Tabla de contenidos para Spring 2024 en Pilot

FI(H) sponsorship with Helicentre Helicentre Aviation Academy has announced further flight instructor sponsorship opportunities for 2024. This follows the success of last year’s programme, where four CPL(H) holders were awarded sponsorship for their FI(H) training. Successful applicants may commence training as early as April 2024. Since the launch of its scholarship programmes in 2012, the academy has invested over £1m in pilot training scholarships, bursaries, and sponsorships. In the past two years alone, six flight instructors have been funded through their FI course, working as full-time instructors gaining valuable experience training the next generation of helicopter pilots. The 2024 FI(H) sponsorship is open to anyone who currently holds a commercial helicopter pilot licence or is close to attaining their CPL(H). To be eligible, applicants must have the right to…

New & restored registrations Cancellations…

Fundación’s Flying Start On an unseasonably warm and sunny Sunday 4 February, the Fundación Infante de Orleans at Cuatro Vientos, Madrid held this year’s first In-Flight Exhibition before a capacity crowd. The star item amongst the twenty aircraft flown was the Polikarpov I-16 Rata CM-249. Grounded for the past three years, this former Soviet Air Force fighter returned to the air on 29 January 2024. Manufactured in 1937, it was discovered in 1992 at Karelia in northern Russia and along with five other I-16s was rebuilt at the Novosibirsk Aeronautical Research Bureau under a contract with the Alpine Fighter Collection in New Zealand. First flown in November 1997, it was shipped to Wanaka where it was painted as Soviet AF ‘White 39’. Of particular interest, as I-16s were flown by…

NOTABLE NOTES Russian reclamation Ural Airlines opts to break for spare parts the A320 so skillfully landed deadstick in a Siberian field p8 NOTABLE NOTES Heritage eviction Gentleman airfield managers might have said “we need to move your aeroplane to another hangar” – but this is Bicester... p9 NOTABLE NOTES Air League generosity Last year the League awarded gliding and power-flying scholarships to 93 deserving young people. Get your 2024 application in! p11 Drone industry should pay for electronic conspicuity The General Aviation Alliance (GAA) – which represents the views of ten general aviation associations – has recently promulgated a position paper regarding the organisation’s stance on the integration and advancement of Electronic Conspicuity. In its paper, the GAA states it recognises that ‘the only practical way to allow the…

The Tecnam P-Mentor is a derivative of the earlier Tecnam P2002 ultralight (Tecnam’s P numbers denote the year of the design) that has been optimised for flight training. For example, the cockpit panel has as an optional extra a functioning gear selector with associated aural and visual configuration warnings for when the lever is in the wrong position – e.g. set to ‘up’ when the aircraft is on the ground. This is despite the P-Mentor having a fixed undercarriage. I think this is a brilliant concept, offering a way to reduce flight training costs all the way up to ATPL, as the aircraft is also IFR-certified (although it’s a shame and seems a bit unfair that the Mentor isn’t currently approved for students gaining their ‘Complex’ rating on it). Tecnam…

The first thing to say is that the skills involved in flying close formation for photography are a big step up from those you’d learn from typical basic formation flying training, as described by contributing editor Eugenio Facci in his recent article (‘Learning to dance’, Pilot, October 2023). Used extensively by the RAF during the basic pilot training process, formation flying is an excellent, advanced discipline, sharpening one’s flying skills, while often providing wonderful entertainment for people watching from the ground. However, to achieve good images from a photoshoot takes a lot of practice while flying with skilled practitioners in the art of formation flying for the camera. Getting into the ‘perfect’ formation position with all three reference points in place, provides the camera with just one image; and I…

To see the monthly calendar online, visit www.pilotweb.aero UNITED KINGDOM MARCH 2024 4 Chard, Somerset, Historic Helicopters Open Day, historichelicopters.com 24 Kempton Park Racecourse, Middlesex, Heathrow Aircraft Enthusiasts Fair, aircraftenthusiastfair.co.uk 24 The Helicopter Museum, Weston-super-Mare, Somerset, ‘Behind the Scenes’ Spotters Day, helicoptermuseum.co.uk/events.html 30 Breighton, N Yorks, RAC Night Photoshoot, realaero.com/bugle.html 30 Cotswold Airport, Glos, Buccaneer 30th Anniversary event, the-buccaneer-aviation-group.com 30 Sywell Aviation Museum, Northants, Grand Opening, sywellaviationmuseum.org.uk 31 Sleap, Shropshire, Flour-bombing contest, shropshireaeroclub.com/events APRIL 2024 7 North Coates, Lincs, Whirlybird Fly-in, northcoatesflyingclub.com/flying-events/ 12-13 Compton Abbas, Dorset, Spring Vintage Fly-in, comptonairfield.com/events 13 RAF Manston Museum, Kent, Open Cockpits Weekend, rafmanston.co.uk/events/ 14 Chard, Somerset, Historic Helicopters Open Day, historichelicopters.com 20 Bodmin, Cornwall, Cornish Pasty Fly-in, bodminairfield.com/events/ 20 Sleap, Shropshire, VPAC Fly-in, vintagepiper.co.uk/events/ 20 Sofitel, LHR Terminal 5, Middlesex, Pilot Careers Exhibition, pilotcareernews.com/live/london-2024/…

Bicester hangar evictions In a move that surprised no one, the owners of aircraft based in Hangar 137 (the ‘GA hangar’) at Bicester Aerodrome have been served ‘notice to quit’ by the airfield’s owners, Bicester Motion. All the aircraft must be removed from the hangar by 30 June 2024. Hangar 137 was built in 1926, and – being almost a century old – is probably due for an overhaul. However, there is speculation in some quarters that once the building has been restored it will be reconfigured for some motoring purpose. Philip White, an Associate Director of Bicester Motion, told Pilot “We have been regularly maintaining the unrestored ‘Type A’ Hangar since we took it over in 2013. However, having been built in 1926, its age has caught up with…

It’s one of the most innovative companies to emerge from the British aviation sector in the last few decades. With the goal of making ’everyone a pilot’, SkyFly is developing an eVTOL that would combine the advantages of a car, an aeroplane, and a helicopter. To find out more, contributing editor Eugenio Facci interviewed the firm’s co-founders, Michael Thompson and Jaap Rademaker. Q: What’s the idea behind the SkyFly? What are you offering that other eVTOL companies aren’t? Skyfly wants to provide private users, with a two seat, quiet, eco-friendly, easy-to-fly electric vertical takeoff and landing aircraft. In technical terms, [ours is] different in two main respects from other eVTOLs: firstly, we have fixed-angle rotors with no tilting motor mechanisms, which saves weight, removes points of failure, and reduces expense and…

France was one of the great cradles of aviation, and this heritage is still present both in terms of its advanced aerospace industry and conservation of its aeronautical heritage. Unfortunately, few aircraft from the early days of aviation have survived to the present day, let alone in flying condition. However, a few people became concerned early on about the disappearance of such flying treasures and preserved a handful of original examples. Thus, we find among others a Blériot XI and a Caudron G3 in the care of the Amicale Jean-Baptiste Salis. However, aside from associations of substantial size and their rare jewels, there are also a few passionate owners who meticulously maintain beautiful replicas of ‘antique’ aircraft. Antony Pichon and his Deperdussin TT constitute one of these rare duos. DEPERDUSSIN,…