After a long wait due to weather conditions we extend particular congratulations to David Woodward who successfully completed his PPL Skills Test!

We would also like to congratulate Dominic Collier for completing his night rating.

Back in the classroom congratulations to our members who passed ground exams in March:

• Lee Williams – Aircraft General Knowledge
• Simon Rnic – Air Law & Operational Procedures
• John Straw – Communications, Air Law & Meteorology
• Jace Clarke – Principles of Flight & Navigation
• Radiotelephony also passed by David Woodward, Jace Clarke and Alan Tague

With the clocks going back we can now start offering flying lessons in the evening – with the airport being open until 19:30. PPL’s, don’t forget that the airport is also open until 19:30 on weekends for self-fly hire.

Staverton Flying School’s Flying Order Book is now online at www.stavertonflyingschool.co.uk in the member’s area. The FOB has been updated for 2014 so all school members must read and sign the original document when next in the school.

Kim Hampshire won a flight in a Tiger Moth through Pilot magazine and took one of his enthusiastic students along as the official photographer, both had a fantastic day!

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!

Staverton Flying School had a stand in the main terminal hangar, where G-EK was on show. We had lots of visitors who wanted to take a closer look inside a light aircraft and of course chat to us about planes and flying – our favourite subject!

For those that wanted to really experience the thrills of flying we were able to give them a short taster in the form of a 15 minute trial flying lesson. Our instructors Kim Hampshire and Richard Thwaites were kept busy with lots of people keen to sit behind the controls and see the sights from 1500 feet. And it wasn’t just our instructors that got involved; all the pre-flight briefings were completed by our very own students, Duncan Stephenson, Adam Knights and Paul Jones. Thanks to you all for helping make the day so much fun and such a success.

You can see a photo of our stand and some of the team above, and a few more photos from the day in our gallery section at the bottom of the page.

All in all, a brilliant event in aid of the extremely worthy cause; Help for Heroes.

Our first congratulations must go to Duncan Stephenson who after finishing his skills test has now gained his PPL, great news!

We’ve also had two successes in the ground school exams with Adam Knights passing both his Navigation and Technical tests, and Craig Parker securing his Human Performance and Limitations exam. Well done to both of them.

It seems that Halfpenny Green is the destination of choice in June; Frank Lauriello, Peter Paul and Dominic Collier have all been out on PPL trips there. In addition, and after a long wait for suitable weather conditions, Judith Wordsworth flew out to visit White Waltham with Kathryn, our Chief Flying Instructor. You can see a photo of Judith with our aircraft G-MT above.

We’re also delighted to share news from one of our former PPL students, Ian Hollingsworth. He took a trip out to Turweston where he collected his new Robin Alpha 160A aircraft, which can be seen looking very impressive in the photo above. Shortly afterwards he completed his first solo flight, which we’re sure will be the beginning of a long list of future flights. Happy flying Ian! We’ll be looking out for you around the Gloucestershire airways and of course we’ll see lots more of your new plane in its new home – the hangar next to the school.

Now, if you’re reading this on our website and you haven’t already seen it in your email inbox, then why not sign up at the bottom of the page for our newsletter. That way you’ll get the latest news from Staverton Flying School and be right up to speed with all our students’ progress.

Until next time…

All our students have been progressing well and so there are congratulations in order for many of them.

Alan Tague went out on his first solo flight, and after a long wait for suitable weather conditions Duncan Stephenson achieved his qualifying cross country flight to Cardiff and Halfpenny Green, well done to both of them.

We’ve also had three students go on PPL trips; Bob Mulkerrin went out to Halfpenny Green, David Locke flew to Wellesbourne and Derek Greenaway went out on a sightseeing trip to Haverfordwest.

To add to all those flying achievements we’ve also have several students pass their ground school exams; Bob Pearce passed his Air Law, Adam Knights successfully achieved his Aircraft Technical exam and Alan Tague got his Communications qualification. Congratulations to all of them.

Some other exciting news for two of our other students too; Chris Hunt and Chris Armitage, accompanied by Graeme Nisbet, have flown out in our BEZO aircraft to Pansanger to collect their new TB10 aircraft. No doubt they will be busy having fun flying in their new plane of the coming months. We look forward to seeing them around the Gloucestershire airways soon!

Well, that’s about it for this month. As always we’re excited for more flying in June and will be busy with both our current students and those who come to experience trial flights. We also have the Gloucestershire Airport Charity Open Day to look forward on Sunday, 3rd July. We’ll have a stand there, so if you make it along please come and say hello.

Finally don’t forget, if you know someone who is currently learning or would like to experience a flight in light aircraft then why not check out our website where you can purchase both trial flying lesson vouchers as well as gift vouchers towards tuition fees.