Aviation Education Programme: Celebration Day!

We had a great day today at our Aviation Education Programme Celebration Day - well done boys and a big thank you to BBC Children to Need for funding the course!

Braam - First Solo!

A huge congratulations to Braam, who completed his first solo yesterday!

Braam with his instructor, Christine

Well done Braam!

Braam has been working really hard to reach this point and we're all very proud of him! A big thank you to Help for Heroes who have funded his flight training.

First Solo!!

Congratulations to Adam, FSDP Scholar and Aerobility student, who completed his first solo flight yesterday!

Off he goes!

Safely back on the ground..

The smile says it all!

With Mike Owen, Aerobility Instructor

Congratulations from the Aerobility team and our friends at Boeing

Champagne Time!

With some orange juice as it's a work day

Adam with Operations Manager, Brian Catchpoole

FSDP Scholars - July 2014

A huge well done and a very sad goodbye today to Adam and Josie - our fantastic FSDP Scholars who have been with us for the past three weeks.

Josie and Adam with the Aerobility team!

Come back and see us soon!

Red Bull Air Race World Championship - Aerobility Flyers Tickets Available!

** AEROBILITY FLYERS **

We have very kindly been donated tickets to the Red Bull Air Race World Championship which is being held at Ascot Racecourse on Saturday 16th-Sunday 17th August.

We'd like to offer these tickets exclusively to Aerobility Flyers - anyone who has flown with us in the past or flies with us now. There are four pairs of grandstand tickets for each day and we will hold a draw next Thursday 31st July to allocate the tickets.

If you would like to be included in the draw, please email Geri (geri@aerobility.com) by Wednesday 30th July with the days that you would be available to attend.

It's an event not to miss, so get your name in now!

Farnborough International Airshow 2014

Wow, what a crazy week we had at FIA 2014! We were very honoured to take our place amongst the great and the good of aviation for what was undoubtedly the highlight of the summer season.

With support from some of our sponsors, such as NATS, Rolls Royce and Boeing, we were able to spend the week at Farnborough raising awareness and meeting lots of new friends for the charity.

Below are just a few photographs for now, but we'll post more as soon as we've finished unpacking...!

Our wonderful stand

Welcome to FIA from NATS and Aerobility!

What a great show!

Some of our very hard working volunteers selling lots of raffle tickets...

Cliff Swims for Aerobility!

Student and hopeful PPL, Cliff is undertaking a great feat on Sunday to raise money for Aerobility. The Brownsea Island Swim is a challenging 6.5km wild swimming course around the island, and is popular with the most serious of athletes! Cliff's wife very kindly put him up to the challenge, but he told us that he's looking forward to it...

"I do swimming every so often to try and stay healthy even though I have a belly, it does help with keeping warm in the water. The challenge around Brownsea island came up a few months ago but was put on a reserve list and was no.110 so thought I wouldn't get it and have focused on moving to a new house and getting ready for more surgery. Then I was then told 3 weeks ago that a slot has come available and the wife then volunteered me to do it when the call came through. It is very late to do training but I will get on with it and complete the 6.5km non wetsuit swim ( no pics for that as no one wants to see me in a speedo!) As they promote fundraising for the event I thought that I would try and raise £500 for Aerobility which will hopefully give others the chance of at least having a trial flight and experience the thrill of flying. My legs don't work properly since post injury but the upper body is still good ( I hope?) and I focus on what I can do instead of what I cant do."

Cliff has a JustGiving page that you can visit if you'd like to support him and help him to reach his target for Aerobility. You can find it by following this link.

Good luck Cliff - just keep swimming!

Fancy learning some wheelchair skills?

Join one of our Aerobility Flyers Alex for an informal wheelchair skills training session. Whether you're looking to brush up on some basic skills or would like to learn something new there will be something for everyone. The session will involve general pushing, going up and down ramps, wheelchair set up and maintenance, back wheel balance and kerbs.


All welcome!

Wednesday 9th July, 6-7pm, Aerobility HQ, Blackbushe

Please register your interest by email geri@aerobility.com

Victoria Education Centre Aviation Day

Aerobility volunteer, Charlie, was part of a team that went to Poole last week with the mobile simulator to take part in the Victoria Education Centre’s aviation themed sports week. Here, he tells us about the day!

