Latest / Flyer Magazine / Saving Popham, The Flyer Show 23 October 2025
Transcript
- 0:00SPEAKER_05: From Sporties, the world's largest pilot shop in Batavia, Ohio.
- 0:04SPEAKER_05: Welcome to the Flyer Show.
- 0:05SPEAKER_05: Hello and welcome to the Flyer Show.
- 0:07SPEAKER_05: My name's Ian Seeger.
- 0:08SPEAKER_05: I'm Ed Hicks.
- 0:09SPEAKER_03: I'm Annabelle Cook.
- 0:11SPEAKER_05: You're being Dave this week, aren't you?
- 0:13SPEAKER_03: I'm Stun Dave, yes.
- 0:15SPEAKER_05: Dave to have you here.
- 0:16unknown: Thank you.
- 0:17SPEAKER_05: In this week's show, we'll be taking a look at what the hell's going on at Popham and hopefully finding out what you can do about it.
- 0:24SPEAKER_05: There's whole Scottish airspace redesign.
- 0:27SPEAKER_06: There is goodbye to Pipestral from uh well, Eviation from Textron.
- 0:35SPEAKER_06: More on that.
- 0:36SPEAKER_05: And there's other stuff, isn't there, Annabelle?
- 0:38SPEAKER_07: There is.
- 0:39SPEAKER_05: Excellent.
- 0:41SPEAKER_05: And also, you're probably wondering if there's going to be a story about the LAA and what's going on there.
- 0:46SPEAKER_05: And the answer is there is.
- 0:47SPEAKER_05: So come back later.
- 0:49SPEAKER_05: So big thing, big big things.
- 0:51SPEAKER_05: Big thanks to Sky Demon for sponsoring the live stream.
- 0:54SPEAKER_05: But why am I old habits die hard?
- 0:57SPEAKER_05: Big thanks to Sky Demon for sponsoring the Flyer show.
- 1:00SPEAKER_05: Here is this week's tip.
- 1:05SPEAKER_04: Hi, I'm Tim from Sky Demon.
- 1:07SPEAKER_04: Welcome to this week's top tip.
- 1:09SPEAKER_04: Our flyable conditions feature is a great tool to quickly see whether the forecast conditions fit with your own definition of good, marginal, or not flyable.
- 1:18SPEAKER_04: Turn on the overlay here in the weather menu.
- 1:22SPEAKER_04: Now the map is zoomed out, you can instantly see red areas, which aren't flyable.
- 1:27SPEAKER_04: Orange areas, which are marginal, and the clear areas are good.
- 1:32SPEAKER_04: Tap on the little I here to get a key reminding you of the preferences you've set for this display.
- 1:38SPEAKER_04: Down here in virtual radar we can also see the forecast thickness of the lowest cloud layer.
- 1:43SPEAKER_04: It's pretty thick here.
- 1:44SPEAKER_04: So let's increase the height of virtual radar to see if we can fly on top.
- 1:50SPEAKER_04: We still can't see the top.
- 1:51SPEAKER_04: So let's press and hold to bring up the what's here screen.
- 1:55SPEAKER_04: Where we can see the top is almost 10,000 feet.
- 1:59SPEAKER_04: Not much chance of finding a hole and flying on top here.
- 2:03SPEAKER_04: For our full user manual, go to skydeemon.arero and choose help and support.
- 2:12SPEAKER_05: Okay, so there you go.
- 2:13SPEAKER_05: Flyable conditions.
- 2:14SPEAKER_05: Is a good one, isn't it?
- 2:15SPEAKER_05: And that's I know a lot of people who swear by that.
- 2:18SPEAKER_05: There's another there's another tip that kind of overlaps with that a little bit, which is um animated flyable conditions.
- 2:24SPEAKER_05: So that will that's another tip that you can look at in the archive, or maybe we'll find from another.
- 2:29SPEAKER_06: Talking of flyable conditions, shall we see what Simon's got lined up for us in the weather?
- 2:34SPEAKER_06: Come on, Simon.
- 2:36SPEAKER_06: Give us a good one.
- 2:38SPEAKER_01: Evening, everyone.
- 2:40SPEAKER_01: Well, what a day of weather that has been for most of us.
- 2:44SPEAKER_01: Strong winds, heavy rain, and uh thank goodness it happened on a Thursday, I guess.
- 2:50SPEAKER_01: Things do look a little better as we get in towards the weekend.
- 2:53SPEAKER_01: Um, I've got these charts for you again from the icon um European model because this is a better model at um picking out the intricacies of showers, such as the ones that we're going to be getting during the course of this weekend.
- 3:08SPEAKER_01: So um, this is the forecast for tomorrow morning at seven o'clock.
- 3:13SPEAKER_01: And you can see here we've got low pressure over Ireland.
- 3:16SPEAKER_01: You can see the showers are wrapped around that low, mostly affecting western parts of Wales and England.
- 3:22SPEAKER_01: Our area of low pressure that we've seen today out here in the North Sea.
- 3:25SPEAKER_01: Many areas are seeing breaks in the cloud, and it's not too bad.
- 3:29SPEAKER_01: Now, through the course of the morning into the afternoon, we see an area of heavy showers, a little area of low pressure actually, that spins up and sinks down through Wales and southwestern parts of England and the Midlands, bringing marginal to non-verfar conditions here.
- 3:43SPEAKER_01: Some pretty big Cunim plants to watch out for.
- 3:46SPEAKER_01: We've got some rain affecting eastern Scotland and the far northeast of England, showers for northern and western Scotland, northern and western parts of Ireland, decreasing freezing levels, and it's quite breezy too.
- 3:56SPEAKER_01: If we can avoid these areas, so places such as South West Scotland, parts of northern England, parts of East Angela and southern England, then things look a little bit better.
- 4:06SPEAKER_01: Now, during the course of tonight, the northwesterly wind is going to be picking up further.
- 4:10SPEAKER_01: And what that does for Saturday morning is it just concentrates showers in that northwesterly flow, mostly around coasts exposed to the wind.
- 4:19SPEAKER_01: So northern and western Scotland, northern and western parts of Ireland, through the Isle of Man, northern and western parts of Wales, and parts of southwest England.
- 4:28SPEAKER_01: Elsewhere you can see relatively few showers around.
- 4:31SPEAKER_01: We're looking at bases around 3,000 feet, tops at 12 to around 15,000 feet, but Cunningham clouds probably associated with these showers around the coast.
- 4:46SPEAKER_01: Now, through Saturday afternoon, we've still got showers around northern and western coast.
- 4:50SPEAKER_01: Looks like an area of heavier showers wants to develop over parts of Northern Ireland, northern and western Wales through the course of this afternoon.
- 4:58SPEAKER_01: Saturday afternoon, I should say.
- 4:59SPEAKER_01: And then as we went through the overnight period into Sunday, some showers again slipping south through central parts of England, clearing away to the south during the course of Sunday morning.
- 5:09SPEAKER_01: Lighter winds on Sunday morning and quite a pleasant start to the day.
- 5:12SPEAKER_01: Some showers though again getting into northern and western Wales.
- 5:15SPEAKER_01: And look at the area of rain here that's gathering off towards the west of Scotland and Western Ireland.
- 5:20SPEAKER_01: So it looks like Sunny morning is going to be best because through the afternoon, rain gets into western Scotland, through much of Ireland, into the west of England and Wales.
- 5:29SPEAKER_01: Eastern areas of Scotland and England, probably staying mostly verifiable.
- 5:34SPEAKER_01: Bases coming in at around 2 to 4,000 feet tops at about 10 to 15,000 feet, but these bases out towards the west, soon lowering with reducing visibility as that heavy rain arrives.
- 5:49SPEAKER_01: So there is some flying to be found.
- 5:50SPEAKER_01: Just make most of it.
- 5:51SPEAKER_01: Check those forms 215 for the freezing levels as well.
- 5:54SPEAKER_01: As I say, they're going to be lowering quite significantly through the weekend, the first weekend of the autumn and winter season that we've seen that happening.
- 6:03SPEAKER_01: Now, if you want to know more about weather, then get yourself along to my aviation weather school, my classroom-based aviation weather school.
