Latest / Flyer Magazine / Are we facing Airfield Armageddon? - The FLYER Show - 12 February 2026

Transcript

Are we facing Airfield Armageddon? - The FLYER Show - 12 February 2026 · Flyer Magazine

0:05
SPEAKER_00: From the Royal Tiger Air Force Museum.
0:08
SPEAKER_05: The Flyer Show.
0:11
SPEAKER_05: Hello and welcome to this week's Flyer Show.
0:14
SPEAKER_05: My name's Ian Seeger.
0:16
SPEAKER_05: I'm Ed Hicks.
0:16
SPEAKER_04: And I'm Dave Caulderwood.
0:18
SPEAKER_05: And you're back.
0:19
SPEAKER_05: I wasn't here last week.
0:20
SPEAKER_05: I went to well, amongst other places.
0:23
SPEAKER_06: For the people who can't read the tiny letters on your hat, where did where did you go?
0:27
SPEAKER_05: I went well I went to I went to see uh a flight training show in Paris, and then I popped down to La Rochelle to see Elixir.
0:34
SPEAKER_06: Or some in the sunshine.
0:35
SPEAKER_06: Yeah.
0:36
SPEAKER_05: I took his little video I took when I was there.
0:37
SPEAKER_05: It was it was really it was quite impressive.
0:40
SPEAKER_05: In the sunshine.
0:40
SPEAKER_05: It was it was as wet as it is here.
0:43
SPEAKER_06: We're presuming the words La Rochelle means.
0:46
SPEAKER_05: No, La Rochelle that La Rochelle last week meant rainy.
0:49
SPEAKER_05: Oh, okay.
0:50
SPEAKER_05: And rainy and bloody windy as well, to be honest.
0:52
SPEAKER_06: Anyway, so Elixir build that fabulous carbon trainer that's do they 3D print it or something?
0:58
SPEAKER_05: No, they kind of have this one shot one-shot production method.
1:02
SPEAKER_05: So you create the whole wing in one go.
1:04
SPEAKER_05: And there's like there's no spa.
1:06
SPEAKER_05: There are some.
1:07
SPEAKER_05: I'm guessing there is a spa, but not in the way that you know it.
1:13
SPEAKER_05: No, there's a significantly reduced uh parts count in there.
1:16
SPEAKER_05: They've kind of kind of got three factories.
1:17
SPEAKER_05: I didn't realise they've got 200 people working for them.
1:19
SPEAKER_05: Why?
1:20
SPEAKER_05: They raised 40 million euros worth of worth of stuff to get it going.
1:23
SPEAKER_05: Yeah.
1:23
SPEAKER_05: They've got three factories, which is not ideal, but they're building a brand new factory.
1:27
SPEAKER_05: Um, be ready next year, I think, on the other side of the airport, Lower Shell.
1:30
SPEAKER_05: Really quite impressive facilities.
1:32
SPEAKER_05: And to look round uh and see the bits coming together is really quite It's a very different thing to any other aircraft factory I've seen.
1:40
SPEAKER_06: Yeah.
1:40
SPEAKER_06: Yeah.
1:40
SPEAKER_06: And and a whole bunch of because Elixir, it's kind of pioneered by a whole bunch of young people, wasn't it?
1:46
SPEAKER_06: Do you remember we met we met this time this they were all like twelve at Rufus haven locked ten years ago.
1:52
SPEAKER_05: So I was kind of walking around and the guy said to me, I'm not going to do the French accent.
1:57
SPEAKER_05: Have a look at it.
1:59
SPEAKER_05: Have a look at the design office.
2:00
SPEAKER_05: And I walked in, and I kind of felt like saying, Do their parents collect them at the end of the day?
2:06
SPEAKER_05: Or something.
2:08
SPEAKER_05: It was very a very young bunch of energetic people.
2:12
SPEAKER_05: Yeah.
2:13
SPEAKER_05: Um, yeah, no.
2:14
SPEAKER_05: So that that was really good.
2:15
SPEAKER_05: They seem to be doing to be doing pretty well.
2:17
SPEAKER_06: Yeah, and they've sold they've there's orders in the States, I think.
2:20
SPEAKER_06: Oh, the the big and we've got some there's some on a training fleet over here, aren't there?
2:24
SPEAKER_05: Yep, there's some on the training fleet over here.
2:26
SPEAKER_05: There's they're working quite hard in the US.
2:29
SPEAKER_05: Yeah.
2:30
SPEAKER_05: Um I think they've got lots of stroke orders, stroke impressions of interest or impressions of interest.
2:35
SPEAKER_05: Letters of interest.
2:36
SPEAKER_07: Yeah.
2:37
SPEAKER_05: Letters of interest.
2:37
SPEAKER_05: So yeah, no, that's but that seems to be good.
2:39
SPEAKER_05: So hopefully we'll get back out there when the weather's sunnier.
2:42
SPEAKER_05: Yeah.
2:42
SPEAKER_05: Not so windy.
2:43
SPEAKER_05: Yeah.
2:44
SPEAKER_05: Um, but before the thousands of tourists arrive in Lower Shell and go and jump in and go and do some flying and have a go.
2:51
SPEAKER_05: So that'll be good.
2:51
SPEAKER_05: Yeah.
2:52
SPEAKER_05: Anyway, anyway, coming up on the show tonight, or even coming up on the show this week.
2:57
SPEAKER_05: Yes.
2:57
SPEAKER_05: When it depending on when you watch it, um, is it a big airfield update.
3:01
SPEAKER_05: Lots going on with airfields.
3:02
SPEAKER_05: We all know airfields are the lifeblood of aviation, and we need them.
3:06
SPEAKER_05: Um and it's probably fair to say there's a few with some problems that we wish they didn't have.
3:10
SPEAKER_05: Yeah.
3:10
SPEAKER_06: So there's gonna this is this is one of a few airfield updates for this year, isn't it?
3:16
SPEAKER_05: Hopefully, some of them will be positive.
3:18
SPEAKER_05: Yeah.
3:18
SPEAKER_05: Um anyway, right, time to move on.
3:20
SPEAKER_05: Thank you very much, Sky Demon, for supporting the Flyer Show.
3:23
SPEAKER_05: Here is your top tip for the week.
3:29
SPEAKER_00: Hi, I'm Hannah from Sky Demon, and this is this week's top tip.
3:33
SPEAKER_00: One of the options in the logs menu is the debriefing pack, which allows you to generate a document containing lots of useful information about the selected log.
3:45
SPEAKER_00: It includes a map with your track log overlaid, the virtual radar showing a vertical profile of the flight, and some general flight statistics like flight time and block times.
4:00
SPEAKER_00: Here we can see a post-flight pilot log with the actual times of arrival at the waypoints in your planned route, and there's also a list of significant events during the flight, such as airspace that you went through and airfields and waypoints that you passed.
4:15
SPEAKER_00: The debriefing pack is a PDF and it can be printed out, saved, or shared by email.
4:22
SPEAKER_00: For more information, go to our website skydemon.arrow.
4:29
SPEAKER_06: So worryingly, Hannah says um for any airspace you may have flown through.
4:33
SPEAKER_06: It's like hopefully I was aware of that.
4:36
SPEAKER_05: Yeah, I mean and you can fly through it with permission, can't you?
4:38
SPEAKER_05: So this is all about that that kind of briefing pack.
4:41
SPEAKER_05: I think it's I mean, I I tend not to use it when I'm fairly current and stuff like that.
4:46
SPEAKER_05: But this I haven't flown for bloody ages, apart from like broken leg, uh weather, aircraft grounding thanks to the trust.
4:53
SPEAKER_05: I'm back.
4:54
SPEAKER_05: You're back?
4:54
SPEAKER_05: I'm back in legal.
4:55
SPEAKER_05: Yeah.
4:55
SPEAKER_05: But I still haven't flown yet.
4:56
SPEAKER_05: I've got to go and get the airplane later this week, hopefully, when it starts raining.
5:00
SPEAKER_05: Um but it's really good to be able to, if you are a little bit out of the picture, to sit back, oh I wonder what actually happened there and have a good look.
5:06
SPEAKER_05: Yeah.
5:07
SPEAKER_05: So a useful little feature.
5:08
SPEAKER_05: Wonder what happened there.
5:09
SPEAKER_05: Wonder what happened there.
5:10
SPEAKER_05: I appear to be in front of the hangar.
5:12
SPEAKER_05: How did that happen?
5:15
SPEAKER_06: Does everyone do that?
5:16
SPEAKER_06: Yeah.
5:16
SPEAKER_06: Um, um, it's certainly very damp.
5:20
SPEAKER_06: I just walked out and came back and it was damp.
5:22
SPEAKER_06: Uh, I wonder whether that's gonna change.
5:24
SPEAKER_06: Let's see what Simon has for us.
5:27
SPEAKER_01: Even all, I hope you are well this evening.
5:30
SPEAKER_01: Looking forward to the weekend.
5:31
SPEAKER_01: Do you know what?
5:32
SPEAKER_01: Fingers crossed, I think I can find you not a bad weekend ahead.
5:38
SPEAKER_01: Uh, all we have to do is hope that the weather plays well and that the timings of what I'm about to show you work out.
5:44
SPEAKER_01: But it looks like being good news.
5:47
SPEAKER_01: Well, semi-good news, at least.
5:50
SPEAKER_01: At last.
5:50
SPEAKER_01: Let's take a look at things then.
5:52
SPEAKER_01: Um these are the charts from the high-resolution German icon EU model.
5:57
SPEAKER_01: Uh, and I think this presents the best solution this weekend.
6:00
SPEAKER_01: The times there are in the top right hand corner as I scroll through.
6:04
SPEAKER_01: So, this is the chart for 9am on Friday morning.
6:06
SPEAKER_01: You see here we've got rain, probably satellite, and some snow over the hills of um central parts of England and Wales running into eastern Ireland.
6:16
SPEAKER_01: Now, freezing levels are dropping behind as the winds turn around into a northeaster as this front clears south.
6:23
SPEAKER_01: A few snow showers getting into the far northeast of England, perhaps eastern Scotland.
6:27
SPEAKER_01: But you can see here, look, how well broken the cloud is, clearer skies coming through, decent conditions coming down through Scotland, but as I say, the freezing levels dropping as that cold air sinks southwards.
6:38
SPEAKER_01: So there we go, look, there's that uh front sinking its way southwards, cold air goes with it, and um eventually by Friday evening that rain clears from the south.
6:48
SPEAKER_01: Now, um flying for Friday gets better across northern England, eventually through the Midlands, through Wales, through Ireland, Scotland looking good as well.
