Bourton-on-the-water

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

All of our students have been progressing well and we’d like to extend our special congratulations to Jace Clarke for completing his PPL Skills Test in December.

On the ground, students achieved the following successes:
• Sue Leech – Operational Procedures and Air Law
• Kevin Bennett – Principles of Flight

With the nights already starting to draw out, make sure you get booked in for night flying before the arrival of British summertime.

Thank you to those who have already paid their memberships for 2015 and a reminder to those who are still to pay, the membership fees for 2015 are £90.
All students and PPL’s please make sure that you are up to date with the flying order book, don’t forget this can be accessed through the website and all you need to do is sign the school copy.

We look forward to welcoming new students in 2015 and watching our current students’ progress through their PPL training.

Well done to Dominic Collier for completing his IMC rating and to Pedram Arefi on his first solo flight. We’re also pleased to welcome back Sean King after successfully passing his LST.

There was also plenty of ground studies taking place, exams passed:

• Jace Clarke – Aircraft General Knowledge and Flight Performance and Planning
• John Straw – Principles of Flight and Aircraft General Knowledge
• Pedram Arefi – Human Performance
• Calum Matheson- Air Law and Operational Procedures

Previous students who achieved their PPL with SFS have been exploring new airfields, Ian Hollingsworth taking a trip to the Bembridge in the Isle of White, Jamie Turner to Guernsey and Adam Knights took his first trip Le Touquet, all reported to have had enjoyable trips.

The Jet Age Museum has now officially opened with a fantastic turn out for their gala weekend, and was opened by Captain Eric Brown, possibly the greatest pilot ever!? Gloucestershire Jet Age Museum Opens Definitely worth a visit!

Don’t forget Fathers Day Sunday 15th June!
Why not get something special and more exciting for your dad this Fathers Day and book a trial flying lesson.
For those with a thrill seeking dad who is feeling brave a 30 minute aerobatics flight could be the ideal gift. Or for those with an interest in historical aircraft a flight in a 1940′s Vintage Stearman Biplane could be the perfect present.
Trial lessons from as little as £88!! Give the school a call on 01452 712388 or book online at www.stavertonflyingschool.co.uk

Clive Haughton took to the skies for his first solo flight and with the beaming smile he had once he had returned, it’s safe to say Clive won’t be forgetting that moment in any hurry – well done Clive!

Clive Haughton's First Solo

Congratulations to those who have passed ground exams in October:

• Freddie Atac – Air Law and Human Performance
• David Woodward – Meteorology
• Alex Busby – Meteorology and Communications
• Jamie Turner – IMC written
• Adam Knights – IMC written

With the clocks going back we have now started night flying. If you wish to start your night rating please do get in touch.

The airport is holding an Airmanship Evening next Tuesday, 12^th November at 19:30. This informative evening of presentations, anecdotes and discussions will be of benefit for both those learning to fly and those with experience. The evening is free but a suggested donation of £5 in aid of Fly2Help will be welcomed. Kim Hampshire will be one of the speakers and hopes to see some of you there!

Rowland Slatter kicked off the month by completing his Licence Skills Test, congratulations to him. Now on a roll, Rowland is also converting onto the Cessna 172 and starting his IMC training soon. We would also like to congratulate Richard Clark on passing his Licence Skills Test whilst on his break from University over the summer.

Tom Leakey First Solo

Alex Bubsy's First Solo

David Woodward's First Solo

Kevin Bennett's First Solo

We extend our congratulations to Alex, Tom Leakey, David Woodward and Kevin Bennett who have all completed their first solo flights, an unforgettable milestone, well done!

With the new changes to the ground exams commencing from the 1^st September, many of the students were able to get ahead and pass the following exams:

• Gerald Reeves – Air Law
• Kevin Bennett – Human Performance and Communications
• Tom Leakey – Air Law
• Richard Clark – Flight Planning and Performance and Aircraft Technical
• David Woodward – Air Law
• Mark Gwilt – Navigation
• Lee Williams – Flight Performing and Planning

Some of you may have noticed that Carol Vorderman has been learning to fly at the school and on Wednesday 21^st August she successfully completed her first solo flight, live on This Morning’s programme. We send our warm congratulations to her.  You can catch up on Carol’s solo flight and photos of the day on the SFS Facebook page.

