Latest / Flyer Magazine / What makes a good pilot? The Flyer Show 9 October 2025

Transcript

What makes a good pilot? The Flyer Show 9 October 2025 · Flyer Magazine

• 0:09
  SPEAKER_05: Hello and welcome to this week's Flyer Show brought to you from the studio at Waterwick.
• 0:13
  SPEAKER_05: As you can see, we have a developing background, it's going to be changing.
• 0:17
  SPEAKER_05: Um, but you can watch it evolve with us.
• 0:19
  SPEAKER_05: So my name is Ian Steeger.
• 0:20
  SPEAKER_05: I'm Ed Hicks, and I'm Dave Corderwood.
• 0:22
  SPEAKER_05: And today we'll be talking about uh an airport closing.
• 0:25
  SPEAKER_05: Bad news.
• 0:26
  SPEAKER_05: We'll be talking about an aircraft coming back, hopefully good news.
• 0:29
  SPEAKER_05: Um, we're gonna take the Mickey a little bit out of the CA, but we think they're good chaps with this, and Chap S is, obviously, not to offend anyone.
• 0:36
  SPEAKER_05: Um plus there's some change plus there's some change of dates, I believe.
• 0:42
  SPEAKER_05: Absolutely.
• 0:42
  SPEAKER_05: Something.
• 0:43
  SPEAKER_05: Right.
• 0:44
  SPEAKER_05: First of all, however, we have to say huge thank you to Sky Demon for supporting this.
• 0:47
  SPEAKER_05: Thank you very much, Sky Demon, and here is their weekly tip.
• 0:55
  SPEAKER_02: Hi, I'm Rob from Sky Demon, and here's another top tip.
• 0:59
  SPEAKER_02: You might already know that you can pull out the direction indicator while in flight to make it into an HSI, but this tool has another function too.
• 1:08
  SPEAKER_02: When you've chosen a runway for an approach, the instrument simulates the display of an instrument landing system.
• 1:15
  SPEAKER_02: While in this mode, you'll see the deflection from the extended center line represented with these dots.
• 1:21
  SPEAKER_02: By keeping the magenta bar in the middle of the crosshairs, you'll know you're right on track, which we can also see here on the map.
• 1:30
  SPEAKER_02: Additionally, the time and distance instruments will count you down to the runway threshold.
• 1:36
  SPEAKER_02: This instrument can be really useful to help you line up early if visibility is bad, or for practicing instrument approach techniques at airfields that don't have a real ILS.
• 1:46
  SPEAKER_02: It's important to remember though that being based on GPS, it shouldn't be used as your sole means of guidance.
• 1:54
  SPEAKER_02: For more information, check out our website www.skydemon.ero.
• 2:04
  SPEAKER_04: Uh shall we see what uh what the way shall we see what the uh weekend's weather has in store for us?
• 2:12
  SPEAKER_00: Even all, hope that you're doing well this evening.
• 2:15
  SPEAKER_00: Uh for this weekend's forecast, we're going to use the um icon model once again.
• 2:20
  SPEAKER_00: Look at the times up here in the top right hand corner.
• 2:23
  SPEAKER_00: And the reason we're using this is it makes it a little bit easier to try and discern where cloud is going to be.
• 2:29
  SPEAKER_00: But I think mist is going to be a problem as well as we go through the course of this weekend.
• 2:33
  SPEAKER_00: So, this is the chart for Friday morning high pressure extended down towards the southwest of the country.
• 2:38
  SPEAKER_00: Notice the broken cloud.
• 2:39
  SPEAKER_00: Most cloud, northwest Scotland, perhaps northwest parts of England, northern and western parts of Wales.
• 2:44
  SPEAKER_00: But for most areas, it's going to be fair, and it looks like it is going to be staying that way as well as we go through most of the day.
• 2:50
  SPEAKER_00: Although, do notice that cloud increasing northern England for Wales for Ireland during the day.
• 2:55
  SPEAKER_00: Probably looking at bases coming in about 3,000 feet tops at around about 8,000 feet as the high pressure builds.
• 3:02
  SPEAKER_00: Now, really light winds overnight into Saturday, and though for Saturday morning, the high pressure is actually centred over the top of us.
• 3:08
  SPEAKER_00: Now that's going to allow for mist and fog to be forming.
• 3:12
  SPEAKER_00: And of course, we look for the areas of clearer skies and actually for where that mist and fog is most likely to be.
• 3:17
  SPEAKER_00: So it looks like it is going to be across many central areas of the country during the course of um Saturday morning.
• 3:24
  SPEAKER_00: It does clear away though fairly quickly during the morning, and then we get back into better conditions.
• 3:29
  SPEAKER_00: Always probably fairly hazy in places, but generally it looks like being a decent day.
• 3:35
  SPEAKER_00: Just uh increased cloud for northwestern Scotland and some drizzle here, making for non-fair conditions.
• 3:41
  SPEAKER_00: Most of us though, 4,000 foot bases tops at about six to seven thousand feet.
• 3:46
  SPEAKER_00: I think mist and the Merck will be clearing, as I say, through the course of Saturday.
• 3:49
  SPEAKER_00: Not a bad afternoon.
• 3:50
  SPEAKER_00: And then we've got light winds again overnight into perhaps a little bit more cloud around Sunday morning across parts of East Anglia.
• 3:58
  SPEAKER_00: But for many of us, under that area of high pressure, it looks like it is going to be a misty, foggy start, particularly east and southern Scotland, much of England, much of Wales as well.
• 4:10
  SPEAKER_00: Perhaps southern England escapes the worst of it, but fog here is uh a risk for many areas during the course of Sunday morning.
• 4:17
  SPEAKER_00: That will lift, it will gradually clear away.
• 4:20
  SPEAKER_00: It leaves us with uh a murky afternoon for sun, but you can see here that for many, actually, broken cloud is the order of the day and not a bad afternoon.
• 4:28
  SPEAKER_00: So, all in all, not a bad weekend and want to take advantage of if you can.
• 4:33
  SPEAKER_00: Now, don't forget my aviation weather school part one course is going to be one of these rare classroom-based courses held on Saturday, the 15th of November, between 10am and 4 pm here at Weather School HQ in Wonbourne, about three miles east of Hope Green.
• 4:47
  SPEAKER_00: It'll be super to see you there.
• 4:48
  SPEAKER_00: A couple of places remain on the course.
• 4:50
  SPEAKER_00: You can book it now at weatherschool.co.uk or scan the QR code and we'll have a fantastic day of weather together.
• 4:56
  SPEAKER_00: Whatever you do.
• 4:57
  SPEAKER_00: Have a great weekend.
• 4:58
  SPEAKER_00: Thanks again for watching.
• 4:59
  SPEAKER_00: Keep the sun shining.
• 5:00
  SPEAKER_00: Bye for now.
• 5:01
  SPEAKER_05: Hopefully, we should be together.
• 5:02
  SPEAKER_05: Backslides off the ground.
• 5:03
  SPEAKER_05: That looks promising.
• 5:04
  SPEAKER_05: So right, time for some news then.
• 5:07
  SPEAKER_05: Yes, yeah.
• 5:08
  SPEAKER_05: Dave.
• 5:08
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, our top story this week is about Cambridge Airport, which is to close by 2028.
• 5:14
  SPEAKER_03: Uh, it comes after uh Marshall of Marshalls of Cambridge, that's the company that owns and runs that runs the airport.
• 5:20
  SPEAKER_03: They released their latest accounts, and top of their list was to move it out of the airport.
• 5:26
  SPEAKER_03: Um the reason is because they lost£55 million last year, which is on revenues of 300 million pounds.