- 6:10SPEAKER_01: I've got a single place remaining on it, and this is going to be taking place here at Weather School HQ in Wombourne.
- 6:16SPEAKER_01: We're about three miles east of Wolverhampton Hateley Green.
- 6:19SPEAKER_01: It takes place between 10am and 4 pm on Saturday, the 15th of November.
- 6:26SPEAKER_01: All of your course materials, lunch or refreshments, are included, and I will show you how you can plan the weather five days in advance, spot those weather windows more easily, and build your confidence in being able to use official forecasts and make the absolute most of them.
- 6:42SPEAKER_01: I want you flying more safely, I want you flying more confidently.
- 6:46SPEAKER_01: And that is the aim.
- 6:47SPEAKER_01: Okay, have a great weekend.
- 6:49SPEAKER_01: Get those winter thermals out.
- 6:51SPEAKER_01: You're gonna be needing them.
- 6:53SPEAKER_01: And I'll see you next week.
- 6:54SPEAKER_01: Bye for now.
- 6:56SPEAKER_06: So must be time for news, Ed.
- 6:58SPEAKER_06: It is, and uh so it's this is just your taster, um, because uh we'll be talking more about this with our guest a bit later.
- 7:05SPEAKER_06: But it comes on the back of Basingstoke and district uh Dean District Council saying that um Popham Airfield is not a significant part of the national network of general aviation airfields.
- 7:17SPEAKER_06: And I know you're all out there shaking your head.
- 7:19SPEAKER_06: Um you might remember that Popham is at threat, uh at risk of uh being built on with three and a half thousand houses and maybe more now.
- 7:28SPEAKER_06: Um uh it was removed after a whole bunch of objections from the local planning um scheme.
- 7:35SPEAKER_06: Uh but now that's back with a vengeance, more houses, and the council saying silly things like um Popham is not significant.
- 7:44SPEAKER_05: So my message is idiots.
- 7:48SPEAKER_05: I need to But you have to be polite, sorry.
- 7:50SPEAKER_05: I think you're mistaken.
- 7:51SPEAKER_05: Annabelle.
- 7:52SPEAKER_03: Uh yes.
- 7:53SPEAKER_03: So over on the forums there's discussion about Scottish airspace modernisation.
- 7:58SPEAKER_03: So this is a coordinated change proposal with Glasgow and Edinburgh airports and NATs linked to the government's airspace modern modernisation strategy to deliver quicker, quieter, more resilient, and environmentally cleaner journeys.
- 8:12SPEAKER_03: That's a mouthful, isn't it?
- 8:13SPEAKER_03: It is.
- 8:14SPEAKER_03: So our good friend Paul Fraser Bennison has raised the point that the current volumes of airspace, where it touches the ground, date back many years to when both airports supported crosswinds.
- 8:28SPEAKER_03: Um the effect of the proposal is to force all GA VFR traffic through the Cumbanole gap at low level.
- 8:36SPEAKER_03: Uh what could possibly go wrong?
- 8:38SPEAKER_03: But another another user on the forum has made the point that the proposal involves extending the CTR southwest, making it narrower, in an area where TV masts and a growing number of wind turbines.
- 8:49SPEAKER_03: Yes.
- 8:50SPEAKER_03: Um there are three separate airspace change proposals relating to the changes.
- 8:54SPEAKER_03: The consultation opened on Monday and runs for 14 weeks until January next year.
- 8:59SPEAKER_05: The next story revolves around the LAA and the election, or non-election, I should say, of Colin Hales, an ex-member.
- 9:06SPEAKER_05: Before we get into that story, it probably should declare a few kind of interests, as it were, although I I hope that you trust that that's not affected what we're going to say at all.
- 9:15SPEAKER_05: Firstly, uh Seagal Publishing Flyer, uh people behind the Flyer Show, we have a commercial relationship with the LA.
- 9:21SPEAKER_05: We produce their magazine for them.
- 9:23SPEAKER_06: And obviously, I edit the LAA, you edit the LEA.
- 9:27SPEAKER_03: And I own an LAA aircraft and an LAA member.
- 9:30SPEAKER_05: There you go.
- 9:31SPEAKER_05: So uh that out of the way for full disclosure.
- 9:33SPEAKER_05: Um Colin Hayes, it seems, was subject to some disciplinary hearings, which took place two days before the LAA bought AGM.
- 9:43SPEAKER_05: And at that point he was excluded from the LAA and is no longer a member.
- 9:47SPEAKER_05: I think it would be fair to say there was a fair amount of controversy and some fairly strong feeling at the meeting.
- 9:53SPEAKER_05: And Colin's certainly not been shy in his social media posts.
- 9:57SPEAKER_05: No.
- 9:57SPEAKER_05: Um the i in in terms of um looking at both sides of the coin, um the LAA have said that they will if if Colin appeals, which he has, um that appeal will be heard by the President.
- 10:11SPEAKER_05: Yes.
- 10:12SPEAKER_05: Um and they'll report on that, I think, in about a month or something.
- 10:15SPEAKER_06: I think it's twenty-eight days.
- 10:16SPEAKER_06: Twenty eight days from the point that the appeal is lodged.
- 10:19SPEAKER_06: So we should hear that.
- 10:20SPEAKER_06: We should hear that in four weeks.
- 10:21SPEAKER_05: Within four weeks.
- 10:22SPEAKER_05: And the LAA have certainly said that they'll be they'll be releasing a false statement after that.
- 10:26SPEAKER_05: They all they've also said that they completely refute anything that Colin or the accusations Colin has made in the social media posts.
- 10:34SPEAKER_05: Yep.
- 10:34SPEAKER_05: And but it would also be fair to say that Colin has said, well, you know, I've got the evidence to support that.
- 10:39SPEAKER_05: Um it's just that none of us have seen any of it from either side.
- 10:42SPEAKER_06: Yeah, I it's one of these situations where none of us have seen the evidence, only the two parties involved.
- 10:48SPEAKER_05: Yeah, no, absolutely.
- 10:49SPEAKER_05: So I think it's you know, it it's hard to say, impossible to say exactly what happened without knowing, because we haven't seen anything or um from from either side.
- 10:57SPEAKER_05: We will do, I think, probably in the fullness of time.
- 11:00SPEAKER_05: I I certainly understand that Colin is is looking at some kind of legal action potentially.
- 11:06SPEAKER_06: He has talked about that, yes.
- 11:08SPEAKER_05: Um the story is not over by any means.
- 11:11SPEAKER_06: No.
- 11:12SPEAKER_05: Um it's a tricky one, isn't it?
- 11:16SPEAKER_06: It is.
- 11:16SPEAKER_06: And um, you know, th there are some members who are very have some very strong feelings about that.
- 11:21SPEAKER_06: There's been some discussion of calling of uh of people trying to gather support for an extraordinary general meeting.
- 11:28SPEAKER_06: Yep.
- 11:28SPEAKER_06: Um but uh d again, we will just have to wait and see what happens.
- 11:32SPEAKER_06: I will say at the AGM I was there in person.
- 11:35SPEAKER_06: The room was the the room and feeling was very much uh behind Colin.
- 11:40SPEAKER_06: While he technically couldn't attend the meeting because he wasn't a member, he was nominated by a whole bunch of people to vote for he was carrying a whole bunch of proxy votes.
- 11:50SPEAKER_06: Therefore, under um a a rule um he was able to attend.
- 11:54SPEAKER_06: Uh but unfortunately he wasn't able to he couldn't to put his case.
- 12:00SPEAKER_06: And there was a point where uh he took the mic, was unable to say anything, and he did look he he did look visibly distressed when he kind of walked back to his seat saying Yeah, I'm not I'm I'm not at all surprised.
- 12:14SPEAKER_03: I joined the meeting online where I I don't know what the normal numbers are, but there was around a hundred members that joined online, and the feeling there was very much it doesn't really matter what the story is, but they felt that quite strongly it needed to be fair.
- 12:27SPEAKER_03: And and that all sides should be heard.
- 12:30SPEAKER_03: That was the overwhelming message that was coming across there.
