Welcome to the Bristol Strut

Our guest speaker this month is the LAA’s Chief Inspector, Lucy Wootton, joining us to talk through all matters pertaining to engineering and operating permit aircraft within the LAA.

Lucy will be talking us through her journey to the Chief Inspector’s post, as well as the way in which the different departments of the LAA work together.

This will clearly be of interest to all owners/operators of aircraft operating on permits – as well as those who might have thought about buying (or building!) a permit aircraft, but are unsure what it involves.

Our presentation this month is by Dr David Joyce, on ‘The Highs and Lows of my Love Affair with Aviation’.

Like so many LAA members, David’s love affair with flying began when as a boy he found himself living close to an airfield, in his case Rougham, the base of a squadron of US Army Air Force B-17 Flying Fortresses. Aeromodelling naturally followed and he thought himself destined for a career in aviation until human nature stepped in in the form of starched-aproned nurses with warm hearts and smiling faces, and he was led astray into the world of medicine.

But the aviation bug had embedded itself somewhere in his psyche and he later took up gliding and power flying. On retirement he set about building a Europa – a three year task – leading to many flying adventures. G-XSDJ has seen a wide variety of scenery, from the rugged coasts of Ireland to the chilly wastes of the Arctic Circle, the heat of a Spanish summer and the balm of Venice and the Canaries. It has also taken David to the gloom of the former East Germany and the delights of the Black Sea. 

David had grand plans to fly his lovely machine all the way to Australia but when his son Patrick developed Motor Neurone Disease this plan had to be abandoned. Instead, encouraged by Patrick, he flew the length of Norway to the North Cape and together they completed 2 Dawn-to-Dusk challenges. The first involved photographing every lighthouse around the coast of Ireland. The second was to fly over every island in British waters shown on the 1/2Mil chart (119 since you ask), a flight of 1704 nautical miles – the equivalent of a transatlantic flight – for which in 2010 they jointly won The Royal Aero Club’s Norton-Griffiths Challenge Trophy. David completed a third on his own when he photographed each of Wellington’s battlefields. Flying over Spain the air temperatures were so high that he risked heat stroke as well as engine overheating.

This will be a fascinating evening with David’s gripping stories set to inspire aviators thinking of their own potential challenges!

Dave learned to fly in 1985, when Biggin Hill was almost affordable!  After taking on a share in a Jodel, he wanted to fly to Europe but could not make head or tail of the published requirements to do it.  So he sat down with a cold towel around his head to work it out and having distilled all the official-speak he realised that it is FAR simpler than it looks – so has been on a mission to let everybody else in UK General Aviation know the good news.

He also worked for a while as a flight test observer developing, amongst other interesting tasks, operating clearances to allow helicopters to land on ships.  It was at that point, being a coward, that he began to take a personal interest in aircrew safety and survival.

Tonight’s talk attempts to combine both those interests by providing an overview of what GA pilots might wish to consider when flying over water and/or remote areas.  It is a collection of information gathered from the professional training he has received and hints and tips gathered from many sources.