• 5:33
  SPEAKER_03: Um, so not surprisingly, uh they're concentrating on survival and making the best use of their main asset, which is the 430-acre site where the airport is.
• 5:43
  SPEAKER_03: Um, we've always known, it's always been on the cards that they were going to move out of uh Cambridge Airport and it was going to become a housing estate.
• 5:51
  SPEAKER_03: That's being chased through uh as a matter of priority now.
• 5:54
  SPEAKER_03: And um it's gonna be called Cambridge East, um, because it's in the east of Cambridge.
• 6:00
  SPEAKER_03: Um, and uh they will be moving out by 2028, as I said.
• 6:04
  SPEAKER_03: They were we there was talk of them moving to Cranfield Airport, but they now can no longer afford that.
• 6:10
  SPEAKER_03: So um we don't know where they're going.
• 6:13
  SPEAKER_03: Uh there are plenty of current and ex-military airfields in the uh East Angier region.
• 6:18
  SPEAKER_03: Um but if you're gonna be concentrating on property management, property development, which is what they say, then um what kind of facilities do they need?
• 6:29
  SPEAKER_05: Well, land to build houses on, I would guess.
• 6:31
  SPEAKER_03: Well, they've got that already.
• 6:32
  SPEAKER_05: Yeah, but that's gonna run out once they build houses on it, aren't they?
• 6:35
  SPEAKER_03: Well, they say it's a 20-year plan to develop this site, it's a big site, and there's a lot of work to do there.
• 6:40
  SPEAKER_03: Um, the big problem for Cambridge, like the rest of East Anglia, is water, actually.
• 6:45
  SPEAKER_03: Uh the one of several developments in the Cambridge area have been h held back because Anglia Water, the local company, cannot guarantee supplies.
• 6:53
  SPEAKER_03: So uh that's a big thing to overcome.
• 6:56
  SPEAKER_04: Well, maybe we should keep it as an airport, you know, because you know what?
• 6:59
  SPEAKER_04: That's a breakfast.
• 7:01
  SPEAKER_04: In some water tankers.
• 7:03
  SPEAKER_04: It's a it is it's a traverse.
• 7:05
  SPEAKER_04: It I'm always shocked by the loss, how easy we seem to lose airfields and airports.
• 7:10
  SPEAKER_04: Yeah.
• 7:10
  SPEAKER_04: Um, because once they're gone, they're gone.
• 7:12
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, and you know, Cambridge Airport is well located.
• 7:15
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
• 7:15
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, it's on that side of the of the UK where it's flat and it's easy to fly around.
• 7:21
  SPEAKER_03: And I think there's probably possibilities if they really wanted to develop the airfield, they probably could, because it's pretty much open countryside out if you go further east.
• 7:30
  SPEAKER_03: So I don't kind of see them doing that, but uh there is opportunity there.
• 7:36
  SPEAKER_03: Mmm.
• 7:37
  SPEAKER_03: Yep.
• 7:38
  SPEAKER_04: Okay, sad news.
• 7:39
  SPEAKER_04: Let's have some good news, Ed.
• 7:40
  SPEAKER_04: Some good news.
• 7:41
  SPEAKER_04: Well, the good news is that the Thurston Seafire is back.
• 7:46
  SPEAKER_04: And I can hear the tumbleweed.
• 7:48
  SPEAKER_04: Because you're going, what?
• 7:49
  SPEAKER_04: What?
• 7:50
  SPEAKER_04: Um Seafire.
• 7:51
  SPEAKER_04: It's got to be like awesome.
• 7:53
  SPEAKER_04: I know.
• 7:53
  SPEAKER_04: It's not the seafire you imagine.
• 7:55
  SPEAKER_04: Um there's so the Thurston Seafire is the seaplane for which success appears to have always just been out of grasp, uh, but it's back for 2025.
• 8:05
  SPEAKER_04: Um, it traces its roots to a the Thurston TA-16 Trojan, which was a home-built amphibious aircraft conceived in the 1970s.
• 8:14
  SPEAKER_04: Uh, the four-seat Trojan had a high-mounted pylon uh mounted engine, uh, retractable gear, four seats, uh, and a flying boat hull for water use.
• 8:24
  SPEAKER_04: Uh the TA-16 C Fire appeared in 1982, um, didn't get certified back then, reappeared subsequently a few years later, didn't get certified then either, but revert revitalized Thurston aircraft hope to change that um and hope to get the aircraft certified and offer two versions, one with the Lycoming IF 040 and the other with a 230 horsepower Delta Hawk diesel.
• 8:51
  SPEAKER_04: Um, and because these are modern times, there's also going to be a hybrid electric propulsion system.
• 8:58
  SPEAKER_04: Um Thurston are taking orders uh for delivery in 2028.
• 9:04
  SPEAKER_04: Um it starts starts at$995,000 for a Lycoming for a Lycoming Seafire.
• 9:12
  SPEAKER_04: Um if you want the um the Delta Hawk powered version, one point just a smidge under$1.2 million.
• 9:18
  SPEAKER_05: That's interesting, because that's kind of the the the price difference between the Delta Hawk and the Lycoming version.
• 9:24
  SPEAKER_05: And IO 540 is not a cheap airplane, it's a cheap engine.
• 9:28
  SPEAKER_05: No, no, but yeah, quite s yeah.
• 9:30
  SPEAKER_04: But I'm I I have many questions.
• 9:33
  SPEAKER_04: Uh I have many questions.
• 9:35
  SPEAKER_04: And I'm and we won't go into it all on camera.
• 9:37
  SPEAKER_04: But I'm I'd I I love it when aeroplanes come back, but if they've not managed to get there in the first place.
• 9:44
  SPEAKER_05: Here's a question for the encyclopedia called Ed.
• 9:47
  SPEAKER_05: Yes.
• 9:48
  SPEAKER_05: Can you what airplanes have come back successfully over time?
• 9:52
  SPEAKER_05: I mean you've got to say the 172, 182 when the the restarts here.
• 9:56
  SPEAKER_04: They were successful in the first place, weren't they?
• 9:58
  SPEAKER_04: They were.
• 9:59
  SPEAKER_05: Yeah.
• 9:59
  SPEAKER_04: So I mean unsuccessful airplanes have come back and become successful.
• 10:04
  SPEAKER_04: Um I guess I know our perennial favourite on Flyer, the edge of the optica, never quite achieved success, often seems to come back, never quite achieved success, goes away till the next time.
• 10:17
  SPEAKER_05: There was the two-seat version, I can't remember what it was called, not of the optica, but in the same kind of stable.
• 10:22
  SPEAKER_05: Yes.
• 10:22
  SPEAKER_05: Um two-seat trainer.
• 10:24
  SPEAKER_05: I can't remember what that was called.
• 10:26
  SPEAKER_04: Oh, but oh, do you mean the Trago Mills?
• 10:28
  SPEAKER_04: The Trago Mills, that's it.
• 10:29
  SPEAKER_04: Yeah, the Trago Mills.
• 10:30
  SPEAKER_04: Which is coming back at the moment.
• 10:33
  SPEAKER_04: Maybe.
• 10:34
  SPEAKER_04: Yes.
• 10:36
  SPEAKER_04: I'd often wonder, Pete, when there are aeroplanes that haven't quite achieved success.
• 10:40
  SPEAKER_04: When someone finds is there I'd love to see the moment of surprise when someone opens a box and went, Oh my gosh, there's a nearly certified aeroplane in here.
• 10:49
  SPEAKER_05: We'll be millionaires.
• 10:50
  SPEAKER_05: I mean, it's got to be a cheaper way to certification if you've got one that's got a whole load of work done already.