- 12:32SPEAKER_05: As I understand it, um if the if at the end of the appeal process someone says, Okay, hypothetically, okay, Colin, we made an awful mistake you're back in and you're back in.
- 12:45SPEAKER_03: And you had to be a good thing.
- 12:47SPEAKER_05: Because he's been expelled, there's a time delay before that can happen, and those votes won't be counted anyway.
- 12:52SPEAKER_06: No, that uh the the chairman made a s a statement saying if um if he was reinstated after an appeal, he wouldn't be able to stand for the board again because you need to be a member for two years.
- 13:04SPEAKER_06: Right.
- 13:04SPEAKER_06: What's next then?
- 13:05SPEAKER_06: I think is it me with Textron Aviation News?
- 13:09SPEAKER_06: Yeah.
- 13:10SPEAKER_06: Um you might recall that Textron, um uh maker of Cessnas and Beechcraft and other things, golf carts even, but you didn't know that.
- 13:17SPEAKER_06: The easy go.
- 13:19SPEAKER_06: Um anyway, Textron obviously you might remember, bought Pipestrel, the electric air uh aviation innovator.
- 13:26SPEAKER_06: Uh well I know when Textron bought uh Pipestrel, we were all a bit concerned for Pipestrel because you go, there it's lucky I was just thinking, it's lucky day doesn't have this story because it's a pipistrell.
- 13:37SPEAKER_06: Um we first heard that Textron had bought Pipestrel, we were a little bit worried because Textron's a giant corporation and Pipestrel's a small innovator.
- 13:46SPEAKER_06: Um and sometimes small innovators struggle to survive in big corporations.
- 13:51SPEAKER_06: Well the Textron Announced News, they're dissolving uh the its its Textron e-aviation reporting segment.
- 13:59SPEAKER_06: Um and they basically they'd established e-aviation following the company's acquisition of uh Pipestrel.
- 14:07SPEAKER_06: Uh what it means is uh the realignment will see a large portion of Textron e-aviation, including Pipestrel, absorbed into text-drawn aviation as a whole.
- 14:17SPEAKER_06: Um, for more effective leverage in development, manufacturing, and sales capability.
- 14:22SPEAKER_06: Wow.
- 14:22SPEAKER_06: So everyone loves a bit of good leverage.
- 14:25SPEAKER_06: Oh, I know.
- 14:26SPEAKER_06: I think what it uh what it might mean for general aviation as a whole is is our concern that poor old Pipestrel might just slowly vanish.
- 14:35SPEAKER_05: Uh I mean, because Textron had a whole bunch of other e-aviation stuff.
- 14:39SPEAKER_05: They had some military projects going on, some other bits and pieces that weren't really fairly and squarely in the general aviation part of it.
- 14:45SPEAKER_05: No.
- 14:46SPEAKER_05: So they've they've kind of I guess it signals Textron going, we're not quite sure about this electric stuff.
- 14:51SPEAKER_06: I could I could definitely imagine a world where because like you say, that there's a very active eVTOL project, which I forget the name of, and they've clearly got a whole bunch of drone technology and other things.
- 15:01SPEAKER_06: I could imagine a world where Textron forges ahead with a whole bunch of that, but the general aviation electric flight things and the forever in certification process Pantera um just it will become one of those things where we go, in what caught your eye.
- 15:17SPEAKER_06: It's like, do you remember the Pipstral Pantera?
- 15:19SPEAKER_05: In other news um that was released today.
- 15:23SPEAKER_05: In other news, come in.
- 15:26SPEAKER_05: Everyone else, two new watches.
- 15:28SPEAKER_05: Woo! These are boxes containing those watches.
- 15:32SPEAKER_05: Unfortunately, they're not they've only just arrived, so they're not charged, they're not synced or all the rest of it.
- 15:37SPEAKER_05: They might even just be boxes with no watches.
- 15:40SPEAKER_05: No, they're not.
- 15:40SPEAKER_05: They're real boxes.
- 15:41SPEAKER_05: They're real.
- 15:42SPEAKER_05: Well, I know it's a real box.
- 15:44SPEAKER_05: Look, are you are you ready for this?
- 15:46SPEAKER_03: Look at cardboard engineering.
- 15:48SPEAKER_03: Look at that.
- 15:49SPEAKER_05: That was my line.
- 15:50SPEAKER_05: As far as boxes goes, this is quite a nice box.
- 15:53SPEAKER_03: This is a nice box.
- 16:01SPEAKER_05: These are known as the D2 Mach 2 47mm and the D2 X15 45mm.
- 16:07SPEAKER_06: What are we expecting from those bad boys?
- 16:11SPEAKER_05: I would imagine they'll be integrated with Garmin Pilot, they'll be integrated with Avionics, you'll be able to get avionic stuff on there, you'll get weather, you'll get charting.
- 16:20SPEAKER_03: Will you be able to tell the time?
- 16:22SPEAKER_05: Let's hope so.
- 16:23SPEAKER_05: It's it's an interesting every time we view we review an aviation watch, you get a whole load of people going, Oh bloody hell, fifteen hundred bucks or whatever they cost.
- 16:30SPEAKER_05: I wouldn't pay that.
- 16:31SPEAKER_05: I just got my little Casio.
- 16:34SPEAKER_05: People don't buy this because they go, Oh my god, I must have my data here.
- 16:38SPEAKER_05: They buy it because they're buying into a kind of ecosystem.
- 16:41SPEAKER_05: An ecosystem.
- 16:42SPEAKER_05: And because they want a nice watch.
- 16:43SPEAKER_05: Yeah.
- 16:44SPEAKER_05: So what do we got?
- 16:44SPEAKER_05: We got the D2 Mach 2.
- 16:46SPEAKER_05: The D2 Mach 2.
- 16:47SPEAKER_05: Yeah, yeah.
- 16:47SPEAKER_05: And that's in 47mm.
- 16:51SPEAKER_06: Yep.
- 16:52SPEAKER_06: Wow, X15.
- 16:53SPEAKER_06: So they've named it after a Mach 6 research aircraft.
- 16:57SPEAKER_06: That's a strong statement.
- 16:59SPEAKER_05: That's a strong statement.
- 17:00SPEAKER_05: So anyway, so there's that.
- 17:01SPEAKER_05: In terms of other goodies, just to let you know, after uh I mean John's Owen Johns was here last week.
- 17:07SPEAKER_05: I'm glad to say that the BMAA have sent us a mug for the table.
- 17:11SPEAKER_05: Well done, BMAA.
- 17:12SPEAKER_05: This didn't didn't survive structurally the journey.
- 17:15SPEAKER_05: But we have repaired it.
- 17:16SPEAKER_05: Oh good.
- 17:17SPEAKER_05: I see you've been expert with the super glue.
- 17:20SPEAKER_05: Normally ceramic stuff goes in pretty well, but A, this absorbed it quite quickly.
- 17:24SPEAKER_05: And B deployed it.
- 17:25SPEAKER_05: B there were chips missing.
- 17:28SPEAKER_05: I did a better job at the bottom.
- 17:29SPEAKER_05: Look, there's a repair at the bottom.
- 17:33SPEAKER_03: That's great.
- 17:34SPEAKER_03: Anyway.
- 17:34SPEAKER_03: Maybe don't touch it again.
- 17:36SPEAKER_05: That's it.
- 17:36SPEAKER_05: Yeah.
- 17:37SPEAKER_05: That's great.
- 17:37SPEAKER_05: I'm pretty sure it's structurally stable and a mod application should be made.
- 17:41SPEAKER_05: Is there some kneeboard news?
- 17:43SPEAKER_05: We won the knee board.
- 17:45SPEAKER_05: You know the robot board.
- 17:47SPEAKER_05: Did we manage to make it the world's most expensive kneeboard?
- 17:50SPEAKER_05: I'm not sure.
- 17:51SPEAKER_05: I think in the end.
- 17:53SPEAKER_05: No, we didn't reach three figures.
- 17:54SPEAKER_05: We only unless you count the ones after the decimal point.
- 18:02SPEAKER_06: Okay.
- 18:02SPEAKER_06: Well that's that's 57 quid to have caused.
- 18:05SPEAKER_06: Okay, at the top of the show, we talked about the renewed threat uh to the general aviation duel that is Popham Airfield.