What a great day, beautiful weather for the drive down south to Poole, so early in the morning. Once we arrived a very warm welcome was received by Martin and his team who showed us where to go and what to do and most importantly where the coffee was. 

With a quick setup it was straight into action with the first class. We laid out multiple stations where the children could look and touch really flying equipment from headsets to maps and charts. We have a few pilot jackets too, which the children out on while they had their turn in the simulator. 

The simulator was running almost all the time, with all the children flying from a multitude of airports ranging from Buenos Aries to Hong Kong and Bournemouth in between. We tried to give the students approximately 5 minutes on the simulator with a take off, turns (which may have included a few aerobatics) and then a landing usually on the runway (but not all the time). I don't think we had one student without a smile by the end of their turn. 

 The day then turned to the flying of their "home built" aircraft, of which Andrea, Nick and Ian were the proud judges for the completion. With 6-8 aircraft flown there were many great designs and flight paths that ranged from very short to continuous, which provided many laughs, not only at the aircraft but the staff showed off their make up and dress up talents for cabin crew, ground staff, and security. 

We the finished off with a final session for the last few in the simulator and then it was "home time" and the big clear up was underway before we journeyed back to black usage and our homes for a well needed cup of tea and a snooze.

Aerobility Ballooning Update

Aerobility's Operations Manager with an update on our exciting new ballooning venture...

Hello All,

In the last few months we have successfully taken delivery of our own balloon envelope, arranged for this to carry an Aerobility banner, and have purchased and commissioned a duo chair. The balloon was inflated at AeroExpo Sywell, and I think you will agree a very fine sight it made. We have put together a team of experienced balloon instructors who are very much committed to enabling balloon flight for Aerobility Flyers and the original Breitling Balloon is still available.

It has been a hectic few months here at Blackbushe, but I believe we are finally ready to offer an initial trial flight in the duo chair to Aerobility Flyers who would like to get airborne. Once you have experienced this trial, Aerobility will be pleased to consider you for ongoing balloon flight  training. Cost have yet to be finalised, but with the usual Aerobility heavy subsidy, we would envisage a figure of around £70 hour. Due to the nature of UK weather you should be ready to fly at short notice if at all possible, although of course there is no obligation if you have a prior appointment. Most flying is likely to take place early morning or evening, so get the alarm set and ready. Once I know that you are seriously interested, we will either invite you to an initial briefing (probably to be held in the evening) or if you live far from Blackbushe put you in touch with a local instructor. Both balloons are located in the south of England, so realistically this is currently an offer for those who live in the south only, but if you live further north and are seriously interested, please let me know and I will see what we can arrange.

We have also received a very generous donation from a British balloonist based in Japan who has donated his nearly new Ultramagic H31 single man balloon complete with burner, cylinder, chair and blower. Our current plan is to sell the equipment and use the proceeds to support our continued ballooning efforts. It’s early days yet, but thanks’ to the generosity of BA cargo, we have already shipped the equipment to the UK; watch this space as they say.

Regards

Brian

Operations Manager

Aerobility Ladies Afternoon

A couple of weeks ago we were joined at Blackbushe by two amazing aviatrixes who wowed us with their stories of adventure and aviation fun. British Airways Captain Lorraine Taylor Harris and explorer Tracey Curtis-Taylor spent the afternoon speaking to Aerobility Flyers and Supporters about their careers in aviation. With tea, cake, strawberries and cream, and even a couple of glasses of champagne, it was a lovely afternoon enjoyed by all. Here are a few photos of the afternoon for you to enjoy!

Tracy arriving into Blackbushe in her Boeing Stearman.

Lorraine speaks to the Aerobility community.

Sheltering from the rain!

All hands on deck for Tracy's departure

Another iconic aircraft visits Aerobility

Tracy and Lorraine with the event organiser, Aerobility's Andrea

We'd like to say a huge thank you to Lorraine and Tracy for their time and enthusiasm! Remember to keep your eye on the blog for notices of future aviation lectures and open events.

Exercise Moth!

This week, we added a new member to the Aerobility fleet (just for a couple of days!). Aerobility volunteer, Steve, flew into Blackbushe on Wednesday in his Hornet Moth DH-87B - one of only 12 airworthy Hornet Moths in the UK.

There was some great fun had whilst experimenting the best way to make use of the unique folding wings with our hoist, and Steve was kept busy with flights until his departure on Thursday afternoon.

Below are a few photos taken by Aerobility volunteer, Tony: