Aviation Education Programme 21st January

The latest Aviation Education Programme was last Saturday and was on two subjects.
The first was Airfield Operations. The group looked at a medium airport, in this case Farnborough. They studied the history of the airport and watched a video showing the role of operations and the services available.

This was followed by Air Traffic Control 2 and the group watched a fascinating video from NATS.  It showed all the flights in a 24 hour period.  A discussion on the flying patterns of aircraft followed along with a closer look at stacks. They then discussed which ATC you would speak to on a typical journey.  They used the example of Oaksey Park to Blackbushe.  The session ended with a quiz on aircraft headings with a brief look at controlling and separating aircraft in the skies.

 It was another great session with excellent input from the students.

Aerobility Ground School - Don't miss out!

Winter Ground School Programme 2017

Available to all Aerobility Flyers. 

£10 per session - payment to be made on the day

Each session will be: 

Location - Aerobility HQ, Blackbushe, briefing room.

Time - 10am to 4pm.

Session led by - Mike Owen.

Session dates and subjects: 

Tuesday 17th January - Navigation stage 1

Tuesday 24th January - Navigation stage 2

Tuesday 31st January - Flight Performance and Planning

Tuesday 7th February - Meterology 

Tuesday 14th February - Principles of Flight

Tuesday 21st February - Communications

To reserve your place, please email gail@aerobility.com

**Sessions may be subject to cancellation unless a minimum number commit to attend.

AEP Airfield Operations

Last Saturday we had our first AEP of the new term.  The subject was Airfield Operations.

The group split in to two with the first group going off in the buggy to explore the airport.

The second group went out on to the apron to run pre-flight inspection checks on the PA-28.

This was followed by coming back in to the warm classroom where the group watched some videos about airport planning and design and then briefly discussed the ethics and environmental implications of airports.  It was a very hands-on session which the group seemed to enjoy.  Maybe we have a few airport planners or engineers of the future amongst them!

Please support this exciting fundraising challenge!

On Saturday 14th January, a team at UK Virtual - the most advance virtual aviation group in the UK - will undertake a exciting simulator challenge in support of Aerobility!

Setting off at 7am and flying a solid 24 hours the members completing 12 back to back flights around Europe.

UK Virtual are half way to hitting their fundraising target of £500 and it is still possible to donate: https://mydonate.bt.com/fundraisers/24challenge

If you're not able to donate, don't worry - your help to spread the news of this great fundraising effort along with the donation page link is of great value too! Please like and share this blog.

Thank you so much to each of the UK Virtual members involved - your support means the world to us.

You can find out more about the simulator challenge here and find the UK Virtual home page here.

Please don't forget to like and share this post!

A bit of Friday fun - name that car!

Firstly and most importantly - thank you so much to Signs Express Farnborough, not only for your year round support, but also for this amazing signage which was kindly produced and donated to our Aerobility vehicle!

To mark the occasion we are inviting our friends, flyers, followers and supporters to come up with a name to officially christen our car.

Simply place your suggestions in the post comments (Facebook/Twitter/Blog) or please send to info@aerobility.com.

The chosen name will be announced in the new year - we can't wait to hear your suggestions!

AEP Flight

On the 5th December the AEP group studied Flight.

They began the session with a christmas themed phonetic alphabet quiz. This was followed by looking at the four forces of flight - weight, lift, thrust and drag.

The group then split in to small groups and together built propeller driven vehicles from kits.

They took their inventions to the hangar where they raced them.  It got quite competitive at times and a few minor adjustments were made to improve performance!!  






The session ended by looking at the design of various aircraft and the effects of the the forces upon them.

It was another great session - we are always amazed by the knowledge of the group.



 

On Tuesday 6th December, a group from St James' Place, enjoyed an Aviation Experience day at Aerobility, Blackbushe Airport.
Take a look at the photographs and read some of the comments from the group

"Lots of the adults who weren't with us on Tuesday commented that our members had obviously had a great time as they hadn't stopped talking about it yet! Other members are green with envy and want to know when they can go!"

"We had a very positive and fun day with you all. The volunteers, and everyone we met, were very welcoming and treated our members with respect and friendliness"

"Jon has decided he'd like to be a pilot (watch out!) and Carlos described his day as 'awesome'!  They really did have a fantastic experience; each of the activities you had planned was absolutely right for our members and pitched at just the right level so that they each gained something valuable,whether that was increased knowledge or greater confidence in themselves and their abilities"

    "The highlight  was the flight sim and it was wonderful that some of the lads seemed to 'have the knack', even if there were a few crashes on landing!"

 "We had a very positive and fun day with you all. The volunteers, and everyone we met, were very welcoming and treated our members with respect and friendliness." 

Celebrating the 10th Aviators Ball

So it has taken a few days, but our feet have finally reached the ground after this year’s Aviators Ball.