- 18:12SPEAKER_06: And we're lucky to be joined in the studio uh for the fly show uh by Brian Lloyd of Popham Airfield Matters.
- 18:18SPEAKER_06: Brian, thanks for joining us.
- 18:19SPEAKER_06: Trevor Burrus, Jr.
- 18:19SPEAKER_06: You're welcome.
- 18:20SPEAKER_02: Thanks for coming with me.
- 18:21SPEAKER_06: Um so uh I think I want to get this right.
- 18:23SPEAKER_06: Uh Popham um so the Basingstoke and Dean District Council have said um Popham Airfield is not a significant part of the national network of general aviation airfields.
- 18:37SPEAKER_06: Have they not been have they not been there?
- 18:39SPEAKER_02: Uh they have been invited there, and one of the councillors, a gentleman of Julian Jones, has actually come along and he left um impressed by what he saw.
- 18:49SPEAKER_02: I think there's much more going on there than he expected.
- 18:53SPEAKER_02: Uh but we haven't had a great deal of success getting the other councillors there yet.
- 18:57SPEAKER_02: Uh from our point of view, I think obviously saying that Popham is not significant in the chain of airfields is uh somewhat damning and surprising.
- 19:07SPEAKER_02: Um, bearing in mind all the evidence that comes from the CAA and the airfield operator group that put Popham, the the all-party parliamentary group that um rated airfields around the country and put Popham as strategically one of the most important, the premium level, I think it was.
- 19:24SPEAKER_02: Um but not only the airfield, but also the activities that go there, the non-aviation activities, uh the the facilities there for people from Basingstoke and surrounds, um, the events that have there, they're also deemed not significant.
- 19:38SPEAKER_02: And you know, we have a genuine question to the councillors as to what have they based this on?
- 19:44SPEAKER_02: You know, we have professional bodies that have said Popham is significant, they're now coming along disregarding that and saying it's not as significant.
- 19:52SPEAKER_02: So our question is why are you saying that?
- 19:55SPEAKER_02: And what gives you grounds to say that?
- 19:57SPEAKER_06: Because Popham was um uh Popham was in the uh in the plan for house building a while ago, wasn't it?
- 20:05SPEAKER_06: And there was a a first round of um of consultation and there was a uh there was thousands of objections, wasn't there?
- 20:11SPEAKER_06: Trevor Burrus, Jr.
- 20:12SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
- 20:12SPEAKER_02: And because of those objections, last September, sorry, September 24, uh the council said they were going to drop Popham from the local plan and it wasn't going to be used for housing.
- 20:24SPEAKER_02: They now have obviously housing targets have changed, they have to build more houses, and they have re-included Popham in the plan, but have ignored or cast aside all the previous uh objections that they obviously thought were valid enough to take it out of the plan last time.
- 20:41SPEAKER_02: They've now just said the whole lot are not significant, uh not significant enough to not warrant the development of Poffham as as for housing.
- 20:50SPEAKER_02: And so then again, the question to the councillors is why you say that and um on what basis can be.
- 20:56SPEAKER_02: Apart from a house builder.
- 20:58SPEAKER_03: There can't be many people in the aviation community that haven't had some kind of connection to Popham at some point.
- 21:03SPEAKER_02: Well, and not just the aviation community.
- 21:04SPEAKER_02: You know, we through Poffham Airfield Matters, we were very keen not just to be a voice piece of the aviation community because that is very much kind of vested interest, they would say that, wouldn't they, because it's their airfield.
- 21:16SPEAKER_02: We have as many local residents, Basingstoke and the surrounding villages, uh, that are members of Popham Airfield Matters, uh, because it does matter to them.
- 21:25SPEAKER_02: There are things there that happen that they they use.
- 21:29SPEAKER_02: It's a facility, a community facility that's used all the time.
- 21:32SPEAKER_02: So to for the council just to say not only is it significant, but it could easily be relocated elsewhere.
- 21:43SPEAKER_05: How many times can anyone remember an airfield being successfully relocated in the last 10, 20, 30 years?
- 21:49SPEAKER_02: There was that time never, wasn't there?
- 21:50SPEAKER_05: There was that time never, yeah.
- 21:52SPEAKER_05: Yeah.
- 21:52SPEAKER_02: And and if they think it's difficult to getting uh permission to build 4,250 houses, uh try trying to get an Airfield started up somewhere, and you know, that that will be and and you know it's important we're not anti-housing.
- 22:06SPEAKER_02: Uh we appreciate that the government set targets and um you know the councils are duty bound to hit those targets or try and hit those targets, and they to do that they need land.
- 22:18SPEAKER_02: Popham just happens to be a greenfield site, so there's no preparation of the site that needs to be done in terms of clearing old buildings.
- 22:28SPEAKER_02: Um but conversely, there's no infrastructure, there's no utilities, there's no sewage, there's no electricity, there's already a shortage of electricity in the south uh uh south east.
- 22:38SPEAKER_02: Um the stewage local sewage farms are already having to expand before this.
- 22:44SPEAKER_05: Put it in the rivers.
- 22:45SPEAKER_05: That's what we do, isn't that?
- 22:47SPEAKER_02: And Poffam sits on top of the aquifer that feeds the Test River, which is supposedly one of the cleanest, most least polluted rivers in the country.
- 22:56SPEAKER_02: We can talk we can talk that out.
- 22:57SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
- 22:57SPEAKER_02: So uh sorry.
- 22:59SPEAKER_05: No, I was gonna say so I I think everyone is everyone watching this, I'd be surprised if if they didn't want Popham to remain as an airfield.
- 23:06SPEAKER_05: It is a fantastic facility.
- 23:08SPEAKER_05: I guess the question on everyone's the question that should be on everyone's mind at the moment is what can they actually do?
- 23:15SPEAKER_02: Towards the end of this year, we have been told that um the official what's called Regulation 18 consultation will be starting again.
- 23:23SPEAKER_02: So we went through all this in 2024.
- 23:26SPEAKER_02: That has been disregarded because the changing uh national housing plans changed.
- 23:32SPEAKER_02: Um so we're going to have to go through all that again.
- 23:34SPEAKER_02: So anyone that's objected first time round, thank you very much for doing so, but unfortunately you're gonna have to do it again.
- 23:39SPEAKER_02: But in the meantime, I think the first job is to convince all these councillors that yeah, that they can't just say something's not significant because it suits them to say it's not significant.
- 23:50SPEAKER_02: It's significant to an awful lot of people.
- 23:52SPEAKER_02: So if you whether you're a member of Poff Mayorfield Matters or not, and obviously we'd love you all to be, uh it's only a pound for lifetime membership.
- 24:00SPEAKER_02: We have to charge something to cross the legal barrier of of being able to go to councils and say these people have paid us to represent their views in these meetings.
- 24:09SPEAKER_02: But even if you're not a member, and even if you don't want to become a member, please go to our website, which is poppmarefieldmatters.org, go to the news page there, and there is a list of all the councillors that are on the planning committee, the environmental committee, the local ward councillors, and email them and explain to them why Popham is significant to all of them and why why Poppham matters to them, basically.
- 24:33SPEAKER_06: Because I it's it's it's not for nothing that I Popham has got uh it's now got fifty hangars there and how many aeroplanes based there?
- 24:40SPEAKER_02: Aaron Powell 50 hangars, 150 aircraft, four runways, um on grass, which allows certain vintage aircraft to operate freely there, which will and you know we're not tied to using radio, so there are opportunities there for people to be.
- 24:55SPEAKER_02: But also because it's on grass, Chuckland, the same reason that it feeds the aquifer means that it drains really well.
- 25:02SPEAKER_02: So of grass airfields around the country, Popham probably is active more years, is available for flying more years than any other one.
- 25:08SPEAKER_03: So if you say that if you say that Popham is insignificant, where does that leave the rest of the airfields around the UK?
- 25:13SPEAKER_03: It's it's scary.
- 25:15SPEAKER_06: It's a real threat.
