Tel: (01452) 713924/857066Fax: (01452) 855223e-mail: info@cotswoldaeroclub.com

Mobile:(07785) 392586web page: www.cotswoldaeroclub.com

Cotswold Aero Club Limited / Cotswold Aviation Services, Aviation House,Gloucestershire Airport, Nr Cheltenham, Glos GL51 6SP

December 2013

Welcome to our Win-ter Newsletter2013. Containedwithin is a round up

of members achievements andsocial activities for the yearalong with a few other snip-pets of general information.

A number of socialevents have again beenput on this year. As

always a certain amount ofhead scratching is required tocome up with ideas for events.The Committee would wel-come input from memberswith suggestions of things todo and offers of help to runevents. Talk to Richard orPhil.

The poor UK economycontinues to have animpact on General Avia-

tion. This year has had its upsand downs but at present ouractivity levels are not as highas they could be.

Weather as always willplay. A cold greystart to the year fol-

lowed by, for a change, a goodsummer. This was reflected inthe activity levels. Autumnhas seen a slowdown againthough not all weather in-duced.

As most of you are awarethere have been somechanges in office staff

this year.

Last December we saidgoodbye to Debbie, whohad been with us for

some 5 years. Having movedaway from Gloucester she feltthat the commute was becom-ing too onerous.

Wendy Barnard joinedthe team in Febru-ary. She enjoyed her

time in the afternoon hot seatbut commuting again got inthe way and Wendy decided togo for something nearer tohome.

So in July Carli Fleettook over the afternoonspot. Four months on

Carli has got used to most ofour idiosyncratic ways and isenjoying herself. May even geta PPL one day.

James, our Saturday boyhas also moved on now.He’s left school and

started an engineering ap-prenticeship with Dowty. TobyBailey recently took on theSaturday job, so he’s stillfinding his feet at present.

Don’t forget to take alook at our Facebookpage from time to

time. Along with the Airportpage you can get a good feelfor the goings on.

Thanks are due to anumber of memberswho have helped out in

the office to cover periodswhen either Sue, Wendy orCarli have been off.

We’ve had a year ofEASA Part FCL now.In many ways it’s

much the same as JAR FCL.The big difference is theamount of paper required tomake things work and theincreased burden of regula-tion for no apparent gain ineither safety or operationl effi-ciency. Those of you who’vefilled in SRG1104 will knowwhat we’re talking about!our members have been

visiting airfields acrossthe country. Not so

many as previous years butsome interesting destinationsnotheless.

So, browse the followingpages to get a flavour ofthe ‘goings on’ of the

last year.

Issue 21

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Club Opening Hours -Christmas/New Year

Tuesday 24th December 0830 - 1200Wednesday 25th December ClosedThursday 26th December ClosedFriday 27th December 0830 - 1930Saturday 28th December 0900 - 1800Sunday 29th December 0900 - 1800Monday 30th December 0830 - 1930Tuesday 31st December 0900 - 1300Wednesday 1st January 2014 1000 - 1700Thursday 2nd January - back to normal

The usual indemnity rules apply when theairport is closed

Airport News

The highlight for the year arrived on 5th August with the introduction into service ofthe Runway 27 ILS. This also marked the completion of the Runway Safety Project.

Since that date the approach aid has been used extensively for training (some 1400 ap-proaches flown so far) by both home based and visiting organisations as well as beingused in anger in bad weather to find the runway. Coincident with the introduction ofthe ILS, the frequency for the DME changed to 109.95. Our old DME frequency of115.55 will no longer be used.

Do you know and understand how to comply withnoise abatement procedures at

Gloucestershire Airport?If yes, then great, nuff said! If not read the brief-

ing material or ask an instructor for details.

Last winter didn’t generate as much snowas the previous couple of years.Just to prove we had some, here’s a shottaken on a snowy Saturday in January

More Airport News

Our airfield continues to be a high flyer in the CAA movements league. GloucestershireAirport remains the busiest General Aviation airfield in the UK with movement totals of80,000+ annually. That places Gloucestershire Airport as 9th busiest in the UK(including Heathrow, Gatwick and all the main regional airports). Not bad eh?

The cake duely had icing added recently when Gloucestershire Airport was voted bestGeneral Aviation Airport of 2013 by the Aerodrome Owners Association. A big well doneto Darren, Mark and the team.

