Popham - Microlight Trade Fair - Saturday 4th May 2013

The first day of the annual Popham Microlight Trade Fair had very mixed weather with low cloud and rain in the morning but clearing up to be bright and breezy in the afternoon.

This years show had a large number of gyrocopters both on exhibition and visiting.

Rotorsport the UK agents for Auto-Gyro brought two examples of the Cavalon gyrocopter - the type gained UK CAA Section T approval on 1st May 2013 - this example G-CHWM was flying demonstration flights and is the second to be registered in the UK and is based down in Devon.

 
In direct competition with the above Cavalon in the two seat enclosed side by side marketplace is the Magni M24C Orion  - G-CGRX c/n 24-10-6004 was the 600th gyro to be built by Magni ( small "600th" above the cockpit ) - delivered in 2010 it was based at Perranporth, Cornwall until April 2013 when it was sold to a new owner in the Bournemouth area. 

Busy giving trial flights was Calidus G-ULUL - this example was built in 2010 and originally registered as G-HTBT. It was re-registered as G-ULUL in February 2013 and now wears promotional titles for an Air Total fuel called UL91.

Magni Gyros were also exhibiting and offering demo flights in M16C Tandem Trainer G-JWNW  - this M16 was built in 2010 and is powered by a Rotax 914 turbo engine  - it is based near High Wycombe.



Among the visiting gyros were,

G-YYRO  Magni M16C Tandem Trainer c/n 16-10-5654 - there are currently 14 examples of the M16C registered in the UK - this sky blue Magni is based in Kent and was built in 2010 and is powered by the Rotax 914 turbo engine.

Visiting from Oxfordshire was Auto-Gyro MT-03 G-DADA - this MT-03 was built in 2008 and was originally based up in the north of England. Powered by a turbo Rotax 914 G-DADA had flown over 190 flight hours by December 2011. The MT-03 and later MTOsport are very popular in th UK with a combined total of 87 machines currently registered.

Another visitng Magni M16C was G-YRON - this flew in from nearby Fairoaks.

Among the aircraft exhibited was Aeropro Eurofox G-ETUG - this aircraft is the taildown tug variant fitted with a hook for towing gliders of up to 750kg. Over 400 Eurofox aircraft have been built since 1990 with 23 currently registered in the UK.

Link to Eurofox Aviation - UK dealer

The Popham Microlight Trade Fair attracts several hundred visiting aircraft among them are many flexwing trikes such as G-LSKY a P&M Aviation Pegasus Quik microlight. This example was built in 2005 and is currently based in Kent. Almost 400 Quik microlights are currently registered in the UK.




Steve

Binisallem airfield Mallorca - Flight Design CT2K

A few miles east of the town of Binisallem ( close to the large town of Inca ) lies the small dirt airfield of Binissalem. I understand that the airfield has only been in operation for about 5 years.

At the time of my visit in August 2010 there were 10 small tin hangers all in one row - although most of them were locked up many of them had plenty of small holes to view the based aircraft - I logged 20 aircraft but I would estimate that maybe another 5 or 6 remained unidentified.

Seen arriving here on 14th August 2010 was Flight Design CT2K EC-XCS - on the passenger seat was a large location beacon and inflatable raft - I suspect this aircraft may have arrived on a visit from mainland Spain. Over 1,400 examples of the CT have been built since 1997.

The official Spanish aircraft register shows EC-XCS was built in 2009 - I would be interested to know the official Flight Design construction number for this aircraft please.


One of the based aircraft was EC-FE5 a Tecnam P92 Echo - this aircraft is used by a local flying school at Binisallem.

EC-FE5 was built by Tecnam in Italy in 2005 and is c/n P92E-029.

Steve

MW Fly In - Warren Farm Charterhouse near Cheddar 2.8.09

The MW Club hold their annual Fly In to Warren Farm near Cheddar in Somerset. The club is for owners, pilots and fans of the designs of Mike Whittaker such as the MW5 Sorcerer and the MW6 Merlin and MW6S Fat Boy Flyer two seaters.

This years event took place over the weekend of 2nd & 3rd August - the weather was bad on the 2nd but a bit better on Sunday 3rd. Seen mid afternoon on 3rd were


G-MMGV - this is the original prototype MW5 Series A c/n 001 first flown in July 1984 here at Warren Farm. Built by Microknight Aviation and registered as G-MMGV on 2.12.1983. By 31.12.08 this aircraft had flown 140 hours. The top photo shows the aircrafts Fuji-Robin EC-34 engine.




G-MWEK MW5 Sorcerer - this example was home built in the Exeter area in the early 1990s and has PFA c/n 163-11284. Officially registered on 20.2.90 the first flight took place in 1994 ( ? ) - by 31.12.07 this aircraft had flown over 208 hours. This aircraft has a Rotax 447 engine.



Visiting the MW fly In was Skyranger G-CCMX - powered by a Rotax 912 engine this Skyranger first flew in 2004 and is based in Gloucestershire.


LINK to MW Club web site

Dunkeswell - 18th February 2008

Dunkeswell - 18.2.08

A trip down to Wellington, Somerset gave me the chance to re-visit Dunkeswell - my first visit since 2001.

The airfield is a former WW2 US airbase, I believe they flew Liberators from here. The airfield covers a large area with miles of taxiways and hardstandings. The Clubhouse by the tower has a welcome cafe too.

Parked by the tower were 9 aircraft including a couple of flying club basic trainer Cessna and Piper types including Cessna 152 G-OFRY



- also here was G-OSLO Schweizer Hughes 269 which was up and down doing circuits,


plus a smart yellow Yak 18T reg HA -YAV. The aviation fuel pumps are here too.


Adjacent to this area are many light industrial buildings - if you follow the airfield road west along these buildings it becomes an airfield perimter track. Take care as this peri-track has plenty of pot holes, some deep. You will cross the threshold of the main runway so make sure you STOP and check for aircraft movements before crossing.

The peri-track will bring you to a large collection of hangers and lock ups, maybe 15 or more. At the time of my visit half a dozen were open. A polite request at each hanger to view the aircraft was met with approval.

The large Somerset Microlights hanger was packed full of 19 aircraft including seven Ikarus C42 ultralights- G-CDOT, CDYO, CEDC, CVAL, MGPA, OSTL, OVAL.




Others in the hanger included Thruster T600 G-BYPG with some nose damage and all red Savannah G-CSUE plus a number of weightshift microlights.



Elsewhere among the hanger area was 1967 vintage Pa-28R Cherokee Arrow G-AVWR being prepared for a flight down to Plymouth.


Parked up outside Hanger 13 were Pa-28-180 Cherokee C G-AVSC and American Pa-24 Comanche N8829P - nearby was Seneca N21381 which looks rather wfu.



Pa-24-260 Comanche N8829P was built in 1965