Lightning XM172 on the move soon

Home at last

Hi Neil.
Glad to hear that it is finally home. Well done to all. An excellent result following a lot of hard work.

Good to see you again at EGCK a couple of weeks ago. Give my best regards to Heather and hope to see you both again soon.

camlobe

Bruntingthorpe Aug 06

Sorry John, cant make Brunters this weekend as im on HEMS duty with my EC135 up here in Blackpool …. hope you all have a Grand Day Out for sure!

Fly Safe, Neil

Well done Neil!!!!, I hope to come and see them all some day, will you be at Brunty this weekend?.

Kindest regards,

John.

Lightning XM172 is now in residence at Spark Bridge

Hello all,

Just an update to say XM172 is now safe and sound and in residence in my garden at Spark Bridge. I will be posting pictures as soon as i work out how to do that!

I will be writing an article for Flypast fairly soon going into detail of the entire procedure.

At this stage i have to say Barry Parkhouse came up trumps assisting me with the road move and BAE Systems at Barrow in Furness, helped me with the crane/lifting work. I am extremely grateful to both parties for a job VERY well done!

Heather and i will be setting up a website soon entitled ‘Lakes Lightnings’ with details on my other 3 Lightnings ..ie XS922, XS932 and XS420 so watch this space..

Should anyone be interested in taking a close look at XM172, then thats fine so long as its by prior arrangement with me on 07799 275508 or email …xm172@hotmail.co.uk … “it is NOT a tourist attraction!” ..is one of the restrictions placed on me by the planning authority so please, go with me on this one.

Thanks to all out there for your support and it just goes to show that pipe dreams DO sometimes come true!

Fly Safe, Neil

Great news, knowing how slow the planners usually are, I was going to e-mail the LA this weekend, but it’s been approved already, brilliant, can your planners move down here, please.

Hi Neil

Great news, now you have the fun part of restoring her !!!

Scott C

Great news mate.Keep positive and keep ploughing on.And hope you are looking forward to all those late nights restoring her.

Fantastic news Neil,

I’ll never forget the sight as they sawed her fin of, then let it repeatedly swing back into the fuselage – made us weep. Got many dents in the port rear fuselage?

Congratulations Neil, well done. Keep up the good work. 😎

Just to update you with some VERY GOOD NEWS for me as ive just received a letter stating that my Planning Permission application regarding XM172 has been granted! …… Wow! I guess its time to take a deep breath, a big sigh of relief and to move onto the next stage logisics of a BIG Crane lift in to final position.

A BIG THANK YOU GOES OUT TO THOSE OF YOU WHO WROTE IN TO THE CHIEF PLANNING OFFICER SUPPORTING MY PROJECT APPLICATION….. thanks everso!

Thats all i want to say for now but i will work on posting some jpegs …thanks for the advice on how to do that! ..watch this space! Time for a stiff drink or two.

Fly Safe ……………Yipee…….. Neil

If you have windows xp you can right cick onto each pic and select send to email recipient. after that it wil lask if you want to keep the pics original size or redice them. select reduce and then save the pics to your hard drive. Instantly resizes them it is neat!

Neil

To reduce the files for posting. Try resizing the pictures to say 800 pixels wide and saving at a slightly lower JPEG setting but not too low as to lose quality.

If no joy then you are welcome to send them to me direct and I can do it for you.

Look forward to seeing the pics.

Hmmmm … no pics???

Hmmmm … No pics?? Ive just had a look at them and i guess the files are too big to attach … any steers/prompts gratefully received on how i may reduce the file size for posting ????

Fly Safe, Neil

No pics attached Neil??

XM172 has landed at Greenodd into temp storage

Hello All,

My FIRST attempts at attaching jpg’s so here (Hopefully) are 3 for your perusal…XM172 is now resident in a hauliers/landrover depot yard awaiting my planning permission application…. i wont go on here so enjoy the pics.

Fly Safe, Neil

Hello again all and to Pete regarding his post above …Thanks again for the top tips.

I have already addressed the visibility/impact/screening issues BIGTIME so thanks for your offer of technical support but i think ive already got all that angle covered. XM172 will not be seen as my hedges and trees are taller than her by a significant margin.

Yes we will chat via PM and i will tell you what grounds ive already covered; the Parish Council meeting i had BEFORE submitting my application went well and i personally visited and presented to the Planning Officer of the Friends of the Lake District of which i am a member anyway … again, he seemed to think i had covered all the points that would have been raised and provided him with adequate solutions!

Never mind conservation area, we are talking National Park here!!!! Ive always been a realist and accept his may not happen BUT they have to come up with a good reason as to why not!

I have asked to see the field officers report BEFORE it goes to Committee and have offered to do whatever they suggest to rectify any issues that they should raise….cant say fairer than that!

Thats all for now as im making the most of this Bank Hol good weather…Fly safe and again, THANKS to you all…Neil

Neil
Have gone back on to the LA site and realised that you can download the planning documentation that you submitted, if it’s ok with you I’ll print them off and submit a backing statement to the planning officer.
Horrible set of forms, I would love to have seen this application made on our local Householder forms, much simpler.
In all my years in this business, I would love to have made such an application, it makes barn conversions look so boring.
The only slightly related application I can think of doing were Building Regs drawings of fall out shelters for the New Zealand airforce, all done from the UK.
If you want to PM me with your web address, I’ll forward a copy of my letter.
Whats the height to the top of a Lightnings tail, if it’s less than 4.5m and at the back of the property and certain other criteria, not being in a conservation area for instance, you may have got away with it as permitted development, other interested parties please note.

well done mate with the move glad it went ok
also many thanks for the phone call tonight and i will gladly help in any way with notes or parts with your restoration as with restoring xm192 i dont find many f1a,s to get internal pics off.so if anyone out there can help with any ap,s or any other relevant documents to do with the mk1/1a im sure me and neil would be greatly appreciated. as to everypne else involved with the upkeeps and preservation of lightnings well done
darren s

XM172 in storage for now.

Hello All,

Heather and i say a big THANK YOU out there for your support. Now that the dust has settled and ive had SOME sleep, i feel ready to start tackling phase 3 of my project and that is the matter of planning permission.

Thanks Pete for your input above …points duly noted and thank you for your intimation of ‘professional assistance’….

As we stand, a planning permission verdict is due sometime around 27th May.

This is not a light undertaking on my part as you all well appreciate and ive done quite a lot of prep BEFORE i commited to the idea of purchasing XM172.

As i have said before, i feel its 60/40 in favour at present and i have addressed all forseen issues of concern BEFORE they have raised their heads… my biggest support is my local villagers writing in supporting my proposal! I held a ‘public meeting’ in Spark Bridge village hall well before i applied for planning permission and outlined my proposal to those who attended. EVERYONE within my immediate area of the Crake Valley had an outline plan flyer pushed through their letterbox and ive recieved no adverse reaction …thats not to say letters against havnt been sent in! My theory is if there were 5 against and 50 are in favour,then i stand more than a fair chance of success!

As to being on public isplay … most definately NOT! It will occupy 1/8th of my garden area and will be at the back screened for most part by my hedges. Yes their will be close in access but by appointment only and with a donation to the Spark Village Hall Restoration Fund a pre requisit for entry … my locals support me, i will support them and OUR village hall!

Enough wittering from me … i will try and work out how to post a site plan of my application so, watch this space ….

Thanks again to all, Neil