Latest / Flyer Magazine / Tips for Buying Your First Aircraft - The Flyer Show 25 September 2025

Transcript

Tips for Buying Your First Aircraft - The Flyer Show 25 September 2025 · Flyer Magazine

• 0:01
  SPEAKER_00: Three.
• 0:04
  SPEAKER_05: Welcome to the flyer show.
• 0:07
  SPEAKER_05: Hello and welcome to the Flyer Show from the Wattsweek Studio.
• 0:10
  SPEAKER_05: My name's Ian Seeger.
• 0:12
  SPEAKER_05: I'm Ed Hicks.
• 0:12
  SPEAKER_05: And I'm Dave Corderwich.
• 0:14
  SPEAKER_06: In today's show, there's news of a new aviation minister.
• 0:17
  SPEAKER_06: Uh, there's some upcoming changes to the PPL from uh October 1st.
• 0:21
  SPEAKER_04: And the managing director of Gloucestershire Airport is polishing up his CV.
• 0:26
  SPEAKER_05: Plus, we'll be giving you our tips for buying your first aircraft.
• 0:29
  SPEAKER_05: But first, thank you very much to Sky Demon for supporting the live stream.
• 0:33
  SPEAKER_05: Here is this week's top tip.
• 0:39
  SPEAKER_03: Hi, I'm Rob from Sky Demon, and here's another top tip.
• 0:44
  SPEAKER_03: Sometimes you'll be planning a flight to be undertaken several days in the future, and you may notice that Sky Demon doesn't contain wind forecasts that far ahead.
• 0:53
  SPEAKER_03: If you have a source of wind data which does stretch out further into the future, you can manually enter it into Sky Demon on a leg-by-leg basis.
• 1:02
  SPEAKER_03: Within the weather menu, look for set wind conditions for flight and then enter the data using the format shown.
• 1:17
  SPEAKER_03: This function is also useful in cases where you might like Sky Demon to assume zero wind for your flight.
• 1:25
  SPEAKER_03: Like so.
• 1:29
  SPEAKER_03: For more information, check out our website www.skydemon.ero.
• 1:39
  SPEAKER_06: So shocker, Sky Demon can't always predict the future.
• 1:42
  SPEAKER_06: I don't believe that.
• 1:44
  SPEAKER_06: Give them a week, they'll have it sorted.
• 1:48
  SPEAKER_06: Shall we see uh what the weather forecast has in store for us?
• 1:52
  SPEAKER_00: Hi everyone, hope you're doing well this evening.
• 1:55
  SPEAKER_00: Great uh to be here again.
• 1:57
  SPEAKER_00: Uh and if you're planning some flying this weekend, it's a bit hit and miss.
• 2:01
  SPEAKER_00: Let me show you uh what I mean.
• 2:03
  SPEAKER_00: Going to show you some different charts here.
• 2:05
  SPEAKER_00: These are from the high resolution icon e model.
• 2:08
  SPEAKER_00: And uh the times that these charts refer to are up here.
• 2:11
  SPEAKER_00: Look in the uh top of the screen.
• 2:14
  SPEAKER_00: Shown in Zulu times.
• 2:15
  SPEAKER_00: And what these charts are showing is cloud.
• 2:17
  SPEAKER_00: So where we see the completely white colours here, that means we've got overcast cloud.
• 2:22
  SPEAKER_00: And then you can see the black colours here, that's where we've got no cloud.
• 2:25
  SPEAKER_00: So then anything in between, such as down here, is more broken cloud.
• 2:29
  SPEAKER_00: Also on these charts, we get an inference of rainfall as well.
• 2:32
  SPEAKER_00: So think of it as predictive rain as radar.
• 2:35
  SPEAKER_00: You can just see a few blue colours there, and we've got uh pressure lines on there, we've got the isobels on there too.
• 2:40
  SPEAKER_00: So this is the forecast for Friday.
• 2:42
  SPEAKER_00: And notice that Friday morning we've got a fair amount of cloud across southeastern parts of England.
• 2:48
  SPEAKER_00: Now, during the morning, that cloud is going to be pushing its way westwards, getting into parts of the Midlands.
• 2:52
  SPEAKER_00: One or two shabby spots of rain developing through the channel and across eastern parts of Scotland as well.
• 2:58
  SPEAKER_00: But for most of us, actually, it is going to be a very farble afternoon.
• 3:02
  SPEAKER_00: We're looking at bases probably at around 3,000 feet, tops of around 7,000 feet.
• 3:08
  SPEAKER_00: Best of any sunshine you can see there out towards the west.
• 3:11
  SPEAKER_00: So southwest England, Wales, western parts of Scotland, eastern parts of Ireland.
• 3:17
  SPEAKER_00: So what we find through the course of Friday uh night is that we get rain moving into Ireland.
• 3:23
  SPEAKER_00: You can see they're getting in.
• 3:24
  SPEAKER_00: And by Saturday morning, by 7am local Saturday morning, it's through western Scotland and through western parts of Wales and southwest England.
• 3:32
  SPEAKER_00: Certainly non-fair vulnerable here.
• 3:33
  SPEAKER_00: Low cloud affecting coasts and hills.
• 3:36
  SPEAKER_00: Elsewhere, there probably will be some mist or murk around the first thing.
• 3:40
  SPEAKER_00: Some drizzle could just drift through southeastern coast and across central and eastern parts of the channel.
• 3:46
  SPEAKER_00: So you do need to be aware of that, that that cloud could be quite low there.
• 3:50
  SPEAKER_00: And then through the course of Saturday morning, that rain spreads eastwards.
• 3:54
  SPEAKER_00: So eastern area is probably faring okay through Saturday morning, apart from these bits of drizzle, southeast England and through the channel.
• 4:02
  SPEAKER_00: Typical base is 3,000 feet, tops at about 7,000 feet, but out west, non-verse rain comes in.
• 4:09
  SPEAKER_00: Low cloud, drizzle, fog affecting the coast and the hills, and then gradually that rain tries to edge eastwards during the course of Saturday afternoon, becoming quite heavy across parts of southwestern Scotland, across parts of northwest England, Wales into southwest England, tending though the cloud to break up across East Anglia and the South East.
• 4:31
  SPEAKER_00: Watch the forecast carefully for that one, but it does look like we've got a reasonable afternoon developing there.
• 4:37
  SPEAKER_00: Now, through the course of Saturday night into Sunday, that rain then tracks its way eastwards.
• 4:42
  SPEAKER_00: Notice how it lingers across East Anglia and South East England on Saturday morning.
• 4:47
  SPEAKER_00: It doesn't really clear properly until the middle part of Sunday afternoon.
• 4:51
  SPEAKER_00: And then through Sunday, we tend to find better conditions coming in from the west during the course of the day, for most of us going very far.
• 5:00
  SPEAKER_00: And as those better conditions come in, I think we're looking at bases around 4,000 feet, tops at around 10,000 feet.