6:55
SPEAKER_01: But as I say, just be aware that these freezing levels are going to be sinking, and with that rain in the south, and as I said to some sleet and snow, really there's gonna be quite a significant icing risk across southern parts of the country through Friday.
7:09
SPEAKER_01: Now, overnight to Saturday, sharp frost forms, and then Saturday morning and starting fair for most of us.
7:14
SPEAKER_01: You see there, very little cloud.
7:16
SPEAKER_01: However, with so much moisture around in the ground, I think we could find some fog patches around first things.
7:22
SPEAKER_01: They will lift, and then actually it's a decent sort of day.
7:25
SPEAKER_01: We're looking at bases probably at around about three, four thousand feet, tops at about seven, eight thousand feet.
7:31
SPEAKER_01: A lovely ridge of high pressure there.
7:33
SPEAKER_01: The ridge is that N shape that you see in the isobars there.
7:37
SPEAKER_01: However, notice by uh morning uh we've already got some cloud increasing across Ireland.
7:43
SPEAKER_01: That's going to be high-level cirrus cloud, and that spills eastwards and increases as we get into the afternoon.
7:49
SPEAKER_01: Rain then getting across Ireland, knocking on the door of southwest England by dark.
7:54
SPEAKER_01: But I think for most of us it will have been a good day.
7:57
SPEAKER_01: And as that cirrus cloud moves in, yes, the winds will increase across western areas, but generally it stays pretty fair.
8:04
SPEAKER_01: So you see what I mean about suddenly not on Saturday not being a bad day.
8:08
SPEAKER_01: Now, overnight into Saturday, we've got that rain coming in.
8:10
SPEAKER_01: It meets the colder air that we'll have had across the country, and it could bring a few hours of sleet and snow to parts of Scotland, to parts of central, southern, and eastern England.
8:22
SPEAKER_01: But as it clears eastwards, Mulder Air is following in behind, so that by midday, really, it's only going to be um Scotland that still sees cloud and outbreaks of rain, heavy showers, some rain in western parts of Scotland.
8:36
SPEAKER_01: Some showers across northwest England, northern and western parts of Wales as well.
8:40
SPEAKER_01: These possibly wintry, but as I said, the Mulder Air is moving in all the time.
8:44
SPEAKER_01: Quite breezy for northern England and for Scotland and for the south.
8:47
SPEAKER_01: The winds are lighter, could be misty and murky for a while behind the front.
8:51
SPEAKER_01: But as the afternoon progresses, things should improve.
8:55
SPEAKER_01: Not for everybody though, because there's an area of rain that then drifts through the Channel and southern England.
9:01
SPEAKER_01: Again, significant icing risk associated with that.
9:04
SPEAKER_01: So across channel, probably not on, but western Scotland, northwestern parts of England, northwestern Wales, western parts of Ireland, seeing a few heavy showers.
9:14
SPEAKER_01: Some of those could be um wintry, but for many more eastern areas and central areas of the country, it looks like it does improve.
9:23
SPEAKER_01: So peak of the days for the weekend certainly looks to be um Saturday, Sunday getting better.
9:31
SPEAKER_01: And you can get better at forecasting yourself by getting yourself along to my aviation weather school part one.
9:38
SPEAKER_01: All my courses are full at the moment, but I'm just about to announce some more.
9:42
SPEAKER_01: So if you'd like me to pop you across an email and let you know when the course dates are announced and what they are, just go to weatherschool.co.uk or use the QR code that you see on the screen there, and I will let you know as soon as those course dates are announced.
9:56
SPEAKER_01: I've actually got a part two course for those who have already been to part one, that's going to take place on the Tuesday evenings of the 24th of February and the 3rd of March.
10:06
SPEAKER_01: So you can book your place now at weatherschool.co.uk.
10:09
SPEAKER_01: If you can't wait that long, then if you go to aviation at weatherschool.co.uk and just click on the pilot's guide to skew tees.
10:17
SPEAKER_01: That's my um recording course lasts about three hours, gives you a certificate at the end, and you get a free ebook with it, and it will unlock the mystery of these amazing diagrams.
10:27
SPEAKER_01: These are the things I would show you if it were me doing the PPL meta exams.
10:34
SPEAKER_01: Okay, I will leave you with that for now.
10:37
SPEAKER_01: Whatever you're doing, have a great, have a safe weekend, make the most of it.
10:41
SPEAKER_01: Sorry I've taken up so much time, but there was detail in that forecast, and I'll catch you next week.
10:45
SPEAKER_01: Bye for now.
10:47
SPEAKER_06: Maybe still damp.
10:49
SPEAKER_05: Well, I think there's some there's some I'm I'm I'm gonna be positive.
10:53
SPEAKER_05: Changes a foot changes a foot.
10:55
SPEAKER_05: Let's hope.
10:56
SPEAKER_05: Yeah, I was talking to someone the other day and he was talking about this kind of weather, and he was saying, I don't know, everyone says, Oh, yeah, this is a once-in-a-generation kind of weather.
11:05
SPEAKER_05: And every year it's once-in-abody generation.
11:07
SPEAKER_05: Well, that's a lot of generations.
11:08
SPEAKER_05: A lot of generations, isn't it?
11:09
SPEAKER_05: Anyway, onto some news, onto some news.
11:11
SPEAKER_05: I'm gonna lead off the news today.
11:12
SPEAKER_05: Yeah, and this is news of the another Civil Aviation Authority consultation.
11:17
SPEAKER_05: I know, cheer, calm, yeah, calm your beating hearts.
11:20
SPEAKER_05: This one's all about the um pilot medical declaration, not so much about the pilot medical declaration itself, but about what you can and can't do with it if you happen to be a f FI flight instructor or a CRI uh instructor.
11:33
SPEAKER_05: Um so effectively, at the moment there's a bit of a I don't want to use the word loophole because other people have used it and I'm not entirely sure it's true.
11:41
SPEAKER_05: Um unintended consequence perhaps.
11:43
SPEAKER_05: Yes.
11:43
SPEAKER_05: Where you can instruct for a the initial issue of a PPLA uh with uh if you're a flight instructor with a PMD.
11:50
SPEAKER_05: And the CA have basically said, look, if you need if you need a class two medical for that to be issued, you're gonna need a class two medical to teach it.
11:57
SPEAKER_05: And so um if the changes are made as they are proposing, you will no longer if you and you're an instructor teaching ab initio PPLs on a PMD, you will no longer be able to do that.
12:08
SPEAKER_05: You'll have to go and get your class two medical.
12:11
SPEAKER_05: There's some background to all this, which is the CA Medicals Department unstatistically based, ridiculous requirement for all sorts of extra stuff.
12:20
SPEAKER_05: But we'll come back to that another day.
12:22
SPEAKER_05: Um so i if however you're training for an MPPL, then you can do that on a PMD and a and a CRI can do um do what they do on a PMD.
12:33
SPEAKER_05: So a CRI could do the hour with an instructor on a PMD if you like, even if it's for a PPL, because it's somebody who's got the license on the medical already, if you like, or not even the medical necessarily.
12:43
SPEAKER_06: Yeah.
12:43
SPEAKER_06: Um you've done you've done I think you've done well to distill data out of that consultation, because it was it w might have been one of the most impenetrable things I've read from the CA well, almost I tried to read from the CAA in a long time.
12:55
SPEAKER_05: There's a key paragraph in there which is just impenetrable.
12:58
SPEAKER_05: Yeah.
12:59
SPEAKER_05: And you know you hate it, it all it's already starts off as impenetrable.
13:02
SPEAKER_05: Then it goes, and this is according to this, and this is a and you follow all the links and you end up down this rabbit hole following because the next bit of legislation then refers to another bit.
13:09
SPEAKER_05: It's like there is just no clear guidance.
13:12
SPEAKER_05: But anyway, so plus they forgot to put the dates in, didn't they?
13:15
SPEAKER_05: Oh yes, so it ends it ends on the 9th of March.
13:19
SPEAKER_05: Um because uh uh uh in there they forgot to put the X's.
13:22
SPEAKER_05: Yeah, so go go have a look at it, yeah, work your way through it.
13:25
SPEAKER_05: Um effectively what it means is um CRI sorry, FIs won't be able to teach for PPL A's, but will be able to teach for MPPLs uh with a PMD.
13:36
SPEAKER_05: Yeah.
13:36
SPEAKER_04: You're a C R I.
13:37
SPEAKER_04: What do you think of it as a CRI?
13:40
SPEAKER_05: I think it's I think it's a good idea.
13:41
SPEAKER_05: Yeah.
13:42
SPEAKER_05: Um well, I think the fact that CRIs can can can do their instructor hour and other other stuff working towards other um class ratings if you like, with a PMD is fine because you're you're teaching someone who's who's experienced and it it I I do think there's an you know the it's worth thinking about if if you're instructing for a living and you have abernishow people who've never sat in an airplane before and come along and sit beside you, they probably do have an expectation that you've got half a chance of finishing the lesson a lie.
14:15
SPEAKER_05: Um but again the st the stats don't bear that out.
14:18
SPEAKER_05: I mean if if if we weren't purely on statistics, I think we'd probably be everyone would just try on PMDs recreationally full stop.
14:25
SPEAKER_07: Yeah.
14:26
SPEAKER_04: You do wish the uh CEA's medical department did actually use evidence to just.
14:31
SPEAKER_05: The CA's medical department about the stress ECG.
14:34
SPEAKER_05: Yeah.
14:34
SPEAKER_05: I think they've done uh you know, let's give them the fact that they were well intentioned, but I think they've done untold caused untold harm actually.
14:43
SPEAKER_04: Yes, yeah.
14:44
SPEAKER_04: I think a class two I I'm quite happy to submit myself to a class two medical every year.
14:48
SPEAKER_04: Yeah.
14:48
SPEAKER_04: But not if I have to do the stress test.
14:50
SPEAKER_05: Stress ECG, yeah.
14:51
SPEAKER_05: Yeah.
14:52
SPEAKER_05: Uh but the PMD, I think the PMD is really good.
14:54
SPEAKER_05: Uh there's a whole load of confusing stuff about using it overseas and the various conditions where you can and can't use it.
14:59
SPEAKER_06: But we are still we're still kind of we are leaders in that whole PMD is a very good thing.
15:04
SPEAKER_06: We are we do we're currently doing it much better than the Americans.
15:07
SPEAKER_06: Yeah.
15:07
SPEAKER_06: Yeah.
15:11
SPEAKER_06: Talking talking of America.
15:13
SPEAKER_06: Yes.
