Friday, 19 March 2010

G-TVAM Bolkow Bo 105 DBS-4 - Air Ambulance


G-TVAM Bo 105 c/n S 392 is currently operating with the Hampshire and Isle of Wight Ambulance and owned by Bond Air Services. The photos above and below show G-TVAM on their helipad at Thruxton airfield on 18.3.10.

The Hampshire and Isle of Wight Air Ambulance has been operating from this airfield inside the famous Thruxton motor racing circuit since July 2007.



G-TVAM is a stretched Bo 105 model DBS-4 and was built in 1979 by MBB at Donauworth in Germany - MBB later became part of Eurocopter. The registration G-TVAM was issued in June 2003, this aircraft was previously G-SPOL with the Strathclyde Police in Scotland.

For more information about the Hampshire and Isle of Wight Ambulance view their excellent webiste via


http://www.hiow-airambulance.org.uk/


Link below to two photos of this same aircraft in its earlier life - take a look


http://www.abpic.co.uk/photo/1142444/



http://www.abpic.co.uk/photo/1034723/

Thursday, 18 March 2010

Old Sarum - 18th March 2010

Old Sarum airfield is just to the north of the cathedral city of Salisbury in Wiltshire. This is a very old airfield dating from 1917 and some examples of the pre WW2 hangers are still in use today.

I logged over 40 aircraft during my visit including,



G-AZTV a rare example of a Stolp SA 500 Starlet - this home built aircraft was registered back in May 1972 and by the end of 2008 had flown just 348 hours. I don't think I've seen this aircraft before. It is currently the only example registered with the UK CAA.




G-WSSX Ikarus C42 inside one of the old hangers - just look at the roof construction. This example was built in 2006 and first registered in October 2006 - in comparision to the above Starlet this aircraft had flown over 600 hours by December 2008. I logged 7 examples of the C42 at Old Sarum today.



G-CPXC a beautiful Cap 10C c/n 301 - this acrobatic aircraft looks great in its white and red colour scheme. It was first registered in December 2001.



G-CFSB Tecnam P2002 Sierra RG - this Italian designed retractable gear aircraft is virtually brand new having first flown on 19th Dec 2009 at Hinton in the Hedges - it was built from a factory supplied kit and has c/n LAA 333A-14864 - it is shown here in the CFM hanger.

The UK CAA register currently shows 18 examples of the P2002 Sierra registered in the UK as at March 2010 - of these 2 are factory built, the other 16 being factory supplied kit built aircraft - G-CFSB shown above is just 1 of 2 retractable gear ( RG ) versions in the UK.

More info on the Tecnam P2002 Sierra can be found below

http://www.tecnam.co.uk/p2002_sierra.html




The airfield has an excellent cafe open to the public so enjoy your visit.


For more information about Old Sarum airfield visit their comprehensive website - lots of historical info on there too.


http://oldsarumairfield.co.uk/

Tuesday, 9 March 2010

G-SONE Cessna 525A Citation CJ2

Seen landing on Runway 09 at Bristol - Lulsgate on Monday 8th March 2010 was G-SONE a Cessna 525A Citation CJ2 using the callsign CLIFTON 10.

If you look closely the aircraft is wearing titles "www.centrelineair.co.uk" just below the first cabin windows. Centrelineair do have a facility at Bristol - Lulsgate.



This aircraft is new to the UK CAA register being registered on 7th January 2010. It was previously on the Isle of Man register as M-XONE.

G-SONE has c/n 525A-0031 and was built by Cessna in 2001 at Wichita, Kansas, USA - it is powered by two Williams International FJ-44-2C turbofan engines. It was originally registered as N312CJ before becoming VP-BFC and then M-XONE.

The centrelineair website below suggests that G-SONE is based at Biggin Hill airport near London.


http://www.centrelineair.co.uk/our-aircraft/



Web link below to more information about the Cessna Citation executive jet range


http://www.cessna.com/citation.html