- 25:16SPEAKER_02: And if councils can just dismiss something by saying it's insignificant and then move on, then we'll I know we said that last year, but um but actually it's worth noting that the same reasons that they gave for rejecting Poffham last time uh or taking it out of the local plan last time, they are now saying their their own reasons are now insignificant.
- 25:36SPEAKER_05: So you know, I mean either they got together and went, what are we gonna do?
- 25:40SPEAKER_05: I better say it's insignificant.
- 25:41SPEAKER_05: Which I I would be surprised.
- 25:43SPEAKER_05: Or they were advised they found someone to advise them that it was insignificant.
- 25:47SPEAKER_05: Yeah, and if they did, then who the hell was it and what did they measure that against?
- 25:50SPEAKER_02: We you know, obviously we'd like to talk to those people and and see what the the f the figures behind that random judgment is.
- 25:58SPEAKER_02: You know, if if there's anything that backs that up, then great, let's have a discussion about it.
- 26:01SPEAKER_05: I think the danger is if you've got like 150 aircraft base there, for people who aren't involved in aviation, they'll go, oh, that's 150 people rocking up in their Bentleys every Sunday to go and fly.
- 26:10SPEAKER_05: And it general aviation isn't like that.
- 26:12SPEAKER_03: Well, we haven't got any money because we spent it all on the flying.
- 26:14SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
- 26:16SPEAKER_02: Real grassroots stuff.
- 26:17SPEAKER_02: Especially Popham.
- 26:18SPEAKER_02: You know, it's it it's microlites and and gyro gyros are pretty much the grassroots of flying.
- 26:25SPEAKER_06: Um and there's a and there's an active there's an active microlyte school there, there's an active gyros gyros school there.
- 26:32SPEAKER_06: You've got a whole host of private owners.
- 26:34SPEAKER_06: I think there's there's drone training takes place there, doesn't it?
- 26:37SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
- 26:38SPEAKER_02: So interestingly, uh Popham Airfield's pillars of defence for the airfield were threefold.
- 26:44SPEAKER_02: One, it's an active airfield, two, it's a community facility, and three, um, it was is the environmental issue, obviously, of it's a it's actually supposedly a protected habitat, chalk grassland.
- 26:57SPEAKER_02: The owners of the airfield, when they saw that um the community facility was one of our reasons for keeping the airfield, they have actually stopped any community activities happening on the airfield of the last year.
- 27:11SPEAKER_02: So we whereas we used to have car shows and drones, bike racing, uh four by four driver, anything that's not aviation related has been stopped, which undermines our argument, of course.
- 27:22SPEAKER_02: Um that's not very well.
- 27:27SPEAKER_06: That's not very That's not cricket.
- 27:30SPEAKER_02: We don't do cricket, no.
- 27:32SPEAKER_02: Can't be able to do that.
- 27:34SPEAKER_02: Um it's yeah we're we're treading on very thin ice in that uh the people that want to develop the airfield own the airfield and they own the flying club as well.
- 27:45SPEAKER_02: So uh you know we're it's we would like to help them and also the council appreciate that Popham is a facility that is beneficial to the national aviation network, the local community, and could well be um beneficial, more beneficial in the short term to the landowners than actually selling the land or developing the land, because the timescales involved in developing the land are phenomenal.
- 28:14SPEAKER_02: You know, they they won't they won't see any money for for years.
- 28:17SPEAKER_02: Um yeah, it's it's basically trying to keep Popham going, allowing the uh local council to build their houses without destroying something.
- 28:29SPEAKER_02: You know, uh all of us flyers know you fly around, there's so much countryside there.
- 28:34SPEAKER_02: Yeah um and it's a shame to lose any of it, but why lose the countryside and an active, vibrant airfield uh as well?
- 28:44SPEAKER_02: I mean it just it it doesn't make sense.
- 28:46SPEAKER_02: And in the middle of nowhere, no utilities, no infrastructure, so huge costs and disruption involved in putting all that in for um yeah, so the the timescales are good.
- 28:56SPEAKER_05: I mean somewhere like four thousand two hundred and fifty houses, that's like a what, ten, fifteen-year project, presumably.
- 29:02SPEAKER_02: I think that's quite a lot of I'm yeah.
- 29:05SPEAKER_02: I think it's probably more like a twenty-year project, and that is once they start building.
- 29:09SPEAKER_02: So I think it is actually phase development.
- 29:11SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
- 29:11SPEAKER_02: But of course, before they do any of that, and before they start earning any money from selling houses, they've got to put all the infrastructure in.
- 29:20SPEAKER_02: So they've the so the c the upfront costs are phenomenal.
- 29:24SPEAKER_02: Many, many millions of pounds um to to put in supposing they can do it, sewage, water, electricity, etcetera, et cetera.
- 29:32SPEAKER_02: Road infrastructure that need new interchanges on the A303 and the M3 junction, which is already a bad junction.
- 29:40SPEAKER_02: So there's a whole host of reasons, not least of which it's a great little airfield and it is an important part.
- 29:46SPEAKER_02: It's a significant part.
- 29:48SPEAKER_02: And that that's the point.
- 29:48SPEAKER_02: It is Popham is significant, and you can't just dismiss it by saying it doesn't suit us to admit that it's significant.
- 29:55SPEAKER_05: So in the short term, we can all write to the councillors on the Popham Airfield Matters website.
- 30:00SPEAKER_05: Yes, please.
- 30:01SPEAKER_05: Explaining that explaining politely that Popham is probably one of the well is one of the most significant airfields in the national aviation infrastructure for German aviation, and to get ourselves ready uh when there's another Regulation 18 uh consultation later on in the year to re-emphasize the objections that that we had before and get some more people into it.
- 30:21SPEAKER_02: Absolutely.
- 30:21SPEAKER_02: And one of the things that I think we're going to have to face it probably at Reg 18, if not Reg 19, which we'll follow along shortly behind, is we're going to have to, for the first time, um incur some uh legal planning expertise.
- 30:36SPEAKER_02: That we we have we're fortunate to have a very, very skilled and experienced planner, town planner that has lots of history in aviation, lady called Anne Bartby, and she gives us her time freely, and that that's the biggest asset we have.
- 30:50SPEAKER_02: But at some point, even Anne's legal uh knowledge needs supplementing by and so we're also starting uh so we're well prepared for the future when these challenges are thrown down to us uh to start fundraising so that we can actually pay for the specialist legal expertise that we will need at some point down the line uh and uh in the not too distant future, we suspect.
- 31:12SPEAKER_02: And this we'd rather have a fighting fund um up and running so that we know that we can meet these challenges as and when they come.
- 31:20SPEAKER_06: So that's so there's uh the crowdfunding for that going on right now, isn't there?
- 31:24SPEAKER_02: Yep, they're again on the same news page.
- 31:26SPEAKER_02: Uh there's a little article about it at uh Poff Marefield Matters.
- 31:30SPEAKER_02: Um and yeah, there's a button there.
- 31:33SPEAKER_02: You press and we've sent out the email to all the members of Poff Marefield Matters on Sunday, I think it was.
- 31:40SPEAKER_02: Uh we've set ourselves a target of£10,000.
- 31:42SPEAKER_02: I think we're at£3,500 already.
- 31:44SPEAKER_02: So the response has been fantastic.
- 31:46SPEAKER_02: Thank you to everyone that has donated.
- 31:48SPEAKER_02: Uh but yeah, you know,£10,000 would then give us uh the ability to respond to threats as and when they arrive.
- 31:57SPEAKER_02: And you know, if it all goes away and the the house uh the the airfield is taken from the local plan, we will invest the money in the airfield.
- 32:07SPEAKER_05: Fair.
- 32:07SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
- 32:08SPEAKER_05: Sounds good to me.
- 32:09SPEAKER_05: So just remind us one more time the web address.
- 32:11SPEAKER_02: That will be popphamairfieldmatters.org.
- 32:13SPEAKER_02: And we'll put that in the video description.
- 32:17SPEAKER_02: As they say, down there.
- 32:19SPEAKER_02: And also actually I think you get on your excellent news story you covered the other day, that all the information is there as well.
- 32:25SPEAKER_06: Oh, on flyer.co.uk.
- 32:27SPEAKER_06: Yeah, yeah.