15:14
SPEAKER_06: Talking of America, uh big surprise uh in the world of AOP US because they've got uh their CEO is a guy called Darren Pleasants, took over about thirteen months ago.
15:25
SPEAKER_06: Oh yeah, it was.
15:27
SPEAKER_06: It was.
15:30
SPEAKER_06: So this guy, Darren Pleasants, uh very, very popular uh America uh CEO of AOP US, and big surprise announcement from AOPA um saying he is leaving with a media effect um and AOP U AOP US saying uh it's in becoming increasingly clear that uh the CEO role should be based full-time in Frederick, Maryland.
15:52
SPEAKER_06: And uh Darren lives uh across the country on on the other side, uh, but has been very visible all through the year.
16:01
SPEAKER_06: He's been everywhere, I kind of uh up in Alaska, all events he's traveled.
16:06
SPEAKER_06: He's probably it's in the short time, he's probably been one of the most visible and well-traveled AOPA CEOs ever.
16:14
SPEAKER_06: Yeah.
16:14
SPEAKER_06: Um so this is a real shock.
16:16
SPEAKER_06: Um and the internet, surprisingly, unsurprisingly, has kind of blown up in support of him.
16:22
SPEAKER_06: Uh one big supporter was uh Mike Bush, uh a well-known engine guru.
16:28
SPEAKER_06: Uh Mike going, Darren has a rare combination of hands-on flying and aircraft ownership experience coupled with high-level executive experience, which is kind of what you want in a in that kind of top advocate role for aviation.
16:44
SPEAKER_05: A bunch of people saying he was the he was the real deal.
16:46
SPEAKER_05: And I think I think the other thing is, and I I'm not gonna accuse AAP US of lying, um, but I am gonna say that if you say he's leaving with immediate effect and then go, oh, it's because he didn't want to move, kind of thing.
16:59
SPEAKER_05: Well, does that really make sense, honestly?
17:01
SPEAKER_05: Are you surprised that people are a little bit cynical about that?
17:04
SPEAKER_05: I wouldn't be.
17:05
SPEAKER_06: It's definitely yeah.
17:06
SPEAKER_06: Um yeah.
17:06
SPEAKER_06: And Mike says, uh it makes no sense.
17:08
SPEAKER_06: I find the lack of transparency uh from the AOPA board dis uh deeply troubling.
17:14
SPEAKER_06: Um there is a petition that's been started to uh call for his reinstatement.
17:18
SPEAKER_06: That's got four thousand people signed up to it already.
17:22
SPEAKER_06: Um but uh yeah, I was really surprised to hear that.
17:26
SPEAKER_06: And I I think the rest of the rest of the GA community seems to be the same because he seemed like a good guy.
17:33
SPEAKER_06: I uh R V six owner, flyer, all sorts of other aeroplanes.
17:38
SPEAKER_06: Is that because he's a good guy?
17:40
SPEAKER_06: Doesn't make that a thing, but yeah, he was We need to search for an R V villain.
17:45
SPEAKER_06: No, yeah, there's no such thing.
17:47
SPEAKER_06: Um but uh yeah, no, he just everyone seemed to bond with him because he was uh AOPA s more recently sometimes accused of being a bit more biased towards the jet set, and actually Pleasants brought along a whole bunch of just GA brilliance.
18:03
SPEAKER_06: So yeah.
18:05
SPEAKER_05: Well see what happens.
18:06
SPEAKER_05: It's one of those things where you know we don't as the Americans say, we don't have a dog in that fight.
18:11
SPEAKER_06: No, but but yeah, I mean it's it's a shit.
18:16
SPEAKER_06: Yeah, but it is a shame to see someone who clearly was a great fit removed.
18:21
SPEAKER_04: Yeah.
18:22
SPEAKER_04: Better news Aero, the world's largest general aviation trade show, um, takes place this year from the 22nd to the 25th of April.
18:31
SPEAKER_04: Um and usual same place, Friedrich Schaffen with the airport, where you can fly in.
18:35
SPEAKER_04: And they've now opened uh well actually tomorrow they open the uh pre-registration for slots to fly in.
18:42
SPEAKER_04: You have to book a slot to in order to fly in and also to get out again.
18:46
SPEAKER_04: Um so they're gonna pre-register, and then from mid-March there'll be uh registered users will be notified in stages about booking and paying for it all.
18:56
SPEAKER_06: Um This sounds a bit complex.
18:58
SPEAKER_06: Well register for your slot.
19:01
SPEAKER_06: And then we'll invite you to book your slot.
19:03
SPEAKER_06: Are they fearing you know they don't have a good history of booking slots?
19:08
SPEAKER_05: Their slot system has been quite possibly one of the Well no, this year they've talked to everybody apparently to how how to tweak it.
19:15
SPEAKER_05: They said that last year as well.
19:17
SPEAKER_05: Anyway, hope this is the ha no, stop it Ian.
19:20
SPEAKER_05: I do apologise.
19:21
SPEAKER_05: Sorry.
19:21
SPEAKER_04: So but uh so that's for that's for the main bulk of aircraft flying in.
19:25
SPEAKER_04: But if you're a micro light, there's a special field, the Markdorf gliding airfield, around ten kilometres west of Friedrichshaffen.
19:33
SPEAKER_04: Is that still on the same side as yeah, yeah.
19:36
SPEAKER_04: Okay, there's Lake Constance in the way, and I was thinking that must be west.
19:40
SPEAKER_05: A million miles probably from where we're staying, really.
19:42
SPEAKER_04: No, no, no.
19:44
SPEAKER_04: But there's more.
19:45
SPEAKER_04: And members of the Flyer Club can get 50% off the price of a one-day ticket, whether you're flying in or not.
19:52
SPEAKER_04: Wow.
19:53
SPEAKER_04: Yeah.
19:53
SPEAKER_05: Brilliant.
19:54
SPEAKER_04: It is, yeah.
19:55
SPEAKER_04: You have to go to your uh you have to go to your members dashboard, and on there there's a coupon with a code that you use when you buy a ticket.
20:03
SPEAKER_05: What do you mean?
20:04
SPEAKER_05: Are you saying you're not a member?
20:06
SPEAKER_05: Go to flyer.co.uk forward slash membership now and join for just six pounds per month and enjoy fifty percent off, plus lots of free landing fees and lots of other great stuff as well.
20:15
SPEAKER_04: Yeah.
20:15
SPEAKER_04: Well it's fair to say we're really looking forward to this year's euro.
20:18
SPEAKER_04: I mean, we always do, but my favorite.
20:20
SPEAKER_06: My favourite show.
20:20
SPEAKER_06: It's just it's so civilised.
20:22
SPEAKER_06: Yeah.
20:22
SPEAKER_06: Yeah, it is.
20:23
SPEAKER_06: Paul Bertarelli was always uh you go, he he he knew shows and he was like, I love Aero.
20:29
SPEAKER_06: Yeah.
20:29
SPEAKER_06: It's it's just fantastic.
20:31
SPEAKER_06: Yeah.
20:32
SPEAKER_06: Yeah.
20:33
SPEAKER_06: Can't wait.
20:34
SPEAKER_06: Right then, Ed.
20:35
SPEAKER_06: Very good.
20:35
SPEAKER_06: It's me.
20:37
SPEAKER_06: Um Are you a closet air racer?
20:42
SPEAKER_03: Well, you beat me with your drones.
20:44
SPEAKER_03: I know, yeah.
20:44
SPEAKER_06: Well, yeah, uh maybe 2026 is your year to go.
20:47
SPEAKER_06: Oh, you know, I'm gonna do some air racing.
20:49
SPEAKER_06: And if you are, then uh the uh the British Air Racing Championship uh for 2026, they've got an air race school that's gonna take place at Popham on the 18th and 19th of April, um, which aims to bring new people into air racing.
21:04
SPEAKER_06: And you can go with your own airplane or you can go along uh without an aeroplane.
21:09
SPEAKER_06: And they will find a way to help you.
21:11
SPEAKER_06: Walk around the car park run around the run around the site.
21:14
SPEAKER_06: Uh they they say any willing participant can attend either um either day, um, as both days are identical, and you can learn about the rules, regulations, and techniques uh involved in air racing.
21:26
SPEAKER_06: It's free to attend as well.
21:28
SPEAKER_04: They just want you to pre-register, didn't they?
21:30
SPEAKER_04: Aaron Powell Yes.
21:30
SPEAKER_04: Yeah.
21:31
SPEAKER_06: And you can do that at um Royal Aero Club R R A.co.uk.
21:37
SPEAKER_05: I mean, could you could we think of anyone who's got like an R V three or something painted in funky colours?
21:45
SPEAKER_05: Yeah.
21:45
SPEAKER_05: Trevor Burrus, Jr.
21:46
SPEAKER_06: Like a G Yes.
21:47
SPEAKER_06: Yeah.
21:47
SPEAKER_06: I'm not I did you know, I did some air racing thirty years ago.
21:52
SPEAKER_06: Um and so I I have done my air racing thing.
21:56
SPEAKER_06: Um so but I would it's it is it's It's fun.
22:00
SPEAKER_06: You should do it in the R V three.
22:02
SPEAKER_06: I haven't got time to do all these things.
22:04
SPEAKER_06: Well, it's quick.
22:06
SPEAKER_06: Yes.
22:07
SPEAKER_06: Yeah, but there are so there are five events through the through the uh through the year this year.
22:11
SPEAKER_06: Uh Havford West, Fishburn, Wellsbourne, Sherburne and Elmer, and Shobden.
22:16
SPEAKER_05: So um Yeah.
22:18
SPEAKER_05: You just go go to the school, do one, win it, and go, right, that's it.
22:21
SPEAKER_05: I'm declaring victory.
22:23
SPEAKER_05: Yeah.
22:24
SPEAKER_06: Useful things to know.
22:26
SPEAKER_06: Uh for to race, you must have at least 100 hours P1, and your aeroplane must be capable of at least 100 miles an hour straight and level.
22:34
SPEAKER_06: Um but there used to be a thing about um having to race at full power that you don't have to do that now because they've got clever handicapping software that they can they can calculate your your stuff.
22:46
SPEAKER_06: Yeah.
22:47
SPEAKER_05: Right.
22:48
SPEAKER_05: Have you ever wondered how high you are?
22:50
SPEAKER_05: Often.
22:51
SPEAKER_05: Often, yeah.
22:51
SPEAKER_05: Usually it's landing.
22:52
SPEAKER_05: It's like, oh is it there, yeah?
22:53
SPEAKER_05: Oh is it there, yeah?