We hope we speak for everyone when we say 2016 really was a phenomenal event, exceeding expectations in a variety of ways.

It is our pleasure to officially announce the total of this year’s funds raised as a breath-taking £85,235!

To each and every person involved – sponsors, flyers, attendees, performers, prize donors, volunteers, staff, supporters, hosts, production – an enormous thank you to the sky and back. 

This incredible result is all down to a combination of exceptional hard work and generosity.

We will be back to share some of our favourite photos and video from the evening very soon. 

Thank you once again for your invaluable support - we really couldn't do it with out you!

Visit to the House of Lords Wednesday 23rd November 2016

Aerobility was invited to attend a UK Youth in Aviation reception at the House of Lords to highlight the role that charitable aviation organisations are playing in nurturing tomorrow’s talent.

Gail Barkes Aerobility service development and volunteer coordinator attended along with volunteers Nicola Saunders, Andrea Lowndes and Stephen Pearson.

The reception was hosted by the RT Hon Baroness Sue Garden of Frognal in association with the Air League of which she is a member of the council, she spoke of how important the work of all the organisations and charities are in promoting aviation as a career path for young people and encouraging and inspiring those that enter the variety of professions from being a pilot or engineering and development, also to the charities and organisations that are championing accessibility to experience aviation for those with disability or life limiting conditions.

This was followed by short presentations from young people that had benefited from the support of the following organisations:

The Air League

Youth in Aviation

Aviation Skills Partnership

Royal Air force Air Cadets

Royal Air Force museum

They all spoke of how they have been inspired by different sectors of aviation and were passionate and eloquent in their delivery of their own individual experiences.

The closing speech was given by Matt Hancock Minister of State for Digital and Culture who again emphasised the role that digital development plays in aviation, especially when you look at the huge advances in technology , and how inspiring young people to take up careers in aviation is vital to our country’s prosperity and standing in the global economy.

AEP Engineering

On Saturday 19th November Alan lead a session on Engineering.

The group got lovely oily hands looking at the various parts of combustion and jet engines.

They watched videos of how a jet engine works and discussed the advantages and disadvantages of the jet engine.  Working from a sheet they had to work out which type of engine various aircraft had.

 It was a very informative session and as always the group joined in well with some excellent input.

Aviators Ball - Silent Auction NOW OPEN

Only three days to go until this year's Aviators Ball!

We have a spectacular night of entertainment planned for you and hope you are as excited as we are!

To add to the excitement, we are delighted to announce our silent auction - officially open.

There is no need to miss out - whether you are joining us at the Ball or not, everyone is welcome to register and bid on our silent auction!

Make sure to take a look at the incredible prizes we have on offer this year, with a chance to be ahead of the game by placing a bid before Saturday night. 

For those of you joining us on the night, we have also included a sneak peek at the live auction items we have in store.

Every penny raised will go towards supporting the amazing work of Aerobility. 

Click here to be taken direct to the auction site.

Happy bidding!

Winners of the Aerobility Photo Competition 2016!

AEROBILITY AIRSHOW PHOTO COMPETITION 2016

Thank you again to everyone who entered - the competition raised an amazing £400 for Aerobility!

We are delighted to announce the WINNERS of this years photo competition are: 

In FIRST place - Jason Evans, with - Draken Moon

In 2nd place - John Madden, with Polish MIG 29

In 3rd place - James Walters, with An Explosive Finale

Our RUNNERS UP (in no particualr order) are: 

Paul Thwaites, with – WWI Sopwith Snipe at sunrise

Jane Dagnall, with – Typhoon struck by a sunbeam

Neil Atterbury, with – Polish MIG in the dive

Steve Brimley, with – Reach for the sky

Sergio Vazzana, with – Red Tails

Alasdair Leng, with – Atlas

Jo Ayres, with – Up Close

Neil Atterbury, with – XM655 Reflected

Susie Jackson, with – Boeing Stearman Loop

Huge congratulations to each of you - here is a reminder of those all important prizes:

FIRST PRIZE

Photographic visit to Heathrow airport control tower courtesy of NATS.

Winning photo featured in the Aerobility magazine with photographer’s portrait;

Day shooting with world-renown aviation & wildlife photographer (www.andyrouse.co.uk )

Free copy of the 2017 Aerobility calendar

SECOND PRIZE

Photographic visit to Heathrow Airport control tower courtesy of NATS.

Day shooting with world-renown aviation & wildlife photographer (www.andyrouse.co.uk )

Free copy of the 2017 Aerobility calendar

THIRD PRIZE

Free copy of the 2017 Aerobility calendar

All prize winners and runners up will have their winning photo featured in the Aerobility 2017 calendar. 

We have also created a gallery of all entrants which is available for you to view here.