Farnborough Airshow

[smartbrabus]

Any military planespotters/arms dealers lurking here?

I've been watching the likes of the B-52, B-1B, Saab Gripen, Eurofighter Typhoon, F/A-18F Superhornet and F-16 showing off this week.

Lucky for me its all visible from the comfort of my desk :bannana:

Shame it only comes around once every 2 years...

 

[portzy]

Lucky for me its all visible from the comfort of my desk :bannana:

Unlucky for you that you and I and this forum were not connected a few years ago I could have got you a view from a Spit, Lanc, or even at a push, an ex 60s/70s Red Arrows Folland Gnat. All visible from the comfort of the jump seat at anywhere between 0 and 35,000 feet.

 

[Flyer]

Unlucky for you that you and I and this forum were not connected a few years ago I could have got you a view from a Spit, Lanc, or even at a push, an ex 60s/70s Red Arrows Folland Gnat. All visible from the comfort of the jump seat at anywhere between 0 and 35,000 feet.

Sounds interesting! Explain please

Can't make Farnborough, but going to Duxford in September for the air show.

 

[portzy]

Do I have cart blanch to ramble?, as Is my usual way of explaining things

 

[smartbrabus]

Ramble away! This is the OT section after all... And I'm intrigued

 

[portzy]

OK then. Years ago when I left school, or rather was asked to leave!, I had to get a job PDQ and ended up in the gas industry . Anyway, I always wanted to fly so when I had saved up enough to learn I did. At the point at which I was GOOD enough for the RAF I was informed that I was to old! so I decided to go the civilian commercial route. The upshot is I went all the way, self financed, to what is or was Airline Transport level which is as far it went then.

Right, the military connection. The guy who took me from wet behind the ears to PPL level and all the ratings was ex-RAF, man and boy so to speak. He was in the BOB and also in Africa. He flew everything in the RAF that they had but his penultimate posting was with the Battle Of Britain Memorial Flight. We took to each other, in a friendly like minded sense you understand!, and ended up going all over the shop on jolies and the like.

The end result is he could fix anything so he got me a trip in the Lanc, two seat training Spit, and when the time came for the Gnat it went off line with tech problems, jeez!

He was always saying 'bring some mates if you want' but at the time all the 'mates' I had were strictly 'no way pal i'll keep my feet on the ground if you dont mind' bonkers, absolutely bonkers.

Now?, well when id spent a fortune becoming qualified it was the late 80s and the industry went t**s up and so did the job offer with Air UK. Id spent the equivalent of a modern day SLK AMG 55 and was sat on my a**e so I ended up where id trained doing civilian instructing, you know PPL, IMC, Night ratings and Aeros and such. Good fun but not the same. As we speak?. Diagnosed migraine sufferer a couple of years ago so licence revoked, what a bu**er but there you go.

At least you guys and gals keep me sane. Does that explain the last twenty years? or would you like some more?. BTW I fell back on the Gas Industry!!!!

Ive rushed a bit so please excuse spelling, grammar, punctuation and that.

Portzeeeee

PS My signature was a clue '617'?,= Dambuster Squadron!!!!!

 

[portzy]

P.S. I could go on and expand if you wish but later tonight I have to go and drink some of that horrible beer stuff

 

[Flyer]

Fascinating! That's a major commitment (not just financial) to go all the way to ATPL without airline backing. Sorry to hear you couldn't get in after all that. Of course, it's still like that now. I looked at doing similar a couple of years ago, but found the lack of job opportunites at early 30s a bit intimidating. If you're straight out of university and get picked up by BA, however ...

Bummer about the migraines . Head over to the US; the new Sport Pilot rating has relaxed medicals (if it ever gets enacted ). Seriously, that really must have been difficult news to accept after the years of toil.

Sorry we missed the opportunity for some flights - I for one would have jumped at the chance for some air time - in anything! But a Spit?!! Tell me it was as good as you imagined it to be!

Portzy, keep them coming. I used to love the "Hangar flying" stories at my old school and on avsig .

Cheers
Andrew

 

[smartbrabus]

PS My signature was a clue '617'?,= Dambuster Squadron!!!!!

