21/1/12
A Happy New Year to all oue members and followers. A very successful AGM was held at Top Farm, Yoxford in December, hosted by Rodney and Celeste Blois, who are to be congratulated on their hospitality and culinary skills !! . The meeting was productive in resolving some issues and plans to implement some changes to the competition format which will hopefully make events more attractive to first-time entries. A provisional calendar of events was planned for the coming season, plus details of the World Rally Flying Championships to be held in Castellon, Spain were released. The committee was re-elected as per last year minus the loss of John Waterman who has stepped down from a committee role due to family circumstances. Now that the Chairman's (and webmaster) work routine has calmed down, hopefully regualer updates to the website will now become the norm !! For those into social networking a Facebook group for British Precision Pilots Association has been started, get in contact with myself or search out the group on www.facebook.com and request join the group through there. Wishing you all a safe and successful flying year in 2012.
10/10/11
Following the recent events at Newton Farm and Upwood, the League table results for 2011 Navigation and Landing have now been finalised. Congratulations to Rodney Blois who tops both League Tables and was the individual winner at the UK Nationals earlier in the year. I just hope he has enough silver polish when it comes to cleaning all that silver ware!! Well the season is now over for another year and on the whole it has been a disappointing season in terms of number of competitors and weather. It was good to see 2 new venues used this year, Newton Farm (had been used for Landing Competitions before) proved capable of hosting a full competition and Upwood has got some great facilities for the running of competitions, along with a very friendly membership. Hopefully we'll see future events held there.
With regard to the AGM, Celeste and Rodney Blois have kindly offered to host the AGM and Dinner/ Awards Evening at Hill Farm in Yoxford, Suffolk on Saturday 3rd December. Fly in is available on the grass strip and overnight accommodation within the local area will be sorted. As always partners are warmly welcomed to the Evening Dinner. If you wish to attend please contact Rodney or Celeste ASAP. Obviously an important part of the AGM will be looking at setting out next years competition calendar and ways of trying to increase competition entries and membership. Also by then we should know the dates and venues of next years International competitions, so will be looking at allocating team places for those that wish to participate. So hopefully see you all at the AGM !!
22/08/11
Many apologies for the lack of updates over the previous months but life at the moment seems to be a series of sorties out of Sicily in support of the NATO Op Unified Protector, inter-dispersed with fleeting visits at home. My next stint starts in the middle of September, shortly after the team return from Hungary and for this reason I will be unable to run the planned event on 16th September. I have re-scheduled this event to 8th October and the new venue will hopefully be re-scheduled to Upwood near Ramsey (just awaiting final confirmation). At least when the team are out in Hungary I'm looking to have daily updates with the team's news.along with any interesting and relevant photos !! So keep comiing back for updates on the new Hungary 2011 section.
8/05/11
The results from the Rochester event have been added to the league tables. This was a new venue for recent competitions and thanks to Paul Smiddy for organising this, his first ever event. It's a shame to have a low turnout from the regular competitiors (due to other commitments) but really good to see some new faces trying out the sport. Feedback suggests that they had an enjoyable day. Hopefully we can look forward to future events at Rochester !! Two crews escaped the Royal Wedding Bank Holiday weekend by travelling to Coulommiers in France to enter a French Regional competition, providing 2 Precision routes and 2 Rally routes. The weekend provided an excellent training opportunity providing Rhona Hodson with her first taste of Rally competition at international level in preparation for this years Hungarian hosted European Championships. Many thanks to our French hosts in providing the original invite and some exceptional hosting "Viva L'Entente Cordial"
2/04/11
The provisional entries have been submitted for the European Rally Flying Championships and the World Precision Flying Championships. The next event for adminstration will be June when we need to submit final entry details and more importantly the entry fees!! The events calendar has been updated withe the revised dates and venue change for the UK Championships so as to deconflict with the Guernsey Rally.
9/11/10
From the recent GAC meeting, next years internationals will be a European Championships to be held at Dunakeszi in Hungary from 29 Aug to 3 September 2011 and a World Precision Championships to be held at Brits in South Africa from 23 to 29 Oct 2011.
3/10/10
Unfortunately due to weather the Conington event had to be cancelled. As it will not be possible to re-schedule the evnt before the clocks change, the competition route and prep will be kept and a competition re-scheduled for early September next year. Therefore the current results for Navigation and Landings for 2010 will stand as regards the overall placings.
