microlights

An update on the Flying for Freedom project. As you'll remember from episode 63 the Fly2Pole expedition is endeavouring to get several disabled military personnel to the South Pole in microlight aircraft. So, when the Flying for Freedom team held a sponsor's open day a few weeks ago I popped down to Kemble for a bit of a catch-up.

At the Flying Show last year I met a chap called John Laity on the P&M Aviation stand. John is one of the founders of Flying for Freedom which aims to train injured ex-servicemen to fly microlights as part of their rehabilitation into civilian life. In addition, Flying for Freedom are launching an expedition to the south pole where they'll be trying to get a team to fly flexwing microlights to the pole and back. I caught up with John via Skype recently, just after his return from the press launch at the Tower of London.

An interview with Malcolm Howland who runs Fly365 Flying School and also works for Thruster Microlights, both based at Wickenby Airfield in Lincolnshire. We talk about the history of the Thruster from its early days in Australia right up to the present day with manufacturing of new aircraft on the airfield. Malcolm also tells me about his flying career and what brought him to be a flying instructor and what part he has played in the Thruster story.

Episode 32 of Flying Podcast sees me back up to York to interview Peter Davies. Peter is an instructor on gyrocopters for the Gyrocopter Experience. He currently runs their Preston franchise. Quite by chance, when I was reading about gyrocopters I came across Peter’s name and I was fascinated to read about his experiences in the world of aviation. His flying pedigree goes way back to the early days of hang gliding and microlighting here in the UK and so I thought he’d make a good candidate to appear on the podcast.

An interview with Chris and Marcus of Mainair Flying School. We'll be discovering the world of microlights and finding out just how far they've come in the last few years. I was certainly quite surprised at just how high-tech this new breed of light aircraft have become. Microlighting should be a definite contender if you are thinking of learning to fly or are looking for something to put the fun back into your aviation career. BTPodShow {BTPodShow-ec182a1a2e7c1920e424ceca458d5c9f}