CEO Thoughts
All set for an exciting summer
I
’m writing this with a genuine glow of pride, in the wake of the LAA Flying For Fun airshow at Old Warden. Thank you to everybody who came along and helped make it such a success, what a great way to help celebrate the Association’s 75th Anniversary. It is, I hope, the start of a summer of events as we play ‘catch-up’ socially, and with our flying as the world unlocks from Covid restrictions. As well as several hundred members who took advantage of the LAA parking area for the Covid-friendly ‘drive in’ show, we had more than a dozen owners who generously offered their aircraft for static display in the ‘LAA Uncovered’ pre-show display area. These aircraft covered the whole of the 75 years of the Association, from a Tipsy Trainer built in the year of the ULAA’s formation, to the brand-new Sling TSi. A big thanks both to the owners, and also to LAA Engineers Jerry Parr, Joe Hadley and Mike Roberts who acted as guides, explaining the stories behind the aircraft to visitors. We also owe a big vote of thanks of course, to the weather gods who blessed us with an azure blue sky, which faded into a spectacular golden sunset. There was calm air too, which allowed some of the Shuttleworth Collection’s most prized aircraft to be flown, including no less than four of the legendary ‘Edwardians’, including the 1912 Blackburn Monoplane and 1910 Deperdussin. A truly emotive sight and sound from the earliest days of aviation. Another wonderful sight was the English Electric Wren, built for the 1923 Lympne Light Aircraft Trials to encourage the development of practical light aircraft for private ownership. The trials were forward-looking but misguided, in placing an undue emphasis on fuel economy. The result was a series of marginal aircraft with tiny engines, as exhibited by the Wren with its six (yes, six!) horsepower engine, which heroically flew several circuits of the airfield at its hot weather service ceiling, of about 50ft!
Display trailer
So what’s next? Well on the social side, by the time you read this the newly LAA 75-liveried display trailer, commissioned in association with LX avionics, will have headed northwards to the LAA Vale of York event at Rufforth East and for a further show at Leeds East Airport at the beginning of August. The trailer, which made its debut at Old Warden, is being used both for promoting the LAA and as LX avionics’ showroom for their radios, nav equipment and instrumentation, and we’re looking forward to having plenty of opportunities to meet LAA members as we resume face-to-face meetings. 68 | LIGHT AVIATION | August 2021
CEO Thoughts
By Steve Slater
Of course, on 3, 4 and 5 September, we’ve got the big one, the 2021 LAA Rally. As I wrote last month, we have had to face some unprecedented challenges this year. As part of our Covid precautions, we’ve had to redesign the exhibitor marquee layout to meet public health requirements, ensuring appropriate ventilation and spacing, as well as other precautions to ensure that we all feel comfortable and safe at what may well be the UK’s biggest post-Covid flying event. I must take my metaphorical hat off to the members of the Rally working group who have overcome the trials posed by Sywell Aerodrome’s post-lockdown recovery challenges, which has left them without their customary air traffic control team. In response to the CAA requirement that Sywell demonstrates a capability to handle the high volume of traffic at the Rally, we’ve assisted Sywell in working with the CAA Aerodromes team to provide a team of experienced air/ground radio operators to man the Sywell Tower. As I write this, we’re awaiting the final signature to allow the fly-in slot system to be opened. The LAA Rally is most definitely GO! On the regulatory front, by the end of this month the CAA will, we hope, issue its green light for the future use of factory-built aircraft up to 600kg, classed within a new microlight definition. The new category is a great example of how inter-agency collaboration can work. It is the result of the efforts over the best part of three years by a working group made up of the CAA, BMAA, LAA and representatives of UK aircraft builders, such as Flylight and TLAC. The new rules mean that manufacturers making microlight aircraft currently certified up to 450kg will, under future national regulation, be able to sell new 600kg machines without having to switch over to more onerous certification. This streamlining should enhance the aeroplane market; modernising, refreshing and enlarging the UK light aeroplane fleet for pilots, operators and businesses alike. One of the big questions is ‘why are they called microlights’. The answer is that we all agreed that an expansion of the microlight definition will allow more pilots to easily convert their licences to fly the new aircraft than if a new Light Sport Aircraft category were to be created. It matters little to the LAA what these aircraft are called. We already oversee more than 300 microlight aircraft through our Permit to Fly system and classing these new aircraft as microlights means minimum conversion requirements, focused on differences in training, can be applied to pilots of all licence types. Allowing more people to fly more interesting aircraft is what we are all about! ■