- 32:28SPEAKER_06: Well, I think it's it's fair to say that this is a real threat.
- 32:32SPEAKER_06: Um it's easy to lose an airfield, impossible, almost impossible to replace an airfield, and to have a new thing going, oh well, we might have described the airfield as as as um as useful in the in the planning uh scheme overall.
- 32:49SPEAKER_06: But to just cast it aside one day and go, actually we've changed our mind.
- 32:53SPEAKER_06: Well it's a president.
- 32:54SPEAKER_06: It's just a president with something like Popham.
- 32:57SPEAKER_06: You know, if Popham is, it's not.
- 32:59SPEAKER_06: Trevor Burrus, Jr.
- 32:59SPEAKER_06: It's it's it's downright stupid.
- 33:02SPEAKER_06: Because you can't look at Popham and go, that's an insignificant operation.
- 33:06SPEAKER_06: It's prop one must be one of the best managed and well-run airfields in the whole UK.
- 33:11SPEAKER_06: Trevor Burrus, Jr.
- 33:11SPEAKER_02: I also think it's a testament to how little impact it has on the local environment and the local community.
- 33:19SPEAKER_02: Um, you know, I think all us flyers are convinced that everybody that lives in the countryside hates us because of noise pollution and things like that.
- 33:24SPEAKER_02: And the fact is that people woefully underestimate how big Poppham is, how active Popham is, because we actually manage our relationship with the neighbours very well.
- 33:33SPEAKER_02: Uh and so therefore the councillors think, well, I've not heard anybody moaning about Poffam being busy, so it can't be it m it must be insignificant.
- 33:39SPEAKER_02: So I think there's it's complain more about that.
- 33:42SPEAKER_02: Yeah, make more noise.
- 33:43SPEAKER_06: Well, if if we learn one thing from this, um councillors involved in Popham, for goodness sake, go to the airfield and see what's going on.
- 33:50SPEAKER_05: Well, and that's another another thing, you know, for other airfields.
- 33:53SPEAKER_05: Invite your councillors around.
- 33:54SPEAKER_05: Yeah.
- 33:54SPEAKER_05: Come and come and showcase what you've got.
- 33:56SPEAKER_05: Aviation does some amazing things, but sometimes we keep it a little bit secret.
- 34:00SPEAKER_06: It's very easy to go, oh, I'm all right, Jack.
- 34:02SPEAKER_06: But actually, I think we're getting we are getting to a time in in the life of airfields where you have to actively protect what we have.
- 34:10SPEAKER_06: Yeah.
- 34:11SPEAKER_02: And I think yeah, there's a precedent being set.
- 34:13SPEAKER_02: If you can just say all of that is not significant without having to justify it, then you know no airfield is safe in the future.
- 34:20SPEAKER_02: I mean, if Popham, we've got it's grassroots flying, we've got the one of the few electric aircraft, we have UL91 for the same price as um 100 LL because we sub it's subsidised by the 100 LL for sales.
- 34:33SPEAKER_02: Uh it is a well-run airfield that should be a model for other airfields, not just insignificant.
- 34:41SPEAKER_02: Insignificant.
- 34:42unknown: Yeah.
- 34:43SPEAKER_06: On that note, on that bombshell.
- 34:44SPEAKER_06: Yeah.
- 34:45SPEAKER_06: Brian Lloyd from Popham Airfield Matters, we wish you all the best of luck and we'll be down there because we love it.
- 34:51SPEAKER_06: And um, thanks for coming to the time.
- 34:53SPEAKER_02: See you all there and all your viewers as well.
- 34:55SPEAKER_02: And yes, please join.
- 34:56SPEAKER_02: Please go along to pophamairfieldmatters.org and uh harry the councillors for uh their misdemeanours.
- 35:03SPEAKER_02: Thank you very much.
- 35:04SPEAKER_05: Who knows where the landing fees are for this month, the month of October.
- 35:09SPEAKER_06: I know, I know, and I have the power of speech.
- 35:11SPEAKER_06: Whatever the name.
- 35:12SPEAKER_06: Um thanks due to Annabelle's notes, I can tell you that this October landing fees are at Perth, Leicester, Audley, and Goodwood.
- 35:19SPEAKER_06: And you can save we've been selling£52, but actually you could save at least£65 if you fly a four-seat single-engine aircraft.
- 35:27SPEAKER_06: Plus, Annabel has the secret scroll news, and that's that in November, Wolverhampton, uh Halpeny Green, will be back with us after a break.
- 35:36SPEAKER_06: Uh there's also free there'll be a f free landing at Eshop and one at Dunkers well.
- 35:40SPEAKER_06: And I did some.
- 35:41SPEAKER_06: There's gonna be one more though, isn't it?
- 35:43SPEAKER_03: There will be there will be one more.
- 35:44SPEAKER_03: But even without that, already this year you could have saved around£550 on all the landing fees.
- 35:51SPEAKER_06: So when you spend what is it?
- 35:53SPEAKER_06: What was Flyer Club membership?
- 35:54SPEAKER_06: Six pounds a month.
- 35:56SPEAKER_06: Sixty-two pounds a year.
- 35:57SPEAKER_06: So you could spend sixty-two pounds a year, and and it's almost like we gave you a lot of things.
- 36:02SPEAKER_05: I mean, speaking of sixty two quid a year, you get access to everything we do, plus all the forums, plus the webinars, talking of which there's a webinar next week, isn't there?
- 36:10SPEAKER_05: There is.
- 36:10SPEAKER_05: I should write some notes.
- 36:11SPEAKER_05: You should.
- 36:11SPEAKER_05: Yeah.
- 36:12SPEAKER_06: Or maybe take some pictures.
- 36:13SPEAKER_06: Uh yeah, that's all right.
- 36:14SPEAKER_06: I think I've got some of those.
- 36:16SPEAKER_06: Uh but yeah, next webinar is the twenty Tuesday, the twenty-eighth, at seven thirty, and that's me talking about air-to-air photography.
- 36:22SPEAKER_06: So join us for that.
- 36:23SPEAKER_06: Looking forward to that.
- 36:24SPEAKER_03: Yep.
- 36:25SPEAKER_03: Um, and if you've missed it, we had uh Dr.
- 36:26SPEAKER_03: Frank Burton recently was talking about five lifestyle changes that can keep you flying.
- 36:32SPEAKER_03: Other recent ones that we've had have been really good.
- 36:34SPEAKER_03: Uh Steve Morley did one on revalidations and renewals, uh, Ed Bellamy did one on piston icing, and our good friend Mark Greenfield gave us advice on forced landings.
- 36:44SPEAKER_03: All of that and loads more on the members dashboard.
- 36:48SPEAKER_05: www.flyer.co.uk forward slash membership.
- 36:52SPEAKER_05: Um please join.
- 36:54SPEAKER_05: Please join.
- 36:54SPEAKER_05: And you know what?
- 36:55SPEAKER_05: If you if you don't want to join, that's that's fine.
- 36:59SPEAKER_05: Ish.
- 37:00SPEAKER_05: Um but at least you can subscribe to the YouTube channel.
- 37:02SPEAKER_05: That would be really good.
- 37:03SPEAKER_05: That's free.
- 37:04SPEAKER_05: Just give us just hit that like button.
- 37:06SPEAKER_05: Hit the like button, comment, all the rest of it.
- 37:08SPEAKER_05: Actually, don't don't hit that like button.
- 37:09SPEAKER_05: Smash that like button.
- 37:10SPEAKER_05: Smash that like button.
- 37:11SPEAKER_03: Tap it to gentlemen.
- 37:14SPEAKER_06: We must be time for Fantasy Hanger.
- 37:20SPEAKER_06: Must be time for um it's yeah, it's that point in the week where we ask you the question, what caught your eye?
- 37:27SPEAKER_06: Absolutely.
- 37:29SPEAKER_06: And I will go first.
- 37:30SPEAKER_06: And I can tell you um that uh something quite unique caught my eye.
- 37:35SPEAKER_06: Is it an aeroplane in the suitcase?
- 37:37SPEAKER_06: It's not.
- 37:42SPEAKER_06: It was a helicopter in a suitcase, um, which a lot of quite a few people contacting me about to say that's brilliant.
