400 years of the Black and White Minstrals

I started the week talking to the CAA about renewing the permit for my VPM16 gyroplane, the application from my engineer was not specific enough so would I please ask him to reapply with different wording. No point in arguing just accept a weeks delay, stay cool in the rising temperatures and aim to achieve other goals. Thursday was an insignificant day for this hall, just another in its four hundred year history. Built next to the church of the Knights Templer, Middle Temple Hall has served the oldest of the London Inns of Court since receiving the Royal Charter in 1608, it has seen Barristers called to the Utter Bar in the thousands but on Thursday it was my daughter's turn which makes it a very significant day for me. The walls are decorated with shields brandishing the coats of arms of history, the portraits depict Kings and noblemen, judges and gentry. The minstrel gallery suffered badly when bombs blew in the end wall in 1940 but today the scars have healed and everything is pristine and fitting for a formal ceremony. The odds are that only one in six of those who start training will practice as Barristers and the call to the Bar is but a step on the way. Still just signing your name in the register atop a table presented by Sir Frances Drake is worthy of celebration and commendation. Middle Temple Inn is situated down a narrow cobbled walkway that leads from Fleet Street towards the Thames Embankment it has a sense of the medieval; the effigies of Knights laid out in the nearby church now attract visitors from around the world thanks to Dan Brown and the Devinchi Code. Cross the river and you leave ancient London and enter the modern culture of the South Bank, the National Theatre the London Eye and just a reminder of the past in a reconstruction of Shakespeare's Globe Theatre. To celebrate we spent a couple of days renewing our acquaintance with the Capital in which I spent my formative years and rejoicing in warm summer weather and reduced traffic volumes; thanks in part to the congestion charges that apply to the city centre and the rising price of fuel. By day visitors are flocking to the Parks to sunbathe and to the galleries for the enjoyment of art, by night the bars are spilling over with jovial drinkers basking in the warm summer air. Life is good despite the global gloom and the CAA.

Summer Skies and Stretched Legs

The runway is now in good shape and the cattle issue has been resolved, the VPM gyroplane has been fired up and works well so now there is just the small matter of getting a permit issued. First step involves requesting approval for an engineer to carry out maintenance on the aircraft, this should be straightforward but could not be progressed for a week as the CAA person responsible was on a course. Its easy to see how 8 weeks leave will disappear before a permit to fly can be achieved! Given that no flying is likely I am trying to relax and enjoy the warm sunshine and beauty of summer.

Exmoor is a National Park in North Devon and it is only 1.5 hours to drive to this haven of tranquility so Sunday was spent tramping over heathland with fabulous views over a patchwork of fields and coastal villages. The heather on this moor is brilliant purple in September but already it is turning and the colour is vibrant. These moors are only 1500ft above sea level but with both North and South Devon coastlines almost visible the air is clean and fresh. Its hard to believe that there is a nuclear power station just over the hill that will produce so much radioactive waste that no one can even estimate how much decommissioning will cost. The good news is that the estuary in the picture has the second highest tidal rise and fall in the world and plans are afoot to build a barrage across, between England and Wales, that will use this natural power to generate pollution free electricity for the foreseeable future.

Culture and Cow Pats

Before anyone lived in New Zealand the smallest City in England built a Cathedral. It took 300 years and a few generations of stone masons to position the massive blocks that graciously form the intricate structure, all without much lifting gear or health and safety regulations. The Western face is famous for a golden glow as the setting sun illuminates intricate figures in yellow sandstone. I was privileged this week to attend a concert by the talented youths who make up Wells Cathedral School of Music. Awesome! The building was packed and the acoustics made every note from every instrument reverberate to evry nook and cranny. By coincidence the Choir of Christchurch Cathedral NZ performed at this venue last night! My cultural outings moved up a 1000 feet to the top of the Mendip Hills where a small village has existed since Roman times, they still show visitors around the Lead and Tin mines from that period. Every July it plays host to the Priddy Folk Fayre and for three days the village green is taken over by musicians playing virtually every instrument know to man. As a local I volunteered to be a steward and save myself the entry fee, standing and directing traffic in the pouring rain for 4 hours made this seem a questionable decision. However the next day became sunny and warm and with time to relax and enjoy brilliant music and smooth English Ale and the world was turning so slowly you could almost see the ghost of Morris dancers who had performed here for a thousand years. Well you may have gathered that the English countryside is lush this year and the paddock where I keep my VPM gyroplane is no exception. So lush that the local lad who rents the grass keep decided to let his dairy cows feed there. This caused me a major headache as with the ground so soft the imprints of 2 dozen cattle turned my airfield into something resembling the Somme battleground. Heated discussion about liability was to no avail and so I had to put an emergency plan into action. I bought 500 metres of electric fencing wire and 50 stakes, frantic phone calls found a contractor with suitable tractor and trailer prepared to come at short notice to flatten the damage. Meanwhile I set to and used the rotary ride on mower to remove the grass down as much as possible on my runway strip. All this was achieved in forty-eight hours with the soil drying into concrete as we worked. To finish the surface I needed to start up my triple gang mower which had been standing idle all winter and half a summer. This venerable machine is a single cylinder diesel of around 1960 vintage, it has electric start but also responds well to a cord wrapped around a pulley and yanked with much force to turn the engine over. As I had used the battery to power the electric fence I had to use the ancient rope trick! It came to life just as I was about to give up and so I spent some 3 hours running up and down the strip gradually removing grass and cow droppings and rolling footprints back into a smooth finish. All this deserved a celebratory refreshment which was interrupted by a phone call from an ex student wanting to use the field, no problem I say come on in its looking fine!

