2009
18/2/09 – Vernon gets his wings
31/5/09 - the first Bumble-bee flyout of the year
21/6/09 – the Air Britain flyin
13/9/09 – ‘Scramble’, the North Weald Airfield Community Day
27/10/09 – Jonathan’s first solo
12/11/09 – we take our
Autumn holiday
18/2/09
Vernon gets his wings. A multi-layered celebration this: Vernon flies solo for the first time, his is the first microlight first solo at North Weald, and it might be the first ever ab initio first solo in a powered aircraft at North Weald (the historians will have to tell us)... no wonder he looks pleased!
Ginge leads the first Bumble-bee flyout of the year. Only two aircraft went on this one:
The Bumble-bee, flown by Ginge with Ray Harrington as passenger
Hoppy, flown by Richard Noremberg with Ellis Freeman as passenger.
They are pictured here at Damyns Hall airfield with The Bumble-bee, Richard and Ginge in front of the starboard wing and Ellis and Ray to port.
We continue our tradition of presenting a stand at the Air Britain Fly-in at North Weald. We had help from friends and the Air Britain crew to put up our marquee on the Friday evening. As luck would have it, the wind died down shortly after we’d completed the job, which included struggling to stop the half-erected marquee from being blown in the direction of some expensive-looking aeroplanes. Such is the fun of running a small business on a large airfield.
The Saturday was a bit cold and blustery, but we did have a fair number of visitors and enquiries, and we sat a few people in Hoppy’s cockpit. The Sunday proved much more enjoyable with warm sun and a gentle cooling breeze. We were joined by our friends from Medway Microlights who flew in with three of the new Medway SLA Executive aircraft. The high light, for us, was the Bleriot replica from the Brooklands Museum which spent the day parked near our stand. We were busy from start to finish on the Sunday and must apologise to all those people who wanted to talk to us about microlight flying but who we didn’t have time to talk to. Do feel free to phone us or come and visit us at the airfield on one of our regular days (Wednesdays and Saturdays).
Hoppy
and the Bleriot, Sunday.
… and North Weald Airfield runs another Community Day for the people of Epping Forest District and their friends. Hoppy is present on the display ground again. This time the background is not a Bleriot, but two F-16s from the Norwegian Airforce.
The jets finished the day by giving us a formation flypast. The twin-tailed jet at the rear of the formation is the Vampire which lives at North Weald.
The proceeds from the day were dedicated by the airfield operators to the RAFA Wings Appeal.
Congratulations to Jonathan Hunt – shortly before sunset he completes his first solo flight at North Weald. A lot of hard work went into reaching the required standard within one season. Well done.
We’re back from holiday! Making use of the traditionally poor flying weather, we disappeared off to Portugal for a week or so in the sun. The goal: to tour a bit and to relax a lot. While Essex basked in fog and rain and wind, we endured temperatures of 22C and sunshine.
If you want to follow in our footsteps, we can definitely recommend the following:
To relax in luxury, stay at the Pousada at the Convento da Graca in Tavira
Enjoy simple cooking at the Restaurant Imperial in Tavira near the gardens along the bank of the River Gilão (check the tourist menu)
To relax at less cost and in a more homely environment, stay at the Solar de Mós hotel in Lagos
And to restore your adrenaline levels, contact the microlight school at the Algarve Airsports Centre