- 37:48SPEAKER_06: No.
- 37:50SPEAKER_06: Sorry, it swallowed the fly.
- 37:52SPEAKER_06: Um my aeroplane answers the question: Have you ever found yourself looking at a Cessna 337 thinking, you know, with a turbine and a planing hull, this could make a pretty good seaplane?
- 38:05SPEAKER_06: No.
- 38:05SPEAKER_06: No.
- 38:06SPEAKER_06: I am not surprised.
- 38:07SPEAKER_06: However, one turbine.
- 38:09SPEAKER_06: Sorry?
- 38:09SPEAKER_06: Just one turbine.
- 38:10SPEAKER_06: Just one turbine.
- 38:12SPEAKER_06: One turbine.
- 38:13SPEAKER_06: That seems like a if you were going to get there, why would you start there?
- 38:17SPEAKER_06: Exactly, yes.
- 38:18SPEAKER_06: Uh anyway, that thought process happened for a guy called Larry Matansky in the early 1980s.
- 38:23SPEAKER_06: Larry founded Air Master Inc.
- 38:25SPEAKER_06: in Renton, Washington.
- 38:27SPEAKER_06: And uh and that was he founded Airmaster to produce the Avalon 680 uh Amphibian.
- 38:33SPEAKER_06: I'm just stopping because there's a roar of aeroplanes on the airfield.
- 38:36SPEAKER_03: Can you identify that aircraft?
- 38:39SPEAKER_06: It's an RV6, only because I know I I looked at the parking earlier.
- 38:43SPEAKER_06: Um the Avalon 680 Amphibian, it was an all-metal aircraft powered by a 750-shaft horsepower Pratt and Whitney PT6A, mounted on top of the wing in the cabin, pusher propeller.
- 38:54SPEAKER_06: Uh first flew in October 1983.
- 38:57SPEAKER_06: You won't be surprised uh un unless you're the one person looking at it going, God, what a brilliant idea.
- 39:03SPEAKER_06: This was not a commercial success.
- 39:05SPEAKER_06: In fact, I it I after finding the photos online, I've not been able to find any anything further.
- 39:10SPEAKER_06: They were going to develop it.
- 39:12SPEAKER_06: They had other plans to make twins and all sorts.
- 39:15SPEAKER_06: But um it does look an awful lot like someone took a lot of Cesna 337 and made it.
- 39:21SPEAKER_06: Couldn't it still have the like Dawny AC star thing, or was it?
- 39:25SPEAKER_06: It's got s it's got uh it's got um uh like a C B style fuselage and sponsorns, uh but it's got the twin booms and the very familiar kind of raked fins.
- 39:35SPEAKER_06: Um it's quite I it's quite cool in a 1980s retro thing, but um that caught my eye.
- 39:42SPEAKER_06: And it makes me wonder it it leaves me with this so many of these aeroplanes, you go, where does all this stuff go?
- 39:48SPEAKER_06: Is it still waiting to be found in a hangar somewhere?
- 39:51SPEAKER_06: Probably.
- 39:52SPEAKER_06: Probably.
- 39:52SPEAKER_06: I don't hangar find kind of thing.
- 39:55SPEAKER_06: Yeah.
- 39:56SPEAKER_06: Anyway, so there we go.
- 39:57SPEAKER_06: Avalon 680.
- 39:59SPEAKER_06: Annabelle.
- 40:00SPEAKER_03: What caught my eye this week was the Southport Hookers.
- 40:04SPEAKER_06: Oh wow.
- 40:05SPEAKER_03: Yes.
- 40:05SPEAKER_03: Um so the Southport Hookers is not what you may think.
- 40:09SPEAKER_03: It's actually um a team of crochets, if that's a word, um, who built a full-size replica of Snitfire.
- 40:19SPEAKER_06: Um I like the idea of a knitfire, that's very good.
- 40:24SPEAKER_03: Um this they did in collaboration with the Royal British Collegiation.
- 40:28SPEAKER_03: It took more than two and a half thousand hours of work and it took them six months.
- 40:33SPEAKER_03: Um, there's a video that's been doing the rounds on social media, and it's yeah, it is literally a full-size crochet.
- 40:40SPEAKER_03: Crochet Spitfire complete with pilot.
- 40:43SPEAKER_03: Well that is definitely going to catch your eye.
- 40:45SPEAKER_03: It it did.
- 40:46SPEAKER_05: And you crocheted.
- 40:47SPEAKER_05: Was it put on display in Southport?
- 40:50SPEAKER_03: It was, yeah.
- 40:50SPEAKER_03: So this has been um this has been a real team effort.
- 40:53SPEAKER_03: The Royal British Legion at Southport designed and built the frame.
- 40:56SPEAKER_03: Um so they've also assembled everything.
- 40:59SPEAKER_03: Sefton Council has allowed them to um display it in the Town Hall Gardens.
- 41:04SPEAKER_05: Wow, can you hear that?
- 41:05SPEAKER_05: You've got to be able to hear that.
- 41:07SPEAKER_05: That's gotta be a stinson.
- 41:08SPEAKER_05: That's a stinson.
- 41:09SPEAKER_05: Yeah.
- 41:09SPEAKER_05: Hello, Tim.
- 41:10SPEAKER_05: Oh, I did actually know.
- 41:12SPEAKER_03: The um local, I think it's uh uh wool warehouse deleted the yarn.
- 41:16SPEAKER_03: Uh U3A came to the rescue with a final ten squares.
- 41:19SPEAKER_03: I think they might have misjudged the size a bit.
- 41:21SPEAKER_03: And if you would like to see it for yourself in person, get along to the Town Hall Gardens, Southport Town Centre, uh, from the 15th of October to the 7th of November.
- 41:31SPEAKER_06: So, um, from crochet Spitfires to uh what caught your eye?
- 41:35SPEAKER_05: Well, it's a kind of story that you've probably already heard about, um, because I think it made the news in a couple of places, a couple of the kind of mainstream news things.
- 41:41SPEAKER_05: And this is the first uh 747 800 um Boeing bizjeto.
- 41:48SPEAKER_05: That is a big bizjet.
- 41:49SPEAKER_05: It's 5,000 square feet or something inside.
- 41:52SPEAKER_05: So it is a big bizjet.
- 41:53SPEAKER_05: There's only ten of them built for for the bizjet market.
- 41:57SPEAKER_05: Um this is something quite new then.
- 42:01SPEAKER_05: Not that new.
- 42:02SPEAKER_05: So I suppose it depends how relative you want how far back you want to stay.
- 42:05SPEAKER_05: Yeah, new-ish, should we say?
- 42:07SPEAKER_05: How old is this airplane?
- 42:09SPEAKER_05: Uh I don't know.
- 42:14SPEAKER_05: Not that old.
- 42:15SPEAKER_05: But the in the the thing that caught my eye about it was that um it's it's the first one of them to be scrapped.
- 42:22SPEAKER_06: What?
- 42:22SPEAKER_05: I know.
- 42:23SPEAKER_05: Has it got thousands of hours on it?
- 42:25SPEAKER_05: Yeah, thirty.
- 42:26SPEAKER_05: Not thirty thousand, thirty.
- 42:28SPEAKER_05: Thirty hours split across sixteen flights.
- 42:31SPEAKER_05: What?
- 42:33SPEAKER_05: That's amazing.
- 42:34SPEAKER_05: Thirty hours.
- 42:34SPEAKER_05: It was basically flown from the US to Baal, Mulhouse, where it was due to be outfitted with a luxury interior.
- 42:42SPEAKER_05: Yeah.
- 42:43SPEAKER_05: For reasons unspecified, it sat on the ground there waiting for that to happen for 10 years.
- 42:48SPEAKER_05: I don't think it was because the leather hadn't arrived.
- 42:50SPEAKER_05: I think there must have been some other things going on in the back of the room.
- 42:52SPEAKER_05: I reckon, yeah.
- 42:53SPEAKER_05: Um and then unfortunately, the customer, um Cram Prince, I can't remember his name, uh, of Saudi Arabia passed away.
- 43:04SPEAKER_05: Ah, okay.
