My wingmen would be Keith Watts, from Tennessee, a professional race car driver instructor who owns a Cessna 172 – and Kirk Robertson, a dentist from Flagstaff, Arizona, who brought his 182 to Kidwell. I recommend any pilot, whatever their gender, who is looking to immerse themselves in some of their history, and to give themselves a really rewarding challenge, to get in touch with the T6 Harvard team and book a trial lesson. All through lockdown he was busy building a partly covered outdoor seating area, bar and a pizza oven. I learned to fly at an integrated school on DA-40s: simple, nosewheel aircraft with an engine control unit, so the journey to flying older, tailwheel aircraft has been full of learning curves. In fact, something for everyone, and all wound up in a charming, but slightly disarming, 1960s time-warp!

The following year it was held at Sandown and the ‘modern Spamfield’ (to use Olympic terminology) was born, and I haven’t missed many over the years. What a great atmosphere and a perfect opportunity to catch up with your old flying mates over a beer or two. We discuss how to approach the canyon, evaluate the wind direction, and then discuss a possible VMC into an IMC scenario with an emergency 180° canyon turn. We take a left turn out of Fowlmere, the aircraft climbing faster than any single engine piston I’ve been in before. Off he goes and I’m left in the front, watching the temperature gauges and peering out through the windscreen, trying to commit the position of the nose in this attitude to memory – it will be important later, when trying my first three-point landing.O IRONMANPortugal- Cascais 2024oferece vagas de qualificação por escalão para o Campeonato Mundial VinFast IRONMAN 2025. Darius and Girėnas attempted the country’s first transatlantic flight in 1933, but crashed just 400 miles short of Kaunas (the country’s capital at the time).

It wasn’t particularly well organised (there’s a fourth edition on the way), but overall it made a solid case to claim a spot on an aviator’s library shelf. For a year now, they’ve only been getting photos of the aeroplane – and invoices for their share of the fees – on our chat group. It was all kicking off when we got back from the beach, throngs of jolly revellers had congregated and were enjoying the live music while washing down wedges of pizza with pints of the local brew. There’s a real variety of types from single seat flexwings to sleek hot-ships, gyroplanes and everything else in between.The 170 shakes, veers slightly to the right, and I can feel the tail lift a foot or two, then it settles. From the goosebumps upon hearing the national anthem prior to the race start, to the unwavering support of the crowd, to the realization that you're racing around the same track as Ayrton Senna, to the indescribable emotion of seeing your family as you cross the finish line hearing the immortal words "YOU ARE AN IRONMAN". Low and slow, above beautiful landscapes and with the ever-niggling thought of, ‘will I get there, or will the 1946 engine quit on me? As the site's Chief Film Critic, he has authored hundreds of reviews and covered major film festivals including the Toronto International Film Festival and the Sundance Film Festival.

Captain Rob Everts was already floating in with his DC-6 – and we were still a good 250 metres away from the agreed spot for the photo. While the technique was going to be similar to what we have been practising, we would add an extra step this time. Our Ikea-coloured Auster Arrow, which was born in Lincolnshire in 1946 and now lives in Lithuania, has three co-owners, but I’m the only one who’s ever seen it in the flesh, let alone flown it.He explains it’s a simple one, as he covers all my instruments with stickers, and asks me to take-off, fly a circuit and land with no instrument references. However, before I’ve quite managed to set the landing attitude, the mains touch and we make a small skip across the ground.