• 10:55
  SPEAKER_05: But I just can't think off the top of my head of anything that's kind of not quite made it, closed down for whatever reason, laid dormant for a little while, and then came back and made a success.
• 11:04
  SPEAKER_03: Also, the fact that this is a 1982 design aircraft, which um this is 2025.
• 11:10
  SPEAKER_03: We need something new.
• 11:11
  SPEAKER_04: We need something that looked a bit more than also I I haven't found myself recently going, I feel like we're we have a shortage of um four-seat amphibians.
• 11:22
  SPEAKER_05: No, no, no, yeah, indeed.
• 11:23
  SPEAKER_05: Anyway, I wish them luck.
• 11:25
  SPEAKER_05: Yes, I wish them luck as well.
• 11:26
  SPEAKER_05: Yeah.
• 11:26
  SPEAKER_05: So uh you would have heard on our news story a little while ago that the DFT decided they couldn't be bothered to do a strategy for general aviation.
• 11:33
  SPEAKER_05: That's not quite what they said for verbatim, but they said there's no strategy for general aviation.
• 11:38
  SPEAKER_05: However, Civil Aviation Authority have created a strategy for general aviation, which is great news.
• 11:44
  SPEAKER_05: Um, amongst that, the the paragraph in the introduction somewhere said, quoted, safe, innovative, and sustainable GA sector operating with a supportive and proportionate regulatory environment.
• 11:55
  SPEAKER_05: We decided it was time for the corporate speak checklist.
• 11:59
  SPEAKER_05: So, buzzers, please.
• 12:02
  SPEAKER_05: I have my buzzer.
• 12:04
  SPEAKER_05: Here's mine.
• 12:04
  SPEAKER_05: Thank you very much.
• 12:05
  SPEAKER_05: Do you are they actually gonna work?
• 12:07
  SPEAKER_05: You think you don't tell buzzers, don't tell buzzers.
• 12:10
  SPEAKER_05: Great, great.
• 12:12
  SPEAKER_05: Okay, so I'm gonna read a couple of phrases, um, and it's down to you to tell me whether you think those phrases come from the CA strategy document document that was recently released.
• 12:22
  SPEAKER_05: Are you ready?
• 12:23
  SPEAKER_05: Is it gonna start with an easy one?
• 12:26
  SPEAKER_05: Stakeholder engagement.
• 12:27
  SPEAKER_05: Yes, absolutely.
• 12:28
  SPEAKER_05: Yes, of course.
• 12:29
  SPEAKER_05: Absolutely.
• 12:30
  SPEAKER_05: Nobody has a stakeholder document without stakeholder engagement in it, do they?
• 12:34
  SPEAKER_05: Um, another easy one.
• 12:37
  SPEAKER_05: Strategic, regulatory, and policy influences.
• 12:43
  SPEAKER_05: Yes.
• 12:44
  SPEAKER_05: I'm not so sure about that.
• 12:46
  SPEAKER_05: You're right not to be so sure about that.
• 12:48
  SPEAKER_05: It is from the CEA, but it's from a different document.
• 12:51
  SPEAKER_05: Um Delegate oversight responsibilities.
• 12:54
  SPEAKER_05: It's not a chance.
• 12:55
  SPEAKER_05: No, not a chance.
• 12:56
  SPEAKER_05: It's in there.
• 12:57
  SPEAKER_05: What?
• 12:57
  SPEAKER_05: It's in there.
• 12:57
  SPEAKER_05: Yeah, it's in there.
• 12:58
  SPEAKER_05: It's part of their strategy.
• 12:59
  SPEAKER_05: I mean Delegate.
• 13:01
  SPEAKER_05: I know.
• 13:01
  SPEAKER_05: Yeah, amazing, isn't it?
• 13:04
  SPEAKER_05: Um this is a this is a gimme, this one is adoption of sustainable technologies.
• 13:11
  SPEAKER_05: Oh yes.
• 13:12
  SPEAKER_05: Absolutely, that's like in this enhanced operational efficiency.
• 13:21
  SPEAKER_03: Not so sure about that one.
• 13:24
  SPEAKER_05: Yes.
• 13:25
  SPEAKER_05: And you're right.
• 13:26
  SPEAKER_05: We can don't break the buzzer.
• 13:28
  SPEAKER_05: We can have enhanced operational efficiency, because we've all got to be efficient when we operate, haven't we?
• 13:33
  SPEAKER_05: Or something.
• 13:34
  SPEAKER_05: Um strengthen partnerships.
• 13:38
  SPEAKER_05: That's as close as romantic last language as they get, I'd reckon.
• 13:42
  SPEAKER_03: Well, strengthen partnerships.
• 13:43
  SPEAKER_03: I suppose so.
• 13:45
  SPEAKER_03: It does sound a bit wishy-boshy, which is why it might be in there.
• 13:48
  SPEAKER_03: Yes.
• 13:48
  SPEAKER_05: You're right.
• 13:49
  SPEAKER_05: It is in there, it is in there.
• 13:51
  SPEAKER_05: Um Strategic.
• 13:55
  SPEAKER_05: Have we done strategic regulatory and policy influences?
• 13:57
  SPEAKER_05: Yes.
• 13:58
  SPEAKER_05: I think we have.
• 13:59
  SPEAKER_05: It's established to facilitate effective engagement.
• 14:04
  SPEAKER_03: Once I've got my head around what that means, yes, I guess.
• 14:07
  SPEAKER_03: You're both wrong.
• 14:08
  SPEAKER_05: It is a CA term, but it's not from the GA strategy.
• 14:11
  SPEAKER_05: I was going to say they love a bit of gauge.
• 14:13
  SPEAKER_05: There you go.
• 14:13
  SPEAKER_05: So well done, CA, for for coming up with a strategy.
• 14:16
  SPEAKER_05: Well done for ticking almost all of the boxes on the checklist.
• 14:19
  SPEAKER_05: We look forward to talking to you soon because we want to see, we just want to check out how it's going.
• 14:22
  SPEAKER_05: Get a bit more of an update from the good old GE department.
• 14:25
  SPEAKER_05: We want to gaze behind the strategy curtain.
• 14:28
  SPEAKER_05: We want to gaze.
• 14:29
  SPEAKER_05: Yeah.
• 14:31
  SPEAKER_05: Yes.
• 14:34
  SPEAKER_05: Yeah, I can't think of anything suitably corporate enough to say.
• 14:37
  SPEAKER_05: But we will let's have a chat.
• 14:39
  SPEAKER_05: Come for a coffee.
• 14:40
  SPEAKER_03: Did they promise not to gold plate anything anymore?
• 14:43
  SPEAKER_05: There's no gold plating mentioned in there.
• 14:45
  SPEAKER_05: Um personally, I think they just mothballed the gold plating machinery um foundry.
• 14:51
  SPEAKER_05: So I'm expecting that to come back, and there is evidence of it coming back in a few places.
• 14:55
  SPEAKER_05: So we do need to guard against that.
• 14:57
  SPEAKER_03: Okay.
• 14:57
  SPEAKER_05: Um, something interesting.
• 14:59
  SPEAKER_05: In the um, do you remember the old Andrew Haynes days?
• 15:01
  SPEAKER_05: The red tape challenge.
• 15:02
  SPEAKER_05: The red tape challenge and stuff like that.
• 15:04
  SPEAKER_05: He there was a there was a whole load of cuts, and the CA at one point I think got down to something like 500 employees.
• 15:09
  SPEAKER_05: Okay.
• 15:10
  SPEAKER_05: Do you know guess what it is today?
• 15:12
  SPEAKER_03: Um, we're post-Brexit, aren't we?
• 15:15
  SPEAKER_03: We are.
