clubs from around the world. Over the course of two days of meetings, ... Bronze
and European Silver in female 4-way. Freestyle at the same event. Bodyflight ...
THE ROYAL AERO CLUB OF
THE
UNITED
KINGDOM
The Coordinating Body of British Airsport Organisations Patron:Her MajestyThe Queen President:HisRoyalHighnessTheDukeofYork,KG,
NEWSLETTER Winter 2013
LETTER FROM THE CHAIRMAN
The 2013 Queen’s Cup Balloon Race was no exception. Spending time recently with the BBAC reminded me of how much fun flying can be. All too often, a disproportionate amount of time seems to be taken up with the business, rather than fun, side of things. The final few months of 2013 has provided to be an especially busy period for the Club, squeezing the fun side of things a little.
Patrick Naegeli in his ASG29 at the end of a competition flight (Ron Smith)
In 2010, Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II made a gift to the RAeC of a beautiful silver cup. Dating from around 1719, the Queen’s Cup – as it is now called - is believed to be the fourth oldest sporting trophy in the world. Each year, RAeC member associations apply for the privilege to award the Cup as a centrepiece of their competition calendar. This year, the RAeC granted the British Balloon and Airship Club the right to award the Cup to the winner of a specially organised balloon race. Launching from Queen Square in Bristol, balloon teams attempted to fly the maximum possible straight-line distance in a given period of time. What followed was a race truly deserving of the Queen’s Cup. The eventual winner, Richard Parry, flew just over 321km, some 1.5km further than the second-placed team. As both landed on the east coast, it is difficult to see how they could have gone any further without getting very wet. Congratulations to Richard, and well done to the rest of the teams. On behalf of the RAeC, I’d like to express my thanks to the BBAC for arranging a spectacular race, and also for rounding off everything with a special awards dinner in London. As is almost always the case, a successful event is the result of a lot of hard work by a large number of volunteers.
In October, David Roberts and I attended the FAI’s Annual Conference in Kuala Lumpur. The main event in the FAI calendar, it brings together the leadership from just about all of the national aero clubs from around the world. Over the course of two days of meetings, the conference works through a range of strategic and operational matters covering all aspects of FAI activities. The Malaysian Aero Club put on a well-organised and memorable conference. Their well organised schedule allowed time for us to catch up with our counterparts from around the world. The formal part of the meeting was especially important. For some while, the FAI has been considering how it can best serve the needs of its constituent air sports and member bodies. Given the broad remit of the FAI, it is perhaps inevitable that working out where it can best and most efficiently direct its efforts is not a straightforward matter. The task is made more difficult by the fact that many air sports are struggling with declining participation levels, and most nations are still having to contend with fragile economic backdrops. Nevertheless, some progress was made in Kuala Lumpur, and I am sure that the FAI Board took much away to ponder on. The FAI is an important organisation, and needs to be successful if air sports are to prosper to the full extent possible. The RAeC will continue to provide the FAI with support and ideas as it looks to review and refresh its agenda.
There has also been encouraging progress on a number of fronts closer to home. The RAeC organised its second members’ conference of the year. You may recall that the first took place at the beginning of the year, and brought together a number of member associations to discuss UK air sport participation levels. The second meeting looked in detail at the subject of risk management and insurance. Two insurance industry organisations were also invited to the meeting to share their perspectives on general aviation insurance issues. The session highlighted a number of topics worthy of more detailed consideration by individual air sport bodies. It is likely that risk management and insurance will be revisited once more by another conference some time in 2014. Finally, I am sure that you will be aware of the UK Government’s Red Tape Challenge. Led by the Cabinet Office, the initiative is aimed at reducing/eliminating unnecessary regulation and bureaucracy. It is split into a number of themes, general aviation being one, where the Cabinet Office is working closely with the Department for Transport. Ministers Grant Shapps and Robert Goodwill briefed various aviation bodies on the general aviation theme at a recent CAA reception. It certainly sounds as though the ministers understand how great our frustrations are with aspects of UK/European regulation. Both ministers made clear their views that general aviation has been and continues to be on the wrong end of daft and unnecessary measures. The appointment of a very credible, independent challenge panel suggests that they are serious in wanting to hone in on the changes that likely to be of most benefit to us. As the Challenge has been given six months within which to make material progress, we should not have too long to wait before we see some useful outputs. So, as we come to the end of 2013, we have grounds to be optimistic about 2014. Enjoy the festive season.