Carol's First Solo

We wish Carol all the best for the rest of her training.

We would like to thank all of those who attended the SFS Summer BBQ, it was a lovely evening and what glorious weather we had. We hope those students and PPL’s who were able to make it found it beneficial to meet other aviation enthusiasts. Thank you again to everyone who came along and helped to make a great event. Photos of the evening can be found on the SFS Flickr page.

Ken Plowman

Friends of Ken Plowman’s arranged a trial lesson as a surprise at Staverton Flying School for his 90^th birthday. Ken a former Horsa assault glider pilot in 1945 was back at the controls after 50 years of flying! Again with perfect weather and Kim Hampshire guiding the way, they flew for an hour, including aerobatics. His friends were there to greet him when he landed along with journalists. They broadcasted an ecstatic Ken live to BBC Points West lunchtime news. http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-gloucestershire-23352043

Ken trained as a fighter pilot on Texans in WWII in Canada and by chance, a T.6 Texan trainer was pulled out of the hangar next door. Ken renewed his acquaintance with the beautiful machine, courtesy of owner David Nock. After Ken’s flight volunteers from the Jet Age Museum presented Ken with a Horsa glider control wheel to commemorate his flight.

Duxford 2013

On Sunday 21^st July Staverton Flying School organised a trip to Duxford. Kim led a very successful fly away day to Duxford with 9 members of SFS, they reported to all have enjoyed the day and gained valuable experience. More photos can be found on SFS Flickr and Kim’s write-up of the day Duxford 2013.

We would like to congratulate one of our students, Kevin Bennett and his wife Claire on the early arrival of their first child, Noah!

Baby Noah!

As well as all of this excitement students have been passing their ground exams:

• Rowland Slatter – Flight Performance and Planning
• Lee Williams – Navigation
• Tim Van Der Hooft – Human Performance
• Kevin Bennett – Air Law

The month started off extremely well with Bob Pearce successfully completing his NPPL followed by the very next day Kirk Daly passing his Skills Test, congratulations to them both. Jeremy Goodwin also obtained his night rating so congratulations to him.

On the ground there was more success for Kirk Daly passing his Flight Performance and his Radiotelephony as well as Lee Williams passing his Air Law and Tim Van Der Hooft passing his Navigation exam.

Adam Knights had another successful trip, flying to Enstone and back and capturing some of the recent snow.

Finally we finished the month with a busy Easter weekend when the sun finally made an appearance and topping it off with Lee Williams completing his first solo!

Although the weather in February has slowed down our flying it hasn’t managed to ruin the enthusiasm which has still been high and carried us through the month. The persistent fog and haze has encouraged plenty of ground school.

We would like to congratulate Craig Parker who successfully passed his Skills Test along with our own instructor Kim Hampshire in renewing his IMC rating.

When we were lucky enough to get better weather Adam Knights and Rowland Slatter had a successful trip to Wellesbourne.

Here’s hoping for much improved weather in March.

New charts are now available to buy! Issue 39 valid from 7^th March – same price £16.00.

On the 7^th October, Staverton Flying School organised a trip to Andark in Swanwick for a ditching survival and life raft training course.  Eight people attended the course including three from Staverton Flying School; Rowland Slatter, Richard Thwaites and Kim Hampshire.

Everyone met at the Andark Sports Shop and Pool Centre and there was a fair amount of nervous excitement as they anticipated the activities of the next two and a half hours.  The course was run by the instructor, Jeff Emmerson, with the assistance of an operator to handle the ‘dunker’ and two underwater safety divers.  The eight candidates were split into two teams; ‘The Pilots’ (the Staverton Flying School attendees with Jack Burch, a group owner of Robin G-BVMM) and ‘The Scientists’, (pilots from Natural Environment Research Council operating the Dornier on the Northern side of the Gloucestershire airfield).

