Flaps Podcast

Flaps 22. In this edition we speak to pilot and astronaut Chris Hadfield; Pablo wishes he could go into space; 'Bush Pilot' Paul Catenach; the BJJR Bulldog gyrocopter; and the CAA on the airspace change process.

We’re back! In this edition: Alex Lester. He’s the Radio Two presenter who’s sometimes called The Dark Lord. He’s a great entertainer and he’s a pilot – so a perfect guest to get us back on our feet. Mike Roberts speaks to renowned air display pilot Rod Dean. You name it, Rod’s flown it. And if you don’t name it, he’s still probably flown it. He’s got a great new book out called Fifty Ways To Leave Your… no, er, Fifty Shades of… no, hang on… Fifty Years of Flying Fun, published by Grub Street. The CAA are proposing changes to medical requirements for private pilots. Their consultation is here. It closes on 10 July. We speak to the Authority to find out more. And last but by no means least, Pablo Mason shares his thoughts on the three aircraft he wishes he’d flown. It’s good to be back! Running order 0.00 Introduction 2.48 Celebrity Pilot – Radio 2 presenter Alex Lester 18.02 Display pilot Rod Dean talks to Mike Roberts 28.14 Pilot medicals 35.54 Mason’s Minte – Pablo on aircraft he wishes he’d flown 27.08 Airfields at risk – Keith Churcher, Chairman of Save Manston Airport 40.33 Wrap up

An in-depth report into airfield closures, how to learn to fly a Spitfire, Pablo on his proudest moments, and the CAA on sporting airpace restrictions 0.00 Introduction 1.09 Airfields at risk - Peter Kember, aviation planning consultant 6.35 Airfields at risk - Duncan Mackillop, Chairman of Wellesbourne Matters 11.50 Forthcoming airspace restricions: Jonathan Nicholson from the CAA 15.52 Learn to fly a Spitfire: Matt Jones of Boultbee Flight Academy 27.08 Airfields at risk - Keith Churcher, Chairman of Save Manston Airport 31.19 Mason's Minute - Pablo on his proudest days 34.36 Airfields at risk - Marshall Cligman, head of training for Fly Newquay Pilot Training 37.23 Wrap up Total 37.52

0.00 Introduction 2.30 Lembit Opik on aviation, motorbikes and managing bands 7.12 Celebrity Pilot Carol Vorderman on learning to fly, her first solo, and plans to fly around the world 12.15 Mike Barnard, GA Programme Manager at CAA talking about future developments regarding GA regulation 18.08 Masons Minute - Pablo talks about adapting to military discipline 20.58 Bailey Aviation's foot launched paramotor at The Flying Show 26.42 Air Cadets - we speak to Neil Watson from the RAF Volunteer Reserve and flying instructor Ben Chapman 31.43 Wrap up this edition Total 32.26

Flaps 18. A visit to the Nimrod at the Manchester Runway Visitor Park; this month's Flaps Fly-in is a visit to Goodwood Aerodrome on the south coast; Pablo Mason on old dogs learning new tricks; and the Chief Executive of the CAA on red tape. 0.00 Intro 1.46 Elliott gets a tour of Nimrod XV231 at the Manchester Runway Visitor Park 13.02 Flaps Fly-in: This month we pay a visit to Goodwood Aerodrome 22.05 Mason's Minute: Pablo Mason tells us about flying aerobatics 25.01 Andrew Haines, the Chief Executive of the CAA on cutting down red tape 36.46 Wrap up Duration: 37.18

Flaps 17. A visit the LAA Rally at Sywell and speak to a variety of experts, including Graham Newby of the LAA, Graham Smith of Sprite Aviation, Jonathan Smith of NATS and Rob Hart of SkyDemon. Plus the boss of Sywell, and another minute from Pablo Mason. 0.00 Introduction 1.24 Graham Newby, outgoing CEO of the LAA 4.36 BMAA flight simulator 8.37 Sprite Aviation's Graham Smith talks about the Zigalo ultralight glider 13.29 How not to treat an aircraft skin! 15.39 Mason's Minute: did Pablo ever get bored of flying? 17.38 Flaps Fly-in: Sywell Aerodrome MD Michael Bletsoe-Brown 23.37 NATS' Jonathan Smith on the importance of pre-flight planning 29.33 Mike Roberts speaks to SkyDemon's Rob Hart 32.34 Wrap up Total: 33.40

This is Flaps' exclusive report from the CAA’s Future Airspace Conference for GA, which was held in July at the Royal Aeronatical Society in London. You’ll hear the Authority’s Chief Exec, its head of airspace, Sir John Allison of the GA Alliance, John Brady of the LAA, Air Vice Marshall Stuart Atha and more. This is taken from the August 2013 edition of Flaps Podcast, which can be found here.

