Sorry, I should have made myself clearer. What I meant is that proof of insurance is mandatory at the point of re-registration. So if an aircraft changes hands 3 times a year, its insurance would be checked each time. If an aircraft does not change hands within 3 or 4 years, then it would be audited, or at least that’s how I understand it.

You are right, you could fly without insurance for 2 years (unless you have an accident or are caught in the meantime). However, that would be illegal, and in my opinion very silly! You could also drive your car without insurance, until such day that a police car number-plate recognition system flags it up and you get pulled over. If you don’t get pulled over, no-one knows any different!

By your theory, you could also cancel your insurance policy a week after your Annual/Permit renewal and then fly for 51 weeks a year without insurance. So how is it any better? Unfortunately regulation will never cover every possible scenario, and for that reason there has to be an element of trust that people will abide by the law without being forced to do so.

I don’t really post here any more but you may wish to see SEN’s latest progress from the air. I took a flight over the top last weekend to check out the building works so far. In the airport overview you can see works on the new taxiway, and in the close-up you can check out the new tower, terminal, train station etc. It looks like the apron is still a building site.

Long time since I posted here but thought I should have my say!

Whilst I’m not implying that any of your friends are lying Sandy, I do believe you have to be careful what you hear particularly when it comes to Ryanair.

As they’re always such a talking point, rumours do tend to fly and it can all become a big game of Chinese whispers. This last weekend on the way home from Ireland, the guy behind me was telling his girlfriend how his parents had just got back from holiday and were apparently ‘disgusted’ to be on a flight with the pay-to-use toilet installed. Despite the newspaper articles at the time, we all know that that never has happened, and I doubt ever will!

One of my friends tried telling me that Ryanair charged him £5 for a sickbag, whilst another told me that he heard a story about Ryanair only employing one pilot, and that the First Officers weren’t qualified but just there to work the computers. It’s all rubbish, and you’d never hear similar rumours about other airlines! I’m not saying that Ryanair didn’t bring it all on themselves what with their various PR stunts, but some stories really do have to be taken with a pinch of salt.

I’ve just checked my flightmemory.com page which confirms that I’ve flown Ryanair 163 times since 2004. Out of those flights, the longest delay I’ve ever had is 2 hours, with several 30 min-1 hour delays thrown in here and there. Of all those bookings I’ve never paid more than the booking confirmation page tells me. I have only once had a booking amended, when Girona airport was due to be closed for industrial action. They moved the flight to Barcelona (the real genuine El Prat / BCN / whatever you want to call it!) and I had to click ‘I confirm to the changes’ on an e-mail they had sent me, otherwise they kept sending me daily SMS messages/e-mails until I did so.

Is that not the sound you want to hear? 😀

Indeed, I just thought it was very impressive (and a clever PR move from RR I would say…) that the 787 was so quiet it could not be heard above the old Spitfires. You can imagine just how quiet and peaceful the 787 must be inside to fly on as a passenger.

Nice work Keith…if you get up there sharpish today you might catch our smart Legacy G-IRSH due to depart at 1400!