Please join us in bidding a fond farewell to Laura!

As many of you will remember, Laura joined us in March last year as our Fundraising Officer.

Although Laura is off to work pastures new, she firmly remains part of the Aerobility family and promises to be back to both visit and volunteer.

Some words from Laura...

"It has been so wonderful working with and getting to know everyone - I will never forget how welcoming you were when I joined last March and very quickly made me feel part of the furniture (in a good way!)

Aerobility is an amazing charity and I will certainly be sad to leave, but I can promise that it won't be the last you see of me as I fully intend to keep in touch and remain a volunteer.

Wishing you all the absolute best - take care x"

From everyone at Aerobility - thank you for all your hard work and we wish you the best of luck for the future!

Royal Aeronautical Society Parliamentary Reception

Our Chief Executive, Mike Miller-Smith, and Service and Event Development Manager, Gail Barkes, attended the 'RAeS 20th Anniversary Celebration of Outreach and Careers Service' Parliamentary Reception in the Terrace Pavilion, House of Commons last week.  

This special event celebrated 20 years of the Royal Aeronautical Society’s dedicated aerospace and aviation careers and outreach service.

Speeches were made by members of the House followed by networking opportunities and afternoon tea!

A spot of shopping in the Palace of Westminster giftshop.

 The view from the terrace.

Initial Meeting - One Rivet At A Time - 2nd November at 18.00

Dear all,

The ball is now rolling and we'd like to invite you to join us at a meeting to discuss the 'One Rivet At A Time' project in more detail.
Come along at 18.00 on the 2nd November and find out how you can get involved, just email brian@aerobility.com to confirm your place, the meeting is open to all, we hope to see you there...

One Rivet At A Time - thank you BA!

‘One rivet at a Time’ took another step forward today when our friends at BA engineering donated some much needed workshop equipment. We collected a trailer full from Hayes yesterday. Pictured are John Hirst and Simon Boon of BA who helped to facilitate the exercise, our thanks to them both.

One Rivet At A Time

An important message from our Operations Manager.


Dear All,

I’m pleased to announce that the project to build our own plane is to go ahead. We have ordered a Zenair CH750 STOL (Short Take Off & Landing) and work has started to equip one corner of the hangar to carry out the work. Some of you may have attended our ‘Pull A Rivet’ session in February, this was presented by Jonathan and Patricia Porter of Metal Seagulls, and it is they who will provide the aircraft as the UK distributor.

The project, now named ‘One Rivet At A Time,’ will enable everybody to get involved, be it to place a single rivet or as a major contributor to the workload, those with an impairment or able bodied, all are welcome. I hope you agree this is an extremely exciting project, and one that doesn’t come along every day. We have lots of external support, it is now time for us to show these supporters and the rest of the world that we can make ‘One Rivet at a Time’ a success.

So this is a “Call to Arms." If you would like to get involved in any capacity, you are cordially invited to an introductory meeting to be held here at Blackbushe on Thursday 2^nd November at 18:00. I hope I have chosen a convenient time for as many of you as possible, but inevitably this will not suit everyone, so if you would still like to be involved but can’t join us on the day, please let me know and I will ensure you are registered to be kept informed.

During the meeting I will introduce the project, the aircraft and how we might organise the build. Hopefully some video content to ‘whet your appetite’, and obviously plenty of time to ask questions. Just to emphasise, we want to see anyone who would like to be involved, be it to place a single rivet or as a major contributor to the workload, those with an impairment or able bodied, all are welcome. I hope you agree this is an extremely exciting project, and one that doesn’t come along every day. We have lots of external support, it is now time for us to show these supporters and the rest of the world that we can make ‘One Rivet at a Time’ a success. I look forward to welcoming you to the team.

Regards

Brian Catchpoole

brian@aerobility.com

Radio Rescue!

Calling all pilots - can you help us with our Radio Rescue campaign?

As we're sure you all know, there's been a change in the law regarding radio frequencies that will come into effect on the 1 January 2018.

As the CAA says:"From 1st January 2018 the law changes and all aircraft operating in airspace that requires the carriage of a radio must have 8.33 kHz-compatible equipment fitted and operational. After this date all 25kHz radios can no longer be used, unless specifically exempted for a particular channel such as the emergency frequency 121.5MHz. This means that all General Aviation (GA) aircraft must comply with this change to UK law to maintain safe communications with ground stations.
(The UK leaving the EU will not affect the implementation of this new legislation.)"

