Newsletter Index
Archives:
December 2008 Newsletter
April 2008 Newsletter
December 2007 Newsletter
April 2007 Newsletter
Newsletter December 2009
(For a PDF Version, click here).
Airfield
One of the most exciting news items is that the planning application for Essex Air Ambulance has been granted. Many of you have seen that work is being carried out on the southern taxiway for new hangars. Work will continue over the coming months. The southern taxiway will remain closed until the work has been completed, therefore back tracking on the runway or taxiing on north side will be necessary. Thank you to everyone for their patience whilst this work is being done.
Up keep of Airfield
Over the year we have had many visitors to the airfield and they continue to comment on how well kept the airfield is and how all staff endeavour to maintain the up keep to high standards. General up keep again includes the regular grass cutting ( thanks to Bill Cameron for his continuous efforts to tame the grass). Both windsocks have also had to be replaced as vandals still insist on taking them for trophies. Painting of the runway markings has also been done. It's getting to the time of year when we need to start on the husbandry of the airfield. With the recent rain we have had it's time to keep to the hard surfaces where possible. Your help in doing this will keep the grass fit for use in the summer. The upkeep of the airfield doesn't just include the outside. I would like to thank Phil Ryder for his continuous help in maintaining the front computer and making sure things run smoothly. Nigel Willson also for keeping the website up to date and for helping in the sending of emails.
Instructors
We are pleased to announce that two more instructors have joined us. Paul Young and Javid Karmin. John Pickering – Monday, Tuesday, Saturdays Paul Young – Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Saturday, Sunday Javid Karmin – Monday, Wednesday, Friday Dave Trouse – Tuesday, Thursday Robin Rudderham – Saturday Digby Dogherty – Thursday, Friday, Sunday James Stock -Saturday Robert Devereux – Sunday Many thanks to the instructors for their continuous support and work this year. Thanks also to Arwyn Jones for his RT courses.
Class rating instructors
Just a reminder that we have two CRI's on the books, so to speak, at Earls Colne. The role of these instructors is to allow the “normal” instructors ( are there any that are normal????) to concentrate on those students who do not yet have a licence. The CRI can provide additional instruction to any one who either has, or HAS had (at some point in the past – no matter how long ago, nor how far lapsed) a licence. That additional instruction can be for refresher training, club currency, check rides, IMC revision, night revision, and the CRI can sign your logbook for the biennial one hour dual flight. Additional differences training can also be undertaken by the CRI including Turbo/Supercharger, Variable Pitch Prop, Retractable undercarriage, Tail wheel and Glass Cockpit.
Fire crew
Not so quiet for the fire crew this year, who have been kept busy with a few minor incidents. The fire crew new and old continue to train regularly and in October got the chance to go and play with the big boys at Stansted with their big machines. Thanks to Peter Rose for organising this. The fire truck will be going for a make over later this year, thanks in advance to Robin Waters, Gordon Spooner for their time and help..
Night Flying
October saw our night flying season start. Our night flying instructor's are as follows. John P – Monday, Tuesday, Saturday Robin R – Saturday and by arrangement Paul Y – Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Saturday, Sunday Robert D – Sunday James S – Saturday Dave T – Tuesday, Thursday
Ground School
Ground school for the PPL, UK IMC ratings and RT Theory / Practical at EGSR Ad- hoc 1-1 tuition is available from your own instructor and can cover any subject from the PPL Ground school and IMC Syllabus. There is a small charge for this but can be arranged at any time, talk to your instructor and staff at the desk for more information. (Please note that we do not charge for pre and post flight briefings as we consider these an essential part of the PPL training process).
