Posted by: Darren
on Jun 30, 2009
The news today of a CTsw from Barton crashing into a front garden in Eccles brings the fact that accidents like this do happen, too close to home.
Being based from City Airport Manchester (aka Barton) and knowing Chris Copple who the said aircraft is registered to makes this incident so much more personal and real. I think a lot of pilots realise thatour sport does have significant and present dangers, but we put them to the back of our mind everytime we fly of think of the joys of being in the air.
It appears the pilot put out a mayday call just after take off reporting an engine failure. Looking at the photos its a miracle they got out alive and from the Manchester Evening News report it appears they came away without too much in the way of injures as well, lets hope that is true.
Posted by: John-R
on Jun 20, 2009
Dodgy Micro.
I was in Sunny beach in Bulgaria, June 09, when I saw this. It would take off from the beach in Sunny Beach. Fly to Nessibar, a small quaint town on a small pininsular, 1 mile away and return 10 min later. 60 lev (£30). It had no call sign and looked in very poor condition. (Well Dodgy). You didn't have helmets, just ear defenders. The sea was a little choppy at this point and he said 'the conditions are not to good', This means that is is not a good idea to take off, particularly as there was a cross wind to the waves. I passed on this one. (Wise decissision). But I must admit - His job was better than mine. John Royle - Drain Cleaner !
Posted by: Darren
on Apr 28, 2009
According to the latest issue of Loop it looks as though Microlight and General Aviation pilots may have a new airfield to fly to. I was interested to read that the old RAF Llanbedr Airfield (ICAO: EGOD) on the coast of Cardigan Bay, may once again open its doors to GA. Having recently flew passed this once splendid base on our trip from Barton to Shobdon to Caernarfon and back, I thought as we passed that it would be a great opportunity for someone.
The old RAF base at Llanbedr was decommissioned in 2004 by the Ministry of Defence and subsequently purchased by the welsh Assembly back in 2007 with the intention of it being used or developed in a way that would benefit the local economy and/or create job opportunities, which in today’s economic climate would be a real positive.
It seems that the operators of Kemble Airport were the preferred bidders according to the Welsh assembly and their team are currently working through the legal stuff before they can start any work on the site. At the moment it’s a case of ‘Watch This Space’ and guess we shouldn’t get too excited yet. As we all know local authorities and government have a good tendency to thwart the best made plans of our beloved sport. On top of that In May 2008, the Snowdonia Society, the Brecon Beacons Park Society and the Friends of Pembrokeshire National Park formed an alliance against the development of a new civilian airport at the site, so its anybody’s guess at the moment.
The good thing from what I can see of the details of Llanbedr is the fact that it has 3 asphalt runways, nearly 600 acres of space, plenty of hangers, fuel storage etc. A great place to spend some flying time. Have a look at the photographs of the area around Llanbedr Airfiled from our recent 7 flexwing microlight day out in early April.
Posted by: admin
on Mar 21, 2009
The demonstrator has arrived at Barton Aerodrome. Mark Jackson has had P&M's new baby there for a few weeks now. Initially the wing was set up for slow flying so Mark had been unable to give it a good test. "It flies and handles very much like a Quick" Mark told me which was probably due to the way the wing had been configured and he was hoping to get Roger down from P&M to make the necessary changes.
Here are a few photos I took whilst at the airfield last night. Hopefully weather permitting we'll get a good fly out in the Quik-R and will be able to report back to you all on how she flies and handles. Initial indications are that this is a superb piece of engineering if the review by Geoff Hall in the Nov-Dec 2008 edition of BMAA's Microlight Flying magazine is anything to go by. Well only time will tell? I love my Quik 912s and like even more the sleek but unusual look of the new topless wing on the Quik-R
Let us know if there are any specific aspects of the new Quik R you would like to know about and we will endeavour to cover this in our review. If there are any photos you would like us to take again let us have your comments below.
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