22:54
SPEAKER_05: Oh.
22:54
SPEAKER_05: The good news is you can now buy a GHA 15, Garmin Height Advisor 15.
22:59
SPEAKER_05: Gummin.
23:00
SPEAKER_05: Gummin.
23:01
SPEAKER_05: Garmin height advisor 15.
23:03
SPEAKER_05: It's basically, it's they don't want to call it a rad out, they call it a height advisor.
23:06
SPEAKER_05: I don't know why they don't call it a rad out, but anyway.
23:08
SPEAKER_05: It's a radar-based, it's a radar bus-based thing that gets screwed to the bottom of your airplane, works with G3X Touch or GI275s, and then it gives you height above ground or water, um, up to 500 feet, and then you can you can you can determine the call-outs you get from 300 feet down to one feet.
23:28
SPEAKER_05: Obviously not going to call out every foot.
23:30
SPEAKER_05: Um you say that.
23:31
SPEAKER_06: Well, no, uh in the last in the last year.
23:34
SPEAKER_05: 299, 298, 2009.
23:36
SPEAKER_06: Yeah, okay.
23:37
SPEAKER_06: But in the I've I've watched a video last week of someone who had one on a sling, TSI.
23:42
SPEAKER_06: Yeah.
23:42
SPEAKER_06: And they were landing and they um they flared, they they fluffed their flare a bit and they went back up.
23:47
SPEAKER_06: And it was like uh four, three, two, one, three, four.
23:52
SPEAKER_06: Stall, stall.
23:53
SPEAKER_06: No, no, no.
23:53
SPEAKER_06: But you get it was you go, wow, that is really granular in it.
23:57
SPEAKER_05: Yeah, no, you think it's it won one foot increments, it will do that.
24:00
SPEAKER_05: I don't think it does the airpass air bus thing where it goes, retard, retard.
24:04
SPEAKER_05: I'm sorry.
24:04
SPEAKER_05: It's much kinder than that.
24:06
SPEAKER_05: Yeah.
24:06
SPEAKER_04: Yeah.
24:06
SPEAKER_04: So the G3X touch can only be used with the experimental aircraft.
24:11
SPEAKER_04: Okay.
24:11
SPEAKER_04: You have to use GI275 on certified aircraft.
24:14
SPEAKER_04: Yeah, that makes sense.
24:15
SPEAKER_04: Yeah.
24:15
SPEAKER_06: Yeah.
24:16
SPEAKER_05: Yeah.
24:17
SPEAKER_05: But yeah, impressive piece of kit.
24:19
SPEAKER_05: It is impressive.
24:20
SPEAKER_05: Um I'm I probably won't choose to fit one to the 182.
24:23
SPEAKER_05: But it's$2,300 and something dollars to buy, and then probably something similar to fit, I imagine.
24:29
SPEAKER_06: I know if you're into glassy water ops in a seaplane makes a lot of sense.
24:35
SPEAKER_06: Um otherwise I there's a lot of people who go, it's another toy.
24:40
SPEAKER_06: I quite like having my toys.
24:41
SPEAKER_06: So Yeah, well, I think that's it really, isn't it?
24:43
SPEAKER_06: Yeah.
24:44
SPEAKER_06: But I mean, cool nonetheless.
24:45
SPEAKER_06: Because it is it is a very having watched it in action, very impressive.
24:50
SPEAKER_05: So I've uh Glassy Water Ops, you don't really need it.
24:54
SPEAKER_05: No, because you just kind of like wait pitch your attitude and then just sit there and hold it and wait until you get there.
25:01
SPEAKER_05: True.
25:01
SPEAKER_05: But it would be good to know when it's gonna suddenly go down.
25:07
SPEAKER_05: Anyway, um Dave.
25:08
SPEAKER_04: Dawn to Dusk.
25:09
SPEAKER_04: Last week they had the Dawn to Dusk uh winners trophy awards uh ceremony.
25:14
SPEAKER_04: You know.
25:14
SPEAKER_04: Uh and dinner, that was it, yeah.
25:17
SPEAKER_04: And they announced the winners of the various categories for last year's uh Dawn to Dusk Challenge.
25:21
SPEAKER_04: Uh the top prize, known as the Duke of Edinburgh Trophy, uh went to a French pilot called Karen Loccatelli.
25:28
SPEAKER_04: French and British.
25:30
SPEAKER_04: Sorry?
25:31
SPEAKER_05: French and British.
25:32
SPEAKER_04: French and British Shark, sorry.
25:33
SPEAKER_04: Um, who flew between the two Monts Saint-Michel, the French one just off the coast of Normandy, and the English one just off uh the coast at Penzance.
25:42
SPEAKER_07: Yeah.
25:43
SPEAKER_04: Um and uh so she won that.
25:44
SPEAKER_04: Uh that's quite a slight quite a chunk of sea to cover that.
25:47
SPEAKER_04: Yes, that's a water cross.
25:48
SPEAKER_05: Yeah, she'd only she was a bright, she's just kind of fairly brand new PPL.
25:52
SPEAKER_04: Yes.
25:53
SPEAKER_04: Wow, wow.
25:54
SPEAKER_05: Makes it even more impressive.
25:55
SPEAKER_05: So yeah, it was I think I can't remember how many hours she had, but it wasn't a huge amount at all.
25:58
SPEAKER_05: No.
25:59
SPEAKER_06: Because of course you're in you you're a you're a judge for a judge, can't you?
26:02
SPEAKER_06: So you get to see the full gamut of entries.
26:05
SPEAKER_05: All of the all of the entries.
26:06
SPEAKER_05: Yeah.
26:06
SPEAKER_05: Um yeah, and we we have a we have a grid.
26:09
SPEAKER_05: I mean, obviously I'm not the only judge, clearly.
26:11
SPEAKER_05: Um there's a whole bunch of us, and we we go through marking different categories and different things and then add it all up at the end and have a have a chat about it and compare notes.
26:20
SPEAKER_04: Well, second place went it's called the Coventry Trophy, went to a couple of Belgians, Wendy Jansen, that's a Mr.
26:27
SPEAKER_04: Wendy.
26:27
SPEAKER_04: Yep, too.
26:28
SPEAKER_05: You're right.
26:29
SPEAKER_04: Yep.
26:29
SPEAKER_04: And Petra Van Mulders for uh their new wings over old lands.
26:35
SPEAKER_05: Which I think Yeah, they were again, they were recent PPOs.
26:38
SPEAKER_05: They both you know both both got their PPO very recently, the new wings.
26:42
SPEAKER_05: Yeah.
26:42
SPEAKER_05: Old Lands, not sure where that came from.
26:44
SPEAKER_05: Um but she went to see they they went to see her sister who lives near Welshpool or something.
26:48
SPEAKER_05: Okay for a cup of tea one day.
26:50
SPEAKER_05: Right.
26:51
SPEAKER_06: Nice.
26:51
SPEAKER_06: And back.
26:52
SPEAKER_06: I think it it sounds like what this what this says to me is that dawn to dusk, no matter whether you're grizzled and old in flying or brand new.
27:01
SPEAKER_05: There's something for you.
27:02
SPEAKER_05: Yeah.
27:03
SPEAKER_05: I mean Mike Roberts uh of what used to be Take Flight put in a fantastic entry and got the Guinness Book of Records award for it, which was kind of landing in the most countries.
27:13
SPEAKER_05: And I think they started they I'll be careful what I say here.
27:17
SPEAKER_05: They they took advantage of the longer days up north.
27:20
SPEAKER_05: Yes.
27:21
SPEAKER_05: Yeah.
27:21
SPEAKER_05: And so started in the middle of the night when here it was still still down here, it had still been dark.
27:26
SPEAKER_05: Yeah.
27:26
SPEAKER_05: And sort of flew through God knows how many countries.
27:28
SPEAKER_05: I can't remember off the top of my head.
27:30
SPEAKER_05: That's impressive.
27:30
SPEAKER_05: Yeah.
27:31
SPEAKER_05: So you but you don't have to do stuff like that is really impressive.
27:34
SPEAKER_05: Yeah.
27:34
SPEAKER_05: You don't have to do stuff like that.
27:35
SPEAKER_05: You can do do much more local stuff as well.
27:37
SPEAKER_04: Well, yes.
27:38
SPEAKER_04: In fact, in third place, who won this is for the Tiger Club trophy, was none other than Nick Orchard.
27:45
SPEAKER_06: Everonka champ flyer.
27:46
SPEAKER_04: That's right, and probably I you have to say, looking at the title of her her essay, her book.
27:53
SPEAKER_04: It was called A Distracted Search for a Fancy Hanger Home.
27:56
SPEAKER_04: Yeah.
27:57
SPEAKER_04: I think we had a hand in that.
28:00
SPEAKER_05: Yeah, no, Nick Nick's done Nick Nick's a regular competitor and does some brilliant, brilliant books.
28:05
SPEAKER_05: And I think last year she looked at Maises, and then the year before that was Follies.
28:09
SPEAKER_05: And you when you're looking and judging the entry, you get a whole education on this stuff that you just didn't know about.
28:14
SPEAKER_05: Well, maybe I didn't know about it, um, before.
28:16
SPEAKER_05: Really good.
28:17
SPEAKER_05: Yeah.
28:17
SPEAKER_05: Really good.
28:18
SPEAKER_05: It's fantastic.
28:18
SPEAKER_05: It's free to enter.
28:19
SPEAKER_04: Yeah, yeah.
28:20
SPEAKER_05: Free to enter.
28:21
SPEAKER_05: There's a whole load of great planning that you can do, great flying you can do, great putting the log together, fantastic dinner.
28:27
SPEAKER_05: Yeah.
28:27
SPEAKER_05: I missed it this year.
28:28
SPEAKER_05: I was I was not very well that night, unfortunately.
28:31
SPEAKER_06: But and I think I'm right in saying that friend of the show Derek Pake, who's been a multiple winner in of Dawn to Dusk in the past, um, set a new high bar for fundraising, didn't he?
28:42
SPEAKER_06: Uh he and uh his partner his flying partner Kate Um uh set a um a uh smashed like ten thousand pounds.
28:51
SPEAKER_05: Over ten thousand um collected for charity, yeah.
28:53
SPEAKER_05: Yeah.
28:54
SPEAKER_05: Which won them the Schnabel Trophy, I think.
28:56
SPEAKER_05: Yeah.
28:58
SPEAKER_06: Frank Schnabel.
28:59
SPEAKER_04: There was also a trophy for an electric aircraft for the first time.
29:02
SPEAKER_04: There was.
