Skybolt

My point was a simple one, which you sidestepped with at least 51 years worth of aplomb. 😀

I, along with many others, have seen fit to criticise the Rally this year. It categorically did not live up to the original “Flying for Fun” hype – which would have had us believe that this was an event intended to appeal to the broad church of GA. Instead, we were treated to the usual PFA Rally with a new name. No harm in that, but not what was described in the PR releases.

That criticism is clearly a commonly held view if popular feedback is to be believed. Your 97% positive personal feedback may well be your own experience, but was totally unreflective of my own experience which is uncoloured by being part of any management team. This negative view is certainly the prevalent amonst many of the stall-holders. The PFA needs to sit back, listen and adapt, rather than going into its customary denial mode.

One of the most commonly-used defences deployed by the PFA under these circumstances is to attempt to suggest that anybody who raises a criticism against it,is in fact attempting to pull the whole GA industry down. This was the defence that you used several postings ago. It is a weak and unworthy strategy and may go down well within the PFA, but doesn’t wash outside.

That is my point, no more, no less. I don’t believe that the argument is complex enough to need supporting by any kind of personal CV.

The approach taken by the proposed Booker show next year will be one to watch with interest. By all accounts, they really are chasing a broader market.

Trinny: So is your immersion suit ‘a little more feminine’?

It certainly is. Suitably tailored at the waist,even the humble immersion suit can help you to stay fashionable whilst bobbing around in Ocean waiting for a lift. Salt water is an excellent aid to an exfoliation regime too.

I can see that you are a flyer with some style-potential Janie. 😀

My old friend Dave from Heathrow FIS was marshalling me. I wouldn’t describe him as a Grubby Spotter, although he was more than a little moist as he helped me down off the wing. A true gentleman.

I know many of the fine chaps in the tower too. Not one of them would admit to being a spotter, although one of them, John, owns and flies a rather super Cub.

I didn’t take fuel at Kemble, on the basis that anything requiring that much pre-planning, taxiing and faffing was probably best avoided. Did they hire Spotters in to do that then?

If I understand ‘bright-girl’ Trinny correctly and I believe I do, I think the main problem is that “enthusiasts” are badly dressed.

Well, that certainly is an issue! Far too many clichés wondering around in silly hats, white socks and sandals and rather sad T-shirts. Don’t their wives look after them? Maybe they don’t have wives.

My biggest worry though is that they appear to have an obsession for registration marks rather than aircraft. That’s slightly scary!

Gratuitously offensive, that’s me. :diablo:

I have no idea whether or not all of the people I saw were enthusiasts, but I did see an awful lot of middle-aged males (which they invariably were) spotting who seemed far more interested in the numbers and letters on the side of the aircraft, than in the aircraft themselves. A case of missing the point perhaps? Collecting numbers and letters for their own sake does seem slightly odd to me, but I am sure that they all care deeply about the aircraft and that the first impression they give is incorrect.

My problem with the PFA Rally was that it was advertised as being “different this year”; aimed at a rather broader aviation fraternity. I couldn’t see that. It was very much the same old story and I fear that the format has now become tired. Where is the kind of exhibit like the MATS Connie of a few years ago?

Perhaps some new blood is needed with a fresh perspective.

Frankly, it was all a little disappointing. I was led to believe by the PFA press release announcing “Flying for Fun”, that this would be some sort of new experience, not at all like previous PFA rallies.

Sadly, it was not to be. There were fewer stalls, spread over a wider area to give the impression of size. The stalls were a bunch of the usual companies, mixed in as usual with the customary vendors of aerocrap. Who really wants to buy a rusty old exhaust that fell off its previous two vehicles?

Grubby spotters outnumbered the pilots by a factor of at least five to one and the weather didn’t help very much either.

Another year in which somebody will make a bit of a loss, I fear.

Trinny

There are plenty of countries (France for example), where monitoring Guard on box 2 is a legal requirement if you are equipped that way.

If VFR, 121.5 will be the frequency they try and get you on as they send the fighters up.

As some of you know, I was recently doing a tour of the US offering fashion advice up and down the entire Eastern Seaboard with my partner in crime, the lovely Stella.

We paid an average of $3.42 per USG, which if our calculators are correct amounts to just 47p/Litre. We loved it so much, we’re thinking of coming over to the US for good.