• 5:06
  SPEAKER_00: Just watch for the odd chat, southwestern Scotland, Northern England, and Northern Ireland.
• 5:11
  SPEAKER_00: So quite a complex situation as we go through the weekend.
• 5:16
  SPEAKER_00: And complex is what we love.
• 5:18
  SPEAKER_00: Anyway, um, big news this week is that I've announced my uh next aviation weather school, but the classroom-based version, um, something that many of you have been asking for.
• 5:28
  SPEAKER_00: So this is going to be Aviation Weather School Part 1.
• 5:30
  SPEAKER_00: It's going to take place between 10am and 4 pm here at Weather School HQ in Wanbourne, which we're about three miles to the east of Hytney Green uh airport, Northern.
• 5:42
  SPEAKER_00: And um, it'll be on Saturday the 15th of November.
• 5:45
  SPEAKER_00: Places are booking quickly already.
• 5:47
  SPEAKER_00: I think I've got two places remaining.
• 5:49
  SPEAKER_00: Um, and we'll have a full day of weather together.
• 5:52
  SPEAKER_00: Um, I will build your confidence in uh weather and I'll tell you the stuff that you really need to know.
• 5:58
  SPEAKER_00: I'll get you planning up to five days in advance and just get your weather confidence right up there.
• 6:03
  SPEAKER_00: So you'll be flying more and you'll be flying more safely as well.
• 6:07
  SPEAKER_00: It'd be great to see you there.
• 6:08
  SPEAKER_00: So go to weatherschool.co.uk and you can book your place now.
• 6:12
  SPEAKER_00: Look at you, you get to spend a Saturday with me.
• 6:14
  SPEAKER_00: What could be better?
• 6:15
  SPEAKER_00: Uh, where do you want the list to start?
• 6:17
  SPEAKER_00: I'll leave you with that for now.
• 6:19
  SPEAKER_00: Have a great weekend.
• 6:20
  SPEAKER_00: Uh stay flying, everyone, and uh don't forget, keep the sun shining.
• 6:23
  SPEAKER_00: See you soon.
• 6:24
  SPEAKER_00: Bye for now.
• 6:25
  SPEAKER_05: Well, I guess that's England in September.
• 6:28
  SPEAKER_04: Yes.
• 6:28
  SPEAKER_04: Yes, yep.
• 6:29
  SPEAKER_04: And we're on the edge of Hurricane Gabriel.
• 6:32
  SPEAKER_05: Right.
• 6:33
  SPEAKER_05: Time for some news.
• 6:34
  SPEAKER_05: Yes.
• 6:34
  SPEAKER_05: I guess the first bit of news is that we've got a new aviation minister.
• 6:39
  SPEAKER_05: Last week we didn't have one.
• 6:40
  SPEAKER_05: This week we've got one, and it's 27-year-old Kier Mather.
• 6:44
  SPEAKER_05: So I think he's the youngest minister since Gladstone.
• 6:47
  SPEAKER_05: Um, but interestingly, there wasn't come some fanfare press release that you'd expect from the DFT.
• 6:51
  SPEAKER_05: It kind of snuck out in another press release the DFT put out about them recruiting the next tranche of aviation ambassadors.
• 6:58
  SPEAKER_05: So uh we'll we'll link to that if you fancy the job.
• 7:01
  SPEAKER_05: We kind of thought about should we apply?
• 7:04
  SPEAKER_05: We could do it as a job share, maybe the three of us.
• 7:06
  SPEAKER_05: They get three of us for the buttons.
• 7:08
  SPEAKER_05: Who would want us?
• 7:08
  SPEAKER_05: Who would want us, certainly not the DFT.
• 7:11
  SPEAKER_05: And and you know what?
• 7:12
  SPEAKER_05: I don't think I don't think it'd be right for us to tow the DFT line anyway.
• 7:16
  SPEAKER_05: So there you go.
• 7:17
  SPEAKER_05: So but but there is there is that post coming up, and if you are interested, seriously, uh now's the time to apply.
• 7:23
  SPEAKER_05: But interestingly, this came at a time after a meeting last week between DFT officials and a couple of the alphabet groups where the DFT officials effectively said, we're kind of pretty much disengaging from general aviation.
• 7:35
  SPEAKER_05: We are not gonna be working on a separate GA strategy.
• 7:39
  SPEAKER_05: We're gonna look at things in a whole.
• 7:40
  SPEAKER_05: So when we look at fuel, we're gonna look at sustainable aviation fuel, as well as have gas and stuff like that.
• 7:45
  SPEAKER_05: GA is it's too expensive to manage like that, and it's gonna be something different in the future.
• 7:52
  SPEAKER_05: And that's kind of really not been looked at and taken very well by the alphabet groups.
• 7:56
  SPEAKER_05: They're not very happy.
• 7:57
  SPEAKER_05: I dropped a line to Grant Schaps once upon a time.
• 8:00
  SPEAKER_05: Sir Grant Schapps.
• 8:01
  SPEAKER_05: Sir Sir Grant Schapps now, um, saying, Oh, what's going on here?
• 8:05
  SPEAKER_05: Any idea?
• 8:06
  SPEAKER_05: Not that he's in government anymore.
• 8:08
  SPEAKER_05: Uh he basically came back and said, Well, wow, you are you surprised?
• 8:11
  SPEAKER_05: Um I've paraphrased that a little bit.
• 8:14
  SPEAKER_05: Um but then he said, you know, you should really talk to the APPG and see what they've got to say and get them to ask some questions.
• 8:20
  SPEAKER_04: So that's the all-party parliamentary group for general aviation.
• 8:24
  SPEAKER_05: Absolutely.
• 8:24
  SPEAKER_05: I think it's now, I don't think it's the GA.
• 8:26
  SPEAKER_05: It's APPG Aviation, isn't it?
• 8:28
  SPEAKER_05: That's right, yeah, it's changed.
• 8:30
  SPEAKER_05: Yeah.
• 8:31
  SPEAKER_05: Um so even they've disengaged from GA, didn't they?
• 8:34
  SPEAKER_05: Um so we'll be we'll be talking to the APPG A and also the DFT and see what they've got to say, if anything at all.
• 8:41
  SPEAKER_05: Trevor Burrus, Jr.
• 8:41
  SPEAKER_04: That uh that group that they were talking to, you call them the alphabet groups, people like AOPA and so on, they've actually got their own alphabet name, haven't they?
• 8:50
  SPEAKER_04: GA4Biz.
• 8:52
  SPEAKER_06: Um so there's some important changes coming to uh pilot licensing in the UK from the 1st of October.
• 8:58
  SPEAKER_06: And even better news, the Civil Aviation Authority have come up with simple explanations of those key changes.
• 9:05
  SPEAKER_06: Well done, CA.
• 9:06
  SPEAKER_06: I know, yeah.
• 9:07
  SPEAKER_06: Um so from 1st of October, the CAA will only issue NPPLA and part FCL PPLAs.
