Big well done to all involved in getting her back to the sky, I guess it would be no fun if was easy. Hope to see her at an airshow this year, feels great to think we could have 9 Hurricanes flying before too long.

I do wonder if it’s possible to be PM and not end up with blood on your hands, conflict wise we always end up getting involved in things because of our “special relationship” with USA. If I were Theresa May I would certainly be very careful in any dealings with Hilary or Trump and concentrate on trying to sort out the “Brexit” situation to an end that leaves a good relationship with the rest of Europe.

As to David Cameron I can’t help but think he has stepped down in order to stop any controversy for the current government, no doubt he has plenty of business deals lined up too, 2016 may not of been his year but I very much doubt he will be suffering too much.

I have just seen Hangar 11’s P-51 undercarriage out coming into land at Biggin Hill, assume for painting, already has red tail, lovely sight for a sunny Saturday morning.

Although I cannot recall the pilots involved other than Peter Teichmann in his Hurricane, but in both these cases civilian pilots flew with Battle Of Britain Memorial Flight.

BBMF Aircraft flying with civilian pilots at Royal International Air Tattoo 2015

Hurricane 4 ship at RIAT 2015 by Martin Stitchener, on Flickr

and Biggin Hill Hardest Day 2015

Biggin Hill Battle of Britain 75th Anniversary Tribute “The Hardest Day” by Martin Stitchener, on Flickr

It’s a difficult one, as I personally feel the EU is now too big and its straining at the seams in so many ways, but I also think staying is probably better for us at the moment. By this I mean we have easy trading between all EU partners, we have a lot of international companies based here employing 1000’s of people and easy trading helps this. We have collective employment laws which allow any of us to work in any of the member states under the same conditions, it’s easier to travel between other EU countries Etc.

Having said all this I do not like how the “Stay in” campaign is using scare tactics and if anything is likely to make me vote NO it would be that.

It’s all got very interesting hasn’t it?, Especially after the clear attacks on Boris from David Cameron today, it’s clear Cameron is rattled and senses it’s actually possible the country could vote to come out of the EU. What is fascinating is while the Conservative party is pulling itself apart over this Labour is just sitting back at the moment, yet we all know that cracks are there too on this subject.

As to Boris he is a career politician who plays the bumbling fool, but is anything but and if he has caught the mood of the country on this matter it will propel him into being future leader of the Tory party. I think most know that Boris will blow in any direction that will make him popular, so really no surprises there. However I would say by contrast David Cameron has came back with a not so strong deal in Europe and I suspect he knows it and although he does not intend to go for election again, this will make or break him, his reputation is on the line here.

To think we have have 4 months of this to go, makes you wonder what will happen next.

I would guess that any operator in the UK would think twice before buying any vintage jet at the moment, so it’s sort of good news that one of the Hunters is going to be flying elsewhere in the world. Lets hope the Canberra and other flight worthy Hunter can find new owners too, rather than rot away wasting all the efforts put into them.

I will never forget seeing them at Goodwood revival 2014, the only time I saw the team flying

Canberra and Two Hunters Goodwood Revival 2014 by Martin Stitchener, on Flickr

After thinking about this for the night, I still cannot see any justification for the CAA to increase charges by so much.
The airshow industry provides the UK second biggest pass time after Football and airshows/ displays always provide good family entertainment and despite the negative press portray the scene, it is a well organised and overall safe pass time.
Here in the UK we have had a thriving air display industry for many years. This is an industry we should be proud of and one that supports many jobs and benefits local economies. Not to mention the fact that we have a thriving many thriving companies keeping historic and aerobatic aircraft flying all this creates jobs as well as keeping engineering practices alive.

It is clear to me that this money grab from the CAA and does not benefit anyone but the CAA and will do nothing to improve safety.
The airshow industry now faces a 3 pronged attack that I doubt it will recover from if all this goes through

1) CAA charges- Can’t see how these are justified at all

2) Insurance hikes for operators and venues- Insurance companies are like vultures and get scared when big incidents happen

3) New display regulations and restrictions encompassing enhanced safety checks on venues and pilots- I personally would never argue against commonsense logical moves to improve safety as long as they are not draconian. I personally believe life it’s self is risk and you can minimise risk but not remove it.

Between these things it’s hard to see how many air displays will be viable anymore, and I have huge fears about what’s happening here. We stand to lose a very popular leisure pass time that supports so many jobs and local economies and we will also be losing a proud history of vintage aircraft that we should be passing down to the next generation. Moving history whether it be an aircraft, car, train or ship gives life to the stories in the history books and is a great source of learning for children, we need to protect this so the next generation can be inspired as we have been.
I would beg the CAA to rethink these extra charges and help support what we have here for future generations.