BGA launches webinar, issue exemptions and announces new radio telephony course
In bid to keep the gliding community engaged during the pandemic lockdown, the British Gliding Association (BGA) have been running a series of webinars over the last few weeks. The webinars commenced on 29 March with a presentation from Andy Perkins, the BGA’s chairman. The date was apposite as it also marked the 90th anniversary of the association. Andy explained that the BGA had introduced the webinars to keep their membership...
Pen y Fan gets a surprise visitor
A friend of FTN, a Search & Rescue pilot, sent us this photo of his team atop Pen y Fan (the Brecon Beacons’ highest mountain). It’s a first for the SAR team based out of St Athan Airport, as although they have lifted plenty of people off the mountain in the past, this is the first time that they’ve managed to land their LDH189 on the peak as it’s usually packed with...
UK Government issues advice on General Aviation operations
Through mid-March, as the number of coronavirus cases in the UK began to rise sharply, many General Aviation businesses began to introduce ‘social distancing’ measures. Some businesses chose to increase their hygiene measures, modify their operations or stop all dual instruction given that in the confines of a GA aircraft, maintaining a six foot separation between instructor and student is not possible. The closure of cafes and...
Grounded! Aviation faces its greatest peacetime crisis
There is now no doubt that measures to combat the Covid-19 pandemic will include the longest ever grounding of Europe’s General Aviation (GA) fleet, in addition to the well-publicised suspension of virtually all airline operations. From mid-March onwards events moved quickly in Europe and by Friday 20 March most non-essential businesses had closed in the UK, adhering to government social-distancing advice, encapsulated by the phrase,...
SOLI, we’re leaving – UK to leave EASA, Government confirms
Transport Minister Grant Shapps has confirmed that the UK is to terminate is membership with the European Union Aviation Safety Agency (EASA). During an interview given in Washington DC on 06 March, Shapps told US news outlet Aviation Week, “We will leave EASA. The powers will revert to the CAA, who are probably one of the world’s leading regulators and the expertise will need to come home to do that, but we’ll do it in a gradual...
United Airlines buys Flight School for Scholarship Programme
USA airline United Airlines has signed a purchase agreement to become the only major US carrier to own a flight training academy. United expects approximately 300 students to graduate from the United Aviate Academy in its first full year of operation. The flight training academy – currently operating as Westwind School of Aeronautics in Phoenix, Arizona – will be an extension of the airline’s Aviate program, a pilot development...