• 15:16
  SPEAKER_04: So we've needed we must have needed more.
• 15:19
  SPEAKER_04: So um 700.
• 15:21
  SPEAKER_05: 800.
• 15:22
  SPEAKER_05: 1600.
• 15:23
  SPEAKER_05: What?
• 15:23
  SPEAKER_05: What?
• 15:24
  SPEAKER_05: 1600 and something or other.
• 15:25
  SPEAKER_05: Wow.
• 15:26
  SPEAKER_03: Wow.
• 15:26
  SPEAKER_05: Yeah.
• 15:26
  SPEAKER_05: Amazing, isn't it?
• 15:27
  SPEAKER_05: Yeah.
• 15:28
  SPEAKER_05: They're not all in the GA department, though.
• 15:30
  SPEAKER_05: No.
• 15:30
  SPEAKER_03: It's about three in there, probably.
• 15:32
  SPEAKER_05: And they look after drones.
• 15:34
  SPEAKER_04: Right, anyway.
• 15:35
  SPEAKER_04: So some Lundy news.
• 15:37
  SPEAKER_04: Uh so next year's Lundy Sunday fly-in is moving its date uh in the hope that it will be more suitable.
• 15:44
  SPEAKER_04: It'll find a better, look better date uh that's that works better with the weather.
• 15:48
  SPEAKER_04: Because they've had some misfortune with the weather this year.
• 15:51
  SPEAKER_04: Uh, the popular event on the Isle of Lundy off the North Devon coast uh will be held on Sunday, the 5th of July, 2026.
• 15:59
  SPEAKER_04: So put that in your diary.
• 16:01
  SPEAKER_04: Um, Pete White, the organiser, said uh the advantage of moving the date forwards, because now it's at the beginning of July rather than the end of July, is that they'll have room for another stab should the weather go south on them.
• 16:12
  SPEAKER_04: Um it's a magic fly, and you know you and I have been one year.
• 16:16
  SPEAKER_04: It's it's brilliant.
• 16:17
  SPEAKER_04: Um you need a you need to be on your game, though, don't you?
• 16:20
  SPEAKER_04: Flying in there, and you need an aeroplane that's suitable.
• 16:22
  SPEAKER_04: So but don't let that put you off.
• 16:24
  SPEAKER_05: They've had a couple of miss-ups over the years, haven't they?
• 16:27
  SPEAKER_05: Um but it's no, it's I'm I'm looking forward to it.
• 16:29
  SPEAKER_05: I want to give I'm gonna give it a go again.
• 16:30
  SPEAKER_05: I think what they should do is have Lundy week.
• 16:32
  SPEAKER_05: Lundy week?
• 16:33
  SPEAKER_05: Lundy week, I think you know poor old Pete's gonna have to be out of the way.
• 16:36
  SPEAKER_05: Pitches temp that's there's worse places to be than on London.
• 16:39
  SPEAKER_05: There's a pub for a week.
• 16:41
  SPEAKER_05: For a week.
• 16:42
  SPEAKER_05: You can work your way through the menu, beer, spirits, food, all that kind of stuff.
• 16:46
  SPEAKER_05: Okay.
• 16:47
  SPEAKER_05: And then, you know, people can come and go, depending on the weather.
• 16:50
  SPEAKER_05: A lot a celebration of aviation on London.
• 16:53
  SPEAKER_04: It's well, it's do you remember the year we in 2020 when basically Lundy was the only flying event almost in the in the whole world, and we called it Luncosh.
• 17:02
  SPEAKER_04: Maybe it is time for a week on Lundy.
• 17:04
  SPEAKER_04: Yeah, that was it.
• 17:08
  SPEAKER_03: Well, it's our main feature next, and we've decided to ask what makes a good pilot.
• 17:13
  SPEAKER_03: This is actually based on something we read in the EAA, that's the American version of the LAA, ish.
• 17:18
  SPEAKER_06: Ish.
• 17:19
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
• 17:19
  SPEAKER_03: Uh on their website, they have something called hangar talking.
• 17:23
  SPEAKER_03: And a chap called James Vice uh put together his list of what he thinks makes a good pilot.
• 17:29
  SPEAKER_03: His key word when putting his list together was diligence.
• 17:31
  SPEAKER_03: He thinks a diligent pilot is the right is is is good is a good pilot.
• 17:36
  SPEAKER_03: And basically that's a lot of checklists.
• 17:39
  SPEAKER_04: That's that seems like quite a generic word to apply to flying.
• 17:44
  SPEAKER_05: I mean, do you how many people do you think there are you say that again?
• 17:47
  SPEAKER_05: I'm a pilot, I don't think I'm going to be very diligent.
• 17:52
  SPEAKER_03: It is a good list.
• 17:53
  SPEAKER_03: It is very good list, and it's very thorough.
• 17:55
  SPEAKER_03: Um but it may not be everything, of course.
• 17:57
  SPEAKER_05: No.
• 17:58
  SPEAKER_03: No, we've had a discussion about this.
• 17:59
  SPEAKER_03: What do you what do you think, Ian?
• 18:00
  SPEAKER_05: Personally, I think it's about decision making.
• 18:02
  SPEAKER_05: I think that that is the big difference.
• 18:05
  SPEAKER_05: I think, you know, if if you're a licensed pilot, you've had your flight test or your check ride or whatever it's called in in the States.
• 18:13
  SPEAKER_05: So you've demonstrated that you can fly and you can take the right decisions.
• 18:17
  SPEAKER_05: If you flew every single flight you ever flew afterwards to the same standards that you flew your flight test, your GFT, then you're going to be fine.
• 18:25
  SPEAKER_05: I mean, the thing is we need to broaden our horizons and do other things and you're kind of left on your own to a certain extent to do those.
• 18:32
  SPEAKER_05: But I I I personally believe that many, many, many accidents, the majority of accidents are caused by what's in the pilot's head rather than what the pilot's doing with his or her hands or what the airplane's doing with its systems.
• 18:47
  SPEAKER_05: Um so decisions.
• 18:48
  SPEAKER_05: Decisions.
• 18:49
  SPEAKER_04: And that's, yeah, like you say, that starts almost from the if you're if you're going flying on one day, then the moment you wake up.
• 18:56
  SPEAKER_04: Yeah, exactly.
• 18:57
  SPEAKER_04: There's a bunch of decisions we're going to be making towards you going flying.
• 19:00
  SPEAKER_05: Someone should probably write a a very big feature one day about every single decision in a in a flight starting from waking up that day.
• 19:08
  SPEAKER_05: Because it doesn't and actually, I hope most of us, if we're doing anything significant, will have checked the weather the day before, anyway.
• 19:16
  SPEAKER_03: Um Well, in his defence, James Vice, who wrote the original article, does start with uh this mnemonic called himself.
• 19:26
  SPEAKER_03: I'm safe.
• 19:27
  SPEAKER_03: I'm safe.
• 19:28
  SPEAKER_03: I'm safe.
• 19:30
  SPEAKER_05: Himself.
• 19:31
  SPEAKER_03: Uh Wedgeo basically is is you know, writing through some items which uh are to determine whether you're you personally, the pilot, are safe to go flying.
• 19:39
  unknown: Yeah.
• 19:40
  SPEAKER_05: I read I did actually read that.
• 19:41
  SPEAKER_05: I thought there was kind of some some strange decisions in there.
• 19:46
  SPEAKER_05: Have you recently got divorced or something like that?
• 19:48
  SPEAKER_05: Not today.
• 19:49
  SPEAKER_05: Not today, though.
• 19:50
  SPEAKER_04: Not today, but you know, I had a car crash on the way, but it's not on that list, so I'm not gonna Yeah, I know it's uh there are uh there are factors sometimes, aren't there, that people don't consider impact their flying, but they do.