Social Side
The last few months have been busy, with various fundraising events being held. In October we saw the regular Macmillan Biggest Coffee Morning raising £122.09. November saw us hold another coffee morning this time for Wear it Pink (National Breast Cancer) not only did we have a wear it pink, but we had a pink and blue fly in,the weather not being on our side we still managed to raise £50. Which will be split between the two organisations. Anglian Flight Centres and Baxters Food Group raised £279.50 for the Essex air Ambulance back in April
Student Social side
The Student Network aims to provide an additional level of support for those training at AFC - while it doesn't replace the formal support given to students by the club, it does provide a range of unique opportunities for students to get together, share ideas, materials and experiences. The network, established earlier this year, is free to all students and open to PPL's wishing to take an active role in supporting new pilots. To date it has around 80 members, half of which are students undertaking their PPL at AFC and the other half PPL's interested in supporting new pilots and growing a stronger club network. The backbone of the Network are regular updates delivered via email to Network members. Our aim is to provide monthly updates during the spring/summer flying season and one or two over the colder months. These updates promote the Network activities - which cover the following: Meet & Greet -designed to support students meet fellow students - open to all (refreshments provided ). This normally takes place once a month at the club on Saturday mornings. Participatory learning – We have a range of informal discussion forums on aviation topics including the more challenging ground school subjects. These after hours sessions are open to all club members, are good fun and hopefully help to produce better informed pilots. Fly Outs - two Fly-Outs this year, both really well attended have given student pilots the chance to fly with PPL's and instructors on an all day trip to other airfields. It hasn’t mattered what level of experience students have had everyone has been able to gain something useful from the experience whether it's been flying with an instructor on one of the legs or supporting the radio and navigation. The Network is a voluntary effort and we have been extremely grateful for the support from instructors and staff at the club who have helped promote it and made the activities possible, especially the Fly-Outs and Workshops. We will continue to provide a Network for as long as students consider it helpful. Our hope is that in time the network will become self sustaining and ‘get togethers’ for students on a Saturday morning will be a regular feature of life at the club. Fly- Outs will be something PPL's and students advertise through the network email and a greater range of Workshops will be available to support those training. However this will only be possible if everyone involved continues to support a full range of activities and ambitions for the Network in 2010. Looking ahead for 2010 we hope to do 2 or 3 Fly-Outs this Spring, Summer and Autumn and will continue to provide the regular Meet & Greets and Workshops - numbers permitting! All events are advertised via the email updates and notice board in the club - joining the network couldn't be easier - simply email us at: afcstudentnetwork@virgin.co.uk or ask your instructor or front desk for Student Network slip - simple! Merry Christmas and a very happy new year to all our network members and members to be!
Christmas Party 2010
Over the last twelve months everyone has been affected in some way or another by the recession, alias credit crunch etc. This coupled with the higher than expected venue costs has no doubt contributed directly to a greatly reduced demand and as a result it has been decided to cancel our traditional event. With the forecast of the easing financial situation yet to be proved we have concluded that a similar venue later in 2010 would be more acceptable to all the membership.
Formation Day
Break, Break, GO! We’ve had two incredible formation training days so far right here at Earls Colne. With two highly experience formation aerobatic display pilots as instructors (Richard Grace & Nigel Willson), each day has been “sold out” within hours of publicising it! Using club aircraft (Cessna s and Robins) quite a few PPL's have begun to experience just “what it takes”. Amongst the comments “not as easy as it looks – by a loooonnnngggggg way””, everyone agrees it’s “just absolutely fantastic”, “brilliant” and “incredibly worth while”. So much so, just about everyone’s coming back for more and the next session (Wed Dec 30th) is fully booked – and has a waiting list! Keep your ears and eyes open for future dates – there will be more!