• 9:15
  SPEAKER_06: Uh any UK-issued uh part-fapel license, uh anything already issued will remain valid.
• 9:23
  SPEAKER_06: Uh the Laple H will continue to be issued.
• 9:26
  SPEAKER_06: Uh and for those already training on an existing Lapel course, uh any training completed will be credited going forwards.
• 9:35
  SPEAKER_06: Makes sense.
• 9:36
  SPEAKER_06: Um the NPPLA uh requires at least 32 hours of flight time, which will include at least 10 hours of supervised solo.
• 9:44
  SPEAKER_06: Uh but the good news is you can train on a PMD.
• 9:47
  SPEAKER_06: Excellent.
• 9:48
  SPEAKER_06: Yeah, and that will be acceptable for initial issue of an NPPL.
• 9:52
  SPEAKER_06: Uh the simple single-engined aeroplane rating on the NPPLA will then be replaced by the sim the single engine piston rating to align with other UK issued licenses.
• 10:04
  SPEAKER_06: Uh while the privileges remain the same, so that's a 2,000 kilogram max takeoff weight.
• 10:10
  SPEAKER_06: Uh holders of the new SCP rating will now be allowed to fly microlights uh without need uh needing to complete appropriate.
• 10:17
  SPEAKER_06: Oh no, you will be allowed to fly microlight aeroplanes after completing appropriate differences training, uh, but without needing a separate microlight rating.
• 10:25
  SPEAKER_06: Uh the SLMG rating will also become the TMG rating.
• 10:30
  SPEAKER_06: Uh the PPLA, that changes, so you now need five hours less for that, so only 40 hours training time.
• 10:37
  SPEAKER_06: Uh, and we'll now include um you can now train for that using uh three-axis microlights, uh, and the supervised solo flight time and licensed skill tests must still be done in SEP or TMG.
• 10:52
  SPEAKER_06: And the practical syllabus will include the introduction of uh partial power and the use of VFR moving maps, which is that's good.
• 11:01
  SPEAKER_06: I haven't we all been talking about that for a while.
• 11:04
  SPEAKER_06: Um, probably most useful for PPL holders is uh when it comes to revalidation, up to six hours of your required 12 hours in your two years uh can be flown in the first year of validity, leaving you to fly your second six in the second year.
• 11:20
  SPEAKER_06: Uh the requirement for 12 takeoffs and landings uh in that second year remains unchanged.
• 11:26
  SPEAKER_06: Uh Lapel holders will move to a fixed validity system by October 2026.
• 11:31
  SPEAKER_06: That's in line with Part FCL PPL.
• 11:35
  SPEAKER_06: And finally, if you want to fly, uh want to use a non-Part 21 aircraft, so think permit to fly, uh, for training towards your Part FCL license, there are some changes coming in that that will make it easier to undertake.
• 11:48
  SPEAKER_05: It's kind of interesting, because this whole process is the simplification process.
• 11:51
  SPEAKER_05: Yeah.
• 11:52
  SPEAKER_05: And every time we try and explain the simplification process, it sounds quite complicated.
• 11:57
  SPEAKER_05: But actually, once you get your head around it, there are some really good changes there and really positive things there.
• 12:03
  SPEAKER_05: It's just one of those things that when you actually try and write it down or explain it, yeah.
• 12:07
  SPEAKER_06: You know, it's it's it's it's lots, again, lots of acronyms, uh, lots of numbers, lots of facts.
• 12:14
  SPEAKER_06: Uh I have to say, you know, sometimes we're critical of the CAA, but actually they came out with a real simple document for this, didn't they?
• 12:21
  SPEAKER_06: They went, yeah, this is simplified, and it's pretty, it's it's pretty bang on.
• 12:26
  SPEAKER_06: Yeah.
• 12:26
  SPEAKER_05: And we're now starting the second tranche of that, which will come hopefully in 2026.
• 12:30
  SPEAKER_05: So that's a good thing as well.
• 12:32
  SPEAKER_05: So more to come.
• 12:32
  SPEAKER_05: So well done, everybody at the CAA.
• 12:34
  SPEAKER_05: Yeah.
• 12:35
  SPEAKER_05: Top marks.
• 12:35
  SPEAKER_05: Yeah.
• 12:36
  SPEAKER_05: Not just a participation medal this time.
• 12:40
  SPEAKER_04: Well, listening to that story though, I was thinking we must do a glossary of terms on the website, just for people new people coming in, because even though it's simple, there's still LAA, there's still LAPL.
• 12:50
  SPEAKER_05: There's enough pages on the World Wide Web to do a glossary of terms.
• 12:53
  SPEAKER_04: Well, I think we've we should probably just sum it up.
• 12:56
  SPEAKER_05: Give it a crack.
• 12:57
  SPEAKER_04: Give it good.
• 12:57
  SPEAKER_04: Anyway, my story is about um Gloucestershire Airport.
• 13:01
  SPEAKER_04: The saga goes on.
• 13:03
  SPEAKER_04: Um, the current managing director, chap called Jason Ivy, uh, is stepping down from his job in January uh 2026.
• 13:11
  SPEAKER_04: A statement from the two councils that are selling what was once the UK's top-performing general aviation airport said Mr.
• 13:18
  SPEAKER_04: Ivy will continue to help progress with the sale to Horizon Aero Group.
• 13:22
  SPEAKER_04: That kind of statement does kind of suggest that the due diligence process, which is part of the sale of the airport to Horizon Aero Group, does kind of sound as though it's a done deal to me.
• 13:35
  SPEAKER_04: I've immediately got in touch with uh Mr.
• 13:39
  SPEAKER_04: Somar Peretti, who's the head of Horizon Aero Group, and asked him for an interview because and they but he came back and said, nope, not quite ready yet.
• 13:47
  SPEAKER_04: The juice isn't quite finished, we haven't completed the sale, so um, we still don't know much more about them as a group.
• 13:54
  SPEAKER_04: However, they have issued uh a vision, a vision statement, and it's uh summed up by one sentence a comprehensive social value charter, a bold vision to transform the airport into a thriving, sustainable, and inclusive uh aviate regional hub.
• 14:10
  SPEAKER_04: Regional hub sounds a bit like a passenger airport to me, uh which I think they'll struggle with at Gloucester.
• 14:16
  SPEAKER_04: A couple of other bits of uh airfield use.
• 14:18
  SPEAKER_04: Leeds East Airport now has fuel available 24-7, uh both Afgas and Jet A1, available on a self-service basis.
• 14:26
  SPEAKER_04: Now, how does that work at night?
• 14:28
  SPEAKER_04: Uh the airport confirmed it won't have pilot controlled lighting.
• 14:34
  SPEAKER_04: But it confirmed it won't have pilot controlled lighting, but it says there will be some unavailable to turn the lights on if needed.
• 14:40
  SPEAKER_05: I think you have to book them.
• 14:41
  SPEAKER_05: You have to when you phone up PPR for PPR, you need to get hello, I need some fuel at 2.30 a.m.
