Government General Aviation champion Byron Davies to report on value of GA
The Aviation Minister, Baroness Sugg, confirmed the appointment of Byron Davies as its first ever General Aviation Champion to help identify a network of UK aerodromes that are most important for non-scheduled flying to flourish. She made the announcement while visiting Elstree Aerodrome to discuss the importance of private flying to the economy with representatives of the General Aviation community. Byron Davies will lead the...
Purple Aviation sold to Fishburn Airfield
Purple Aviation, a microlight school established at Eshott airfield in Northumberland, has been sold to the team behind Fishburn airfield. Purple Aviation was established 11 years ago by Storm Smith with one weight shift microlight and built up to an operation with 5 aircraft, 4 full time instructors and currently training 55 students. Storm paid tribute to his mentor at Eshott, the late Steve Clarehugh, together with John...
Rougham airfield to shut in May
Residents of Rougham airfield, located three miles east of Bury St Edmunds in Suffolk, have been given notice to quit ahead of the impending closure of the site. Rougham Estates, which owns the airfield, has written to residents to inform them that the airfield’s license will not be renewed. Simon Eddell, Rougham Estates manager, emphasised this decision had been reached “because of increased costs of insuring, running and...
APPG General Aviation spreads its wings
The All-Party Parliamentary Group on General Aviation was established earlier this year as a special-interest parliamentary organisation established to promote the Government’s stated objective of ‘…making the UK the best country in the world for General Aviation.’, The Chair of the APPG GA – Grant Shapps MP – has now written to Ministers calling for urgent and co-ordinated action to support GA. Shapps, who was instrumental in driving...
Airfield ‘greenfield’ protection petition passes 10,000 signatures
A member of the Save Nottingham City (Tollerton) Airfield campaign has started a petition to have airfields reclassified as ‘Greenfield’ sites instead of ‘Brownfield’ to help protect them from potential closure and redevelopment as housing estates. The petition to Parliament , which at the time of writing has attracted over 11,000 signatures, was started by Sarah Deacon, who said, “Airfields around the country are categorised as...