This means that there will be a veritable mountain of disused radios, mostly destined for the local dump!

However, did you know that Aerobility can make great use of your old and soon to be discarded radios?

We're launching a campaign called 'Radio Rescue,' asking our aviator friends, volunteers and sponsors to donate their old and now defunct units. Not only can we take the disused sets off your hands but we can also raise valuable funds for the charity through the overseas sale of these items.

It's a win win!

Speak to Wayne on the front desk via email frontdesk@aerobility.com or give us a call on the office mobile 07547 838511, and who knows, we may even be able to take other bits and bobs off your hands too including wiring, denunciation panels and racks.

Let's recycle and raise money too, join us in our Radio Rescue mission!




Here's our own Cherokee 6 in the midst of its new installation.

 

Please see the CAA's website for further details on the 88.3 legislation


https://www.caa.co.uk/General-aviation/Aircraft-ownership-and-maintenance/8-33-kHz-radios/

New Ground School details, we're taking bookings now!

British Aviation Group Dinner

Last night was the British Aviation Group Annual Dinner at the Sheraton Grand Park Lane. 360 aviation and aerospace professionals attended, and Aerobility was lucky enough to be the chosen charity for the evening. Nearly £5000 was donated by the attendees for Aerobility on the night! This is a fabulous result and hugely beneficial to the charity and those we support.

We were kindly hosted by Chairman Graham Bolton, and the attached picture is with our friend and Toastmaster Richard Birtchnell. Great to meet so many aviation professionals including Heathrow Chief Executive John Holland-Kaye who also spoke at the event.

This is our seventh year working with the British Aviation Group and one we hope continues into the future.

Whatever the disability, we can get you safely in to the air!

In July this year our Aerobility Flying Instructor, Norman had the pleasure of flying with an incredible lady named Julie Davies.

Julie is blind and a double leg amputee, but still retains her awe-inspiring and adventurous spirit.

After being hoisted into the aircraft and with her son in the back seat, Julie was raring to go! 

Julie told us that hearing how things sound through the headphones and the sensation of the aircraft as it accelerated into take-off were wonderful to experience. Once in flight, Julie was able to take the controls and feel how the aircraft responded to her commands.

Both Julie and her son found the flight exhilarating and hope that others read this and understand the positive outcomes they can enjoy from considering a trial flight with Aerobility. 

Julie kindly sent us this photograph from the day.

If you know anyone that could benefit from our accessible aviation based and flying services, we'd love to hear from them - frontdesk@aerobility.com or call 0303 303 1230.

Another very happy client!

 Jodi came to us for her first flight last week and here's what she had to say about her experience...

Hi there, 

I had my flight today at 12pm and I honestly can't thank you all enough for
an amazing experience!!!
I'd like to say a big thank you to Nick Glover who took me and my partner
out, he was amazing and made me feel extremely comfortable and relaxed. He
is a huge credit to your organisation!!
I was extremely nervous when we arrived but as soon as I was up in the air I
felt totally relaxed.
Another big thank you to Damien in reception who is very professional and
really helpful!! 

Here's a picture of me and Nick together after the flight, honestly can't
thank everyone at aerobility enough for all your help!!

I will be recommending your experiences to all friends and family!!

Kind regards 
Jodi Godfree 

Invitation for Aerobility Flyers and Volunteers.

Saturday 16th September

This Saturday we are joined by our friends at Disability Initiative, as we host their team building event.

In the afternoon, this includes a mobile planetarium, which will be staged in our hangar.

As a thank you for using our facilities, Disability Initiative have kindly opened the invitation for five of our flyers or volunteers to join them for the planetarium experience.

If you are available on Satruday and can arrive just before the start time of 14:00, please contact Laura@Aerobility.com by 12:00 tomorrow (Thursday 14th) for your chance to be selected.

We look forward to hearing from you.

Aerobility to appear on Songs of Praise - this Sunday!

Make sure you don't miss us on this weeks episode - Sunday 17th September at 16:00.

Click here for more details.