16/09/10
Due to unforeseen circumstances the event due to take place at Upwood on 25 September has had to have been cancelled. This event will now move to nearby Conington (Peterborough) airfield on 3 October. Martin Reynolds will be running this event, so please contact for details and entry form.
The AGM and Dinner will be held on 20 November. Following last years success, the same venue has been chosen, The Red Lion Inn at Six Ashes near Halfpennygreen airfield. With 3 tarmac runway, it'll cater for all wind conditions and should the weather prove that bad then there are good road and rail connections. It's also pretty central in the country for all members to get to - so hopefully see you there.
7/06/10
Many congratulations to Chris Barnes on recently winning the UK Precision Flying Championships held at Haverfordwest, with Howard Cox finishing in a very close second place. This means Chris has won the event 3 years running and has definitely made himself a top candidate to organise the 2011 Nationals !! By tradition, the runner up gets to write the competition report, so please click here to view Howard's report.
Due to various circumstances, the date of the Andrewsfield event has been moved from 19th June to 26th June. An entry form for the event, along with contact details of the event organiser, John Marsh are available by clicking here
19/05/10
Having returned from holiday, a quick report on the Beccles competition held in April. Once again a well organised competition from Rodney and many thanks to everyone at Beccles for their kind hospitality and warm welcome. The weather was fine if a litlle hazy in places which did provide a margin of difficulty and for the landing comprtition, a slight crosswind was evident. The nav route was conducted using the new international rules which uses more timing check points around the route but has a reduction in the max number of penalties for missing a check point. Also a photo of every turn point is provided, which may or may not have a ground target with it. For the landing competition the penalties per metre for overshoot / undershoot have been increased thus keeping the scoring from the Landing phase of the competition more representative of the overall score. Congratulations to Chris Barnes who came first in the Nav phase and second in the landings for an overall first place. Many congratulations also to John Waterman who came first in the landing competition and also displayed some good track keeping around the route. John Marsh would have done a lot better if he had remembered to have the GPS logger on!!! Scores that lead to League points are as follows:-
Posn. Name Nav Landing Total
1st Chris Barnes 595 142 737
2nd Mike Pepper 808 546 1354
3rd John Waterman 2114 136 2250
4th Martin Reynolds 1856 442 2298
5th Paul Smiddy 2003 360 2363
6th John Marsh 2450 208 2658
17/04/10
The Chairman (and webmaster) has had a busy time since the AGM. Firstly with having to work overseas for 3 months and then having to attend a fairly intense training course. Hopefully things will start to return to a more sense of normality as the year progresses. So apologies to all members if I haven't been as 'pro-active' this year as I would have liked. I did get a submission to Loop accepted which has appeared in the April Edition but it was heavily truncated and edited but I suppose something is better than nothing!! I have had a few enquiries via the website, so things are ticking over on that front. It's a shame about the limited entries for Dubnica, but with 2 crews entered at least we get a team entry. If there are any last minute changes of minds of members either wishing to compete or attend as supporters please get in touch ASAP. It's not too late for entries, it just means you've missed out on the 10% discount on fees, as the discount deadline of 31st March has obvioulsy passed. Congratulations to Paul Smiddy on getting his book published in e-book format for more details click here Fianlly look forward to meeting everyone over at Beccles next weekend and don't forget annual subs time is approaching !!
3/12/09
The recent AGM and Dinner, organised by Malcolm Evans, was a great success and much appreciated by those that attended. The calendar of events for 2010 was compiled and is available on this website. A rough team composition for the World Rally Flying Championships being held in Slovakia next year was compiled, although anyone wishing to compete as pilot or navigator, take part as International Judge, Team manager or supporter should contact Martin or Rodney as soon as possible.
7/09/09
All the British team have arrived in Castellon, Spain, and have successfully completed a couple of practice routes. The weather has varied from hot and sunny 30 degrees, to wet and overcast with the cloudbase obscuring the local mountain tops. Tonight is the official opening ceremony and tomorrow sees the official practice day which will count as a scoring day should we loose any of the competition days later in the week. Hopefully the website will feature daily updates on the competition - internet access willing!!