Should have clocked that really - when I was at uni, the Student Union building was called the "Barnes Wallis Building"

 

[portzy]

Smartbrabus, Flyer. Yep, a massive chunk of money but that was just part of it. All of my 'serious' flying training was done far from home, sometimes weeks away so I was living out of B&B and hotels. I live near Bradford and I had to attend various places, some exotic, Portugal!!! and some less so, Stanstead, Scotland, Bournmouth, London, Gatwick, Coventry. Apologies to those inhabitants, no insult intended . Then there was the technical exams. Some were done by correspndence with a few weeks 'brush up' at college followed by exam sits at London and Gatwick. Luckily I passed all but one subject, Perforamance A, first time round so I only had one re-sit to do. All my holiday leave had been used up so I was on unpaid absence and therefore no salary coming in.

The flying tests were worse as you always had to position the aircraft at a test centre and at the time there were only three. So, single engine General Flying Test = £150/ hour plus test fees with the CAA, twin engine Instrument Rating Test = £350/hour plus test fees with the CAA. You didnt get much change from £500 for the GFT and £1000 for the IRT, all plus positioning and landing/parking fees, this was the eighties as well!!!!

All things considered though and strange as it may seem I would do it all again. I met dozens of characters along all the way, had some laughs, shed some tears, and had some barnys' with the CAA I can tell you but when you are in the self financed ATPL system it really builds your confidence skills.

BA Cadets?, stone me, I've had a gut full of 'em, and Brittania, and Monarch, and British Midland, I could go on name calling but it always stuck in the craw of us ab initio guys. They would swan around the training and test centres knowing full well we were self financed and had a couple of GCEs' to our names and looked upon us as second class. But, hey, i'm not bitter they were under very strict regimes with their employers but we could do what we wanted, you know, down the pub, chatting up the laydeees, tee-bone steaks and a few pints for dinner, bad mouthing BA et al, being cavalier, adopting an Indiana Jones persona and all that. I'm rambling

The Spit?, well all I can say is if you ever get the chance, take it. Take away the fact that it was designed to remove said ME109s and the like it was just as it says on the tin. They do smell of petrol, they do smell of leather, they are bl**dy noisy on the ground, but!!!, when in the air they are gracefull, aggressive when needed, demanding if you push it, forgiving when you get it wrong. If you want to loop, roll, or cuban, you just ease on the controls and it goes with you. At my flying club the aircraft we used for aeros' was the Slingsby T67A which was good but underpowered, you had to dive the speed on while reducing power so as not to over-rev, to be able to loop and roll. You had to use some inertia to get it all started then bring the power back in when into the loop or roll. With the Spit? no such problems, it just did it. The jolly was about three quarters of an hour but seemed like a couple of minutes

The Lanc was, well, OK, in a non insulting way. I didnt get much hands on but its a big, relatively speaking, four engined bomber. Very gracefull, very foregiving but just steady away really. My main love is high performance singles with variable pitch and retractable gear and cruise speeds of at least 150kts plus so the Spit was the ultimate.

Yes, the industry collapse really stuffed it but it was the same for loads of others. Some of the guys I met along the way had actually got fixed up with airlines then were fired so my situation wasnt quite as bad as those.

Migraines?, Mmnnn, what can I say, the medics at Gatwick told me I had to go twelve clear months without an episode to get my medical and licence back but it never happened so I was in a mega sulk for ages. What used to really p**s me off was that I live very close to Leeds Bradford airport, right under the ILS procedure to R/Ws 32 and 14, so every half hour or so I was reminded, in RB211 fashion, what I could have been doing instead of supervising gas contractors, stroll on!!!!!.

The instucting was good though. Seven slots or so in the summer, a few quid in yer pocket, a couple of door wedge sarnies and 'several' diamond whites in the bar afterwards. Some Saturdays my missus had to come and 'collect' me after a good day!!!!

So, its a pity I didnt get a Mercedes sooner as all you nice people would have been more than welcome to discover the delights of the Yorkshire and Lincolnshire Wolds, upside down, on your tail, on your nose, but never on your a***

Let me know if you've had enough of my recollections

 

[smartbrabus]

Cheers for the memories... The T67 (in 260bhp military form) has been on regular display this week at Farnborough, in between the nuclear bombers...!

 

[Flyer]

*Very* nice Portzy. I've stayed up all night waiting for your reply

Interesting that the BA et al ab initio grads were as, er, *difficult* as I have heard elsewhere. My instructors (2) were like you; self-financed, hard-working (taxi driver at night, instructor by day) who had spent a large wodge in the US getting their ratings and then slogging it out here instructing to build up their hours. They had many tales to tell about these chaps ...

Great description about the Spitfire. Unlikely to ever get the chance, but it will be grabbed by every appendage on my body if it's ever offered . With taxying and warm-up, you're looking at, what, 1 hour on the meter? How much would that cost?!

