Our students took good advantage of the conditions.

Congratulations to Rob Turner and Dave Wiseman on completing their First Solo flights – a never to be forgotten experience – on Sunday 6th.

Rob Turner  (left) & Dave Wiseman

  Congrats also to Alex Wood on completing his Qualifying      Cross Country in the same weather window.  

Assembled into groups of 3, 4 or 5 people the teams tackled a series of 10 rounds of assorted questions under headings such as ‘What on Earth’, ‘Quickies’, ‘Born this way’, ‘Right Royal Mix-up’ and other titles chosen to provide as few clues as possible to the real nature of each round. A joker system allowed double points for one preselected round.

The questions were set by last year’s winning team, Graham and Frances Watson and Richard Crosby, Graham and Richard acted as quizmasters and Frances kept the scores and settled disputed answers.

An extra novelty round asked teams to identify children’s nursery rhymes from newspaper headlines and this kept the masses occupied while the final scores were checked.

After a keen contest the team ‘Bar Hogs’  emerged as undisputed winners and they now have the responsibility for preparing Quiz 2013. Bamfurlong Bandits brought up the rear.

A chilli supper with a selection of desserts generously donated by members’ wives rounded off the evening. Book early for 2013!

The Daniels Trophy goes to Ian Colwell and Ian Brown with the Aladdins Lamp going to Monika Andrews.

Over the last year all our students have demonstrated considerable skill and ability in achieving their aims. Therefore it has not been possible to identify one above the rest so the Walwin Trophy was not awarded. The citations  are reproduced below.

The Daniels Trophy for navigation. With 11 out of 12 photo clues correct and the quickest flight to complete the route the winners, on a tie break were,  Ian Colwell ably assisted by Ian Brown

The Aladdin’s Lamp

To commemorate that ‘I’d rather not be there’ moment. The most notable event in this category over the last year was achieved at Gloucester when G-BGBA made an unfortunate bouncy landing on27. No injury was sustained by pilot or passenger –  other than to pride! So step forward for a rub of the lamp – Monika Andrews.

Entertainment was provided by The Live Loungers, a three piece band playing popular covers and some of their own music.

Our raffle this year raised £250.00 for The Butterfly Garden.

A photo montage is on display in the club house. Copies are available if required. A couple of pics below.

These visits give us an opportunity to see how the ATC world works and an insight into the contollers view of how pilots operate. At the same time we can enlighten ATC on our view of how things work and create a good two-way dialogue.

Pictured below are some of our members visiting Bristol.

Whilst this is a big milestone in any pilot’s career it was even more so on this occasion. His passenger was Emily, his girlfriend, to whom he proposed whilst they were out flying.

An engagement ring was evident when they returned, so congratulations to the happy couple!

A stark contrast to last year which got snowed off!

The Christmas raffle was drawn with the lucky winners being:

Keith Buckman  - Basket of fruit
Zoe Crosby          - Tin of biscuits
Brian Aston         – Quality Street
John Milner        - Quality Street
Trish Howes        - Bottle of Chardonay
Sue Oldham         – Super Cassis
Joe Edwards       – Hobsons Beer
Maria Thomas    - JP Chenet
John Maclaren   – Paper planes book
Steve Clark          - Diary
Louise Clifton     – Cheese selection
Andy Smart         – Cockpit Companion
Ross Clifton         – VFR Guide

Some 20 plus members and guests enjoyed a convivial evening of skittling and  chatting interspersed with a little drinking and eating.

The competitive part of the evening involved everybody bowling 4 hands of 3 balls each  which gave us a husband and wife first place of Phil and Lynne Green. There then followed a game of killer which also came to a husband and wife finale. Becks and Ben Walker battled it out with Ben eventually winning.

So, till next year………………….

The Cotswold Aero Club 2011 aerial treasure hunt took place on Saturday 17 September.

Many congratulations to this year’s winners, Ian Colwell and Ian Brown who manage to dodge showers and lightning strikes late in the afternoon to identify an impressive nine pictures.  Not only do they win the Daniels Trophy, which will be presented at next year’s annual dinner, but they win the honour of setting next year’s competition – we can’t wait!

There was an impressive entry – 12 teams – who decided to ignore the Met Office’s rather gloomy forecast and show what Cotswold Aero Club’s members are really made of.

It was a closely contested contest.  The winners could only be separated from James Rowland and Phil Mathews in second place by taking a shorter time to complete the course.  A commendable well done to Maria Thomas and Tony Chapman in third place.

The results are:

For those still interested, the answers were:

There was a minor protest, when it was pointed out that Circle D was positioned not quite as accurately as it could have been.  The judges therefore awarded points to all those who gave photographs 16 or 17 as their answers.

Many thanks to all those who took part.

During the 2 hour visit they were able to see all aspects of  Air Traffic Control provided by the Cardiff staff as well as enjoy views of the Welsh coast and hills whilst visiting the Visual Control Room at the top of the tower.

Watch out for more dates to visit an ATC unit near you.

Many days of blue skies and happy flying to come