29:02
SPEAKER_04: Yeah.
29:02
SPEAKER_04: Yep.
29:03
SPEAKER_06: Was it the Electrolux Trophy?
29:06
SPEAKER_04: I can't remember what it was called, actually.
29:08
SPEAKER_04: But no, they flew a a Pippestal Vellis Electro um down at uh Fair Oaks and took people up for a flight all day.
29:16
SPEAKER_04: And I guess they must have some rapid charging system.
29:19
SPEAKER_06: Well, I guess if you're at Fair Oaks, maybe you can just stay on the extension lead in the circuit.
29:25
SPEAKER_05: Yeah, absolutely.
29:27
SPEAKER_05: Absolutely.
29:27
SPEAKER_05: Anyway, well done.
29:28
SPEAKER_05: Yeah, no, it was good.
29:29
SPEAKER_05: Look out for it.
29:29
SPEAKER_05: Enter this year.
29:30
SPEAKER_05: Get get get planning now.
29:32
SPEAKER_05: Yeah.
29:32
SPEAKER_05: It's jolly good.
29:33
SPEAKER_05: And in breaking news, we just had a little email through saying that Flightline Aviation have just become the official dealer for Bristol certified aircraft in the UK.
29:44
SPEAKER_04: That's a great line of aircraft.
29:45
SPEAKER_05: UK, Ireland, and Ireland, I think.
29:47
SPEAKER_04: That's right, yeah.
29:47
SPEAKER_04: Yeah.
29:47
SPEAKER_04: It's a great line of aircraft that Bristol have.
29:49
SPEAKER_05: Yeah, Bristol have been gradually plugging away, haven't they, doing things, and then the whole certified line.
29:54
SPEAKER_05: Yeah.
29:54
SPEAKER_05: Lots of good things coming there, I think.
29:55
SPEAKER_05: Yeah.
29:56
SPEAKER_05: Yeah.
29:56
SPEAKER_05: More to come, I guess.
29:57
SPEAKER_05: More to come.
29:57
SPEAKER_04: It's Flight Line's first venture into working with a uh a manufactured aircraft, manufactured aircraft.
30:04
SPEAKER_06: Yeah, because they've been they've been selling aeroplanes up in the city.
30:06
SPEAKER_06: Yeah, they kind of broke a charter of baker channel.
30:09
SPEAKER_06: But they've been doing a lot of jet stuff.
30:11
SPEAKER_05: Yeah.
30:11
SPEAKER_05: Yeah.
30:12
SPEAKER_06: Great.
30:12
SPEAKER_04: Cool.
30:15
SPEAKER_04: Club news.
30:16
SPEAKER_04: Club news.
30:17
SPEAKER_04: Yes.
30:17
SPEAKER_04: So we've got uh free landings for February.
30:19
SPEAKER_04: Uh Cromer, Holbeck Farm, Netherhorpe, and Sherburn and Elmick.
30:24
SPEAKER_06: Well, let's not forget that it's not Holmbeck Farm, it's Cakebec farm.
30:29
SPEAKER_05: Are they out of cakes yet?
30:30
SPEAKER_05: Somebody needs to go there and find out.
30:32
SPEAKER_05: Um there's also a whole bunch of uh I think we've got a webinar coming up with Darren, because Darren was on the show last week when I wasn't around talking about RT numpties, illustrated with a picture of me.
30:43
SPEAKER_05: That's interesting.
30:44
SPEAKER_05: Thanks, guys.
30:45
SPEAKER_05: What do you want to hear?
30:46
SPEAKER_05: Absolutely.
30:47
SPEAKER_05: Um so Darren's coming back doing some RT tips, I believe.
30:49
SPEAKER_05: Yeah.
30:51
SPEAKER_06: Yeah, he's doing uh uh top tips for RT success.
30:53
SPEAKER_06: Committed you to that, Darren.
30:54
SPEAKER_06: Yeah, which is fine with that, yeah.
30:56
SPEAKER_05: Which is good.
30:57
SPEAKER_05: Um there was a licensing update from Ed Bellamy who did one.
30:59
SPEAKER_05: We've got Nigel Webb who did something on Airframe IC.
31:02
SPEAKER_05: Yeah.
31:03
SPEAKER_05: There's been I I can't remember, we need to count them see how many there are.
31:06
SPEAKER_05: There's lots and lots and lots.
31:07
SPEAKER_05: We could just increase the number every week.
31:09
SPEAKER_05: There are 5,000 videos you can watch, but you need to be a member of the club.
31:13
SPEAKER_05: Yes.
31:14
SPEAKER_05: Back check that one.
31:15
SPEAKER_05: Yeah.
31:16
SPEAKER_05: Yeah, so definitely worthwhile.
31:18
SPEAKER_06: And don't forget, flyer.co.uk forward slash membership to join.
31:21
SPEAKER_06: Six pounds per month.
31:23
SPEAKER_05: Yeah.
31:24
SPEAKER_05: Bargain.
31:24
SPEAKER_04: Yes.
31:25
SPEAKER_05: So if you're a member, you get five percent off of everything at Poolis, apart from boat headsets.
31:30
SPEAKER_04: Right, yes.
31:31
SPEAKER_04: Just there's a whole bunch of uh discounts like that, actually.
31:34
SPEAKER_04: There are.
31:35
SPEAKER_05: Yeah.
31:35
SPEAKER_05: There are, absolutely.
31:38
SPEAKER_05: Main story.
31:39
SPEAKER_05: Main story.
31:40
SPEAKER_05: Yeah, so this is really uh an airfield update.
31:43
SPEAKER_05: Um there's a lot of airfield updates at the moment, a lot of airfields not enjoying the best of times.
31:48
SPEAKER_05: Not and I don't just mean the weather.
31:49
SPEAKER_05: Yeah.
31:50
SPEAKER_05: Um, I mean sort of in the in the wider picture.
31:53
SPEAKER_05: Um, and I'm gonna kick off with with Popham.
31:55
SPEAKER_05: Um, as you know, the consultation recently closed, the second consultation really recently closed, um, because it materially changed from the first consultation, so that went out.
32:04
SPEAKER_05: And one of the things that really annoyed people uh was the fact that there was a comment uh uh something about Popham not being uh strategically important.
32:14
SPEAKER_05: Well, I think the only word for that is bollocks.
32:18
SPEAKER_05: If Popham's not strategically important, then where is strategically important as a GA airfield in the UK?
32:24
SPEAKER_05: Yeah, and that clearly caused the council to go, well, maybe we we're a little bit premature with saying that.
32:30
SPEAKER_05: I don't know.
32:31
SPEAKER_05: So they've commissioned an independent consultant to go and and verify that, look at the look at the movements and to make sure you know to see just how strategically important it is.
32:40
SPEAKER_05: And we all know it is.
32:41
SPEAKER_05: There's maintenance organisations, flight training organisations, 170 odd aircraft base there, 20,000 plus movements.
32:48
SPEAKER_05: It's a real it's a real kind of it's the beating heart of general aviation in the south of the UK.
32:53
SPEAKER_05: Yeah, yeah.
32:54
SPEAKER_05: And a fantastic, a fantastic airfield.
32:56
SPEAKER_05: So that report is being compiled at the moment.
32:59
SPEAKER_05: Um speaking to I've spoken to Mike Pearson, the airfield manager there more on that shortly, um, who said that he spoke to people who everyone's a little bit cynical, so hang on a second.
33:09
SPEAKER_05: A report have sponsored this report, um, but it's going to be published, so it will be verifiable.
33:15
SPEAKER_05: And the people who've been involved in it so far who've been who've spoken to this consultant have all been said, no, actually, so far seems pretty pretty kosher.
33:24
SPEAKER_05: Um so that will be delivered to the council in early March, so not too far off, and then we'll get to see that shortly after that, hopefully, and then then make a judgment.
33:32
SPEAKER_05: But the other thing was April the 30th, which is the the day before, or maybe two days before the Popham Microelectric Trade Fair, yeah.
33:41
SPEAKER_05: Would actually be Mike Pearson's last day at Popham.
33:44
SPEAKER_05: So Mike's Mike's moving on.
33:46
SPEAKER_05: I don't know how that's a thing.
33:48
SPEAKER_05: It's it's airfield but airfields are a little bit like pubs.
33:52
SPEAKER_05: If you've got a great landlord, you end up with a great pub.
33:54
SPEAKER_05: If you've got a landlord who's not quite so talented, you end up with a pub that's not quite so good.
34:00
SPEAKER_05: Yeah.
34:00
SPEAKER_05: Um Mike has done a fantastic job.
34:03
SPEAKER_05: And he had big big shoes to fill as well at Popham.
34:05
SPEAKER_05: Yeah.
34:06
SPEAKER_05: Um Mike is moving on.
34:10
SPEAKER_06: I am really sorry to hear that.
34:12
SPEAKER_05: I think I'm really sorry to hear it as well.
34:14
SPEAKER_05: And we're all really sorry to hear it.
34:15
SPEAKER_06: So my only hope is that Mike moves on and takes his enthusiasm and love for GA and and takes it to another project.
34:25
SPEAKER_05: I don't think Mike is the kind of person to go, that's it, I'm done, I'm not gonna he will be What can I do next?
34:34
SPEAKER_05: Promoting general aviation and pushing for the good of general aviation.
34:37
SPEAKER_05: Yeah.
34:37
SPEAKER_05: Um so big thanks to we we should probably do something, get get him out, get him on or something like that.
34:43
SPEAKER_05: And do some more stuff around that.
34:46
SPEAKER_05: Yeah.
34:47
SPEAKER_05: But yeah.
34:48
SPEAKER_05: So that was So that's the that's the pop um watch this space still.
34:53
SPEAKER_06: Um I've got some Gloucester news.
34:55
SPEAKER_06: Uh because obviously uh the deal to sell uh Gloucester Airport.
35:00
SPEAKER_06: The one that had to be done by the end of January.
35:01
SPEAKER_06: Well I was gonna say, yeah, the£25 million bargain million pound bargain deal to sell uh Gloucester Airport to the Horizon Aero Group uh by the end of January has not concluded yet.
35:11
SPEAKER_06: Um obviously uh the the councils involved, that's uh Charlenboro Council and Gloucester City Council uh have said uh communication with the Horizon Group remains constructive and will be crucial as all parties continue to work collaboratively towards the completion of the sale.
35:30
SPEAKER_06: Um I guess all this time against a background of the fact that actually they're running there's they're running at a loss.
35:37
SPEAKER_05: They're running at a loss, and they hate they have something like 19 million pounds worth of debt.