• 20:01
  unknown: Yeah.
• 20:01
  SPEAKER_05: Yeah, no, absolutely.
• 20:02
  SPEAKER_03: So um what you what's your item in?
• 20:04
  SPEAKER_04: Uh well it kind of follows on from Ian's kind of decision making, and uh I thought it's the ability to remain calm.
• 20:11
  SPEAKER_04: Um flight training is intense, isn't it?
• 20:14
  SPEAKER_04: And it does stress out student pilots.
• 20:16
  SPEAKER_04: You know, we we've all been in the learning situation where it's like, oh my god, I've I've just about managed to learn to fly the aeroplane.
• 20:23
  SPEAKER_04: I'm okay with that.
• 20:24
  SPEAKER_04: And then someone says, How about do this task or do that task?
• 20:27
  SPEAKER_04: And it just all those tasks just make it hard for you.
• 20:31
  SPEAKER_04: And it's that can make you it's it can make you not keep a cool head.
• 20:35
  SPEAKER_04: Um and the trick I think with flying is not panicking um when if you get situations that you need to deal with, keep a cool head, stop your mind racing.
• 20:48
  SPEAKER_04: Uh that's a a key factor to a successful flight.
• 20:51
  SPEAKER_04: Um it's more difficult to make rational decisions uh when uh when times are tough.
• 20:58
  SPEAKER_05: Yeah.
• 20:58
  SPEAKER_05: I mean I think we all have a capacity bucket, don't we?
• 21:00
  SPEAKER_05: And if if if you're like load, it doesn't matter how good you are, your capacity bucket can still fill up.
• 21:05
  SPEAKER_05: Yeah.
• 21:05
  SPEAKER_05: Um and at that point it makes you know it makes every decision, every every action is really tricky because you're just completely and utterly overwhelmed.
• 21:13
  SPEAKER_04: Yeah, and I think remaining calm um it's it's like so many things in flying, some planning uh planning will help you will help you be calm later on.
• 21:26
  SPEAKER_04: Um and thoughts and processes that you that you can kind of you can decide for.
• 21:31
  SPEAKER_04: Of the pilots I've come across, some of the best ones have the have been the guys that make it look effortless effortless.
• 21:39
  SPEAKER_04: And I think it is that calm, it's that absolute calm nature sometimes.
• 21:43
  SPEAKER_04: Absolutely.
• 21:44
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
• 21:44
  SPEAKER_03: Well, I think achieving that calmness comes down to uh having good handling skills, aircraft handling skills.
• 21:51
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, so yeah, we we always use this this uh phrase aviate, navigate, communicate.
• 21:56
  SPEAKER_03: And being able to fly the aircraft is the simple, most important.
• 22:00
  SPEAKER_03: Important thing.
• 22:00
  SPEAKER_03: I think you know, you need to be at one with the aircraft.
• 22:06
  SPEAKER_03: You need to know where everything is and how it works, and you have to have develop the muscle memory so you know just how much input to put in to achieve certain things.
• 22:15
  SPEAKER_03: And you know, knowing how the aircraft will react and where the limits are of the aircraft, where the where your own limits are to some extent as well, but where the aircraft limits are.
• 22:25
  SPEAKER_03: And really, if you if you remember, if you've if you've ever been for a say a two-week flying trip, something like that, or even a week, and you've flown every single day, there comes a point where everything clicks, everything smoothly, everything really works, and you you know you've got that capacity for you know extra mental load that is eased by the fact you can fly the airplane, you don't have to, you know, you don't have to run through mental checklists in your head all the time.
• 22:53
  SPEAKER_03: You just know it.
• 22:54
  SPEAKER_05: You can stay ahead of that thruster.
• 22:57
  SPEAKER_03: That's right.
• 22:58
  SPEAKER_03: Well, if you you kind of if you like, yeah, you can sense when you need to put a bit of carb heat in because you know you can you can't.
• 23:04
  SPEAKER_05: Is there someone like mowing the frickin' lawn out there or something?
• 23:07
  SPEAKER_05: It does sound like it.
• 23:08
  SPEAKER_05: Yeah.
• 23:09
  SPEAKER_03: So you were saying, Dave, for you handling it's it's all about develop I what I think is the muscle memory, so you know where everything is, how far you've got to reach, how much input you need to put in, what kind of reaction you're expecting back, and what how to deal with that.
• 23:22
  SPEAKER_03: And it just gives you capacity to deal with everything else.
• 23:25
  SPEAKER_04: It's when things become second nature, isn't it?
• 23:27
  SPEAKER_03: Exactly, yeah, yeah.
• 23:28
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
• 23:30
  SPEAKER_05: Okay, good.
• 23:31
  SPEAKER_04: Well, you are yeah, if uh if uh one of the things that we've raised has resonated with you, tell us in the comments.
• 23:37
  SPEAKER_04: Uh likewise, uh maybe you have your uh you have your top thing for what makes a great pilot.
• 23:43
  SPEAKER_04: Tell us in the comments too.
• 23:47
  SPEAKER_05: Club news, right?
• 23:48
  SPEAKER_05: Okay, some of you people watching this won't be members of the fly club.
• 23:51
  SPEAKER_05: Now, we want to help you join the flyer club because you will get so much more out of your aviation life, apart from getting fantastic free landings, which are uh Perth, Leicester, Audley End, and Goodwood.
• 24:04
  SPEAKER_04: So a real spread around the country.
• 24:06
  SPEAKER_04: And if you do all of those, you'll save£52.
• 24:09
  SPEAKER_05: And you know what?
• 24:10
  SPEAKER_05: If you do them all in the month of October, let us know, prove it, or buy you lunch at Wadswick.
• 24:14
  SPEAKER_05: Um my God.
• 24:15
  SPEAKER_05: But seriously, um seriously, becoming a member of the Fly Club is kind of what we need to carry on.
• 24:22
  SPEAKER_05: Um we'd like to have you on board.
• 24:25
  SPEAKER_05: Apart from all of that, you get access to everything we do on our website, you get access to the forums, you get access to all the webinars.
• 24:31
  SPEAKER_05: We'll talk about webinars in a second.
• 24:33
  SPEAKER_05: And it costs just six pounds a month or 62 pounds a year.
• 24:36
  SPEAKER_05: So it's a bitty bargain when you think of all the free landings you get, plus all of the other benefits.
• 24:40
  SPEAKER_05: So do us a favor, go to flyer.co.uk forward slash membership and sign up and join.
• 24:46
  SPEAKER_05: Talking of webinars, Ed, I believe you're gonna star in the next one.
• 24:49
  SPEAKER_04: Uh, I think I've got the the next one on the 28th of October when I'm talking about air-to-air photography, because it's something I've done a little bit of in the 30 plus years I've been doing stuff.
• 25:00
  SPEAKER_04: I know.
• 25:01
  SPEAKER_04: Yeah.
• 25:01
  SPEAKER_04: So um, so yeah.
• 25:02
  SPEAKER_04: So and uh yeah, so we'll be talking about that.
• 25:05
  SPEAKER_04: And I guess you'll will if you're in it for looking at photos, you'll see a few photos of Ian.
• 25:11
  SPEAKER_05: So that's not a reason to avoid it.
• 25:13
  SPEAKER_05: Because I'll be like tiny in those pictures.
• 25:16
  SPEAKER_05: Um, but yeah, no, I'm really looking forward to that.
• 25:18
  SPEAKER_05: Fascinating.
• 25:18
  SPEAKER_05: And it's a it's a it's a great, it's a really satisfying thing when it goes really well.
