We would like to wish everyone a belated Happy New Year!

We’ve certainly had the varied British weather conditions already this year, with the snow, rain and wind disrupting the flying programme. Luckily this meant there was more time for ground school and exams, resulting in two ground exams being passed in January:

Kirk Daly – Flight Performance and Planning

Jace Clarke – Air Law

When the weather was calmer we also had success in the skies with Bob Pearce passing his NPPL Navigation test, congratulations to him and also to Duncan Stephenson who rounded off the month successfully passing his Night Rating.

We would like to welcome the new students who have joined us this year and also welcome Vanessa our new Operations Co-ordinator to the ‘SFS’ team.

Thank you to all who have paid their annual membership for 2013 and gentle reminder to those who are still yet to pay.

We are looking forward to the lighter evening’s, clearer skies and calmer winds!!

The weather was not so kind to Kim Hampshire, Kirk Daly and Rowland Slatter who made the trip to Duxford for an AOPA Bonus Day at the end of the month. Although the weather prevented them from making the trip by air as planned, they braved the 3-hour car journey to get there and reported having a great day out with some memorable presentations, especially that of Cliff Spink, a retired RAF Air Marshal who has flown a remarkable variety of aircraft during his long and distinguished career and is now a Spitfire display pilot, and who has many amusing and captivating anecdotes to share.

Back at the School, we congratulate our members on the following achievements this month:

First Solo – David Savage

Ground Exams – James Lingard: Human Performance and Limitations; Meteorology
David Savage: Air Law
Tony Waghorn: Human Performance and Limitations
Craig Parker: Radio Telephony (practical)
Tim Van Der Hooft: Aeroplane Technical; Performance and Planning

We extend a warm welcome to Heli Air as they moved into the Skypark Hangar this month. As with the barbecue, the weather smiled down on Heli Air on Saturday 22nd September as they launched their new Gloucester base with a flourish. The Skypark apron was packed with a number of helicopters throughout their Opening Event and it was great to see so much interest in both fixed wing and rotary aircraft come together in one place.

Looking ahead to October, we are now taking bookings for night flying for any PPLs who are interested in adding a night rating to their licence – book now to make the most of the dark nights.

We extend our congratulations to Mark Gwilt on achieving his First Solo flight and to Jamie Turner who, having waited for some time for a break in the weather to achieve his Qualifying Cross Country flight, completed the trip this month.   His route included a leg to Cardiff so it was perfect timing that he completed the trip the day before the Olympic events started at the Millennium Stadium and airspace restrictions came into play!

Successful Licence Skills Tests were flown by David Nicholson and Shane Touhey, and Jonathan Maddocks successfully completed his IMC Skills Test (ironically on one of the best weather days July had to offer).

On the ground, the following exams were passed this month:

Craig Parker – Performance & Planning

Rowland Slatter – Human Performance & Limitations

 Jonathan Maddocks – IMC written

Tim Van Der Hooft -  Communications

Tony Waghorn – Air Law

Richard Clark – Meteorology

The Staverton Flying School barbeque will be held on Saturday 8^th September this year and we’re looking forward to seeing many of you at what promises to be a great evening.  Partners are welcome and it’s free food and drink! RSVP to info@stavertonflyingschool.co.uk

G-BEZO at White Waltham

Finally some fine weather! After what has seemed like months of grey and rain, we all enjoyed some fantastic flying opportunities in May.

The month started with Adam Knights finally getting the weather he’s been waiting for, meaning he successfully completed his Qualifying Cross Country. Adam visited Halfpenny Green and Sywell and reported that he thoroughly enjoyed the experience.

The month was then brought to a great end by Judith Wordsworth who passed her Skills Test. Everyone at SFS extends warm congratulations to her on this success.

Jamie Turner completed his trip to White Waltham and Craig Parker his to Coventry. Other members have jumped at the chance to take up lesson availability and self-fly hire opportunities during the sunny spell, meaning that the SFS aircraft (and instructors!) have been kept very busy this month.

On the ground, members have been just as busy, notching up the following exam successes:
Kirk Daly – Communications (written)
Alan Tague – The Aeroplane Technical
Jamie Turner – Radiotelephony (practical)
Gareth Fyles – Human Performance and Limitations
Ed Gait-Carr – Air Law

A reminder to everyone that Staverton Flying School will have a stand at the Airport Open Day on Sunday June 24th. We’ll be offering 15 minute trial lessons on the day, costing £45.00 per lesson, so please do bring along your friends and family.

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.

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.