- 43:05SPEAKER_05: And then no one really took on the project.
- 43:06SPEAKER_05: Nobody anyway, basically it's it's now been going back to the US to be scrapped.
- 43:11SPEAKER_05: I mean, uh there's gonna be a whole load of parts on it.
- 43:14SPEAKER_06: There's there's scrapped, and there's scrapped, isn't there?
- 43:16SPEAKER_05: There's no not really.
- 43:17SPEAKER_05: I mean, there's scrap it's it will never fly as an airplane on its own.
- 43:20SPEAKER_05: There's a collection of those parts.
- 43:22SPEAKER_05: Its parts will live on.
- 43:23SPEAKER_05: Yeah.
- 43:23SPEAKER_06: It's a bit like a, you know, uh an organ donor, should we say I'm gonna I'm guessing there's a huge number of component parts that will come off that be tagged and will s will help support other 747s.
- 43:34SPEAKER_05: Well the seven four seven eight hundred never really got produced in huge numbers, did it?
- 43:41SPEAKER_05: I don't know.
- 43:41SPEAKER_05: Look at you with your spotter knowledge.
- 43:43SPEAKER_03: Look at you that doesn't know the answer.
- 43:44SPEAKER_03: I know.
- 43:45SPEAKER_05: Exactly.
- 43:45SPEAKER_05: I'm feeling that the tables have turned.
- 43:47SPEAKER_05: Certainly not the Certainly not the um the Bizjet, the BBG.
- 43:53SPEAKER_05: No, that's yeah, probably not much call for that.
- 43:54SPEAKER_05: Yeah.
- 43:55SPEAKER_05: Um no.
- 43:56SPEAKER_05: Uh I think there are there are two currently being worked on for Air Force.
- 44:00SPEAKER_05: One type things.
- 44:02SPEAKER_05: Qatar has its own separate one.
- 44:05SPEAKER_06: Yeah.
- 44:05SPEAKER_05: I believe.
- 44:06SPEAKER_05: And so but you basically you either need to be royalty or country.
- 44:10SPEAKER_06: Anyway, so uh if one of our caught your eyes, has caught your eye, tell us in the comments.
- 44:14SPEAKER_06: Maybe something has actually caught your own eye.
- 44:17SPEAKER_06: Well, yeah, that would be unfortunate.
- 44:19SPEAKER_06: But uh yeah, tell us about them in the comments.
- 44:21SPEAKER_05: Yep.
- 44:21SPEAKER_05: And if you got this far, just a favour, go stand in front of your airplane or something.
- 44:24SPEAKER_05: Get a phone, get someone to shoot the video of you in landscape.
- 44:28SPEAKER_05: In landscape.
- 44:33SPEAKER_06: I wonder if we'll get any videos from someone going from wherever you happen to be standing.
- 44:37SPEAKER_06: Welcome to the flyer show.
- 44:39SPEAKER_03: In landscape.
- 44:40SPEAKER_06: In landscape.
- 44:41SPEAKER_06: Probably, but it will be Annabelle.
- 44:44SPEAKER_03: What are you saying?
- 44:46SPEAKER_05: Yeah.
- 44:47SPEAKER_05: Right, events.
- 44:48SPEAKER_05: You've got any events.
- 44:49SPEAKER_05: Do you think you can manage events, or do you think else do you need us to?
- 44:51SPEAKER_03: I'll give it a go.
- 44:52SPEAKER_03: Um it's not much, actually, it's that time of year, isn't it?
- 44:55SPEAKER_03: Uh this Saturday there is a fireworks and bonfire night at Cotts World Gliding Club.
- 45:00SPEAKER_03: And then coming up on the 1st of November, Pilot Careers Live London.
- 45:04SPEAKER_03: And then, yeah, there's a few more after that, but that's yeah, that's the next couple of weeks.
- 45:08SPEAKER_05: Okay, on that basis, I think we're done.
- 45:10SPEAKER_05: Thank you very much.
- 45:11SPEAKER_05: Bye.
- 45:11SPEAKER_05: Bye.
- 45:12SPEAKER_05: So forgive Annabelle's runny nose.
- 45:15SPEAKER_05: Um Annabelle?
- 45:18SPEAKER_05: I think you're on next.
- 45:20SPEAKER_05: Tell us all about the club.
- 45:21SPEAKER_03: Wait a minute.
- 45:22SPEAKER_03: Let's try that again.
- 45:23SPEAKER_03: Um you're not allowed to have a lot of chocolate on your club anymore because it's now chocolate flavour.
- 45:30SPEAKER_05: Is that because they don't use chocolate?
- 45:32SPEAKER_03: Yes.
- 45:33SPEAKER_05: What do they use instead then?
- 45:34SPEAKER_03: Chocolate flavour.
- 45:36SPEAKER_03: So now if you want a lot of biscuit or something.
- 45:39SPEAKER_05: If you like a lot of chocolate on your biscuit, join our club.
- 45:42SPEAKER_03: If you like a lot of biscuit for your break.
- 45:44SPEAKER_06: I don't remember that lyric.
- 45:45SPEAKER_06: I don't.
- 45:46SPEAKER_03: It's just changed.
- 45:46SPEAKER_03: It was in the news yesterday.
- 45:47SPEAKER_03: Oh, really?
- 45:48SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
- 45:48SPEAKER_06: Okay.
- 45:49SPEAKER_06: Anyway, talk amongst yourselves.
- 45:52SPEAKER_06: Right.
- 45:52SPEAKER_03: Club news.
- 45:53SPEAKER_03: I'm fine.
- 45:54SPEAKER_05: Everything you need to know about confectionery, you can get by joining the Flyer Club.
- 46:00SPEAKER_05: It costs just six pounds a month.
- 46:01SPEAKER_05: But it also has got to be a bargain.
- 46:03SPEAKER_05: Yeah.
- 46:03SPEAKER_05: It also brings things like free landings.
- 46:05SPEAKER_06: Yeah.
- 46:05SPEAKER_06: Next week we'll talk about Jaffa Cakes.
- 46:09SPEAKER_06: You're not allowed to scary boardies.
- 46:11SPEAKER_06: You're not allowed to sabotage the Annabelle.
- 46:13SPEAKER_06: Chocolate digestive.
- 46:15SPEAKER_06: Ed, what's your favourite biscuit?
- 46:17SPEAKER_06: You know, I I think I like a dark chocolate digestive.
- 46:22SPEAKER_06: Do you?
- 46:22SPEAKER_06: For a long time I was a milk chocolate digestive person, and I had a quick sojourn into uh milk chocolate hobnob.
- 46:31SPEAKER_06: But I found they were exceptionally droopy when I stuck them in my tea.
- 46:39SPEAKER_06: It's uh if you've joined us uh viewers and uh you're concerned about Annabelle on my left, then yes, you're right to be concerned.
- 46:46SPEAKER_05: Well there's not an Annabelle on your right.
- 46:49SPEAKER_05: Yes.
- 46:50SPEAKER_05: So should we try that again?
- 46:51SPEAKER_05: Annabelle, tell everybody about the club.
- 46:54SPEAKER_03: We may need a little break.
- 46:57SPEAKER_03: Can I make them fine?
- 47:00SPEAKER_03: Um I need to redo my makeup.
- 47:03SPEAKER_06: No, you'll be fine.
- 47:04SPEAKER_03: I don't mind.
- 47:05SPEAKER_03: You know, people will be going, Do you think Annabelle's been crying?
- 47:08SPEAKER_03: Probably.
- 47:10SPEAKER_03: Very likely.
- 47:12SPEAKER_03: Okay.
- 47:14SPEAKER_05: Looking at the camera.
- 47:17SPEAKER_05: I'm gonna leave all that in.
- 47:18SPEAKER_05: I'm not editing it out.
- 47:23SPEAKER_05: Okay.
- 47:28SPEAKER_00: I don't think this is gonna work, is it, like this?
- 47:31SPEAKER_00: Join the Flyer Club today and save hundreds of pounds with your free landing vouchers.
- 47:37SPEAKER_00: Watch insightful monthly webinars from our group of aviation experts, and access all the online content on flyer.co.uk from just£6 per month or£62 for the full year.
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