes!
56:40
SPEAKER_04: Is it the is it the flyer musical?
56:43
SPEAKER_03: It could be Jazz Hands on the first day of Christmas, my true love gave to me.
56:48
SPEAKER_03: A Robinson on 88 on the second day of Christmas, my true love gave to me.
56:55
SPEAKER_03: Spirit SE1.
56:58
SPEAKER_04: Spirit S E1.
56:59
SPEAKER_03: Robinson, 88, so this isn't really what.
57:01
SPEAKER_04: Bonanza and Baron.
57:03
SPEAKER_04: Say goodbye.
57:05
SPEAKER_03: George Corchero.
57:06
SPEAKER_03: Hang a fires pop em under threat.
57:09
SPEAKER_03: And a spirit se one.
57:14
SPEAKER_06: And the strange fire in a hanger.
57:16
SPEAKER_06: We had that.
57:17
SPEAKER_03: We've already had that, yeah.
57:18
SPEAKER_06: I know, but I was changing the window.
57:22
SPEAKER_04: Join the Flyer Club and be part of the UK's biggest GA community.
57:26
SPEAKER_04: Save hundreds of pounds with freelancing vouchers, watch expert led webinars, and access all the online content on flyer.co.uk.
57:34
SPEAKER_04: All this and more from just six pounds per month or sixty two pounds for the full year.
57:39
SPEAKER_04: Join today at flyer.co.uk forward smash membership.