Its been another great flying week and we have been working until quite late on some evenings, the great benefit of the BST and no restrictions on operating time from our grass runway.
You have a double oportunity to get together over the coming week, with August coming to a close its Pilots in the Pub next Thursday 5th September and our offical opening party on the 7th September. I have had a reasonable number of people who have said they are coming along to the Party but if you do not let me know by the 4th you will go hungry as we will only be catering for those that have booked in advance! The day will kick of from 11.00am with BBQ at 13.00 and again a 19.00 just let me know if you are coming to both or just one of them. As it is last night of the Proms that evening we will finish the day off with some rousing music from the Albert Hall. A goodly few are camping overnight and you are very welcome to join them. If I can get/find the Aunt Sally kit we will have that set up plus Quick Cricket. Bring your own booze as we do not have a licence to sell it on the new site. Its not transferable, therefore we have to put a full application in again and frankly its just not worth the money at present..
Progress.....or Not!
I have heared some rumblings about the lack of progress on the apron and fuel bay, I am afraid this is down to the Girls and boys at the VAT office who are holding onto a £30K VAT refund. They has informed me that they have agreed that they have no reason to hold to the money but it has still not arrived as yet. Its difficult to keep borrowing money when the VAT office has more that I need to complete some of the work. So please bear with me on this one and keep the roumours to a minimum. In the mean time we have been working to get my office completed so that I have somewhere to hold meetings/interviews etc. without being distrubed.
Member trip to East Kirby by Nick Bennet
I imagine just about everyone is aware that the Battle of Britain Memorial Flight operates one of the last two airworthy Lancasters. It came as a bit of a surprise to me a few years ago to learn that a couple of farmers in Lincolnshire had spent the last 20 years or so (and a not inconsiderable amount of their own money) restoring what used to be a gate guardian at Scampton. The two brothers, Fred and Harold Panton, had taken on this immense task as a living memorial to their brother Christopher who was shot down and killed whilst on a bombing raid in 1944. The full history of the Lanc (just Jane) and the museum at East Kirkby where it now lives is available on the museum's web site http://www.lincsaviation.co.uk/. Sadly, Fred Panton passed away in June this year, never having seen his dream of getting Just Jane airworthy come to fruition. Since hearing about the museum at East Kirkby I'd wanted to pay a visit, but that part of the world isn't best served by motorways so I started to look into the possibility of flying over there, which we duly did. Landing was uneventful and after parking beside a visiting Bulldog we headed over to the NAAFI to pay our landing fee and museum entry. East Kirkby is a real gem of a museum and the whole place has a wartime feel to it. Besides the Lanc, there are various other wartime-era buildings and exhibits. We can also recommend the all-day breakfast in the NAAFI. All in all, a fantastic day out and another opportunity to make use of a PPL. Highly recommended. All I would say is be confident of your ability to do a short-field take-off, but other than that this trip should present no problems whatsoever. Just don't be surprised if Wittering don't answer!
Positive Rumours
I still need your on going help....why? I need you to be spreading the news as to what is happening here now and about our official open day please. Some other keys things are that
1. We do have AvGas on sale here
2. We have space in our new hangar for Group A, Flex and Fix wing microlights plus hard and grass parking
3. We can now operate dawn to dusk from the Northside grass runway.
4. Flyers and non flyers alike are all welcome to come and visit any time.
If you could let everyone you know both verbally and through you social media networks, blogs and forums, it would be very helpful, let me know if you need any information or pictures. Party for Enstone official opening date 7th September with not long to go I need some help to put the finishing touches to the club house,they are all small jobs but will really make a difference. Can you spare a few hours, any day will be good? We have made some amazing progress, there are still some jobs that need completeing this coming week.
Runway Access
Please remember to read the new procedures for accessing the hard and North Side grass runways and please make sure you are not restricting access to the fuel tanker or the hangar when you park up. Until we have made the changes to the hard standing please be much more aware of what you are doing! Please do not fill the hangar with dust by blasting away with your engine on the taxiway, we will get rid of the dust but it will take a bit of time to clear it.
Vehicles
All motor veichles are FORBIDDEN to cross from the hard runway to the new site or visa versa. We will loose the use of the NS Grass runway and access to the hard runway.
Volunteers
After the initial burst of enthusiasm, we are struggling to get some of the jobs finished. Can you spare some time?
Team Social 2013
The first event for this team will be the official opening of the new site, Its not a lot of work, mainly talking to everyone you know about coming along to the events. With this team I am planning to put the social calendar together between now and the end of the year. Face book Enstone if you are a fan or not face book is here to stay and a great way of keeping in touch, if you are a FBer why not join the Enstone Group.
IMC Ratings
The IMC rating is still available, this is a great addition to your PPL, as it allows you to fly in not-so-nice conditions and will be converted to the new IRR when the eurobods work out the paperwork
Events 2013
Pilots in the pub 7.30 Crown Inn Church Enstone Thursday 5th September