35:41
SPEAKER_06: Yeah, well, um on the because obviously uh the discussion about Gloucester is a big topic on the Flyer Forum.
35:47
SPEAKER_06: And a former Gloucester airport manager and friend of Flyer, uh Darren Lewington, uh, posted to say the airport company's position is now precarious.
35:57
SPEAKER_06: It owes its shareholders 19 million pounds in defaulted loans, which I assumed means is technically insolvent.
36:05
SPEAKER_06: If it were to fold, the CA license would fall away and those legal issues would be all the more complex to resolve.
36:13
SPEAKER_04: Wow.
36:14
SPEAKER_06: Yeah.
36:15
SPEAKER_04: So that 19 million must be costing an awful lot of money to to service as well.
36:22
SPEAKER_05: Yeah, to to service that money that's effectively owed to the two councils, isn't it?
36:26
SPEAKER_05: Yeah, yeah.
36:27
SPEAKER_05: So I don't think those two councils are I mean, no no council these days is flush with flush with money.
36:33
SPEAKER_04: Well Gloucester Gloucester City Council is virtu on on the verge of bankruptcy itself.
36:38
SPEAKER_06: So you're not gonna go, oh ninety million.
36:40
SPEAKER_06: Don't worry about it.
36:41
SPEAKER_04: Yeah.
36:41
SPEAKER_04: I think Gloucester is actually counting on that money because they've asked the government for a a big multi-million pound bailout.
36:48
SPEAKER_04: Yeah.
36:48
SPEAKER_06: So um you think then maybe they would put a higher price on the airport?
36:52
SPEAKER_04: 25 million for Gloucester Airport does not seem a huge price.
36:55
SPEAKER_05: It doesn't seem a huge price, but it depends what you're gonna do with it, doesn't it?
36:58
SPEAKER_05: It's not a huge price if you're gonna turn it into housing.
37:01
SPEAKER_05: If you were going to do that.
37:02
SPEAKER_05: If you were to do something like that.
37:04
SPEAKER_05: On the other hand, if you were gonna bring the airport back up to where it was before with all the facilities it had before and everything else, there's quite a lot of stuff that needs spending there.
37:13
SPEAKER_05: Yeah.
37:14
SPEAKER_05: On top of that.
37:15
SPEAKER_05: Um and you know, um the the current I don't know, not the current manager, but the last current manager, he left at the end of January.
37:24
SPEAKER_05: Yes.
37:25
SPEAKER_05: Um so there's a whole load of people.
37:27
SPEAKER_05: There's there's there's a lot of work to do to that place to get it.
37:30
SPEAKER_05: I mean, look, let's be honest.
37:31
SPEAKER_05: When Darren was airfield manager at Gloucester, it was the vibrant.
37:36
SPEAKER_05: It was vibrant and it was the best general aviation airport.
37:38
SPEAKER_05: 80 of its kind of movements.
37:41
SPEAKER_05: It was busy, it was friendly, it wasn't overburdened with a whole load of rubbish.
37:46
SPEAKER_05: Uh and then we had our whole then gradually, you know, in the same way that Facebook went from something good at one point to something rubbish now.
37:55
SPEAKER_05: Yes.
37:56
SPEAKER_05: Gloucester.
37:57
SPEAKER_05: Gloucester's not rubbish, it's still a great airport, but it it it's it's declined from its hatred.
38:01
SPEAKER_05: Its excellence was eroded.
38:07
SPEAKER_05: Yeah.
38:08
SPEAKER_05: And the pub landlords that took over weren't that's good.
38:12
SPEAKER_04: Part of the problem is here, I think, is that and Gloucester and the councils have admitted it themselves, is that they are councils.
38:17
SPEAKER_04: They don't know how to run airports, and uh they do not know how to handle this business.
38:22
SPEAKER_05: Really and truly, Gloucester Airport is not how to employ people who know how to run air pills, is what is the problem.
38:27
SPEAKER_04: It's really a big industrial estate that happens to have a really good runway, a couple of runways, and uh really good air airfield facilities.
38:37
SPEAKER_04: Yeah.
38:38
SPEAKER_04: Um it's it's a question of I mean it's huge potential at Gloucester.
38:42
SPEAKER_04: Look at the location.
38:43
SPEAKER_04: It's on the crossroads between the A40 and the M5.
38:46
SPEAKER_04: Grikey, what a brilliant location.
38:48
SPEAKER_05: Yeah, not far from the M4.
38:50
SPEAKER_04: Yeah.
38:51
SPEAKER_05: Yeah, no, fantastic location.
38:52
SPEAKER_05: So I mean, yeah, it it it is an airfield, it's not being closed.
38:56
SPEAKER_05: No.
38:56
SPEAKER_05: Um, but there's a deal that should have been done that hasn't been done.
38:59
SPEAKER_05: There are all sorts of rumors running around that.
39:01
SPEAKER_05: Um who knows, frankly, how many of those are true or not true?
39:04
SPEAKER_05: Yeah.
39:04
SPEAKER_05: Um, but we just need to watch this space and see what happens because something's gonna happen sooner or later.
39:08
SPEAKER_05: Yeah.
39:08
SPEAKER_05: Can't drag on forever.
39:09
SPEAKER_05: We're now what, edging towards the middle of February, aren't we?
39:12
SPEAKER_05: It's night, yeah.
39:13
SPEAKER_05: So a couple of weeks over.
39:14
SPEAKER_05: Yeah.
39:14
SPEAKER_05: Talking about an airfield that uh is closing, yeah, that has a date for closing, uh, Coventry.
39:21
SPEAKER_04: Um that's such a shame.
39:23
SPEAKER_05: Coventry was gonna be a anyway.
39:25
SPEAKER_05: Um I sat I sat down and had a chat with Steve Clark, who who runs AeroTech.
39:30
SPEAKER_05: Um is one of the directors of AeroTech, and that's one of the businesses on the Airfield.
39:34
SPEAKER_05: One of the businesses on the airfield that's also announced that it too is closing.
39:37
SPEAKER_05: Um, and here is my chat with Steve.
39:40
SPEAKER_05: You'll be well aware of the bad news of commentary closing, and recently we heard that AeroTech was also closing.
39:45
SPEAKER_05: I'm joined here by Steve Clark, director of commentary-based AeroTech, to give us some background and tell us what's going on.
39:51
SPEAKER_05: Steve, thanks for joining us.
39:52
SPEAKER_05: Um what's the story in a nutshell?
39:56
SPEAKER_02: Uh well, AeroTech's been at Coventry for uh well over 26 years in total.
40:03
SPEAKER_02: We started up in Campbell a couple of years before we did primarily commentary.
40:08
SPEAKER_02: And we were hoping to continue working.
40:10
SPEAKER_02: Unfortunately, it's probably a lot of um we want to make a three.
44:09
SPEAKER_05: Clearly everything as a maintenance company, an aircraft maintenance company is gonna struggle with a uh without a runway.
44:16
SPEAKER_02: Well we've we've tried to problem with being high to airport with common tree.
44:24
SPEAKER_02: Um we've been happy working at commentary.
44:28
SPEAKER_02: We've tried to look at alternative arrangements.
44:37
SPEAKER_02: So we look at that we have to find five.
46:32
SPEAKER_02: Um the twenty eight and um actually on the level three.
46:44
SPEAKER_02: Um what you really have to do.
47:03
SPEAKER_05: So I as I understand it, you're you're you're aiming to you're you're basically going to be closing the doors around is it 31st of March.
47:13
SPEAKER_02: Yeah, if we take a look at the main Robert to be very comfortable in the fact that um having looked into it, we'd much rather have control over what happens.
47:24
SPEAKER_02: So um, yeah, engineers and make it like although we know we very much try to come around and then find what we work in and we went through, then that would be a rendered situation for the friendly cart here in the situation, although it's very much thank you very much for explaining the situation both at commentary and aerotech.
48:31
SPEAKER_05: I wish you and your team the very best for the future.
48:35
SPEAKER_05: Um, and hopefully we'll get to pop up and see you before the runway at commentary disappears.
48:40
SPEAKER_02: Um before you on a on a on a quick note, perhaps we can try and do uh kind of uh um try and get people to fly in before it closes, but we can get it in a lot more people.
48:55
SPEAKER_02: Commentary's got such a great heritage with all of the things upgrade and all of the different things uh everything that happened over the year.
49:06
SPEAKER_02: Um and uh and and yet it'd be wonderful to do something like that before we go.
49:14
SPEAKER_05: Well let's let's see if we can make that happen.
49:17
SPEAKER_05: That would be great.
49:19
SPEAKER_05: Steve Clark, thank you very much.
49:21
SPEAKER_05: You're welcome.
49:23
SPEAKER_04: Well that's a really sorry story.
49:25
SPEAKER_05: Yes, yeah.
49:27
SPEAKER_05: Yeah, when you when you see a runway like that, it it's like they just don't get replaced at that scale.
49:33
SPEAKER_05: No.
49:34
SPEAKER_05: Unless you're talking about Heathrow, and that's not going to be done for who knows who knows how long, and we're never gonna get to land on it.
49:40
SPEAKER_04: It's interesting the comparison you made with Oxford Airport, how that how Coventry could have been like Oxford.
49:46
SPEAKER_04: Because there is nowhere really for business aviation to go.
49:49
SPEAKER_04: Yeah, but Birmingham International is.
49:51
SPEAKER_06: I never understand how any council involved who has an airfield can allow it to be destroyed, because you go, what an incredible asset to have.
50:01
SPEAKER_04: Absolutely, yeah.
50:02
SPEAKER_06: And they're never like it's like you say, they are never going to replace them.
50:05
SPEAKER_04: Yeah.
50:06
SPEAKER_04: Don't say your airfield to a property developer is the short answer.
50:11
SPEAKER_05: So talking talking talking of which.
50:13
SPEAKER_04: Talking of which Tolliton, or otherwise known as Nottingham City Airport, um, they've got a campaign group, which is nicknamed SNAG.
50:21
SPEAKER_04: This is the acronym.
50:23
SPEAKER_04: Um it's c it's led by a determined campaigner, to put it mildly.
50:27
SPEAKER_04: The most determined.
50:29
SPEAKER_04: Yeah.
50:29
SPEAKER_04: Sarah Deacon.
50:30
SPEAKER_04: Um and they've just started a crowdfunder campaign because they feel that the next step in the campaign to reopen Nottingham City Airport, the judicial review will be the next step.
50:41
SPEAKER_04: Should the local council adopt the proposed local plan, which would see a new town built on the airport.