The course started with the ditching survival training in the ‘dunker’.  The ‘dunker’ is a cabin capable of seating up to 7 people with three windows and a sliding door.  The whole cabin is hydraulically operated over a 3.5 meter deep pool to simulate a ditching into the sea.  It is initially raised over the pool, dropped into the water and then rotated while being further lowered to simulate a landing on water, sinking and capsizing.  The seating is fitted with either four point harnesses or lap straps.  The window apertures can be left open or glazed with Perspex glazing which require removal before escaping through the openings.

Each team was given four runs in the dunker to experience; ditching with a capsize to 45°, then the same again but with glazing, followed by a 180° fully inverted capsize and finally a 180° capsize with glazing.  The team members also swapped seats before each run so that each person experienced a window seat (first out) or an inner seat so that they had to wait while others got out before escaping themselves.  This process of swapping seats also meant that everyone had the opportunity of experiencing escaping from different safety harnesses.

It was amusing to see each team, having successfully and uneventfully escaped the dunker themselves, line the pool with morbid curiosity as the other team was put through their paces.  There were some very useful learning points to come out of the experience:

1. Remain seated and strapped in during the capsize while water is sweeping in or you will get swept to the furthest extremity of the aircraft.
2. It is surprisingly easy to become disorientated so keep the exit in site with one hand holding a handhold towards the exit and the other on the safety harness ready to release it once all water movement has ceased.
3. Do not inflate any life jacket until out of the aircraft because escape will be nigh on impossible.

As a conclusion to the dunker training, some members of each team volunteered to take part in a further fully inverted, glazed escape run which, much to the disappointment of the rest of the attendees spectating, was executed without any hitches.

The next part of the course involved some basic water survival skills and life raft training.  Everyone donned a life jacket and then jumped from a 6m high platform into the pool, inflated their life jacket and swam to the shallow end of the pool where Jeff demonstrated some basic cold water survival skills.  These included a basic posture in the water to reduce body heat loss, forming a circle in the water with injured in the middle, forming a line and swimming in a particular direction under the guidance of a leader.

The life raft training involved learning how to right a capsized life raft and get aboard.  Any myths about how easy it is to get into a life raft were quickly dispelled, even using the ‘ladder’.  The training points were numerous:

1. When righting a capsized life raft, point into wind and then hang onto the strap while it overturns onto the person righting it.  The alternative is to end up with a glorified wind-surfer if trying to right it out of wind.
2. Get the strongest person in first and he (she) can then help the others.
3. Quickly erect the cover against spray and wind.

Each team was then given the task to jump into one end of the pool, link together and swim to the other end of the pool and back, then right the life raft and get everyone into it.  There were sprinklers in the roof of the building spraying water while all this was going on.  However those sprinklers were nothing compared to the jets of water directed on the teams by the other team that was spectating at this time.

Both teams met in the pub afterwards for a well earned drink and snacks before returning home.  The unanimous verdict was that they had had a fun day out but all had learnt extremely useful tips to surviving a ditching in the sea.

This was followed by some basic water survival skills and life raft training.   The unanimous verdict was that the training was not only a fun day out but that extremely useful tips to surviving a ditching in the sea had been learned.  A full account of the day’s activities and lessons learned can be found by following the ‘news’ link on our website  www.stavertonflyingschool.co.uk.

At the end of the month, Staverton Flying School was delighted to fly with the first recipient of a newly-established Air Cadet award, set up by the family of the late Flight Lieutenant ‘Dit’ Thomas RAFVR(T), Officer Commanding No 614 (Lydney) Squadron, Air Training Corps.  Each year a Cadet will be chosen by the Squadron to receive a 30 minute flying lesson and Staverton Flying School looks forward to a long and successful affiliation with this award. 

Amongst our members, we congratulate the following successes achieved in October:

Rowland Slatter – First Solo

Kirk Daly – First solo landaway

Dion Robertson – Qualifying Cross Country, RT practical

Craig Parker – Qualifying Cross Country

Written Exams:          

Dion Robertson – Performance & Planning (100%), Aeroplane Technical

Rowland Slatter – Communications (100%)

David Savage – Human Performance & Limitations, Communications

Bob Pearce –  Performance & Planning

Slots are still available for night flying training, so please do contact us to make a booking (please note, however, that the airfield closes at 1930 Mon-Fri and 1800 on Saturday / Sunday).

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.