• 25:23
  SPEAKER_05: It's not something you should do.
• 25:25
  SPEAKER_04: No, and yeah, I need these are tips and tricks for success.
• 25:28
  SPEAKER_04: Clearly, it's something that you you do need to plan for.
• 25:31
  SPEAKER_04: Don't just decide it's d it's not a hold my beer moment.
• 25:34
  SPEAKER_05: It's not, is it?
• 25:35
  SPEAKER_05: No, absolutely.
• 25:36
  SPEAKER_04: Good.
• 25:37
  SPEAKER_04: Right.
• 25:38
  SPEAKER_04: Caught my eye.
• 25:40
  SPEAKER_04: Yes.
• 25:41
  SPEAKER_04: Yes.
• 25:41
  SPEAKER_04: So the big question of the week is what caught your eye?
• 25:45
  SPEAKER_04: Uh Ian.
• 25:47
  SPEAKER_05: Well, when I think of Piper aircraft, I'm kind of thinking you're going to be the same on this one.
• 25:52
  SPEAKER_05: You're kind of thinking Piper Cub PA28.
• 25:55
  SPEAKER_05: Actually, when I think of Piper, I think of Picono.
• 25:58
  SPEAKER_05: Pagono.
• 25:58
  SPEAKER_05: Who's ever heard of it?
• 25:59
  SPEAKER_05: I mean, I've heard of a Picono, but only because I've heard Ed talking about it before.
• 26:03
  SPEAKER_05: Um anyway, yes.
• 26:04
  SPEAKER_05: But I don't think of Pacono.
• 26:06
  SPEAKER_05: Funnily enough, I kind of generally think of Cubs or Super Cubs these days or the PA28.
• 26:11
  SPEAKER_05: But I came across an airplane which is known as the Piper PA48, not the 46, not the Malibu.
• 26:17
  SPEAKER_05: No, no, no, no, no.
• 26:18
  SPEAKER_05: The Piper PA48 Enforcer, a close air support aircraft.
• 26:21
  SPEAKER_05: It actually uh developed from the Cavalier Mustang from a company called Cavalier Aircraft, and it was called the Cavalier Mustang because it was a development of the Mustang.
• 26:30
  SPEAKER_05: Basically, it was okay, here's this Mustang, let's chuck another engine in it, basically a Lycoming turboprop.
• 26:35
  SPEAKER_05: Who knew that Lycoming's made turboprop apart from Ed, obviously?
• 26:38
  SPEAKER_05: Um and Piper built two of them.
• 26:40
  SPEAKER_05: Cavalier realized that they weren't in a position to go into serious production on this.
• 26:44
  SPEAKER_05: Yeah.
• 26:44
  SPEAKER_05: And they thought it was a good contract to be had from the US military.
• 26:47
  SPEAKER_05: So they sold the project to Piper.
• 26:49
  SPEAKER_05: Piper went, let's call it the PA48 Enforcer.
• 26:53
  SPEAKER_05: Stuck the engine in, flew about a couple of hundred hours on it.
• 26:56
  SPEAKER_05: Um unfortunately, the US Air Force kind of went, okay, we're not going to buy that.
• 27:01
  SPEAKER_05: And you'd think that it all went away at that point.
• 27:03
  SPEAKER_05: But back in then then again in the 80s, 84, someone at Piper persuaded Congress to come up with another 12 million bucks.
• 27:12
  SPEAKER_05: They went, I know, let's build another two.
• 27:14
  SPEAKER_05: So they built another two, again with the like aiming turbo prop in it.
• 27:18
  SPEAKER_05: Yeah.
• 27:18
  SPEAKER_05: It it did 300 knots, not no slouch, better than better than a cub, but it's not certainly not the fastest thing around.
• 27:26
  SPEAKER_05: Had a combat range, which I guess means like just burn the gas and get us out of here.
• 27:30
  SPEAKER_05: Yeah.
• 27:31
  SPEAKER_05: Of like 400 nautical miles, which doesn't seem massive.
• 27:34
  SPEAKER_05: Doesn't seem massive.
• 27:35
  SPEAKER_05: Um, and again, they they they flew it and didn't sell any.
• 27:40
  SPEAKER_04: Uh okay.
• 27:41
  SPEAKER_05: It does it does look like a real brute, though.
• 27:43
  SPEAKER_05: It does look like a real brute, doesn't it?
• 27:45
  SPEAKER_05: And there was four of them built.
• 27:46
  SPEAKER_05: Uh, only two survive.
• 27:47
  SPEAKER_05: One is in the Edwards Air Force Base Museum of Flight Test.
• 27:51
  SPEAKER_05: Okay.
• 27:51
  SPEAKER_05: And the other one's at Pima in Arizona, Tucson, Arizona.
• 27:54
  SPEAKER_04: I it's it's a sh you know, it's a classic case of great idea.
• 27:57
  SPEAKER_04: And I wonder whether someone in someone in Piper went, you know, what I really fancy is a Mustang with a turbo.
• 28:03
  SPEAKER_04: I was gonna say, yeah, let's let's build one.
• 28:06
  SPEAKER_04: And it's it's not a crazy idea because Air Tractor have um have come up with a basically they've taken their um their air tractor um ag plane and put weapons all over it, and you go, that's not too far removed from where Piper were heading.
• 28:22
  SPEAKER_04: I mean, when you see the enforcer, it you can see there are pictures of it like overloading loadings all over the place.
• 28:27
  SPEAKER_04: What I would like to have seen would have been someone who was involved with purchasing air taxi aircraft going PA 46.
• 28:34
  SPEAKER_04: That's great.
• 28:35
  SPEAKER_04: Hey guys, should we buy a PA48?
• 28:37
  SPEAKER_04: That sounds like that would be really good.
• 28:39
  SPEAKER_04: But even it'll be even better.
• 28:40
  SPEAKER_04: It can only be better.
• 28:41
  SPEAKER_04: And then they're surprised when it turns up.
• 28:43
  SPEAKER_04: Yeah.
• 28:44
  SPEAKER_04: Dave.
• 28:44
  SPEAKER_03: Yes, well, I spotted a post by uh German ferry pilot Guido Warnecker, who was ferrying a King Air 360 uh from Crescent City Airport in California.
• 28:54
  SPEAKER_03: That sounds very nice, isn't it?
• 28:55
  SPEAKER_03: Crescent City Airport.
• 28:56
  SPEAKER_03: Um was he doing there?
• 28:58
  SPEAKER_03: Well, he was picking up a brand new aircraft, there's King Air.
• 29:00
  SPEAKER_05: Well, they don't make them in California.
• 29:02
  SPEAKER_03: For some reason it was delivered there, and he that's where he picked it up.
• 29:05
  SPEAKER_03: And he brought it back by the usual ferry route to Europe, which which is uh through to Banger in Maine, uh Goose Bay in Canada, then to Keflavik.
• 29:13
  SPEAKER_03: Keflavic.
• 29:14
  SPEAKER_03: Keflavik in Iceland before getting back to Europe.
• 29:18
  SPEAKER_03: That's a standard ferry route, apparently.
• 29:19
  SPEAKER_03: Two things stood out for me.
• 29:21
  SPEAKER_03: First of all, the Beechcraft King Air 360, which I think is a fantastic, beautiful aeroplane.
• 29:28
  SPEAKER_03: If I had lots and lots of money, that would be that would be on the list.
• 29:32
  SPEAKER_03: It's the latest and biggest and most powerful version of the King Air.
• 29:35
  SPEAKER_03: Um, got a couple of huge turbo props up front, uh, Pratt and Whitney PT6s, developing over a thousand shaft horsepower each.