50:47
SPEAKER_04: Um Sarah Deacon said uh Rushcliffe Borough Council appears to be preparing to adopt the what's known as a supplementary planning document in its current form.
50:56
SPEAKER_04: Despite serious gaps in traffic, highways, drainage, flooding, and even viability, is this a viable property development?
51:05
SPEAKER_04: Um if the SPD, as they call it, is approved without a robust and lawful evidence base, the only remaining option will be to pursue a judicial review, which is why they are had to crowdfund a campaign because it's an expensive process.
51:19
SPEAKER_04: Yeah, the government's not going to pay for it, nobody else is going to pay for it.
51:22
SPEAKER_04: Is it even possible for a campaign group to do this?
51:27
SPEAKER_04: Yes.
51:28
SPEAKER_04: And there is an example of a planning authority decision in Birmingham, which was quashed on the grounds that a lack of transparency after they failed to publish full viability assessment.
51:40
SPEAKER_06: Okay.
51:41
SPEAKER_06: Wow.
51:41
SPEAKER_06: So it's all power to them.
51:43
SPEAKER_06: All power to them, yeah.
51:45
SPEAKER_04: We'll put a link to the Crowdfunder campaign uh in the description below.
51:50
SPEAKER_05: Okay.
51:50
SPEAKER_05: Okay, and our final airfield story is another one for you, Dave.
51:54
SPEAKER_05: Yes, Old Serum.
51:55
SPEAKER_05: And I believe they've been in court as well.
51:57
SPEAKER_04: Yes, Old Serum.
51:58
SPEAKER_04: Um it's actually Wilts County Council that's gone to court.
52:00
SPEAKER_04: They've gone to the High Court to appeal a decision made by the planning inspectorate last year to allow the building of 315 houses on the airfield, or parts of the airfield.
52:12
SPEAKER_04: The airfield will still remain operational.
52:14
SPEAKER_04: Uh at least that's the plan.
52:16
SPEAKER_05: And um but uh what for an airfield to be operational, don't you need to be able to land an airplane there?
52:21
SPEAKER_05: You do.
52:23
SPEAKER_05: But you can't do it at the moment, can you?
52:25
SPEAKER_05: You you you I can't.
52:26
SPEAKER_04: No, you can't.
52:27
SPEAKER_04: But there is uh the uh parachute operation operating there at the moment.
52:33
SPEAKER_05: Yeah.
52:34
SPEAKER_04: That's about it.
52:35
SPEAKER_04: That's it.
52:36
SPEAKER_05: That's it.
52:38
SPEAKER_06: Even though they said, I think, at one point, that Yeah, if the plan I think it was if the planning decision goes well, we'll reopen, wasn't it?
52:44
SPEAKER_06: Yeah.
52:44
SPEAKER_04: Yeah.
52:44
SPEAKER_06: Yeah.
52:46
SPEAKER_06: And then there was the fire.
52:47
SPEAKER_04: There's a lot going on there.
52:49
SPEAKER_04: And the reason why Wilkes County Council has gone to the High Court to appeal this uh decision is that because the planning inspector said you have to restore Hangar 3.
53:00
SPEAKER_04: This is the listed building.
53:02
SPEAKER_04: The day after the planning decision, Hangar 3 caught fire and was pretty much destroyed apart from a few walls.
53:09
SPEAKER_04: Yeah.
53:10
SPEAKER_04: Uh so the Wilts County Council said, well, it's not possible to restore now.
53:13
SPEAKER_04: Therefore, you know, the planning decision is faulty.
53:18
SPEAKER_05: And I I think I think the police did a quite a thorough investigation.
53:21
SPEAKER_05: They even arrested somebody, but uh they couldn't take it any further.
53:24
SPEAKER_04: No.
53:24
SPEAKER_04: No, there's all lines of inquiry were exhausted.
53:28
SPEAKER_04: Yeah.
53:30
SPEAKER_04: Yeah.
53:30
SPEAKER_04: There's obviously it was very who's it convenient for for that the hang of fire happened.
53:36
SPEAKER_05: I mean it could have just uh Yeah, who know it could have just happened, who knows.
53:39
SPEAKER_05: But I mean the police were fairly suspect.
53:43
SPEAKER_04: Yeah.
53:44
SPEAKER_04: Yeah.
53:44
SPEAKER_04: Well they went after it, but they couldn't prove anything.
53:47
SPEAKER_04: No.
53:47
SPEAKER_05: Yeah.
53:47
SPEAKER_06: No.
53:48
SPEAKER_06: Yeah.
53:49
SPEAKER_04: So we've asked our old serum management uh for their view.
53:52
SPEAKER_04: We haven't had an answer back yet.
53:54
SPEAKER_04: But as soon as we hear something, we'll let you know.
53:57
SPEAKER_04: I'll let you know.
53:57
SPEAKER_04: The court case is actually going on at the moment.
54:00
SPEAKER_04: Yeah.
54:00
SPEAKER_04: Uh it started on Tuesday.
54:02
SPEAKER_04: Um we haven't had a uh decision yet.
54:06
SPEAKER_06: Airfields.
54:07
SPEAKER_06: UK lifeblood.
54:08
SPEAKER_06: If you've got airfield news, uh please tell us about it.
54:12
SPEAKER_06: We are always interested uh in uh in what airfields have going on, uh especially unfortunately if they're under threat.
54:19
SPEAKER_05: Yeah.
54:20
SPEAKER_05: Yeah.
54:21
SPEAKER_05: And and actually we'd like to know some good news as well, so we can help celebrate and support airfields as well.
54:26
SPEAKER_05: And as soon as the weather changes, we can go out and actually visit some.
54:29
SPEAKER_05: Excellent.
54:29
SPEAKER_05: Yeah, it would be cool.
54:31
SPEAKER_05: That'd be cool, yeah.
54:32
SPEAKER_06: Absolutely.
54:33
SPEAKER_06: Um right.
54:35
SPEAKER_06: So uh it's time for what caught your eye this week.
54:40
SPEAKER_06: And uh I'm gonna go for you, Ian.
54:43
SPEAKER_06: Are you?
54:43
SPEAKER_06: Yes.
54:44
SPEAKER_05: Well, what caught my eye this week, I was flicking through social media thing, and then I thought, what the is that?
54:51
SPEAKER_05: That looks my my initial assumption was well, that's clearly some AI con.
54:55
SPEAKER_05: Uh-huh.
54:56
SPEAKER_05: Almost everything else on social media these days is an AI con.
55:01
SPEAKER_05: But no.
55:01
SPEAKER_05: No.
55:02
SPEAKER_05: No.
55:02
SPEAKER_05: It was something called Monty Warren's bubble plane.
55:06
SPEAKER_05: Here it is.
55:07
SPEAKER_06: Which, if you're a mega nerd like me, you will remember from the from Sport Aviation magazine in 1996.
55:16
SPEAKER_05: Yeah.
55:16
SPEAKER_05: I was busy in 1996.
55:18
SPEAKER_05: Yeah.
55:19
SPEAKER_05: Most people I only bought Flight two weeks, two two years before that, and I was bloody busy trying to survive.
55:27
SPEAKER_06: But Monty Warren's bubble plane, tell us about that.
55:30
SPEAKER_06: That looks kind of cool.
55:31
SPEAKER_05: Monty War M Monty Warren's Monty Warren is a is a guy who was from North Dakota originally, and at the time the bubble plane came along, he was four he was in his forties.
55:40
SPEAKER_05: So he took a breezy.
55:42
SPEAKER_05: Yeah.
55:42
SPEAKER_05: Um, if you're not familiar with the breezy, here's one of those.
55:45
SPEAKER_05: Um, but if you're listening on the podcast, it's kind of like a it's like it's like it's constructed with scaffolding.
55:50
SPEAKER_05: It's an aeroplane deconstructed.
55:52
SPEAKER_05: It's a skeleton of an aeroplane.
55:54
SPEAKER_05: Um a deconstructed high wing pusher thing.
55:57
SPEAKER_05: So he took one of those, chopped the front off, chopped the back off, lowered the engine, and then I know what I'm gonna use a set of PA 11 wings, so cub wings.
56:08
SPEAKER_06: Um most importantly, we get into the most important thing.
56:12
SPEAKER_05: We haven't finished with the wings yet.
56:13
SPEAKER_05: Then he goes, I need some struts.
56:14
SPEAKER_05: So I use some PA18 struts, stick those on.
56:17
SPEAKER_05: I know, I quite, you know, the the breezer has got an amazing view out the front.
56:21
SPEAKER_05: Yeah, it's got no front.
56:22
SPEAKER_05: But it's got because it hasn't got a front.
56:23
SPEAKER_05: Yeah, he decided he wanted a front, so he he bought uh a canopy from or a bubble canopy from a Bell 47.
56:30
SPEAKER_05: And this is fantastic.
56:31
SPEAKER_05: So it's got a Lycoming 160 horsepower engine, big bubble canopy from the uh on the front, put it all together.
56:37
SPEAKER_05: He was an AMP, so you know he knew a little bit about what he was doing.
56:40
SPEAKER_06: And I think it did it flew as an experimental category airplane, but it was it I it I I remember it being reported on at the time, and everyone was just completely fascinated by it.
56:50
SPEAKER_06: Yeah.
56:50
SPEAKER_06: Um there's kind of a continued fascination.
56:53
SPEAKER_06: We got that was the was there was the double ender.
56:56
SPEAKER_06: Oh, yeah.
56:56
SPEAKER_06: Um uh Alex uh what was his surname?
56:59
SPEAKER_06: Uh the yeah, the guy who um the who was big into stall created the the Rotax push-pull.
57:05
SPEAKER_06: Push-pull pull.
57:05
SPEAKER_06: And then and that turned into the Ascender uh that we saw at Oskosh.
57:09
SPEAKER_06: We saw Oskosh.
57:10
SPEAKER_06: Yeah.
57:10
SPEAKER_06: Yeah.
57:10
SPEAKER_05: Um is that kind of uh and this predates this, doesn't it?
57:14
SPEAKER_05: Oh, this goes way back.
57:16
SPEAKER_05: Yeah.
57:16
SPEAKER_05: Way back, 1996, yeah.
57:18
SPEAKER_05: So unfortunately, then I I think probably as far as I can see, uh it was kind of last mentioned somewhere in 2011.
57:24
SPEAKER_05: And since then It's kind of vanished.
57:26
SPEAKER_05: It's kind of vanished.
57:27
SPEAKER_05: It's got no you know, the registration is now being used on a different aircraft by somebody else.
57:32
SPEAKER_05: Um so um but Monty would be in his 70s now if he's still around.