Fettling Folk

I have been very impressed by the engineering skills and ingenuity which is found in such abundance in New Zealand. In England these skills exist but sometimes they are somewhat hidden and hard to find. For over ten years I have been intrigued with the different skills of two brothers from a small village in Gloucestershire, one is an aviation artist of such renown that he is commissioned to create paintings to adorn the walls of the Officers Mess at many Royal Air Force stations. I bumped into Roy at the supermarket checkout this week whilst on route to meet his brother Gary, who creates aircraft. I use the word 'creates' because of his back to basics attitude, if it isn't available to a satisfactory standard Gary will go about sourcing the raw materials and creating it. This turned out to be the case when he decided to offer kit-set gyroplanes and the Rotordyne blades he wanted to use were not available. A trip to California and an agreement to produce copies in the UK led to his small garage becoming the source of excellent 10 and 11 foot rotor blades which now lift several single seat aircraft into the air. On arrival I found Gary finishing off a Mark 4 Cricket but he was able to show me components for the Mark 6 kits which he markets as Layzell Gyroplanes. I flew one of these as an open frame machine and then trained the owner to fly it a couple of years ago. It performed extremely well with a Rotax 582 engine fitted but now that there is a pod available it will be a delight to operate. As well as gyroplanes Gary has an interest in military vehicles and small armored cars and large 3 ton trucks can be found where most folk would park the family saloon. Both Gary and Roy have done some gyro flying with me and I did throw in an invitation to join us for some more training in Tauranga, watch this space.

Mixed Emotions or maybe Ups and Downs.

This week has been mixed in many ways, the weather for a start has tried to remind me of Tauranga with poring rain and wind mixed with bright beautiful sunshine. Friends have been in touch and I have started to deal with the airstrip and gyroplane that have been awaiting my return. The picture shows Steve Hart in a Montgomerie Benson of which he is very proud. I was privileged to teach Steve gyro flying about 13 years ago and he initially owned an immaculate Everett Cricket and upgraded to this Rotax 912 powered aircraft which is said to have cost some £30,000 to build! Steve is anxious to fly into my little airstrip as soon as it is presentable as he has relations in the village. Although the field that I use was cut for hay in June the grass is in need of a good trim to bring it in line with the normal standard at 'Allerton International'. To this end I started to use a small ride on mower which will bring things to the point where my historic triple gang mower can provide the final trim. This may well be the last year of operation, if I sell my aircraft, which is a shame as there are few fields available and having operated for over ten years it could become officially recognised. To operate my aircraft this year will require an inspection by the local CAA surveyor which will cost £410 as the permit is more than a year out of date! This is double the normal fee and seems a rip off as it is the same look- around and paper work as the annual check. To renew my UK instructors rating will involve a similar expense so I may forgo that pleasure as well. There is growing interest in my aircraft which has an almost new modified Subaru engine with sub4 heads and a recent paint job makes it quite smart.

Back in the UK OK

Well you can ignore the photo because arrival into Heathrow was actually in brilliant sunshine and the journey down the M4 to Bristol showed England looking her best. I had enjoyed a relaxing break in Los Angeles and so the flight of about 10 hours and another two on a comfortable coach went very well. I was met in Bristol and driven back to my Somerset base at normal UK speeds which of course are well above the legal limit for New Zealand and it seemed quite refreshing not to be limited to 100kph.

I have been in touch with Auto-gyro Germany and have specified the exact requirements for the new aircraft to be shipped to New Zealand for September. These will be offered in the same package as before: Finished in UV reflecting Mercedes silver metallic and equipped with sports seats, radio, intercom, nose, strobe and navigation lights, extra fuel tank. In addition there will be an improved compass installation, a larger battery and a panel mounted fuel gauge.

I have already been approached for gyro flight training in the UK but this will necessitate renewing my British instructors rating, at vast expense, and also re-permitting my VPM16 training aircraft which is not cheap either. The aircraft is in very good condition and because of the solar trickle-charge panel, starts without any grief even after a year in storage.