Episode 68 – Cary Robins – Weight and Balance Calculations

Cary Robins - American Aeronautics

Cary Robins – American Aeronautics

Today we’re talking weight and balance. Often something that us pilots of light aircraft forget to do before every flight but obviously a very important component of safe flight.
Cary Robins is the owner of American Aeronautics and his company markets weight and balance calculators. I wanted to find out why weight and balance is so important, about his company’s products and about his flying career too.

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Episode 67 – London to Sydney, The Slow Way

G-ATYS, PA28

The aircraft that Andy and Sam will be flying to Australia

For today’s episode of Flying Podcast I’m speaking to Andy Hardy and Sam Kidd.
These two are planning a trip from the UK to Australia in Andy’s PA28 aircraft.
They have lots of flying experience and Andy has an IMC and a night rating but neither has been much further than central Europe.

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Episode 64 – Popham Microlight Trade Fair

Popham Microlight Fair

Popham Microlight Fair

For today’s episode of Flying Podcast we’re looking at the world of microlights and light sport aircraft here in the UK and where better to do that than at the Popham Microlight Trade Fair held, not surprisingly, at Popham airfield in Hampshire. In this episode you’ll be hearing from most of the main manufacturers and importers of light sport aircraft in the UK.

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Episode 62 – Martin Jones – de Havilland DH88 Comet Racer

Martin Jones, Derby Aero Club

Martin Jones, Derby Aero Club

For today’s episode I travelled down to Derby Aero Club to meet Martin Jones. Martin is the owner of the airfield and is also proprietor of Airspeed Aviation. My reason for the visit though was to have a chat to Martin about the restoration project that he’s undertaking. His labour of love is a 1934 de Havilland Comet DH88 – G-ACSP – a so called Comet Racer. The aircraft was originally built by de Havilland for the England to Australia, ‘MacRobertson’ Air Race.

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Episode 60 – The Flying Show 2012

The Flying Show - NEC - 2012

The Flying Show – NEC – 2012

For today’s episode of Flying Podcast I went down to the Flying Show at Birmingham’s NEC. I had interviews lined up with Breezer UK, The Light Aircraft Company, Dave Sykes, GASCo and the Airspace & Safety Initiative. An interesting cross section of the people attending the show I think.
The show was pretty much as it had been in previous years, not overly busy but there were plenty of interesting folk to chat to. So all-in-all probably worth going down to if you’re into aviation. We arrived at 11.30 on the Sunday and the traffic into the NEC wasn’t too bad. The £10 parking fee is a bit steep but they have a bit of a monopoly going on there so we have to stump up the cash.

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Episode 57 – Chris Walsh – ATCO at Manchester International Airport

Chris Walsh - NATS ATCO at Manchester International

Chris Walsh – NATS ATCO at Manchester International

Today I’m down at Manchester International Airport to interview Chris Walsh one of the Air Traffic Control Officers working in the tower there. Following on from my chat with FISO, Mark at Barton, I’ve been asked by many listeners for a podcast featuring a fully fledged ATCO. So here it is.

I was accompanied on my trip by fellow Barton aviator, Duncan, who also appeared on episode 50 of Flying Podcast. Chris, very generously, gave up a couple of hours of his free time to give us a guided tour of the tower and then settled into one of their meeting rooms, overlooking the apron, to answer all of our ‘ATCO’ type questions.

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Episode 56 – AeroExpo 2012

BE-2C 'Biggles Biplane'

BE-2C ‘Biggles Biplane’

For today’s episode I travelled down to AeroExpo 2012 at Sywell Aerodrome in Northamptonshire. I had a wander round to see which exhibitors had something interesting on offer and got chatting to a fair few of them. I went down on the Friday and although there were a fair few people in attendance most exhibitors had plenty of time to spend with anyone with an interest in their products.

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Episode 55 – Owen Zupp – Flying a Jabiru Around Australia

Owen Zupp and Jabiru J230D

Owen Zupp and Jabiru J230D

On today’s Flying Podcast we’ve got a pilot from ‘down under’. That’s Owen Zupp.
A couple of years ago, Owen flew a single engine light aircraft around Australia. I remember hearing about Owen’s exploits on the great Australian aviation podcast Plane Crazy Down Under so when Owen contacted me offering to come on to the podcast I jumped at the opportunity.
For his day job, Owen is a 737 pilot for a major Australian commercial airline company – no prizes for guessing who that might be – but in his spare time he puts his passion for aviation to good use. Not only has Owen written a book on a WWII RAF pilot but he’s also flown a Jabiru aeroplane around his homeland in order to raise money for an excellent cause; that being the Royal Flying Doctor Service. As these adventures spike my interest, it was primarily this project that I wanted to talk to Owen about.

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Episode 53 – Brian Hope – Light Aircraft Association

Vans RV 9a

Vans RV 9a

In episode 51 of Flying Podcast I spoke to Andy Draper of the Light Aircraft Association about building your own aircraft. To get a broader appreciation of what the association does I was pointed in the direction of Brian Hope, editor of the LAA’s magazine ‘Light Aviation’.
First off I asked Brian to give me a potted history of the LAA. I knew that the group had previously been the PFA – Popular Flying Association – but I wasn’t aware that they’d had a previous incarnation.

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Episode 51 – Andy Draper – Light Aircraft Association

Andy Draper - Design Engineer - Light Aircraft Association

Andy Draper – Design Engineer – LAA

For this episode of Flying Podcast I was off down to Turweston Aerodrome to meet Andy Draper of the Light Aircraft Association. Andy is the Design Engineer with the LAA and having joined from kitplane company, Europa, he now looks after the modification work for LAA aircraft but also oversees the ongoing airworthiness of all the approved types.
I was interested in finding out what the process was for building your own aircraft so who better to ask than Andy.
If you recognize Andy’s photo on the web site that’s because he was involved in the TV show `A Plane Is Born’ some years ago, helping Mark Evans build his Europa kit plane.

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