Another long running project came to fruition this year. On August bank holiday week-end The Jet Age Museum opened it’s doors to the public. Located behind the caravansales area on the north west side of the airport the building houses several Gloster builtaircraft and many artefacts. Already visitor numbers are growing and a number of spe-cial events have been held. At present the museum is open on weekends and occasionalweekday afternoons. More extensive opening hours will be established after the formalOpening ceremony scheduled for the spring of 2014.

During the course of this year author Guy Ellis has been compiling a book detailing thehistory of Gloucestershire Airport. By the time you read this, the book will have beenlaunched and copies will be available from the club.

January saw the Manx2 brand change to Citywing. The Isle of Man service continues togenerate good passenger numbers with the schedule of flights to Isle of Man, Jersey andBelfast.

Staffing of Air Traffic Control has been more settled this year, with only a couple ofchanges. There are still occasions when single frequency working is required. CheckATIS for details. As always, think before you speak - keep your RT concise and to thepoint. On some days the amount of chat can cause the RT to max out before the move-ment rate.

A number of charity events have been held during the year. Runners and cyclist havebeen seen on the runways and taxyways raising money for a number of different chari-ties. The most recent event being a rickshaw ride by Alex Jones for Children in Need.

Occasionally celebrities are seen at the airport. A well known celebrity is currently pre-paring for an attempt at a round the world and is at present learning to fly. Any ideas?

, Meteor arrives by air for theJet Age Museum. , Alex Jonesriding her rickshaw along 09.

A Social Round Up

Grey cell testing was undertaken on the last Saturday in January when some 50 mem-bers and friends did battle in our annual general knowledge quiz. A good time was hadby all with the team ‘Taildraggers’ taking the winners crown and the chance to organisenext years quiz. Thanks to the quiz masters for some very interesting questions and welldone to Richard, Graham, Frances et al for managing the catering.

Following several successful events at Brickhampton Golf Club it was decided time hadcome for a change of venue. So this year our Awards Presentation Evening moved toThe Aviator. Held in mid May we had the lighter evening as well.Around 50 club members and guests gathered for an evening of fun and frivolity.Thanks to Paul Haigh for the competitions. MC Richard Crosby kept us all in order dur-ing an enjoyable evening which saw 7 awards for First solo, 3 for PPL along with severalNight Qualifications and IMC Ratings.The Daniels Trophy went to Andy Smart and Tony Chapman with Aladdin’s Lamp go-ing to Graham Watson. The Walwin trophy was not awarded this year.Our raffle raised £180 for Macmillan Nurses.

A group of members enjoyed a visit to ‘The Tower’ atGloucester in January. Host Darren gave an excel-lent rundown on the facility and the art of Air TrafficControl.

HQ 11 Group Bunker was in our sights during March. A party of 16 members and friends visited thebunker at Uxbridge where the contol room has been preserved as it was on 15th September 1940 at11.30 am. Also within the complex is a museum detailing the work of RAF sector contollers and theRoyal Observer Corps.

A Social Round Up (continued)

Another regular event on the social cal-endar is the gliding evening held atNympsfield near Stroud.

Again the weather was kind. On a sunny,but slightly breezy evening in late July aparty of club members sampled the de-lights of silent flight at Nympsfield.Aertows were employed to get us air-borne. Once released at around 2,000 ft.we then had a 20 minute-ish flight toget a feel of how to fly a glider.

The evening was rounded off with a deli-cious Italian meal in the Bristol &Gloucester Gliding Club restaurant.

Saturday 7th September was Aerial TrasureHunt and Barbecue day.The treasure hunt task this year involvedlocating various ground features with theaid of latitude and longitude plus decidingthe most efficient way to fly between thepoints. Last year’s winners Tony Chapmanand Andy Smart set the task. Eleven crewsformed up to compete.Many congratulations to this year’s winners,Pete and Joseph Smith and Andy Clark.Not only did they win the Daniels Trophy,which will be presented at next year’sawards presentation evening, but they wonthe honour of setting next year’s competi-tion.

A Social Round Up (continued)Clay pigeon shooting was sport of themonth in August. Courtesy of Len Didcoteand his fellow club members we were in-troduced to the art of knocking clays outof the sky in a secluded patch of Cotswoldcountryside near Brockhampton. Greatfun.Craven Arms does good food too.