• 29:43
  SPEAKER_03: Um Matt Cruz beat at 312 knots, not far off your enforcement.
• 29:47
  SPEAKER_05: That was faster than the PA48 enforcer.
• 29:51
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, probably a lot more practical, too.
• 29:53
  SPEAKER_03: Yes.
• 29:54
  SPEAKER_03: So I'd love a King Air.
• 29:55
  SPEAKER_05: It's definitely more comfortable inside.
• 29:57
  SPEAKER_03: But also, let's I talk a little bit about Guido himself.
• 30:00
  SPEAKER_03: Um he's uh he's of German descent.
• 30:04
  SPEAKER_03: Um he didn't come into flying to running his own company by uh the usual route.
• 30:08
  SPEAKER_03: He was trained in Germany, uh born in Germany, trained as a mining engineer, first of all, and he got his PPO to fly himself around South Africa where there were various remote mining operations.
• 30:19
  SPEAKER_03: Um and that was all before he started his own aircraft company.
• 30:22
  SPEAKER_03: He flew biz jets and all sorts of other aircraft, moved to the States, moved location to the States where he set up his ferry business.
• 30:30
  SPEAKER_03: And right now he flies about 20 ferry flights a year.
• 30:34
  SPEAKER_03: That's quite a lot, it's more than one a month, if you think about it.
• 30:36
  SPEAKER_03: And uh king of maths.
• 30:41
  SPEAKER_03: King of math.
• 30:44
  SPEAKER_03: But he does it, you know, he does everything, he sorts out every every part of the ferry flight, all the paperwork, all the stops, insurance, everything.
• 30:52
  SPEAKER_03: And of course, he's just renowned as a safe pair of hands, a very safe pair of hands, when it comes to jumping into brand new, somebody else's brand new airplane and flying it, uh, flying it around the world.
• 31:03
  SPEAKER_03: He has a fascinating YouTube channel where he has his he produces these videos.
• 31:09
  SPEAKER_03: That's good stuff.
• 31:09
  SPEAKER_03: There's no nonsense on there, there's no wacky music or anything like that.
• 31:13
  SPEAKER_03: It's it's just straightforward flying.
• 31:16
  SPEAKER_05: Except he does it's not like three blokes in the studio, is it?
• 31:18
  SPEAKER_03: No, no, no.
• 31:19
  SPEAKER_03: You mean he doesn't have a TikTok dance either?
• 31:22
  SPEAKER_03: Jude, I haven't discovered his TikTok channel yet.
• 31:24
  SPEAKER_03: Maybe there is one.
• 31:25
  SPEAKER_03: I shall have to have a look.
• 31:26
  SPEAKER_03: But anyway, there's things like you know, the one I was looking at uh yesterday was flying a Beechcraft King S360 uh into somewhere in Greenland, uh IFI, full IFI approach, so he couldn't see a thing until about you know 200 feet from the ground.
• 31:42
  SPEAKER_03: It was gusting 45-50 knots.
• 31:45
  SPEAKER_03: Um and uh his videos they have a nice little feature.
• 31:50
  SPEAKER_03: Whenever he does something significant during the flight, he enlarges that part of the video.
• 31:56
  SPEAKER_03: So, for instance, uh in this case, there was him pressing the BRB, which is the big red button to uh disengage the autopilot, and then a bit further on, shifting the uh the the prop levers into fine just before touching down, he enlarges that bit as well.
• 32:12
  SPEAKER_03: It's you kind of do have to have a bit of an inner geek about you to love these bits, but it I just think it's fantastic.
• 32:19
  SPEAKER_04: Ed, what about you?
• 32:21
  SPEAKER_04: Um so uh famous test pilots.
• 32:23
  SPEAKER_04: Give me a name.
• 32:24
  SPEAKER_04: John Farley.
• 32:25
  SPEAKER_04: Chuck Yeager.
• 32:27
  SPEAKER_04: Okay, I'm guessing.
• 32:28
  SPEAKER_04: Neville Duke.
• 32:28
  SPEAKER_04: Do you want any more?
• 32:29
  SPEAKER_04: Neville Duke, yeah.
• 32:30
  SPEAKER_04: You've probably never heard of Fitzhugh Fulton, have you?
• 32:33
  SPEAKER_04: Fitzhugh Fulton?
• 32:34
  SPEAKER_04: No.
• 32:34
  SPEAKER_04: No, no, I can't.
• 32:35
  SPEAKER_04: Sounds like a tailor.
• 32:36
  SPEAKER_04: Yeah, it's all a bit blank.
• 32:37
  SPEAKER_04: Um he might be one of the greatest test pilots you've never heard of.
• 32:42
  SPEAKER_04: Uh and I came across him because it was my birthday last week, and I got Happy birthday.
• 32:47
  SPEAKER_04: Thank you very much.
• 32:47
  SPEAKER_04: Um I know it was also your birthday last week, too.
• 32:50
  SPEAKER_04: Um and I got uh the le a Lego set, which was the space shuttle on a 747.
• 32:56
  SPEAKER_04: I was very excited.
• 32:57
  SPEAKER_04: Was this your 12th birthday?
• 32:58
  SPEAKER_04: It was my twelfth birthday.
• 33:00
  SPEAKER_05: Hands up in the comments if you build Lego kits.
• 33:05
  SPEAKER_05: Is it big?
• 33:06
  SPEAKER_05: Is it like is it?
• 33:07
  SPEAKER_05: It's quite big.
• 33:08
  SPEAKER_05: It's quite big.
• 33:09
  SPEAKER_04: It's quite big.
• 33:09
  SPEAKER_04: It's lots of parts.
• 33:10
  SPEAKER_04: I'm looking at the bigger.
• 33:11
  SPEAKER_04: Look at them when you build them.
• 33:13
  SPEAKER_04: Gaze lovingly at them.
• 33:15
  SPEAKER_04: You don't take them apart again.
• 33:16
  SPEAKER_04: That's it.
• 33:17
  SPEAKER_04: No, well, eventually you do take them apart, put them out of the box.
• 33:20
  SPEAKER_04: Anyway, as an aside, anyway.
• 33:22
  SPEAKER_04: Um anyway, Fitz had an incredible aviation career that spanned more than four decades.
• 33:28
  SPEAKER_04: Um Building Lego kits.
• 33:30
  SPEAKER_04: Yeah, yeah, building LEGO kits.
• 33:31
  SPEAKER_04: Uh he joined the Army Air Corps in um joined the Army Air Corps, flew in the Berlin airlift, did 55 missions in Korea, um, but his test pilot work is the thing that he would become most well known for, or most unknown for.
• 33:45
  SPEAKER_04: Unknown for.
• 33:47
  SPEAKER_04: In May 1952, at 26 years old, he joined um Edward's Air Force Base um as a test for test pilot, uh, flew the B-36 Peacemaker.
• 33:57
  SPEAKER_04: You know that big six-pist uh six-piston engines, four uh jet engines, enormous bomber.
• 34:04
  SPEAKER_04: Um, flew that, uh, flew all sorts of different bomber types, um, even flew the B-36 carrying an F-84 thunder flash aircraft.
• 34:14
  SPEAKER_04: Um, and it was this aircraft carrying thing that actually became a bit of a uh signature for him uh because uh he would make a career of flying big aeroplanes and especially big aeroplanes carrying little airplanes, because he was involved with all the X-planes, so X-1 through X-15, uh he did 150 of uh of the manned aircraft launches.
• 34:40
  SPEAKER_04: Um and as a test pilot, he flew all the big bombers.
• 34:44
  SPEAKER_04: Uh he flew some little bombers too.
• 34:46
  SPEAKER_04: Uh famously he was flying a B-57 once uh when the controls disconnected.