• 14:49
  SPEAKER_05: Could you please have someone there ready to turn the lights on?
• 14:51
  SPEAKER_05: And they'll go, Yes, that will cost you X, Y, Z.
• 14:54
  SPEAKER_05: And it's a minimum charge of£75, but uh I'm sure that will go up depending on the.
• 14:59
  SPEAKER_06: I was gonna say that's that sounds bargaining, really, to get someone to get out of bed and come and turn the lights on.
• 15:04
  SPEAKER_06: Yeah, I probably wouldn't, to be perfectly honest with you.
• 15:07
  SPEAKER_04: Well, if I was that person, I would probably have a button by the side of the bed, so I could just reach out and do that.
• 15:11
  SPEAKER_05: I'd say you could put a bed in the control tower or something next to the button.
• 15:14
  SPEAKER_06: That might be a way to be able to do it.
• 15:15
  SPEAKER_06: Surely someone has under underestimated the value of going, Alexa, turn on the runway lights.
• 15:21
  SPEAKER_06: That's what you need, isn't it?
• 15:24
  SPEAKER_04: That's it, it's bigger radio.
• 15:25
  SPEAKER_04: Core.
• 15:26
  SPEAKER_04: Yep.
• 15:27
  SPEAKER_04: Also, New Key Airport, it's been in the news.
• 15:29
  SPEAKER_04: They've got a new uh interim managing director uh called Amy Smith.
• 15:33
  SPEAKER_04: She was telling BBC Radio Cornwall that although the airport needs a six million pounds annual subsidy, it does bring in 300 million pounds a year to the Cornwall economy.
• 15:44
  SPEAKER_04: Um they plan to reduce the subsidy by developing the wider estate, she said, uh, and adding more commercial routes.
• 15:51
  SPEAKER_04: But GA seems pretty safe for now.
• 15:53
  SPEAKER_04: Um apparently tw just 25% of the aircraft movements at New Key are passenger flights.
• 16:00
  SPEAKER_04: The vast majority are general aviation outfit.
• 16:04
  SPEAKER_06: Okay, our topic this week is all about buying your first aeroplane.
• 16:08
  SPEAKER_06: Uh, and you have to ask the question, why would I buy an aeroplane of my own?
• 16:14
  SPEAKER_05: That's a very good question, Ed.
• 16:15
  SPEAKER_05: So why did you decide to buy an airplane of your own?
• 16:18
  SPEAKER_06: Um, for me, uh it was the opportunity to get um the airplane that I wanted to own.
• 16:24
  SPEAKER_06: I couldn't go and hire anywhere, um, and it was pretty unusual and rare, so I had to go and buy it.
• 16:32
  SPEAKER_04: Well, for me, it was simply because I'd been renting club aircraft up to that point.
• 16:37
  SPEAKER_04: And when you're renting by the hour from a club from a club fleet, um it works out very expensive.
• 16:44
  SPEAKER_04: And there's availability as well, you know, coinciding decent weather with the availability of the aircraft and availability of yourself and perhaps friends, it uh it never really kind of worked out.
• 16:55
  SPEAKER_04: So buying an aircraft, plus I was pretty enthusiastic about the idea.
• 17:00
  SPEAKER_04: It kind of gripped me.
• 17:03
  SPEAKER_05: Uh personally, I've got I've got I've actually got quite a strong belief here that if you if you learn to fly and you rent from a club, sometime within the first two to three years, you need to get either a share in an aircraft or an aircraft of your own.
• 17:15
  SPEAKER_05: Otherwise, it just becomes too hard and too uh impractical to rent an aircraft and do this kind of similar flights.
• 17:21
  SPEAKER_05: You really to broaden your horizons to go out and do more, you need to own an aircraft.
• 17:25
  SPEAKER_05: Personally, uh for me it was all about availability and making sure that the aircraft was available when I wanted it, and more to the point it was equipped as I wanted it.
• 17:33
  SPEAKER_05: And if there was, you know, we've all flown those aircraft that you rent and you go, well, that bit's inoperative and that bit's inoperative, and someone forgot to clean the backseat.
• 17:41
  SPEAKER_05: It was having an aircraft as you I mean, it's not that I clean my backseat as it were, but that's my choice now, as opposed to anything else.
• 17:49
  SPEAKER_06: So that was the reason why I wanted to buy it.
• 17:51
  SPEAKER_06: Yeah, and it's a you know, we talk about the you know, you learn to fly.
• 17:54
  SPEAKER_06: It's like if you were if you were gonna learn to drive, you wouldn't keep flying, you wouldn't keep going, I'll go and uh I need to go to the shops, I'll go and rent the dual control the driving school car.
• 18:06
  SPEAKER_06: No.
• 18:06
  SPEAKER_06: Um because it is the it's how you uh embrace kind of flying freedom.
• 18:12
  SPEAKER_05: There are so many things that I've done with the airplane that I bought all those years ago that just wouldn't be possible from uh from a rental fleet or anything else.
• 18:20
  SPEAKER_05: Um I mean, a share in an aircraft is a different thing.
• 18:23
  SPEAKER_05: We will talk about uh buying shares in an aircraft at some stage in the future.
• 18:27
  SPEAKER_05: Um but this is really about buying your own aircraft.
• 18:29
  SPEAKER_06: Yeah.
• 18:30
  SPEAKER_06: So what's uh uh have you got um what's your one top tip uh that you would offer uh to anyone buying an aeroplane there first?
• 18:40
  SPEAKER_05: I I would say that buying an airplane is an emotional decision and actually owning the airplane beyond that is much more of a kind of long-term relationship thing.
• 18:53
  SPEAKER_05: You kind of go from Dave's lust of buying a Luscom to Dave's realisation that you're in a relationship with that Luscom and everybody around it, or any any particular aircraft.
• 19:03
  SPEAKER_05: So for me, um when I when I bought the 182, I the the the first annual was done by an organization that were unfamiliar with that particular airframe, and so they quite rightly went through it um because they didn't know anything about it, didn't have the perspective of of operating that aircraft.
• 19:20
  SPEAKER_05: Um and the first annual cost me 13 and a half grand, which kind of knocked me sideways, to be perfectly honest.
• 19:25
  SPEAKER_05: It was like what and this was my my ownership experience was about to begin and end quite quickly.
• 19:32
  SPEAKER_05: Yeah, um but fortunately I managed to get through that, and there were there were some other issues as well.
• 19:38
  SPEAKER_05: I managed to get through that, and now I think the way to own an aircraft happily is to have the right kind of relationship with your maintenance.
• 19:46
  SPEAKER_05: Now you you may be like super busy, not got the time for anything, and you want that relationship where you take in the key and go, fix it, call me when it's done, I'll pick it up and pay.
• 19:54
  SPEAKER_05: And that I don't want to know anything else, and that's one if that's what you need, then that's what you need.
• 19:59
  SPEAKER_05: Personally, I don't need that.
