Whilst our new students got off to a solid start in April, those approaching the end of the PPL course were hampered by variable weather conditions. We had hoped that Adam Knights would achieve his Qualifying Cross-Country flight this month, and that Jamie Turner would complete his trip to White Waltham, but luck with the weather has not been on their side. However, on the theory side, students have yet again achieved excellent results. Exams passed in April were:

Rowland Slatter – Air Law
Jamie Turner – Flight Performance and Planning
Tim Van der Hooft – Meteorology
Bob Pearce – Meteorology
Ian Hollingsworth – IMC written exam
Kirk Daly – Navigation

The diary is filling up fast for May (Saturdays are now fully-booked, meaning we can take reserve bookings only), so please book early to avoid disappointment!

Race week passed by smoothly as the restrictions to flying were minimal and, in any case, persistent fog and haze during the month meant that many lessons were ground-based. The seemingly glorious sunshine at the end of the month brought poor visibility and haze with it, which presented an ideal opportunity for ground school and exams. Five exams were successfully completed, namely:

Dion Robertson – Navigation; Meteorology
Craig Parker – Navigation
Kirk Daly – Human Performance & Limitations
Jamie Turner – The Aircraft General & Principles of Flight

Our students had success in the air, too, in March. Paul Jones completed his Qualifying Cross Country at the start of the month, and Dion Robertson successfully completed his First Solo at the end of the month. Adam Knights has been trying to get his Qualifying Cross Country done, but has been consistently thwarted by the weather. Here’s hoping he is successful in April!

The silver lining of these particular clouds was, however, that no fewer than 7 written exams were passed this month (including a 100% pass for Dion Robertson in his Human Factors and Performance exam).  Additionally, Paul Jones and Judith Wordsworth each passed their RTF practical exam.

Special congratulations go to Benedict Newman who rounded off the month by successfully completing his First Solo flight.

With the arrival of BST on 25th March, the opportunity for night flying has, realistically, passed.  We are still able to offer IMC training, though, so do get in touch if you’d like to add this to your existing PPL.

On the subject of PPL holders, did you know that the SFS aircraft are available to members to hire for self-fly hire on a Sunday?  Just ‘phone or drop in to make a booking.

However, once the weather calmed down, we had some really productive days of flying. Jamie Turner had a busy January as he not only completed landaways to Shobdon and Coventry, but also passed his Navigation exam.

On the same day as Jamie’s landaway at Coventry, Adam Knights completed his landaway at White Waltham. These landaways were achieved using the same aircraft on a busy Saturday, so SFS really has been making the most of the flying opportunities!

We were also represented at the Gloucestershire Airport Leisure Event held in the Terminal Building on 21st and 22nd January. Kathryn was pleased to see that there is a high level of interest in learning to fly, so we hope to be welcoming more students in the near future.

Welcome back after the festive break; hopefully everyone is feeling refreshed and full of vigour for a great year’s flying.

December already seems a long time ago but even though it was a short month in terms of flying days, students and PPLs made the most of the available days. We were pleased to welcome back some ‘old’ faces who returned to flying in December 2011, and we were delighted to welcome new students too.

Successes during the month included the excellent results achieved by Alan Tague in his Met exam and Judith Wordsworth in her Technical exam. Particular mention and congratulations must go to Kirk Daly who completed his First Solo on 9th December.

Jonathan Maddocks received some fantastic news in December 2011 with the offer of a place in the British Airways Future Pilot Programme; selection for such a sought-after place is a tremendous achievement and will no doubt be an inspiration to many of our students. We extend our warm congratulations to him.

The flying programme for January is already filling up fast, so please don’t hesitate to call to book your lessons if you’d like to fly this month. It’s not too early to book for February, either.

We look forward to seeing you in 2012.

Well, the winter nights certainly drew in this month! Flying has been somewhat curtailed by strong winds and poor visibility, but enthusiasm has still been high and there has still been great flying to be had.

