CPL(H) 1 – Night Flying

To say the start of this year has been atrocious for weather would be an understatement, it’s purely unrelenting and it shows no sign of stopping as we head on into March. This posed a significant challenge… poor weather and Gloucester (EGBJ) shutting air ops at 19h30L meant rapidly running out of early nights. Achieving […]

The AS350 to end 2019

Firstly Merry Christmas, as we draw closer to the end of 2019 I’m going to spend a little time in this post reflecting back on the year of flying and the varied and interesting rotorcraft outings that have contributed to such an incredible year since passing the PPL(H) Skills Test. I think it is important […]

The Shuttleworth Collection

Visiting the Shuttleworth Collection had long been on my list of upcoming fly-ins, ever since I was holding over with the Royal Navy Historic Flight as a young Sub-Lieutenant in 2015. I had spent a lot of time during this period around the airworthy Fairey Swordfish and Sea Fury and whilst based at RNAS Yeovilton […]

Turweston and Soho Farmhouse

The morning after the night at Barnsdale Lodge in Oakham was fresh and bright, I woke up early and was raring for some breakfast.. and based on the quality of the cuisine from the night before I was sure it wouldn’t disappoint. I opted for the French Toast with bacon, which turned out to be […]

Barnsdale Lodge via Chester

The plan for the weekend had been brewing for a fortnight or two.. I wanted to tackle the Low Level Corridor which runs between the Liverpool and Manchester controlled airspace. The initial idea, was to head to the Lake District, to explore the lakes from the air, and visit a handful of incredible hotels in […]

The Old Passage at Arlingham

This is only a short post, but it’s definitely worth its own section. If you fly or if you don’t the Old Passage is a must visit for anyone. Situated on the meander of the Severn Estuary, West of the Slimbridge Wetlands and Wildfowl Sanctuary, and directly opposite the village of Newnham it is a […]

WSquared

Welshpool Mid-Wales airport, sits 2nm South West of the town of Welshpool in Wales, surrounded by rolling Welsh hills and countryside. I had wanted to visit for a while, and every attempt up until now had been thwarted by the weather, A good friend of mine who I met when I was in the Navy […]

The Club House @ West Bexington

The Beach is always a good idea, especially when the visit is spontaneous. I was sat having dinner the night before at a small pub close to Berkeley when the idea to fly to the beach popped into my head. At first I had wanted to visit Branscombe Airfield (https://www.branscombecampsite.com), as they have a small […]

Kitley House Hotel and Compton Abbas

I recently had to visit Plymouth for work, and being an eternal opportunist I started my hotel search by opening the Helipaddy app. Most weekends of flying, start like this, with the choosing of a new hotel or restaurant to visit. Kitley was different, it was quite spectacular and in fact, I had almost forgotten […]

Helicopter Championship Practice

After recently becoming a member of the Helicopter Club of Great Britain (HCGB), I was invited to judge the Challenge Cup at the UK Heli Expo 2019. It was held at Wycombe AirPark (Booker), over three days for the UK Helicopter Championship events of Fender Rigging and Parallel Slalom. I had seen the Championships over […]