• 20:00
  SPEAKER_05: Um, and I want, you know, I enjoy understanding the aircraft, understanding the systems, helping uh during annuals and stuff like that, and have a really good relationship with the guy who looks after the aircraft.
• 20:10
  SPEAKER_05: And that's been really key and really important to me.
• 20:12
  SPEAKER_05: Otherwise, I would definitely not be an aircraft owner.
• 20:14
  SPEAKER_05: So Dave.
• 20:15
  SPEAKER_04: Well, the point I'm gonna make is that um whenever you're buying something like an aircraft or any mechanical device like a car or a motorcycle, you've got to check absolutely everything.
• 20:25
  SPEAKER_04: It's uh it's you've just got to go and try everything.
• 20:27
  SPEAKER_04: If you're starting with the door handles, make sure they operate all right, they can lock okay, they shut the doors properly.
• 20:33
  SPEAKER_04: Every switch, every knob, every control, make sure it absolutely works the way it should do.
• 20:39
  SPEAKER_04: You know, that's with the electrics on or off, with the engine running if it needs to be.
• 20:43
  SPEAKER_04: And uh, but it's because if you don't, then somewhere along the line you're gonna think, I wish I'd spotted that.
• 20:49
  SPEAKER_04: Now when I bought the the only aircraft I've ever bought, I'm not a malt, I'm not a serial buyer like someone around here.
• 20:56
  SPEAKER_04: Um but uh when I bought the Luscombe AT, it was an absolute dream.
• 21:00
  SPEAKER_04: I must admit, I've been sold on the idea of buying Aluscom.
• 21:04
  SPEAKER_04: It was a lovely aeroplane.
• 21:05
  SPEAKER_04: I had it checked over by an engineer who knew his Luscombs.
• 21:08
  SPEAKER_04: That's Miles again.
• 21:09
  SPEAKER_04: Miles.
• 21:10
  SPEAKER_04: Yeah, he was somebody who sold me on the idea of Aluscom in the first place, but he showed me a picture of him flying across the States and landing on the salt flats at in Utah.
• 21:19
  SPEAKER_04: Of course I'm gonna have one after that.
• 21:21
  SPEAKER_04: Anyway, so he Miles quickly spotted that there were a couple of bolts missing from the uh starboard undercarriage.
• 21:28
  SPEAKER_04: Yeah.
• 21:28
  SPEAKER_04: Um bit of a surprise to the uh owner and seller, actually.
• 21:31
  SPEAKER_04: Yeah.
• 21:31
  SPEAKER_04: Um and uh we anyway, we quickly had them fixed and it was signed off by his LA inspector, and I went ahead and bought bought the aircraft.
• 21:41
  SPEAKER_04: Um but with within a few months there were things I hadn't checked and started to come to notice.
• 21:48
  SPEAKER_04: I didn't mind too much because i I didn't end up with a 13,000 pound bill.
• 21:52
  SPEAKER_04: Um but I did have 13 and a half.
• 21:54
  SPEAKER_04: Yeah, 13 and a half.
• 21:56
  SPEAKER_04: I did end up with getting out of the air.
• 21:57
  SPEAKER_04: Every time I got out of the aircraft, there was a smell of Fuel.
• 22:00
  SPEAKER_04: And at first I thought it was just because it was kept in a hangar with other aircraft, and they tend to the smell tends to linger.
• 22:07
  SPEAKER_04: But then I realized I was getting out of the aircraft, parking it in the open, and there was that still that smell.
• 22:15
  SPEAKER_04: So I I just went around the airplane and I found a dribble of fuel coming off the trailing edge of the port wing.
• 22:22
  SPEAKER_04: This is a Luscom with uh metal wings with uh the fuel in the wings.
• 22:26
  SPEAKER_04: And uh it it it took quite a bit of time to find someone to fix it.
• 22:31
  SPEAKER_04: I didn't feel competent enough to do it myself.
• 22:34
  SPEAKER_04: Um took quite a bit of time to find someone to do it, and it ended up costing 500 pounds, which is not a huge sum of money when it comes to aviation pounds, but um I'm guessing it was the time to get something fixed.
• 22:45
  SPEAKER_06: It was, yeah, more than anything.
• 22:46
  SPEAKER_04: Yeah.
• 22:47
  SPEAKER_04: And there were another of other items.
• 22:49
  SPEAKER_05: I mean, I think it's important to note that actually when we're talking about when many people buy an aircraft, they're buying an aircraft that's maybe 10, 20, 30, 40, 50 years old.
• 22:57
  SPEAKER_05: Yeah.
• 22:57
  SPEAKER_05: So it hasn't reached that unbelievably coseted antique stage.
• 23:02
  SPEAKER_05: Yeah.
• 23:02
  SPEAKER_05: It's not like you're going, I bought this Cirrus at six months old.
• 23:05
  SPEAKER_05: You're buying some, you're buying a classic, you're buying an Austin Allegro type car.
• 23:10
  SPEAKER_05: And they there will be things that will go wrong.
• 23:12
  SPEAKER_05: You know, there'll be things that my the some the 182 is built in 1977.
• 23:17
  SPEAKER_05: There's things, you know, things don't last that long without going wrong.
• 23:20
  SPEAKER_05: Yeah.
• 23:20
  SPEAKER_06: And you just have to budget for that.
• 23:22
  SPEAKER_06: Yeah.
• 23:23
  SPEAKER_06: Okay, so my tale, slightly different, uh, because I was the person who bought something sight unseen.
• 23:30
  SPEAKER_06: Uh, unusual times, it was the COVID lockdown, and it was an aeroplane that I knew there would probably be a bit of demand for because it was an RB3.
• 23:38
  SPEAKER_06: There's not many of those that come onto the market.
• 23:40
  SPEAKER_06: Um, I knew a little bit about it from when it was originally built, which was probably 10, 12 years before it came up for sale.
• 23:48
  SPEAKER_06: Um, so I knew a little bit about the airplane and but still did my research on things I want needed to know about it, picked up the phone and had a chat to the seller, uh, who was very nice and had the answers that I need, uh, but fundamentally ended up putting a deposit down on it, never actually seeing it.
• 24:09
  SPEAKER_06: Uh, and I wouldn't recommend that to people because that's probably not the best idea for your first aeroplane.
• 24:16
  SPEAKER_06: Um, but it did pay off.
• 24:18
  SPEAKER_06: Um, as a friend of mine then went and collected the aeroplane.
• 24:21
  SPEAKER_06: The first time I ever saw it was when it arrived here at Wadswick.
• 24:25
  SPEAKER_06: And um, when I I then spent some time going through it, and luckily it was okay.
• 24:32
  SPEAKER_06: Um, but I'd asked some basic questions, and from the information I'd found out, I was pretty happy with where I was getting in because uh I knew that the mags had had an inspection at 500 hours, so someone had looked at those.
• 24:47
  SPEAKER_06: I knew that there had been a new set of cylinders had gone on it um uh uh two or three years before it had come up for sale.