I know what you mean, re living under a flight path. I'm right under the approach to 27 at Liverpool (a couple of miles away). Liverpool used to welcome the small guys, but actively discourage small planes now and want the runways free for passenger jets (understandable, but disappointing). I soloed at Liverpool (did all my flight training there) so it has special memories, but since my club moved to Hawarden, I haven't flown (work, time, money; the usual suspects ).

One day, soon ... reading your posts has fired my enthusiasm again ... in fact, I'm going to contact my club today and see how much money I've got left on my account .

Presumably, if your migraines do lapse, then you can start flying again? Seems a shame to waste all that effort and knowledge.

And no, not had enough recollections - do you have any "I learned about flying from that ..." stories?

Edited to add: On my first solo, I dropped my instructor (Paul) off on the apron whilst I marvelled at just how powerful a Traumahawk could be without him . When I returned, in one piece, the marshall was guiding me in back onto the apron ... Now, I hadn't studied marshall's signals and had *no* idea what they meant and so I looked desperately over to my instructor who was standing on the grass to my right, hoping he would point or gesticulate in some way so that I could understand. But I could have run the marshaller over for all he cared as he was transfixed by a Spitfire graciously ducking out of the sky and buzzing the runway at *very* low level! The Spit then pulled up, with a wiggle of his wings and was gone. The marshaller at this point gave up and sliced his finger across his neck, which even I knew was an instruction to cut my engine. He wandered off shaking his head, whilst Paul walked up, beaming from ear to ear, saying "Did you see that?!" "Err, no, I was too busy SOLOING!"

Cheers
Andrew

 

[portzy]

What a fascinating 18 hours , you've got all me memories flooding back. Only God and, "Her Mage, Elizabeth the Second", would have known what we clocked up in pounds, shillings, and pence in the Spit. It was a blag you see. Right place, right time, right contact. So, Conningsby, summer of '88, bored pilot needing an instrument check (yes it was very September 1940 I know) and this ex RAF squadron leader mate who could fix pretty much anything. I should be so lucky.... lucky, lucky, lucky, as the dainty Antipodean nightingale put it .

Yes, if and when the migraines cease, and its getting better all the time, I can apply to have my licence unvoked/un-revoked/restored?. Providing I can pass the other items of the medical, and I dont see why (no joke intended, disturbed vision!!! ) those should be a problem then a couple of easy written exams followed by some dual instruction and a general handling test and I would be back to beating up the circuit at worst so who knows. I never fell out, full stop, with the general aviation world so maybe, just maybe

All the so called once small but now 'big' airports have gone the way you say. At one time they would welcome you with open arms, and cheap fees!!, but not now. Probably run by ex BA staffers , I'm doing it again, having a pop but its true.

I have an absolute shed load of "I learnt about flying from that" stories, you know, "nothing on the clock but the makers name" type stuff. Do I write a book?, nah.... I'll put a few on here instead, much more fun any way. Keep a look out and hope the Moderators dont mind if I get long winded. Oh, and if your interest has been rekindled, go for it. Just dont eat chocolate, or drink red wine, or get stressed, or the migraines will get you.

 

[SEM]

U lucky so an so. used to work on the exhibitions, had many a great time their. Any tornado's love tornado's... had lucky chance to sit in back of one.. Mate of mine was sittin in back of works van in Paris when the Mig hit he runway not far from him..

 

[smartbrabus]

U lucky so an so. used to work on the exhibitions, had many a great time their. Any tornado's love tornado's... had lucky chance to sit in back of one.. Mate of mine was sittin in back of works van in Paris when the Mig hit he runway not far from him..

Luckily no accidents this weekend... Yes there was an Italian Airforce Tornado PA200 displaying, did some nice low and high speed passes, probably one of the noisiest aircraft there with the burners lit

I've uploaded a few pics I took today from just outside the perimeter here. Sorry for the poor quality - I really need a new digital camera... 2.0 megapixel and no optical zoom just doesn't cut it any more

 

[SEM]

Stealth is not it's best job is it unless it's -200ft ..just got goosebumps.. saying that i saw the typhoons first outing in Singapore 2000 (i think) what a Monster. Anything from Boeing Phantomworks Around?

Used to design the £Million Chalets around the complex

 

[smartbrabus]

The stealth was eerily quiet... Re: phantom works, there were rumours of some UAV being demonstrated, but I didn't see anything like that in the air all week. There may have been something "on the inside", but I didn't see much point in paying the £25 to get in when I get a great view of the display from the roof of my works car park