15/08/09
The webmaster has been away in Alaska which being the 'Final Frontier' also applies to the internet connection in the accommodation I had. I was unable to update the website with any info on the World Precision Championships in Poland and the teams progress. At least when I am out in Spain with the European Rally Championships I will hopefully be able to add daily updates and news from the competition. Once I've spoken to those that went I'll hopefully update the site with an account of the British teams efforts, hopefully with some photos.
The recent weekend saw a well planned and executed UK Nationals, being run by Competition Director John Waterman. Many thanks to John and his team of helpers for an excellent competition and the members of the Shipdham Aero Club for the use of their facilities and warm welcome. The weather over the weekend was fine but with some fairly gusty conditions adding an extra degree of difficulty with both the 2 navigation routes flown and the infamous landing competition. Congratulations to Chris Barnes for not only winning the event and thus retaining his UK Champion title for the third year in a row but also once again retaining the League title. Congratulations to John Marsh, who came second in the Landing competition but gained enough points to take first place in the Landing competition league.
26/06/09
Due to being away in Canada, updates on the site have been a bit thin but I'm back with a vengence. League Tables for the events held so far are on the site and it's close at the top with no outright winner leading the way. It's going to go down to the wire at the Nationals! Reports for Beccles and Haverfordwest should be on th esite in the near future.
The World Precision Flying Championships in Poland are now less than a month away - good luck to those members of the UK team. Unfortunately, we are thin on the ground for entries for both Precision World and Rally European Championships; a situation we'll need to resolve next year. Hopefully, the current national financial situation will have improved by then.
Congratualtions to Martin Reynolds, who with RAF Waddington Team mate Pete Williams have been awarded one of the prizes from their recent Top Nav 09 entry. Although they don't know what prize they have won, they will receive it from HRH The Duke of Edinburgh next month. Martin is hoping to introduce Pete into the world of Precision flying and get him to enter at Shipdham with other RAF Waddington members.
15/05/09
Team entries for both the Precision World Championships in Poland and Rally European Championships in Spain have been finalised and entry fees submitted to the relevant organising host country. Now all we have got to do is get some decent practice completed in preparation. Any updates for either event will be placed on the relevant fixture page, so visit these areas by selecting the tabs on the left of the page. We have an invite to attend the French Regional Championships at Nangis on the weekend of 13/14 June. Anyone interested contact Rodney. Finally a reminder, if you intend going to the Beccles event on 23 May, please contact Rodney Blois (contact details in Event Calendar) so he can finalise numbers.
4/04/09
Despite an initial murky, misty start, the weather at Shipdham finally developed into a lovely day for flying allowing the training day to be conducted, albeit with a later than planned start time. Although we were short of a few of our prospective beginners due to aircraft serviceability problems and the bad weather in parts of the country, it was good to see some new faces. John Waterman had prepared a practice route which was 40 minutes to fly, thus long enough to provide a 'taster' of precision flying but helped keeping the costs down. Martin Reynolds gave an introductory briefing and co-ordinated the flight planning and map preparation part of the day. There were several experienced members on hand to provide mentoring both in the classroom and in the air. In addition to the training opportunity afforded to the newcombers, some of our up-and-coming competition pilots managed to get some advanced competition training, by flying around the course with a 'pundit', offering advice and possible ways of practicing for the future. The day was a great success and hopefully similar events will be put on during the year as additional events to complement our competition calendar. Many thanks to John Waterman for organising the day and the members of Shipdham for their hospitality. Finaly a big thankyou to Rhona and Celeste for acting as 'soup dragons' and keeping everyone fed and watered throughout the day.
12/03/09
The AGM and Winter Dinner was a successful event, with thanks due to Tina for organising the venue. Alsp our thanks to the staff of the Malvern Hills Hotel for the friendly service, excellent food and keeping the bar open !! The majority of the UK events have now been finalised and the dates and venues can be found in the 'Events Calendar' section of the website. Unfortunately the splitting of the World Precision and Rally flying Championships between 2 venues at different times of the year (historically both events have been hosted at the same venue, one following straight after the other) has effected competitors willingness to undertake both events both on a time commitment and financial basis. Therefore it looks as though at both events we will be fielding smaller teams than we have at previous World Championships. Also it has had an effect on our own UK events calendar, as effectively there are now 2 months taken out of the equation due to World Championshps commitments rather than the usual one. We'll have to see what the FAI plan for 2010.