57:37
SPEAKER_06: In a fascinating airplane like that, you just go, there must just it's clearly put in a hangar or something, it's just waiting for someone to find it.
57:46
SPEAKER_05: It was last heard of in Tennessee somewhere.
57:48
SPEAKER_04: Oh, it sounds like our colour project.
57:51
SPEAKER_06: Well the trouble is if I found that project and brought it over here, I'd have to present it to the LAA.
57:56
SPEAKER_06: And there would probably be a I mean the LAA do good work, but I feel this would definitely be a head scratcher for them.
58:02
SPEAKER_06: Yeah, absolutely.
58:03
SPEAKER_05: So fantastic I j I just love that someone I know we could do Imagine how many bugs you must kill with that on a summer's day.
58:12
SPEAKER_06: Well, there are no bugs these days, that's why our windscreen stay clean and stuff.
58:16
SPEAKER_06: I did read about that, yeah.
58:17
SPEAKER_06: Yeah, no, fantastic.
58:19
SPEAKER_06: Dave, what what caught your eye?
58:20
SPEAKER_04: Well, it wasn't an aeroplane, actually, it was an event.
58:23
SPEAKER_04: Yes, the Vaduno, which is uh a gathering in in Italy.
58:28
SPEAKER_04: Yes.
58:29
SPEAKER_04: And it's been organised by Riccardo Denardis, otherwise known as African Flyer on the Flyer Forum.
58:34
SPEAKER_04: Yeah.
58:34
SPEAKER_04: Um it's um it's gonna happen in in 24th to the 26th of June.
58:40
SPEAKER_04: And uh Ricardo has just released uh the outline of uh of the itinerary for the event.
58:45
SPEAKER_04: Um on the Wednesday, the 24th, you arrive at Trento for lunch, of course.
58:50
SPEAKER_04: Food is very important to the Reduno goers.
58:52
SPEAKER_04: Obviously.
58:52
SPEAKER_04: Yes.
58:53
SPEAKER_04: Um there's a full tour of the on-site Caprioni uh aeroplane museum.
58:59
SPEAKER_06: Oh, I bet that'll be good.
59:02
SPEAKER_04: Of course, eh?
59:03
SPEAKER_04: Of course.
59:03
SPEAKER_04: The next day there's a departure for Verona Bosca Mantiki Mantico, which apparently is where Romeo Juliet's balcony is.
59:13
SPEAKER_04: Okay.
59:13
SPEAKER_04: Yeah, we're set anyway, put it like that, yes.
59:16
SPEAKER_04: And there's an arena as well.
59:17
SPEAKER_04: Okay.
59:18
SPEAKER_04: Plus, there's more food in the evening.
59:20
SPEAKER_04: Um Friday, uh, there's a they're going to the Venice Lido.
59:24
SPEAKER_04: This is otherwise known as Aeroporto Nicelli, which is right there in Venice.
59:28
SPEAKER_04: Dream Airport, isn't it?
59:30
SPEAKER_04: Dream Airport.
59:30
SPEAKER_05: It's one of the it's one of the classic airports, isn't it?
59:33
SPEAKER_04: That's it.
59:33
SPEAKER_04: Yep.
59:34
SPEAKER_04: And if you um there's probably more food there going on there as well.
59:37
SPEAKER_04: I'd say so.
59:37
SPEAKER_04: Yes.
59:38
SPEAKER_04: And then at the weekend, you don't have to stay for the weekend, but if you do want to stay for the weekend, there's a trip to the historic aircraft group fly party at Bagnoli.
59:47
SPEAKER_06: Which is a that's a mega event, that's it.
59:49
SPEAKER_05: The hag party is is awesome.
59:52
SPEAKER_04: It sounds brilliant.
59:53
SPEAKER_05: Oh, it's just fantastic.
59:55
SPEAKER_05: And it's all done with a kind of relaxed Italian it's prioritised food and wine, but not what we're flying.
1:00:02
SPEAKER_04: Well, Ricardo is is very relaxed, despite being South African Italian.
1:00:07
SPEAKER_05: Yeah, no, it's brilliant.
1:00:08
SPEAKER_05: It is really good.
1:00:10
SPEAKER_06: I'm planning to be there.
1:00:11
SPEAKER_06: If you ever fancy doing that, that is a trip to do.
1:00:13
SPEAKER_04: Yeah.
1:00:13
SPEAKER_04: If you fancy doing it, you just go to the flyer forum.
1:00:16
SPEAKER_04: There's a Raduno 2026 uh thread and you find out a bit more about it.
1:00:20
SPEAKER_05: It's in the fly it's in the fly-ins bit.
1:00:22
SPEAKER_05: Yeah.
1:00:22
SPEAKER_06: And there's lots of if you've not done that kind of thing in the uh in the past and you're feeling like you need a bit of hand holding, there will be someone, I'm sure, who will assist.
1:00:31
SPEAKER_06: Absolutely.
1:00:32
SPEAKER_05: Yeah.
1:00:32
SPEAKER_05: Yeah.
1:00:33
SPEAKER_05: We might even get we should try and get Ricardo on between now and then to have a little chat about.
1:00:37
SPEAKER_05: Talk about the Reduno, yeah.
1:00:38
SPEAKER_05: Yeah.
1:00:39
SPEAKER_05: Yeah.
1:00:39
SPEAKER_05: And the menus.
1:00:43
SPEAKER_06: Brilliant.
1:00:44
SPEAKER_06: So that just leaves me.
1:00:45
SPEAKER_06: And have you ever thought, you know, I like this helicopter flying, I like the look of this helicopter flying lark, but um, they all look a bit expensive and complex.
1:00:54
SPEAKER_06: Well, then you need this.
1:00:56
SPEAKER_06: Uh and I found it in the Classifieds this week uh on Facebook.
1:01:00
SPEAKER_06: It's a Part 103 Ultralight Coaxial Helicopter.
1:01:05
SPEAKER_06: Um yeah, uh don't don't look too shocked.
1:01:08
SPEAKER_06: It's got 22 hours on it and it's ready to fly.
1:01:11
SPEAKER_06: You don't need a pilot's license, but you do uh you do need to have a helicopter dual instruction and become a proficient student pilot in a helicopter before flying it.
1:01:20
SPEAKER_06: It's called the SDH-2A.
1:01:22
SPEAKER_06: It's got four collective cyclic pedal controls, and you can auto-rotate critically just like a regular helicopter if you lose power.
1:01:31
SPEAKER_06: That power is a 62 horsepower uh MZ2022 stroke.
1:01:38
SPEAKER_06: Yeah, and it can hover a 270-pound pilot at 5,500 feet out-of-ground effect.
1:01:44
SPEAKER_05: Ooh, hang on a second, let's just run those numbers again.
1:01:49
SPEAKER_05: Yes.
1:01:49
SPEAKER_05: A 270-pound pilot, that's not a that's not a drop for a start.
1:01:54
SPEAKER_05: No.
1:01:55
SPEAKER_05: And then at out-of-ground effect at 5,500 feet is some feet.
1:02:03
SPEAKER_05: Yes.
1:02:03
SPEAKER_05: And that's on a 65-horse two-stroke.
1:02:06
SPEAKER_05: 62-horse.
1:02:07
SPEAKER_05: 62-horse two-stroke.
1:02:09
SPEAKER_06: Are we are we are we questioning questionable of questionable feeling about the numbers, maybe?
1:02:14
SPEAKER_06: Well that that's quite I'm not going to go find out.
1:02:18
SPEAKER_04: Two horsepower is not a lot of power in a helicopter.
1:02:21
SPEAKER_06: No, no, no.
1:02:22
SPEAKER_06: Granted, it doesn't have to lift very much.
1:02:24
SPEAKER_06: I look at it.
1:02:24
SPEAKER_06: There's there's hardly anything to it.
1:02:26
SPEAKER_06: Anyway, if you fancied this, and I no.
1:02:29
SPEAKER_06: I just happened to see this because it was unveiled at Oshkosh uh 2022.
1:02:34
SPEAKER_06: Uh and uh it was fascinating to watch fly.
1:02:37
SPEAKER_06: Um but yeah, if you fancy this, 40k is your entry ticket to uh to bargain basement helicopter flying.
1:02:45
SPEAKER_06: So for an extra 8k, you can have a trailer.
1:02:50
SPEAKER_03: I would advise having proper getting a helicopter license, though, because it's a find if you're difficult to fly.
1:02:56
SPEAKER_06: So uh yeah, uh if any of our choices uh caught your eye, please tell us in the comments.
1:03:01
SPEAKER_06: Maybe you saw something far better than we found.
1:03:04
SPEAKER_06: So uh tell us about that too.
1:03:06
SPEAKER_06: Unlikely, but events.
1:03:10
SPEAKER_04: Events.
1:03:11
SPEAKER_04: Yes, there's a flying this weekend.
1:03:13
SPEAKER_04: It's on Sunday, the 15th.
1:03:14
SPEAKER_04: It's the pancake flying at Strape.
1:03:17
SPEAKER_05: At least they've got a hard runway.
1:03:18
SPEAKER_04: Yeah, no splashing that would definitely help.
1:03:21
SPEAKER_05: Yeah.
1:03:21
SPEAKER_05: And cheap fuel.
1:03:23
SPEAKER_05: And cheap fuel, yeah.
1:03:24
SPEAKER_05: One of the cheapest in the thing.
1:03:25
SPEAKER_05: They were claiming cheapest in the UK for members.
1:03:27
SPEAKER_04: Yeah.
1:03:28
SPEAKER_04: It's a great place as well.
1:03:29
SPEAKER_04: Great, great people.
1:03:31
SPEAKER_05: Okay, well, hope you enjoyed that.
1:03:33
SPEAKER_05: Don't forget to like, comment, subscribe.
1:03:34
SPEAKER_05: Particularly hit the like button.
1:03:35
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1:03:36
SPEAKER_05: Don't forget to join the club flyer.co.uk forward slash membership.
1:03:39
SPEAKER_05: Just six quid a month.
1:03:42
SPEAKER_05: At least a week there.
1:03:43
SPEAKER_05: I would six quid a week.
1:03:45
SPEAKER_05: Six quid a month.
1:03:45
SPEAKER_05: Six quid a month.
1:03:47
SPEAKER_05: Um hope you enjoyed it.
1:03:48
SPEAKER_05: Thank you very much.
1:03:48
SPEAKER_05: Have a great weekend.
1:03:50
SPEAKER_05: Bye.
1:03:50
SPEAKER_06: Bye.
1:03:52
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