• 24:54
  SPEAKER_06: So I I felt that was positive.
• 24:56
  SPEAKER_06: The builder I knew um had built a previous aeroplane of the same type before uh and had a good reputation, so I was pretty confident with that.
• 25:06
  SPEAKER_06: Further down the line, as we got more into regular maintenance, we did discover that um some incorrect hardware was used to the tail had been taken off for some paint at some time.
• 25:17
  SPEAKER_06: Clearly, someone had put it back on temporarily, um, and that was with some plain nuts and not somearily, yes.
• 25:26
  SPEAKER_06: Um so and that was my I I switched, I changed inspectors, and my new inspector was really thorough.
• 25:34
  SPEAKER_06: Um and I guess that's another thing is is find an engineer that you go, this guy really knows his stuff, or that you know, this engineer really knows his stuff.
• 25:45
  SPEAKER_06: Uh, and is willing to go um and look in every nook and every cranny with a mirror, with a big powerful torch, yeah.
• 25:52
  SPEAKER_06: Uh and really look.
• 25:54
  SPEAKER_06: Because it's amazing what you can find, even in something that you think you have lots of confidence in.
• 26:00
  unknown: Yeah.
• 26:00
  SPEAKER_04: And you're you're not bothered, well, you're not worried too much about buying from the States.
• 26:05
  SPEAKER_06: Uh no, because I I bought a similar aeroplane, um, similar story in a way.
• 26:10
  SPEAKER_06: I'd it's an airplane I'd seen at Oshkosh a few years before.
• 26:13
  SPEAKER_06: Um, and lots of people, you know, the the LIA themselves um discourage people from buying overseas because you know, there are various stories about things not being made exactly to plans or not being made perfectly.
• 26:27
  SPEAKER_06: Um, but again, I did the research, I had the initial knowledge of the aeroplane and went, hey, you know, I want that, uh, and we can put the time into figuring out how it's gonna get shipped, how it's gonna end up somewhere, get taken apart, put in a box, uh, and you plan for bringing an aeroplane in.
• 26:48
  SPEAKER_06: And you have to be prepared for all the work you put into then bringing that onto a UK permit.
• 26:54
  SPEAKER_06: The other thing with that with the the second RV in the States is that purchase was uh on the basis that the airplane, the airplane was out of annual at the time.
• 27:03
  SPEAKER_06: So the um so the purchase was around the fact that I sent someone to do an annual and obviously then they go through and they do all the things that you would want to know about, like compression checks and oil, um, you know, do an oil change, cut the filter open, look at the particles, look at the, you know, look at the oil, go through the aeroplane stem to stern and make sure that it's okay.
• 27:27
  SPEAKER_06: So I guess with that, with that particular airplane, that was uh that gave me a great deal of confidence, and I would thoroughly recommend that to anyone buying their first aeroplane if you can go into it and be part of the maintenance process.
• 27:43
  SPEAKER_06: But I think I'd rather that than someone going, Hey, I've got this new air, I've got this aeroplane with a fresh ticket on it.
• 27:49
  SPEAKER_05: I I think absolutely you definitely need to get your pre-buy done and sometimes an annual done if possible, by someone who is not involved with the seller of the airplane or the selling organization.
• 27:58
  SPEAKER_05: You need to get and you know, maybe get it done by the people who will be looking after it for you.
• 28:02
  SPEAKER_05: Yeah.
• 28:03
  SPEAKER_04: Okay, and I said let's wrap this segment up.
• 28:05
  SPEAKER_04: If there was one thing each of us would say to somebody thinking of buying their first aircraft, what would it be?
• 28:11
  SPEAKER_05: I would say talk to an talk to someone who knows the aircraft type really well, and talk to someone who has operated that aircraft.
• 28:22
  unknown: Go ahead.
• 28:23
  SPEAKER_06: Um do your research, be confident in yourself about the the choice of aeroplane that you're thinking of buying.
• 28:31
  SPEAKER_06: And uh yeah, don't be afraid to to get on the internet and and and find out.
• 28:36
  SPEAKER_04: Yep.
• 28:37
  SPEAKER_04: Well one thing I would say is as I've said already, is check absolutely everything, every every little bit, but also trust your instincts.
• 28:45
  SPEAKER_04: The very first when I bought the Luscombe, I had looked at two before.
• 28:48
  SPEAKER_04: The first one I saw was battered and cowling was a real mess.
• 28:52
  SPEAKER_04: Look, you've been in a fight with uh with Mike Tyson, and the second one I I just did not get on with the seller.
• 28:59
  SPEAKER_04: I thought him a bit of a creep.
• 29:00
  SPEAKER_04: So in the end, I decided just to walk away.
• 29:03
  SPEAKER_04: But enjoy the whole thing, enjoy the thing, enjoy the process, enjoy the aircraft, and do it.
• 29:09
  SPEAKER_05: I have one more important point to make, which I think we we offer you know, buying an airplane is a very emotional thing.
• 29:14
  SPEAKER_05: Um but I would suggest that you buy an airplane that you can afford.
• 29:19
  SPEAKER_05: There are, I know, I know, I know it sounds funny, but there's a lot of people who go, I look look at that, it's amazing.
• 29:24
  SPEAKER_05: I'm not expecting one of the engines in the twin, not wanting to if you you need to go flying in an airplane that you can afford because you will then go flying.
• 29:32
  SPEAKER_05: If you're if you've got an airplane, you go, it's lovely, but I can only really afford to take it out once every couple of months.
• 29:38
  SPEAKER_05: It's not an ownership experience.
• 29:40
  SPEAKER_05: You know, whatever that, whatever your level is, that's where you'll be happiest.
• 29:43
  SPEAKER_05: Yep.
• 29:44
  SPEAKER_05: Hope you're enjoying the show so far.
• 29:46
  SPEAKER_05: But we would like you to join the Flyer Club.
• 29:48
  SPEAKER_05: And there are lots of great reasons for joining the flyer club.
• 29:50
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• 29:53
  SPEAKER_05: Ed, do you know where they are this month?
• 29:55
  SPEAKER_06: I do know where they are this month.
• 29:56
  SPEAKER_06: Uh next week, even.
• 29:58
  SPEAKER_06: I know, yeah.
• 29:58
  SPEAKER_06: You can land for free in September.
• 30:00
  SPEAKER_06: Uh, and then the month is running out already, isn't it?
• 30:02
  SPEAKER_06: Uh Beckles, Blackbush, Doornock, uh, King's Mirror, and you can get 50% off at Kitty Hawk.
• 30:10
  SPEAKER_06: Bargain.
• 30:10
  SPEAKER_04: Yeah.
• 30:11
  SPEAKER_04: And there's, of course, all our webinars, there's lots of them.
• 30:13
  SPEAKER_04: The latest one was with Dr.
• 30:15
  SPEAKER_04: Frank Vosen uh giving five lifestyle changes that can keep you flowing.
• 30:20
  SPEAKER_04: But there's there's such a lot of materials there now.