11/01/09
Happy New Year !! one and all. 2009 should prove to be a busy year especially as the World Precision Flying and Rally Flying Championships will be held at different times of the year, in different countries (previously they have been co-located, with Rally following on after the Precision Championships). The calendar is also filling up with dates for overseas events and the UK events should soon be finalised and de-conflicted from other events (where possible). For those that haven't booked up accommodation for the AGM yet, now is the time to sort it before the hotel is fully booked. Menus for the Dinner will be circulated by Tina and Paul in the near future so that the catering arrangements can be finalised.
22/11/08
The AGM and Winter Dinner will be held at the Malvern Hills Hotel on Saturday 28th February 2009, to which all members and prospective members are warmly invited. The AGM will start at 2.30pm with the Dinner starting at 7.30pm. I'm sure any partners will find something to do in Malvern whilst the AGM is in progress. For further details contact myself, Paul or Tina (details on Events Calendar). To book accommodation at the hotel please phone 01684 540 690 and mention that you are part of the BPPA group when making your booking.
19/10/08
Having had a slight break in work pressures, I've done some updating including the Marham Competition report from Howard and updating the league tables, with the Shipdham and Marham reports. Can anyone who attended the Shipdham competition offer a short report for the website? Also, although I've had some pictures from Chris Barnes taken at Marham (which will be uploaded shortly), has anyone else got pictures from the weekend? I will try and get some more updating next weekend when hopefully there will be some news from Rodney (who is attending the GAC Conference in Prague this weekend) about next years World Rally and Precision Flying competitions.
30/09/08
The weather over the weekend, after an initial foggy start, allowed a full Uk Nationals competition to be successfully completed at RAF Marham. Included in the competitors line up were entries from Ireland and Sweden. Many congratulations to Chris Barnes on retaining his title as UK Champion. A full report and photos will appear on the site over the next couple of weeks (as work permits). The next major event in the club calendar will be the AGM and Winter Dinner, to be held in the latter half of February 09. Please try and make an effort to attend this event. Hopefully the venue will provide facilities to keep partners entertained during the afternoon AGM and they can rejoin us and enjoy the dinner in the evening. Tina and Paul are busy finalising details for this event, so look out for further details soon. At this event we will be looking to finalise the calendar for 2009, so if you would like to volunteer and host a competition for 2009, please contact the Chairman to discuss venue and possible dates.
18/09/08
Apologies for lack of updates on the site for the last 6 weeks. I spent August overseas and since my return have been busy with work and getting everything sorted for the UK Nationals to be held at Marham on 27 / 28 September. Any reports / photos from any of the events that occurred in my absence like Shipdham woul dbe gratefuuly appreciated.
28/07/08
The closing Ceremony for the Rally World Championships took place on the morning of the 26 July. The result for the individual Gold medal was a close run thing but was finally clinched by the Poles, following a brilliant, and seldom seen, clear round (no penalties!!). The Silver medal went to the French thus breaking the Eastern European monopoly, with the Czechs taking the Bronze. In the team results (best 2 crews scores to count) it was Poland, Czech Republic and France for Gold, Silver and Bronze respectively. The Great Britain team finished 7th, just behind the Hungarians, out of the 14 nations taking part.
Following the closing ceremony, an airshow completed the day. It seemed that most of upper Austria came to see the show, which included some excellent aerobatic displays from the Red Bull race team. There was also some RC model aircraft displays, including a 1/4 scale Yak 50 that defied the laws of physics, and a model Wliga that towed model gliders to 1000ft allowing them to execute some interesting aerobatic manoeuvres.
On the morning of the 27th July it was time to bid farewell to Ried and make the journey back to the UK. Both Precision and Rally teams have learnt a lot from the Championships and how we can better prepare to compete on the World stage. Next year Poland are hosting the Precision Flying World Championships and the Rally Flying European Championships - so if you want to be part of the British team, now is the time to enter one of our UK events to try your hand at the sport!!
26/07/08
The 25 July was originally set aside as a reserve competition day. Had the results of the 24 July have been completed then this day would of been Nav route 3. Now it is important just to get a complete route, as to be a 'legal' World Championships, 2 nav routes must be completed. The 3 GB crews were due to fly in the afternoon group. The organisers kept putting delays due to weather on the morning group as they couldn't afford for them to scrub. Eventually the morning group launched after Lunch on a shortened nav route. This resulted in the GB crews launching in the early evening, so on westerly legs looking into the setting sun through haze proved problematical with regard to spotting photos and navigating.