norman

This is heartbreaking. Mike and Jackie were inseparable and made the world a better place between them. We have all lost a fine man and someone who loved his time in the sky.

Alex, Great advice from Paul and Fanman. As one who taught himself (Fixed Wing) aerobatics from a book and took down the wisdom of others over a beer, I can HEARTILY recommend taking qualified advice from an instructor on this an any other extreme manouver. It might cost a little more but you pick up the skills before you find yourself in a position requiring prompt execution of a recovery manouver that you have not formally learnt. The forum isn't the best place to pick up your flying lessons, in fact it can be dangerous as both Fanman and Paul imply. Let someone who knows what they are doing train you properly, imagine how scary it is going to be trying to remember (perhaps conflicting) advice from a forum as you get nearer and nearer the ground pulling 2-4g wrapped into a spiral.

Notes for those interested - Why the change? I guess anyone can form a club in the accepted sense of the word, get three guys together and presto! They can decide for themselves how they run things and if British will probably immediately decide who their prejudice insists they exclude. With Membury forming the new PMC home there is a strong desire to ensure that the club complies with the very letter of the law as any responsible organisation should - it needs to be tight and correct for the sake of its members. Simon is very aware of his responsibilities and has gone through the required hoops to formally create the a more structured and compliant organisation and has asked for and got volunteer members to form the essential committee to run the club's business and meet exacting accounting processes. Change is always met with suspicion and questions, (keep asking the questions) but please recognise that things need to be different for good reason. Transparency has its benefits for those who put their trust and a sprinkling of their money into an organisation they wish to support and hopefully will come to value highly. In three years the PMC has come a long way, where it goes looking ahead will now be decided by its members, the committee and those prepared to put their backs to the cart. Good Luck guys. One to miss physically but handy to catch audibly.

Welll done guys, though not beautiful, an excellent bunch of faces!

Probably the best bit of news for a long time Simon. A key moment. Let's hope you can hang on to it for a good spell. Good Luck to the Commitee!

http://shop.helmetcameracentral.com/ You have some amazing greens on your images Gordon, anyone would think it rains quite often over there. Are you using a filter - UV? Quite the artists eye - wonderful.

Looks even cooler on the iPad....

Great combination, the 34 is a lovely wing and the Monster just humms along.

Come on you lot, think of those stuck at home or away - we need information!

Guys, it sounds fabulous. There is a massive High pressure area moving in across the Atlantic so things hopefully can only get better when the cold front ahead of it has washed through. Take care out there and have a glass for me.

Well, "Knowledge dispels fear" quite effectively but it doesn't pay the dry cleaning bills or take care of the smell.

Don't worry fellahs, you couldn't possibly be as scared as we are...

Things are progressing with Karan all be it in the background. I have dropped a post here to update. The summer is coming now inNepal and with it weather that isn't that conducive to (his) flying. Karan is using the time to catch up with admin and fullfil his military responsibilities.

Yes, it does seem to do as you suggest. So will that make it a light aircraft, a hovercraft or a hybrid Ekranoplan? The regulators will have a lot of fun with that one too. http://www.techcraving.com/hoverwing-ho ... ove-water/ http://www.thedigitalaviator.com/blog/

Oh, now that does look like a lot of fun! The Russians started this gig with a military program years back. http://www.vincelewis.net/ekranoplan.html

The lift band down a sea breeze front in the UK can be very narrow, perhaps a couple of hundred yards at times with 'pebbles' either side. There are few if any markers to find the lift - experiment. Although a US site the clues below stand good for the UK except that we don't often see 'dust'. From Aviation Weather

Until you hear a scraping sound. That is also the sound that you remember when you pick up your P45. That flyby was probably 10' on the rad alt - stupid really...

Try a call to Piers Dent, he will give you an honest opinion and probably sold the motor to the client in the first place. Curious to know why he is selling it after 20 hours flying though.... it is a very fine motor as I am sure Whitters will attest.

I guess it depends on your view of the task and the experience being brought forward to challenge it. If I tried to climb Snowdon in my undies not knowing one end of a rope from the other, how likely would it be that I might be the first successful free climber to conquer it? (Not a direct comparison and a bit over the top but you take the point). How much better to do it once supported then do it again sometime afterwards benefiting from the lessons etc? I only offer another perspective, it just flattens the task difficulty gradient going at it with just a few tricks in the bag. Does it actually make that much difference? When it has been done unsupported someone will come along and do it unsupported North to South. In actuality that is the best direction if we are looking at lifing/sorability anyway - the bummer is the prevailing winds. Wait for a summer time Northerly? Where do you stop - just enjoy the challenge that you stand a decent chance of meeting. What looks difficult now will have a perspective and volume after 50 hours of XC flying. Flying when you feel like it or when it looks a fine day to be up there is a very different proposition from being driven by the clock against the weather. Having someone to consult and bounce your ideas off takes away a lot of risk and uncertainty and points toward a higher probability of success. Just another perspective....

Whitters is right ref the route of course. The T2T route was generated with specific requirements in mind, we wanted to hit as many PMC clubs as we could Northbound. That sent the guys up the centre of the country. The 'solo' route would cut a large corner. Why not try a 'Fighting Pair'? Two guys co-operating going north with a single vehicle as support. Perhaps two guys to share driving and support tasks. Doing it unsupported relies heavily on luck that nothing breaks - how likely is that across 40 hours of flying? Carrying spares and a bivi plus max fuel in a solo lift is.... ask the lads. LOL The 'Pair' unit would be very compact and flexible, you might even pit two 'Fighting Pairs' against each other in a race of sorts launched at at an interval?

What a gent eh? Probably killed off by the Met Office and XC Weather. Now if you could get it to do something extra like a video cam or some-such, perhaps that would swing subscribers? Nothing like seeing who is actually there is there?

Thanks for the interest guys, it will happen.

Gents, this visit is still on the cards but events at work have made it a difficult time to arrange as those who authorise these things are a little distracted. As soon as the right moment arrives to take the plan forward we will do the simulator and engineering visit. My estimate is around March-April time.

How wonderful it is to to know that your mates are thinking of you while you are away. Unusually high temperatures over Siberia at normal cruise levels forced us to fly a little lower than we would do normally on our way out here to Beijing. I didn't get a chance to test the theory but at -70ºc (FL330) the wing becomes a bit less floppy. I suppose the key word is floppy, hopefully it will stay right where it usually does in this cab. This isn't a great picture because of internal cockpit reflections and light of the rising sun but you get an impression of what Ulan Bator (Mongolia) might be like should someone try and sell you a time-share for January months. It was only -23ºc on the ground as we went past, practically tropical for winter. Must be global warming.... LOL Sports Day (summer) They are very proud of their local hero, Genghis Khan so taking the piss isn't something they advise in the tour guides.

The world's best clubhouse might have a colossal wardrobe with wings hung vertically in it. Those pegs would be ideal. But then this clubhouse would also have the best ever collection of flying films and a 60" HDTV, an full video production suite and a couple of three Power Macs driving three 30" Cinema displays as well. A full print production area, a private bar and a small but exquisitely formed Café. Did I say a private bar? A private bar, a ..... Sorry, back to earth Alan. Yes, great idea!