Judith Wordsworth had a very successful month, as in November she not only passed her Performance & Planning exam, but also completed her Qualifying Cross Country, visiting Halfpenny Green and Sywell. She reports back that Sywell is an extremely friendly place to visit! It is worth knowing, too, that Sywell has self-service fuel pumps which accept Visa, Mastercard, Switch and Delta.

Gareth Fyles passed his Aviation Law exam, so congratulations to him too.

There are still slots available for December, so don’t hesitate to contact us to book in. For anyone wanting to night-fly, now is the time to make the most of the early sunset times.  Don’t forget that vouchers are available to buy towards your flying, so if you don’t know what you’d like in your stocking this Christmas, they might just be what you’re looking for.

For your diary, we close for Christmas on 22nd December and re-open on January 3rd 2012.

It feels like Winter has arrived now the clocks have gone back and we are able to start night flying. October was a busy month for exams, with Sarah Kenwright and Adam Knights both passing their Radiotelephony practical exams. Jamie Turner passed Human Performance and Comms exams, Paul Jones passed Flight Planning and Performance exam, Kirk Daly passed his Air Law and Bob Pearce passed his Comms exam, congratulations to them all.

Derek Greenaway and Kevin Fisher finally made it to Pembrey after having to turn back the first time due to low cloud. They detoured overhead Talgarth on the way home as Kevin sometimes does some gliding there. We have the Pembrey details at the school if anyone else would like to visit, its an interesting destination as the airfield is in a Military Air Weapons Range - PPR authorisation required 24 hours in advance!

James Conolly flew out to Shobdon earlier in the month too and Paul Jones visited Halfpenny Green, he kindly took this great photo of our aircraft Mike Tango with an airship going by.

Hopefully the weather will be good to us this month, we have two students ready to do Qualifying Cross Country trips so they’re just waiting for good conditions. Night flying is in full swing so anyone wanting to start their night rating please get in touch.

One of our students Tim Van der Hooft has had a particularly successful month. After passing his Air Law exam and then two weeks later passing his Human Performance written exam, he then went on to complete his first solo flight and accompanied one of our PPL’s Graeme Nisbet to Enstone all in one exciting day. And he did all this before he left to go off to university! We will see Tim again in the holidays and wish him well with his studies.

Another of our students Bob Pearce also completed his first solo and Sarah Kenwright passed her Skills test, congratulations to them both. Paul Jones flew out to Coventry earlier in the month and he can be seen pictured there with our aircraft BFEK above.

With the onset of winter and the clocks going back at the end of the month it is time to think about night flying, so anyone who is interested in getting a night rating, please get in touch and we can get you going on the course.

Steve Williams and flying instructor Kim Hampshire were in charge of the cooking, there was talk of a cook-off but that would have been just too close to call. So, instead they teamed up to prepare some tasty food and ensured all our guests were well fed. Kathryn was chief host for the evening, which involved a lot of talking and not much working but she did a great job!

We were delighted to have the latest aircraft addition to the school on show, the Vintage Steerman Biplane. It got lots of attention and we pleased to announce that we’re now offering the chance for our customers to experience trial lesson flights in this fantastic plane – more details can be found here on our website.

Thanks to everyone who came along and helped to make it such a great event. A selection of photos can found on our Flickr page, so check them out!

August has passed and so has the official end of summer, many would say what summer? Thankfully we’ve still been getting out and about and there have been lots of student achievements again this month.

Graeme Nisbet flew out to Wellesbourne on a PPL trip and Peter Paul headed out to Welshpool. Halfpenny Green remains a popular destination for PPL trips with both Derek Greenaway and Andy Mellor flying there.

There have been plenty of exam successes too. Congratulations to Judith Wordsworth and Paul Jones who passed there Met exams, to Alan Tague who achieved his Navigation exam and Adam Knights who passed the Flight Planning and Performance test.

We’re now looking forward to 17^th September when we have our Annual Summer BBQ. And this is one event that the weather can’t spoil as we’ve always got the coverage of the hangar next door should we need it. If you’d like to come along and you’ve not yet let us know, then please email confirming your attendance to info@stavertonflyingschool.co.uk.

Next month we’ll be posting photos of the BBQ and reporting back on more student achievements.