Barbecue evening was bright but chilly.Consequently we didn’t stay outside forlong!

Some 45 members and friends enjoyedour usual barbecue fare in a convivialatmosphere.

Many thanks to those who helped makethe event work, especially Richard,Graham and Frances.

A Social Round Up (continued)

It’s November so it must be skittles time! Our annual fun skittles evening was held on8th November at the Civil Service Sports Club, Cheltenham.A couple of dozen members enjoyed a game over three hands to achieve the highestscores (men and ladies), won by Paul Male and Tina Hillis and a game of killer (based on3 lives), won by June Crow. Half time was given over to a finger buffet.

A Party of 16 club members and guests en-joyed a day at Bletchley Park in October.There was much to see including codebreaking machines, historic computers,homing pigeons and more.However the secret nature of the establish-ment rather put the camera persons off.Just this one photo.

A view of Station ‘X’. This was used during the DDay landings to intercept signals from Normandy

It’s always fun to visit other airfields. Maybe it’s to soak up the atmosphere of a historic site such asDuxford or just to sample a bacon butty at one of the better airfield cafes.

To give a flavour of some of the destinations our aircraft have been to this year, listed below are thetop ten visited, plus some of those more out of the way places that have been sampled.1. Shobdon2. Halfpenny Green3. Swansea4. Wellesbourne5. Sywell6. Sleap7. Leicester8th equal Caernarvon Compton Abbas Croft Farm Popham

Other airfields visited include:

Alderney, Guernsey, Jersey, Scilly Isles, St. Brieque, Ostend,Rouen, La Rochelle, Le Touquet, Caen and Texel.

Heading North - Wick, Prestwick, Skegness, Wickenby.

and many others, especially in Southern England and Wales.

Not much more room now but if you knowof anybody looking for hangarage let usknow.

The simulator is nearly ready to go. Detailsof availability and prices coming soon.

From the ArchivesOver the years the club has occupied vari-ous premisies on the airport and its prede-cessor.Picture at left is the clubhouse of 1935located on Down Hatherley Aerodrome(where the original Dowty buildings nowstand). The DH60 Moth was the club’s firstaircraft.

Moving on five decades to 1981.The fleet of the Day with the club-house behind.

G-OMNI gets about a bit during the course of a year. Study the pictures on this page and see if youcan identifiy the airfields. We’ll let you know the locations after Christmas.

Members AchievementsFirst Solo

Ian Hattam 13/05/13Ollie Barnett 14/06/13James Johnston 16/06/13Lee Malpass 09/07/13Tim Wainwright 11/07/13Alistair Hodcroft 21/07/13Ros Dempsey 13/11/13

PPLBob Cooper Key April 2013James Johnston August 2013Dave Wiseman August 2013Roger Bailey August 2013Jason Shepherd October 2013Rob Turner November 2013

NPPL (Microlight) to SSEA UpgradeBob Stimpson September 2013Peter Erl October 2013

Instrument Rating

Rich Tebb

IMC RatingNick Lewis                      August 2013John Maclaren           October 2013John Holder November 2013John Rogan November 2013

Night QualificationNick Lewis January 2013John Rogan January 2013Mark Blanchfield November 2013

Daniels Trophy

Pete & Joseph Smith/Andy Clark 2013

Walwin Trophy

Not Awarded

Welcome back to Mike Griffiths andWendy Barnard, revalidating licences aftermany years off.

Phil MathewsPete DunkleyGraham WatsonRoly RobinsonMax Gardner

Richard CrosbyPaul HaighGraham WatsonRoger BaileyPhil MathewsJoe EdwardsGavin CoulthardSonny Patel

- Pete Smith

Sixteen is the minimum age a per-son is allowed to to fly an aeroplanesolo.

On his 16th birthday Ollie Barnettdid just that! It was a bit touch andgo as the wind was a bit strong butdid ease off just in time. He greasedthe landing :-)

James Johnston was awarded the 2013 Sir Sefton BrankerPPL Scholarship by the Guild of Air Pilots and Navigators.This was duly completed with us here at Gloucester.

Three additional scholarships were awarded and following areview of student performance James was deemed to be bestoverall and in recognition of this was awarded the JohnLandymore Trophy from the Guild at 2013 Trophy &Awards Banquet held in Guildhall, London.