Microlight Flying eNews - January 2020 – Training on kit aircraft: have your say

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Training on kit aircraft: have your say

THE CAA wants your opinion on two proposals which will increase the range of aircraft available for training and could lead to more people learning to fly. The related consultations propose expanding the types of aircraft allowed to be used for training to amateur-built microlights and permit-to-fly aeroplanes. “The proposals are in line with the CAA’s approach to make the regulation of general aviation in the UK more proportionate,” said the CAA’s Richard Taylor.

The two consultations are open until 17 February and are available on the CAA website. You can find the one on microlights here; and the one for permit-to-fly aeroplanes here.

Geoff Hill, Editor

ghillster@gmail.com

ACHINGLY crisp winter skies, russet sunsets and mist-shrouded dales all add up to an unbeatable combination for some glorious images this month. Oh, and for those of you who have forgotten the difference between mist and fog, the answer is that fog has a horn. As always, the chosen few in your next MF. VIEW THE FEBRUARY ENTRIES.

2020 vision for Albatross

ALBATROSS, the new owners of P&M, will be launching an entry-level flexwing for first-time buyers at a cost-effective price in the spring. “We will also be coming up with a new pricing structure for the full range of Pegasus products,” said the Indian company’s UK agent, Graham Slater. “If you require parts, please give us a call or email the order with part numbers. We can then process the orders with Albatross.”

Part numbers can be found on the P&M website, under the downloads tab. Full details in your next MF.

Mark One Eyeball lives to tell the tale

AN 88-year-old pilot not only survived a crash which left doctors putting his eyeball back in, but is keen to get back in the air as soon as possible.

Cedric Beetham only started flying when he was 70 and caught the bug after a trial flight. “The bit about his eyeball makes it compulsive reading. What an amazing bloke,” said John Fielding, who spotted this article in Cumbria Crack.

Banned? Tell the boss

IS there an airfield you know of that snubs microlights? If so, BMAA Chief Executive Geoff Weighell wants to hear from you.

Geoff is having talks with the Department for Transport to see what can be done to persuade planning authorities not to differentiate between microlights and other types when granting planning permission for an airfield. “I asked for specific examples a while ago, but during the follow-up there were only two who cited a planning restriction, and several of those that I had been informed didn’t accept microlights in fact did,” he said. “So to assist my efforts, I would be grateful if any member who knows for definite of an airfield that has a planning restriction could let me know, so I can follow it up. The work is ongoing, so the sooner I can have any responses the better.”

Email him at geoff.weighell@bmaa.org.

Don’t be a Barton buster

BARTON and Hawarden are the latest infringement blackspots to be highlighted in the Airspace & Safety Initiative series.

Up close and far too personal

THE UK Airprox Board has published its annual safety magazine for GA pilots and air traffic controllers. The magazine looks in depth at the factors leading to a serious loss of separation between aircraft, and how such incidents can be avoided in future.

Shock horror probe

IS Pipistrel’s Alpha Electro destined to remain the world’s only commercially viable electric aircraft? Paul Bertorelli gets his thinking cap on.

“He’s obviously never heard of the English Electric Lightning,” said MF Editor Geoff Hill, who was later taken away by two kind gentlemen in white coats.

Sanity Clause

WHAT do you do to escape all the hyper children on Christmas morning? Take your HypeR and go flying, of course. Gordon and Jill Douglas hauled theirs out at East Fortune and went for a spin over Edinburgh and the Pentlands, then home for Christmas dinner. And remember, everyone: a turkey is just for Christmas, not for life.

Miles of smiles for Giles

IF you’ve been following Giles Fowler’s transition from fixed to flex so he can fly his new PeaBee, here’s the moment we’ve all been waiting for: his first solo. Well done, chum!

The three most useless things in flying...

HEIGHT above you, fuel in the hangar and runway behind you, as Duncan McDougall found when he lost power on climbout. Thankfully, he lived to tell the tale, and generously put the video on YouTube so we can all learn from it. “It reinforces the point Ken Crompton always made when teaching me, that you should be going right to the start of the runway,” said Newtownards pilot Ryan McAvoy, who spotted it.

Here be dragons

…AND PeaBees. Ben Ashman applies his usual artistic flair to a look back at 10 years of Flylight nanotrikes.

Full-fat frolics

WHAT happens when you stick ever bigger engines in an aircraft? Spectacular takeoffs, that’s what – although all three of these Zenith CH-701 owners had the approval of the designer when they went supersized under the bonnet. Spotted by Robin Horne.

Lax marks the spot

CHRIS Pritchard was sitting on a rooftop in Los Angeles in 2013 looking down at Los Angeles International Airport when he became fascinated by the constant stream of planes coming and going, and the hive of activity on the ground. Seven years later, his time-lapse video of life at the airport is the fascinating result of that original moment of inspiration.

Pie in the sky

INDUSTRY analyst Frost & Sullivan has predicted that the skies will be full of 400,000 air taxis by 2040, but Paul Bertorelli has his doubts that we’ll be hailing cabs from on high any time soon.

Just going for a spin, dear

THIS twin did an elegant pirouette after an emergency landing in Costa Rica. Thankfully, everyone on board walked away without a scratch.

Brace your funny bone

ANY of you who have read Martin Ferid’s wise and witty accounts of touring in the LAA’s Light Aviation, possibly the nation’s second finest flying magazine, will appreciate his sense of humour.

Well, there’s lots more on his website, starting with some hilarious aviation aphorisms. Those are like aphids, except wittier.