Derek Richards brought home the team Silver Medal from the European Championships held in Serbia in August. Euphoria Freestyle were the Artistics European team Bronze medallists at the 2013 Skydiving World Cup in Banja Luka, Bosnia and Herzegovina. Bodyflight Isis took the World Cup Bronze and European Silver in female 4-way Freestyle at the same event.
Bodyflight Isis in action
The British Microlight Team also brought home medals from the European Microlight Championships at Kamenica in Slovakia. Rob Grimwood and John Waite won Gold in the twoseat fixed wing class and Paul Dewhurst took Silver in the solo flexwing contest. Congratulations to all.
WORLD RECORDS Congratulations also to Attila E. Balogh, who, with his Hungarian crew Gyula Hamvai, set two new world speed records in April. On 15 April they flew from Istanbul to Budapest in a SR22/Cirrus at a speed of 297.5 km/h. Two days later they completed the return trip at 320.1 km/h.
RAeC COUNCIL NEWS RAeC Website The new website has been launched at http://www.royalaeroclub.co.uk/. It incorporates many new images, links and information, with more still planned.
Happy aviating. Patrick Naegeli Chairman
BRITISH PILOTS AT INTERNATIONAL EVENTS In aeromodelling, the British F1D (Indoor Duration) Team of Tony Hebb, Mark Benns and
FAI Breitling Youngster Award British glider aerobatics prodigy Robbie Rizk (15) has been awarded the first ever FAI Breitling Youngster Award. At 13, Robbie became the youngest pilot in the world ever to fly in a national aerobatics competition, winning the beginners class
in the 2012 UK Nationals. He went solo at 14 and was selected for the British Gliding Aerobatics team. In early June 2013, still only 14 years old, he won the title of Advanced National Champion in Glider Aerobatics and later finished 9th in the World Advanced Glider Aerobatic Championships in Finland. Robbie was presented with his award at the FAI General Conference in Singapore. Many congratulations to him.
the next and/or wishing to upgrade existing qualifications. Applicants must be British Citizens aged 16-21 and permanently resident in the UK. Full details and application forms are available at http://www.royalaeroclubtrust.org/bursaries. Applications must be submitted through your member association.
REGULATORY MATTERS Europe Air Sports For further background on Europe Air Sports activities and developments in Europe, see the newsletter on the EAS website at www.europe-airsports.org/activities/newsletter.
Robbie Rizk at his home base at Buckminster Gliding Club
FAI Young Artists Competition The 2014 FAI Young Artists Competition has been launched. The 2014 theme is ‘Flying to Save Lives.’ Gold, Silver and Bronze FAI Medals will be awarded to the winners for the 3 age categories (6 to 9, 10 to 13 and 14 to 17 years old) in April 2014. Entries must be submitted via the Royal Aero Club and should be received by 14th March. More information is at www.fai.org/cieaprojects/fai-young-artists-contest. Secretary General Jean-Marc Badan announced in August that he intended to step down from his position as FAI Secretary-General. The recruitment process for his successor is under way.