• 34:51
  SPEAKER_04: Uh on the radio, they all told him to bail out.
• 34:54
  SPEAKER_04: He flew the airplane back using only the trim.
• 34:57
  SPEAKER_04: How did the controls disconnect?
• 34:58
  SPEAKER_04: Uh that's I know.
• 34:59
  SPEAKER_04: Yeah, well apparently reading the reading reading the little bit I read, it was like almost like a physical disconnection, like it came off in his hands.
• 35:06
  SPEAKER_04: Like things came apart.
• 35:08
  SPEAKER_04: Bad.
• 35:09
  SPEAKER_04: Um uh but anyway, so he earned a distinguished flying cross for saving that airplane.
• 35:14
  SPEAKER_04: He'd go on and earn four of those in total.
• 35:17
  SPEAKER_04: Um but in an age of big deltas and sweat wings, Fitz flew a whole bunch of stuff.
• 35:22
  SPEAKER_04: He was chief test pilot on the B-58 Hustler, uh went on to fly the XB-70 Valkyrie, uh, came to the UK, flew the Vulcan, the Valiant, even Concorde.
• 35:33
  SPEAKER_04: Um he told a story.
• 35:34
  SPEAKER_04: He's he's he came to the UK and was bemused at our weather and our the willing our willingness to fly in any weather.
• 35:41
  SPEAKER_04: And apparently some Brit at Boscombe Down went, Well, if we didn't test in this weather, we'd never fly.
• 35:46
  SPEAKER_04: So um so yeah, Project Pilot on the B-58 Hustler set an altitude record, went 85,000 feet, carrying a 5,000 kilo payload, got the Harman Trophy for that, uh, which was just one of the many awards uh he had.
• 36:01
  SPEAKER_04: Um he loved the Hustler, said it was his favourite aeroplane, and he said, I've never flown fighters, but the Hustler with its single seat up front was as close as he gets.
• 36:10
  SPEAKER_04: Um also flew a hundred flights in the SR-71 for NASA.
• 36:15
  SPEAKER_04: Um, because that's got to be the highlight of his career.
• 36:17
  SPEAKER_05: That's like the best airplane in the entire world.
• 36:20
  SPEAKER_04: Well, he'd been a test pilot in his test pilot work for the army.
• 36:23
  SPEAKER_04: They wanted to promote him, and he knew that would be a desk job.
• 36:26
  SPEAKER_04: Uh so he went, oh I retire.
• 36:28
  SPEAKER_04: And literally almost the next day, he just showed up in a NASA flight suit and carried on flying the XB-70.
• 36:34
  SPEAKER_04: Um, probably most well known for, not well known though, uh, he led the 747 carrier aircraft project for NASA with the space shuttle.
• 36:45
  SPEAKER_04: Um most interesting thing I read that he said that his first release, he was astonished by the fact he had to pull on the control column with about a hundred pounds of force.
• 36:56
  SPEAKER_04: Yeah, and you would imagine the aeroplane that it would be the complete reverse, but apparently.
• 37:00
  SPEAKER_04: You think so, wouldn't you?
• 37:01
  SPEAKER_04: Yeah, you release the shuttle, and apparently it needs an enormous pull to keep it in level flight.
• 37:06
  SPEAKER_04: Um he took the took the combo to the 1983 Paris Air Show, so I think that might be the biggest display act ever, um, shuttle out on a 747.
• 37:18
  SPEAKER_04: Uh as a GA pilot, he flew uh Fairchild 24, uh Cesar 172, and owned a little toot biplane.
• 37:25
  SPEAKER_04: And as if he couldn't get enough of test flying, when he retired from NASA in 1986, he then went and did three years for Burt Rutan at Scaled Composites.
• 37:33
  SPEAKER_04: Uh, between his J3 Cub solo in 1942 and his retirement, Fitz flew 231 individual types and logged 16,000 hours.
• 37:43
  SPEAKER_04: And he wrote a book called Father of the Mother Planes, because he was acknowledged as the expert for big aeroplanes carrying little aeroplanes.
• 37:52
  SPEAKER_04: I'd read that.
• 37:52
  SPEAKER_04: I'd read that book.
• 37:53
  SPEAKER_04: Yeah, he died in 2015, age 89.
• 37:55
  SPEAKER_04: But um, really worth googling, worth wider reading.
• 37:59
  SPEAKER_04: There's some videos out there as well.
• 38:00
  SPEAKER_04: Yeah, an amazing guy that pretty much no one knows about events.
• 38:06
  SPEAKER_03: Events.
• 38:06
  SPEAKER_03: Well, it's coming up to the end of the season, and in fact, this Saturday, there's the end of season sizzle, which is a fly-in at Popham.
• 38:13
  SPEAKER_03: Also on sausages.
• 38:15
  SPEAKER_03: Sausages and stuff, yes.
• 38:16
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, it's a barbecue.
• 38:18
  SPEAKER_03: Also on Saturday, uh the Historic Aircraft Association are having their annual symposium at the RAF Museum in Hendon.
• 38:25
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
• 38:26
  SPEAKER_03: Cool.
• 38:27
  SPEAKER_03: Okay, don't forget, Pilot Careers Live Dublin is on the following weekend, 18th.
• 38:34
  SPEAKER_03: And next week, we have Owen Johns, who's the new CEO of the BMAA.
• 38:41
  SPEAKER_03: He's coming into the studio.
• 38:43
  SPEAKER_04: He's going to be our first guest on the Flyer show.
• 38:45
  SPEAKER_05: Yeah.
• 38:46
  SPEAKER_05: Excellent.
• 38:46
  SPEAKER_05: We'll have more.
• 38:47
  SPEAKER_04: We will have more guests.
• 38:48
  SPEAKER_05: Um great.
• 38:49
  SPEAKER_05: So thank you for watching.
• 38:50
  SPEAKER_05: Um, if you've got anything, uh please like, comment, subscribe, all that kind of stuff.
• 38:54
  SPEAKER_05: It actually makes a significant difference.
• 38:56
  SPEAKER_05: If you're not a subscriber to the YouTube channel, then please do that.
• 39:00
  SPEAKER_05: And better still become a member of the Flyer Club.
• 39:02
  SPEAKER_05: Flyer.co.uk forward slash membership, six quid a week, 62 pounds a year, bargain.
• 39:07
  SPEAKER_05: Thank you.
• 39:08
  SPEAKER_04: And don't forget before you sign off, we need your videos welcoming us to the flyer show.
• 39:15
  SPEAKER_04: So we don't care whether they're shot in the air, on the ground, on your sofa.
• 39:20
  SPEAKER_04: The aeroplanes are better.
• 39:22
  SPEAKER_04: Yeah, maybe not in airplanes.
• 39:24
  SPEAKER_04: Uh but uh tell us where you are and welcome us to the flyer show because we love nothing better than seeing you out and about having your flying adventures.
• 39:33
  SPEAKER_05: I mean it's great.
• 39:34
  SPEAKER_05: There's a few things I love better, but you know.
• 39:36
  SPEAKER_05: Anyway, have a great weekend.
• 39:38
  SPEAKER_05: Have fun, cheers, bye.
• 39:39
  SPEAKER_05: Bye.
• 39:42
  SPEAKER_01: Join the Flyer Club today and save hundreds of pounds with your free landing batches.
• 39:48
  SPEAKER_01: Watch insightful monthly webinars from our group of aviation experts and access all the online content on flyer.co.uk from just six pounds per month or sixty-two pounds for the full year.
• 40:01
  SPEAKER_01: You can meet new people, fly more, and become a better flyer.
• 40:05
  SPEAKER_01: Join today at flyer.co.uk slash membership.