This month: BA’s new A380s and Dreamliners; Aerobatics training school Ultimate High; Pablo Mason on writing a letter to a loved one; Flaps Fly-In to Gloucestershire Airport; a report on the CAA's Future Airspace Strategy 0.00 Introduction and apologies 1.46 Andrew Easton reports from Heathrow on BA’s new A380s and Dreamliners, and speaks to Boeing UK’s President, Sir Roger Bone and senior marketing bod Randy Tinseth 8.15 Mike Roberts visits aerobatics training school Ultimate High at Goodwood, and speaks to founder Mark “Greeners” Greenfield 15.36 Mason’s Minute: Pablo on writing a letter to a loved one 20.50 Flaps Fly-In: we visit Gloucestershire Airport and speak to its Operations Director, Darren Lewington 27.16 A report on the CAA’s Future Airspace Strategy, with respect to General Aviation 36.36 Wrap up this edition Total: 38.46

To keep the main podcast manageable we edit a lot of the interviews we run. But that doesn't mean the bits we don't use aren't interesting. So here is the Flaps Extended version of our chat with Geoff Deehan and Chip Shanle of The Plane Crash TV show. Geoff's part goes up from 8 minutes up to nearly 17 and Chip's from 3 minutes to nearly 13. The whole piece now runs at over 31 minutes. And the original, full, edition of Flaps that this comes from can be found here http://www.flapspodcast.com/2012/12/flaps-podcast-winter-2012/ Enjoy!

Flaps 15. Celebrity pilot is F1 World Champion Nigel Mansell; for our new Fly In feature we visit Wellesbourne Airfield in Warwickshire; Pablo Mason talks about cockpit emergencies; and we speak to some of those behind the Channel 4 show The Plane Crash 0.00 Introduction 1.35 Celebrity Pilot - Former F1 World Champion Nigel Mansell 12.30 Flaps Fly-in - Wellesbourne Airfield, Warwickshire 20.48 Mason's Minute - coping with cockpit emergencies 23.48 Geoff Deehan - Creator and producer of Channel 4 show "The Plane Crash" 32.32 Leland "Chip" Shanle - who crashed the 727 by remote control 35.39 Wrap up Total duration: 36.34

0.00 Introduction 1.44 Paralympic opening pilot Dave Rawlins 12.34 Royal Internation Air Tattoo at Fairford – stealth bomber, and BAe’s UAV 19.30 Monocular pilot Paul Ryan 24.29 Mason’s Minute – the difference between a military captain and an airline captain 29.02 Jonathan Nicholson from the CAA reflects on the Olympic-restricted airspace 32.46 Royal Internation Air Tattoo at Fairford – Battle of Britain Memorial Flight, and 612 Flying Squadron 37.37 Wrap up this edition Duration: 38.08

On August 27 2012 we appeared on Five Live's special programme "Helen and Olly's Required Listening" where "Helen Zaltzman and Olly Mann discover and speak to new broadcasters from around the world".

In this edition we speak to Jonathan Mitchell and David Jones, the two pilots who broke the round Britain aviation record over the Jubilee weekend. They’re based at Derby Aero Club and they’ve raised thousands for Fly2Help. Celebrity Pilot is actor, comedian, Papal Knight, and former Crackerjack presenter Don Maclean. In Mason’s Minute, Pablo Mason talks about radio failure: what to do, and what he did when a radio failed on him. And we bring our report from AeroExpo 2012. We spent the (glorious) Friday there and spoke to a good number of exhibitors and participants, including Tim Orchard of Tecnam UK and Fly on Track’s Irv Lee. Any feedback is welcome. We’d really appreciate it if you “liked” us on Facebook and if you’d also rate us on iTunes. So here’s the running order for this one. I’ve said before that we try to aim for 30 minutes, but as we’ve been AWOL for a couple of months we’ve allowed ourselves some room to breathe. This is the longest Flaps yet, coming in at 48 minutes. In the next day or two I’ll try and make a shorter, more wife-friendly edit for you! 0.00 Introduction 1.46 Celebrity Pilot Don Maclean 12.11 Record-breaking pilots Jonathan Mitchell and David Jones 26.00 Mason’s Minute – Radio failure 29.46 AeroExpo 2012 report, including 30.19 Show Organiser Alex Ayling 31.30 Fly on Track’s Irv Lee 37.01 Tim Orchard, MD of Tecnam UK 40.21 The Classic Aircraft Trust’s David Blackburn 44.40 Sebastian Pooley, MD of Pooleys 46.26 and finally – a boat! 47.26 Wrap up this edition Duration: 47.57