Yakdisplay.com
The Anglian Flight Centres sponsored Yak with Nigel and Debs have been in action over the past display season (May till October). Around 25 displays from the not so far away locations such as Elmsett, to (almost) the other side of the country (Branscombe, Devon) to name just two. All sorts of shows – big ones like Abingdon, and the smaller private wedding displays, charity events (the “Ted Devils” parachuting teddy bears) and military family days at Cottesmore and Wattisham. Each and every one gets info on Anglian Flight Centres and Earls Colne airfield from either publicity in the events literature, or (more importantly) from the commentary provided by Debs! Bookings for next year have already been taken, and another highly successful season is anticipated….. Watch this space. Thought about a private display for yourself? It’s not as expensive as you might think! See the website: http://yakdisplay.com
A course reminder (give yourself a present)
Just a quick reminder about some of the courses we provide here at Earls Colne as well as “normal” training for your PPL. The Formation Training course (mentioned already) is currently under way – you don’t have to have had any experience in this area – and we can mix and match different levels of formation student (i.e. complete novice with someone who’s done a few sessions). Many pilots have also taken up the Advanced PPL course – offering alternative techniques and procedures to add to your “tool kit”, as well as a reminder at best practice, plus some advanced flying – which you will never have done before. All those who have taken up the course (pick and mix from the syllabus as well if you like) agrees it’s highly worthwhile and comes back having mastered many new skills – including getting their aircraft to do “stuff” they never dreamed of both in performance and attitude. And speaking of attitude, why not try your hand at Aerobatics? Anglian Flight Centres offers our own aerobatic course to the AOPA standard – gentle, safe and enjoyable – not gutwrenching GLOC inducing stuff! More details on all these courses are available from the website – or speak to Nigel Willson.
Members
We are pleased to hear that James O'Neil is making a good recovery after his adventure last year and that he has ventured back in the sky. As many of you may have noticed that there is a new bench in the picnic area. This has been kindly donated to us by the family of the late Malcolm Wright (student) . Malcolm joined us back in September 2006 with his first ever- trial flight. Malcolm dedicated one day a week to his flying, under no circumstances would he give in and even if the weather was bad and he couldn't fly, he would come along to the club house and share his humour, love and passion for flying with us. Everyone here will sadly miss him.
Tony Rae
This year I took DW across the pond and up the French coast, along the Belgium coast and landed in Midden Zeeland. From there off to Bremen in Germany for an overnight stop and then onto Herringsdorf again in Germany. From there we flew South to the Polish border and landed at Gdansk. Then all the way back to Herringsdorf which we were using as a base. From there we headed to Altenburg in Germany and then on to Erfurt for a two day stopover. Then it was time to go home via Liege and Ostend in Belgium down the Belgium and French coast, across the pond and home. All in all it was 19 hrs flying time and just under 2000 nm.
Rolling Granny
On the 24th October it was my Grandmas 81st Birthday, since passing my test for my PPL I have been promising her a flight and thought it would be a great opportunity to do this. She was very excited about the flight and asked if we could fly along the coast. I planned to fly her from Earls Colne to Manningtree, flying up the River, onto Felixstowe Docks and then along the coast to Brightlingsea. This enabled us to see many of the different land marks local to us as we both live in Hadleigh. On the day of the flight the weather was perfect for a first time flyer in a light aircraft, the wind was light and visibility was excellent with possible views of the London skyline soon after take off from 24L. Following this, the planned route that I flew went very smoothly which my grandma thoroughly enjoyed. As I had been learning various aerobatic manoeuvres throughout the summer with Nigel in the very same aircraft I was flying (G-ECAD), I casually suggested if she would like to try a roll. Much to my surprise she enthusiastically agreed and so before returning to Earls Colne I headed towards Abberton Reservoir which is a suitable area to do such manoeuvres. After demonstrating various high and low nose attitudes and explaining the procedures to prepare her for the sensation of a roll she seemed more than happy to go ahead with it. Although the manoeuvre only lasts a few seconds there were a few strange noises coming from grandma’s side of the aircraft that were a mixture of laughter, faint screams and finished off with her saying “ oh Sam, I wasn’t to sure about that”. By this point she felt that she had made the most of her Birthday flight and it was time to return with the sun beginning to drop in the back ground behind London. It finished off a very memorable flight for both of us, although I think it’s fair to say my grandma was pleased to have her feet firmly back on the ground once we had landed, but she thoroughly enjoyed the whole experience and I am very proud of her.
Yvonne Vincent
Our very own Yvonne Vincent made it into the head lines back in June this year. Being the oldest female pilot to have gained her PPL in Essex. Yvonne also made it on to the Chris Evans show. If you missed it you can hear it via the link on our website. Finally, I give a big thank you to all my fantastic ground staff and instructors, full and part time, for their dedication and professionalism. Happy and safe flying! P.S. Remember keep an eye on the website!
Mick Manders