Flying High in Practice Aerobatic Routine

On Saturday 18th April Ian Harvey-George (Goodwood Flying School Instructor) took me for a 16 min practice routine to help me acclimatise to the g-forces that will be sustanined on my body over the challenge weekend. Flying in G-IZZZ a Super Decathlon we practiced at between 2000 and 4000ft and pulled a maximun of 4.5g. We performed a Loop, Barrell Roll, 4 point Roll, 4 leaf Clover, Outside turn, Vertical Roll into a Stall Turn, 1/2 Cuban and a Reverse 1/2 Cuban.

Thankfully the experience was an enjoyable one and helped me to get the correct mind set for the 13 flights that will take place this weekend. I would like to make a personal thank you to all the team at Goodwood Aeroclub, Steve, Dieter, Ian, Simon, Tim, Jeanne and Margaret who always give me a warm welcome and its always a pleasure to go along to the Club whatever the weather.

To find out more about Goodwood AeroClub click here.

QBE Insurance onboard as a Sponsor

QBE Insurance have confirmed they will sponsor the event to help cover some of the costs involved with the challenge.

QBE Insurance Group is one of the world's leading international insurers and reinsurers, headquartered in Sydney, Australia. QBE’s European Operations, which accounts for almost 40% of QBE Group turnover, is a leading specialist in London market and European commercial lines business. QBE offers considerable diversity to the broking community; active in both the Lloyd’s and company market. QBE operates eight product-focused underwriting divisions: - casualty, QBE Re Europe, property, motor, marine & energy, specialty, aviation, all of which have the ability to write on both Lloyd’s and company market paper; and British Marine, the P&I specialist. In addition to the London market, QBE operates from seven UK-regional centres and has a presence in 16 European countries.

Thank you to Jerry Flaxman and all involved at QBE Insurance for their support and helping the challenge maximise its full potential.

Kemble and Compton Abbas Roadshows

Over the last weekend I conducted two of four roadshow events to promote the Aerobatic Challenge Weekend. I visited Kemble Airport on the 21st March and Compton Abbas Airfield on 22nd March and the weather was glorious and sunny. Raising awareness of the activities of fly2help was just as important as the Challenge itself and we had plenty of people to chat to about both. Thank you to the kind generosity of those who we spoke too we raised a further £200 plus.

This weekend I will be at Shoreham Airport 28th March and Goodwood Airfield 29th March.

Thank you to all those who helped out at the weekend. Mandy from fly2help, Clive Hughes and all the team at Compton Abbas, the staff of AV8 at Kemble and to Jez Hopkinson team leader of the Yakovlevs (pictured above with myself).

Justyn Gorman Aerobatics donate an RV4 Flight

Justyn Gorman has confirmed his participation with a flight in his RV4. The RV-4 was designed in the United States by Richard Van Grunsven, and first flew in August 1979. Van’s has been supplying kits for the RV-4 for almost twenty years, and it has become one of the most popular kit aircraft in the world. Somewhere between 900 and 1000 examples have been flown in countries all over the globe. There are around 20 or so in the UK at the present time.

The RV-4 is a two seat tandem configuration. The seating is compact, but comfortable. The RV-4 is designed to be flown from the front seat only, but there is a stick and rudder pedals for the rear seat passenger to take basic control of the aircraft. Justyn uses a self contained smoke system, which can be fitted quickly in place of the rear passenger seat for shows. Justyn’s RV-4 is fitted with a 5.4 litre, 4 cylinder, 160 hp Lycoming engine and a constant speed propeller for enhanced performance.

Thank you to Justyn for adding another new type for the challenge. For further information on Justyn and his displays click here.

To donate to the challnege please go to my justgiving page.

G-BZFR Extra 300

Trevor Beadle has confirmed participation with his Extra 300L (G-BZFR) which is based at North Weald Airfield.

Trevor will provide a transit flight including a few Aeros on the way from Headcorn to RAF Halton on the Sunday morning of the Challenge Weekend.

I would like to thank Trevor for his kind donation and indeed I look forward to the opportunity of being flown in a very colourful aircraft.

The Blades FINALE

The Blades have now confirmed that they will provide a singleton aircraft as the finale to the fly2help - Aerobatic Challenge Weekend.

The Blades are the UK’s hottest formation display team and the world’s only globally accredited aerobatic airline, who consist of 4 of the country’s most accomplished aerobatic pilots, and have all served as front-line fast jet pilots and Red Arrows in the Royal Air Force. With a combined total of over 25,000 hours they have flown in the most challenging of single seat aircraft. It is with this wealth of experience that The Blades continue to impress celebrities, aviators and the public alike.

The Team fly the outstanding, high performance 2-seat Extra 300 LPs, turning harder and tighter than anyone else, making their award winning 12 minute display a breathtaking collection of opposition passes, gyroscopic tumbles and close formation manoeuvres that have never before been seen.

Brand new during the 2008 display, Blades 1 and 4 attempt to defy the laws of Aerodynamics by flipping the Extra ‘end over end’ whilst still in formation in the Twin Tumbles. Blades 2 and 3 have also spiced up their routine with more head to head knife edge passes, breaks and stalls but that’s not it… Blade 4 is planning to have something secret up his sleeve… this is one not to be missed!

A huge thank you must go to Kat, Chris, Andy and the Team for their kind donation and indeed invaluable help and support. For further details on The Blades click here.

To donate to fly2help go to my justgiving page

Plane Heritage

Plane Heritage have kindly donated a transit flight from Goodwood Aerodrome to Shoreham in Tiger Moth G-ADXT.

Originally produced as a development of the well-known Gipsy Moth, the Tiger Moth went on to become one of the world's most famous training aircraft. During the Second World War it provided the majority of RAF pilots with their elementary flying training.
Following the war, many found their way into the hands of civilian flying schools and even today they are in use as training aircraft, giving pilots much needed experience on tail wheel aircraft.
Plane Heritage's, Tiger Moth is one of the oldest still in existence, being built in 1935, and is lovingly maintained to the highest standards as required by the Civil Aviation Authority.
For more information on G-ADXT, visit the Flying Aircraft section of their website.

Thank you must go to Tom, John and Tony at Plane Heritage for this kind donation.

To donate to fly2help go to my justgiving page