The GA Safety Strategy Paper is being progressed. At a recent Department of Transport/EASA briefing, it was said that the need to revise the rule making approach had ‘taken root’. There have been significant developments on the proposed rules for Instrument, Cloud Flying and En-route ratings. See the EAS Newsletter for further details. Following a change in EASA’s remit, EASA will become EAA (European Aviation Agency). CAA reports on EASA activities The latest Information Bulletins can be accessed by entering ‘EASA Information Bulletin’ in the ‘search for a publication’ box on the CAA website at http://www.caa.co.uk/default.aspx?catid=33. CAA reports about developments in the Single European Sky project can also be found by entering ‘Single European Sky’ in the search box. General Aviation Red Tape Challenge
RAeC TRUST RAeC Trust Bursaries The Royal Aero Club Trust has announced that its bursary scheme – part of its Flying for Youth programme - will be operating again in 2014. Bursaries include the President’s Award (two bursaries each worth up to £750), the Peter Cruddas Foundation Scholarship worth up to £1,000, the Breitling Bursary worth up to £750, and the Bramson Bursary worth up to £500, as well as a number of additional bursaries worth up to £500 each. Bursaries are available to those wishing to advance from one recognised level of air sport to
Following the General Aviation Red Tape Challenge, which found that the current regulatory regime is often too prescriptive, impractical and inappropriate, the Government and the CAA have announced plans to transform the way in which the UK General Aviation (GA) sector is regulated. Measures that are being put in place include the creation of a new GA Unit within the CAA, focussing entirely on the sector, to help ensure that the regulatory regime for the GA sector will take a different path and be less onerous to that applied to the commercial aviation sector. A guiding principle will be to deregulate and/or delegate wherever possible, including identifying what it might be possible to exclude from EASA oversight.
An independent Challenge Panel, reporting directly to ministers, will be created which will, among other tasks, test and critique the CAA programme for GA reform and consider opportunities for reducing the regulatory burden on GA. The sixperson panel will include the BGA Chief Executive, Pete Stratten. The full responses from the CAA and the Department for Transport are at: http://www.caa.co.uk/docs/33/CAP1123%20CAA %20response%20to%20GA%20Red%20Tape%20 Challenge.pdf https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/u ploads/attachment_data/file/255308/gov-resrtc.pdf
SAFETY GASCo Seminars GASCo Safety Evenings are getting under way for this winter. See http://www.gasco.org.uk/ for details of dates and venues.
EVENTS and NEWS from RAeC MEMBERS Ken Wallis. Wing Commander Kenneth Horatio Wallis, most famous as the designer and record-breaking pilot of autogyros, has died at the age of 97, only a few months after his last flight. Ken Wallis flew in Lysanders and Wellingtons in Bomber Command during WW2 and later became a scientist and pilot working on weapons research. From the 1960s he developed and flew gyroplanes, including ‘Little Nellie’, made famous through her appearance in a Bond film. He set a total of 34 world records in lightweight rotary aircraft, the last being set when, at the age of 89, he set a world autogyro speed record of 129.1 mph. Eight of his records still stand at the time of his death. In recognition of a lifetime’s
development and exploration of the potential of autogyros, he was awarded the Cowburn and Kay ‘Old and Bold’ trophy by the RAeC in 2013, three days before his 97th birthday. Ken Wallis with the ‘Old and Bold’ Trophy at the RAeC Awards Ceremony earlier this year
The Flying Show This year’s Flying Show will be held at the NEC on 30th November and 1st December. The Flying Show is the UK’s largest indoor aviation event and features all forms of recreational aviation. See www.theflyingshow.co.uk for more details. Royal Aeronautical Society Human Powered Flight Group The RAeS Human Powered Flight Group has announced plans to host the first international, fully FAI approved, human powered flight event in 2015. More details of events of the last two years are at http://www.aerosociety.com/AboutUs/specgroups/Human-Powered/Icarus-Cup Red Bull Air Race World Championship The resumption of these events was announced recently in Malaysia during a press conference attended by FAI President John Grubbström and FAI Secretary General Jean-Marc Badan. The FAI will partner the Red Bull Air Race management and provide safety specialists for the Championship which will start in February 2014. The World Championship will consist of seven races staged in six countries on three continents and it will visit the UK with a race at Ascot on 16/17 August 2014.
Newsletter edited by Diana King. Please send items for future Newsletters to Royal Aero Club, Hebbs Acre, Presteigne, Powys, LD8 2HG or to
[email protected] For further information on any items contained in this Newsletter, please contact the RAeC Office at 31 St Andrew’s Road, Leicester, LE2 8RE or on 0116 244 0182.