• 30:22
  SPEAKER_05: But I think there's over 30 or something up there at the moment.
• 30:25
  SPEAKER_05: Yep, that's a large number.
• 30:26
  SPEAKER_04: Some of them we're going to have to redo because the licensing changes are about to come in.
• 30:30
  SPEAKER_04: But uh there's a whole there's really some really great ones out there.
• 30:33
  SPEAKER_05: Plus, you get full access to everything that we write and create on the flyer site.
• 30:37
  SPEAKER_05: You get the Skystream, which is Wednesday's live uh members only members only show.
• 30:43
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• 30:45
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• 30:48
  SPEAKER_05: Flyer.co.uk forward slash membership.
• 30:51
  SPEAKER_05: You know it makes sense.
• 30:52
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• 30:56
  SPEAKER_06: Okay, so the question on everyone's lips is what caught your eye?
• 31:00
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 31:01
  SPEAKER_05: Well, I'm still flabbergasted, I tell you, by the age of the pits, 80 years old.
• 31:06
  SPEAKER_05: And I was looking at other aircraft to see when they were.
• 31:08
  SPEAKER_05: And you know, this time, 82, this week, 82 years ago, yeah, the De Havilland vampire first flew.
• 31:16
  SPEAKER_05: Flew from Hatfield, Jeffrey De Havilland Jr.
• 31:19
  SPEAKER_05: at the controls.
• 31:20
  SPEAKER_05: I mean, that's just two years before.
• 31:21
  SPEAKER_05: That's amazing.
• 31:23
  SPEAKER_05: Um, so as you know, wooden-built twin boom aircraft with a goblin engine, which started life as the Halford H1.
• 31:31
  SPEAKER_05: A couple of interesting uh feats.
• 31:34
  SPEAKER_05: Let me get this right here.
• 31:36
  SPEAKER_05: Yes, Cat's Eyes Cunningham.
• 31:39
  SPEAKER_05: Um that's a great name.
• 31:41
  SPEAKER_05: It is.
• 31:41
  SPEAKER_05: I don't think that was his.
• 31:42
  SPEAKER_05: He wasn't christened that, I don't think.
• 31:44
  SPEAKER_05: No, no.
• 31:45
  SPEAKER_05: He set an altitude record in July 1948 and climbed to 59,446 feet.
• 31:51
  SPEAKER_05: It's kind of A, that must have been cold, but B, he must have been in there going, surely I can get another 500.
• 31:57
  SPEAKER_05: That's quite crack the 60k.
• 31:59
  SPEAKER_06: That's quite an impressive achievement because these were jets that were not overwhelmed with power.
• 32:04
  SPEAKER_05: They weren't overwhelmed with power, I suspect.
• 32:06
  SPEAKER_05: No.
• 32:07
  SPEAKER_05: Indeed.
• 32:07
  SPEAKER_05: Um also Eric Winkle Brown was he was the first person to land a jet aircraft and take off a jet aircraft from an aircraft carrier.
• 32:15
  SPEAKER_05: Right.
• 32:16
  SPEAKER_05: And more recently, in 2020, 2015, I only say that because we were there, uh, a pilot called Pet Pete, not Pet, Pete Zaccanino, who who had fame for a little while on a TV series called Ferry Pilots, he won the jet class at Reno at a speed of 502 miles, 0.37 miles an hour in a T-55.
• 32:38
  SPEAKER_05: I remember that.
• 32:40
  SPEAKER_05: Dave.
• 32:40
  SPEAKER_04: Well, uh, I see uh a lot of press releases in my job, and uh one caught my eye this week mainly because of an outrageous claim.
• 32:48
  SPEAKER_04: Um, I'm gonna come back to that in a minute.
• 32:50
  SPEAKER_04: The press release was issued by Vertical Aerospace, um that's confirmed its plan to build its uh its uh electric vertical takeoff and landing VX-4 at Cotswold Airport, at least initially.
• 33:02
  SPEAKER_04: Uh Vertical said it would build 25 VX-4s at Kemble, uh, expanding its footprint at the airport.
• 33:08
  SPEAKER_04: It's already got a base there, expanding its uh footprint to 100,000 square feet.
• 33:12
  SPEAKER_04: And they also plan to build a battery production facility at Avonmouth, that's yeah, not far away.
• 33:18
  SPEAKER_04: The outrageous bit was where Vertical said You mean ambitious?
• 33:23
  SPEAKER_04: Ambitious.
• 33:23
  SPEAKER_04: Okay, sorry, not outrageous, ambitious.
• 33:26
  SPEAKER_04: Uh Vertical said they would build 900 aircraft a year by 2035.
• 33:33
  SPEAKER_04: That's roughly three a day, which is which is the bit that I think is ambitious.
• 33:37
  SPEAKER_05: I think that's extremely ambitious.
• 33:39
  SPEAKER_05: It reminds me of the icon press conferences that we used to go to.
• 33:42
  SPEAKER_06: Someone came up with an incre uh with a number that met left many of us absolutely incredulous at the time.
• 33:48
  SPEAKER_06: Yes, yeah.
• 33:50
  SPEAKER_05: As as a bit like the flight design press conferences where they would go, oh yeah, the C4, it's gonna do 197 knots or whatever it is, an hour.
• 34:00
  SPEAKER_05: Yeah.
• 34:00
  SPEAKER_04: Yeah.
• 34:00
  SPEAKER_04: Yeah.
• 34:01
  SPEAKER_04: But you might think, why is vertical aerospace saying this now?
• 34:05
  SPEAKER_04: Well, it comes as they're about to launch uh uh uh launch an a call for more investment.
• 34:12
  SPEAKER_04: In fact, they need$700 million uh to complete certification of the VX4 by 2028.
• 34:19
  SPEAKER_04: And that's just the electric version.
• 34:20
  SPEAKER_04: They are planning a hybrid electric as well.
• 34:22
  SPEAKER_05: See, 2028, that leaves them seven years to ramp up to build three a day.
• 34:27
  SPEAKER_05: That's a steep brown.
• 34:29
  SPEAKER_05: Are there any aircraft manufacturers worldwide who are building three aircraft a day at the moment?
• 34:33
  SPEAKER_05: I mean, outside of Ukrainian drone factories?
• 34:36
  SPEAKER_05: I don't think so.
• 34:37
  SPEAKER_05: I don't think so either.
• 34:38
  SPEAKER_06: What caught my eye?
• 34:39
  SPEAKER_06: Uh well, it was a fantastic picture on the internet, uh, as it often is.
• 34:43
  SPEAKER_06: Uh so this was all about uh the having the fastest prop aircraft and the fastest jet in the same frame, and it all began with the story of uh the in the 1981 Reno air race, it was won by an unlimited air racer called Gini, uh, which was a modified P-51.
• 35:02
  SPEAKER_06: Uh, and the Gini crew were so excited, they're like, well, actually, we've had this big race win.
• 35:08
  SPEAKER_06: We're gonna go out and set a piston speed record next.
• 35:11
  SPEAKER_06: Uh, and we really need to capture the attention of the media.
• 35:15
  SPEAKER_06: Uh, and how are we gonna do that?
• 35:17
  SPEAKER_06: And someone on the team said, you know what actually what we need to do is get the fastest prop aircraft and the fastest jet aircraft and get them flying together.
• 35:26
  SPEAKER_06: Now, Jeannie, they were dreaming of being the fastest prop aircraft.
• 35:30
  SPEAKER_06: The fastest jet aircraft was a blackbird, uh, which is fast.
• 35:34
  SPEAKER_06: Um, and you go, that's a bonkers plan to fly.
• 35:37
  SPEAKER_06: And the best aircraft ever made.
• 35:38
  SPEAKER_06: Best aircraft ever made.
• 35:39
  SPEAKER_06: Um you go, that's a crazy plan to fly uh a piston-engine aircraft and a blackbird in formation.
• 35:46
  SPEAKER_06: Talk about dissimilar formation.
• 35:49
  SPEAKER_06: And it is mad because an SR-71 climbing out of Palmdale Air Force Base where um where they were based.
• 35:56
  SPEAKER_06: Uh those aircraft are doing 450 knots.
• 36:00
  SPEAKER_06: Um and Gini with its race uh prepped engine can run 125 inches of manifold pressure, let that sink in.
• 36:10
  SPEAKER_06: Uh but still, that's a lot of manifold pressure.
• 36:14
  SPEAKER_06: Um, but this was going to be a difficult challenge.
• 36:17
  SPEAKER_06: Uh, and you might wonder how do you make something like that happen?
• 36:20
  SPEAKER_06: Because clearly no one is going to agree to that.
• 36:24
  SPEAKER_06: Uh, but uh luckily, because the current record at the time was held by a naval, what had been a formerly a US Navy uh aircraft, a Bearcat, uh the Conquest one flown by Darold Grenemeyer.
• 36:38
  SPEAKER_06: But uh Jeannie was a U.S.
• 36:41
  SPEAKER_06: Air Force B-51, and it just so happened that Bill Park, who was head of the Skunkworks flight operations team, uh, he was an Air Force guy.
• 36:51
  SPEAKER_06: So someone clearly went, let's do this for the Air Force.
• 36:54
  SPEAKER_06: And Bill went, I'm totally in.
• 36:56
  SPEAKER_06: Unbelievable to think this actually happened, but it really did.
• 36:59
  SPEAKER_06: And in the end, Skip Holm, who was Jeannie's uh race pilot, he took off and loitered around around Palmdale.
• 37:07
  SPEAKER_06: The Blackbird got airborne.
• 37:09
  SPEAKER_06: Skip began his 125 inches of manifold pressure run uh on his race engine, and they were like, I hope it holds together.
• 37:17
  SPEAKER_06: Uh pulled up in formation with the Blackbird doing 450 knots, miraculously out of uh out of nowhere.
• 37:25
  SPEAKER_06: Someone appeared in a T-38 jet with a camera, and uh they snapped a few photos.
• 37:31
  SPEAKER_06: And um a venom.
• 37:33
  SPEAKER_06: Yeah, exactly.
• 37:34
  SPEAKER_06: Rumpire, sorry.
• 37:34
  SPEAKER_04: Um so was that an Air Force jet, by the way?
• 37:37
  SPEAKER_06: It was an Air Force jet.
• 37:38
  SPEAKER_06: Yes.
• 37:38
  SPEAKER_06: Um it all went as briefed.
• 37:41
  SPEAKER_06: It was uh like a fleeting tiny window of photo opportunity.
• 37:45
  SPEAKER_06: SR sent SR 71 went on its way, genie returned.
• 37:50
  SPEAKER_06: Um the photos uh didn't actually get a lot of publicity.
• 37:55
  SPEAKER_06: I wonder whether someone went, you know that thing we did?
• 37:57
  SPEAKER_06: Maybe we shouldn't have done that.
• 38:00
  SPEAKER_06: I think what for me, what's amazing though, is you look at those two aeroplanes, they're fundamentally separated by just 20 years of development.
• 38:06
  SPEAKER_06: And I think that's apart from being P51 and a Blackbird, which is an awesome photo formation photo.
• 38:12
  SPEAKER_06: I mean, that's just uh astounding.
• 38:17
  SPEAKER_06: And you're right, the Blackbird is awesome.
• 38:19
  SPEAKER_05: Absolutely.
• 38:20
  SPEAKER_05: Read the book, Skunk Works, Ben Rich.
• 38:22
  SPEAKER_05: Great book.
• 38:23
  SPEAKER_06: Yeah, is a great book.
• 38:24
  SPEAKER_06: Yeah.
• 38:24
  SPEAKER_06: Uh uh, so if you've got a favourite out of uh uh the things that caught our eye this week, let us know in the comments.
• 38:31
  SPEAKER_06: Or if something caught your eye, tell us.
• 38:34
  SPEAKER_04: Well, events.
• 38:35
  SPEAKER_04: Uh well, the Friends of Barton are trying yet again to hold their flying at the end.
• 38:41
  SPEAKER_04: Third time lucky.
• 38:42
  SPEAKER_04: But actually, I think it's fourth time lucky.
• 38:44
  SPEAKER_04: It's just it's just been rained off week after week after week.
• 38:47
  SPEAKER_04: Anyway, they're trying again on Saturday.
• 38:49
  SPEAKER_04: Also on Saturday, there's a microite flying at Compton Abbas and a late summer fly uh flying show is at Stonerie's.
• 38:57
  SPEAKER_04: This is the Great War Aerodrome out in Suffolk, I think it is, isn't it?
• 39:00
  SPEAKER_04: Suffolk, yeah.
• 39:02
  SPEAKER_04: Um, there's uh a microite competition at Damon's Hall Aerodrome.
• 39:06
  SPEAKER_04: You probably won't want to fly into that, but you might want to stay away from it.
• 39:10
  SPEAKER_04: So, yep, we're coming towards the end of the season now.
• 39:12
  SPEAKER_04: There is also, oh sorry, there's Sunday, there's an end-of-season flying at Kirk Bride.
• 39:18
  SPEAKER_04: And next week, there's the Helitech Expo.
• 39:21
  SPEAKER_04: This is the industry exhibition for helicopters and vertical things, and that's at uh London Excel.
• 39:28
  SPEAKER_05: Okay, so don't forget, if you like this, please like, comment, and subscribe.
• 39:31
  SPEAKER_05: And if you got this far, you probably do.
• 39:33
  SPEAKER_05: So look forward to it.
• 39:34
  SPEAKER_05: Have a great weekend.
• 39:35
  SPEAKER_05: See you next week.
• 39:36
  SPEAKER_05: Bye bye.
• 39:36
  SPEAKER_05: Bye.
• 39:37
  SPEAKER_06: Bye.
• 39:38
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