In this edition, we visit the home of John Davis - a man who has built a full-size 747 cockpit in his spare bedroom. Except it's no longer a bedroom, and it's no longer spare - but you get the idea. It's a properly-decent setup, and John even has airline pilots pay to practice on it. Needless to say, we had a go... and there are no prizes for guessing how we did. We also speak to one of the Breitling wing walkers. They're looking for a new recruit - probably female - so if you know anyone who might fancy this as a new job, then this might be just what they need to hear. Pablo Mason talks about preserving our aviation heritage. Is it worth it? Pablo certainly thinks so and tells us what classic airplanes do for him. We speak to a couple of pilots, one of whom proposed to the other - while in the air, and with the help of ATC... And we reveal who won prizes in the glittering Flaps Christmas competition. 0.00 Introduction 1.24 John Davis' bedroom 747 simulator 11.52 Sarah Tanner, aka Sahara, one of the Breitling Wing Walkers 20.45 Mason's Minute - Preserving aviation heritage 24.52 Commercial interlude 25.22 Proposing in the air 32.35 Christmas prize winners 35.15 Wrap up this edition Duration: 35.47 Please also follow us on Twitter @flapspodcast or like us on Facebook.

It's Christmas, so here are two gifts from Flaps Podcast. In November's edition we interviewed world-famous author Frederick Forsyth, scribe of classics such as Day of the Jackal and The Fourth Protocol. The version of the interview that was in the podcast was very much abbreviated - the full thing here checks in at over 40 minutes. We talk not only about Freddie's flying days but find out about his writing career. One short story that Frederick wrote (and that we talk about) is called The Shepherd. It's an aviation story and it's set on Christmas Eve. Read about it - with spoilers - here. Freddie says it's one of John Travolta's favourite books. We've discovered that CBC Radio in Canada broadcasts an audio version of the story every Christmas, so if you really want to enjoy some festive aviation, it's well worth taking a listen. It's read by Alan Maitland and it's our second festive audio gift. Thanks for listening to Flaps Podcast in 2011 - here's to a bigger 2012! Merry Christmas and a Flappy new year!

We're back with the December edition of Flaps. This was a really enjoyable one to make: hopefully it's a good listen to as well. It's a bit Christmas-themed and we've got a few prizes to give away too. And as a festive bonus, it's our longest one yet. In this edition, we speak to some of the exhibitors at the Flying Show which took place at the NEC a couple of weeks back. We've only scratched the surface, but if you weren't there, you'll get a taster of what was. Among those we spoke to were Ian Waller, editor of Flyer magazine, Paul Fowler of Enstone Flying Club who's creating a squadron of Spitfires, and some pupils from a Telford School who are building an aircraft. Yes, you read that right. Earlier this year the government scrapped its fleet of Nimrod aircraft. We have a chat with Tony Blackman, who test flew nearly every Nimrod that was built, and who's just written a new book called Nimrod: Rise and Fall. He's got some great memories of Britain's reconnaissance aircraft. If you want somewhere to fly in the New Year, we might have some inspiration. We speak to Compton Abbas and Old Buckenham airfields. Pablo Mason recalls one particularly tragic Christmas which could have ended even more badly. If you're sick of getting socks for Christmas you could always drop some subtle hints to family members. We have a natter with Sebastian Pooley of Pooleys fame to give you some ideas of things to ask for. If subtlety isn't your forte you could always leave this bit of the podcast playing on a loop and they'll soon get the message! And last but not least, we speak to probably the most amazing Celebrity Pilot yet. You won't believe your ears. And I'm not going to spoil it now for you. So take a listen. We're giving away a couple of copies of Tony's Nimrod book, and also a copy of the 2012 Pooleys Flight Guide. And too late for the podcast, but available to read about on our website, we'll also give away a pair of Etre Fivepoint gloves worth £40. They're designed to keep your hands warm while letting you operate a touchscreen phone or tablet (for which you'd otherwise have to take your gloves off.) We'll make extended versions of some of the content available too soon.

We've been busy boys for the past couple of months. There hasn't been a "proper" edition of Flaps for two months so please accept our apologies - but hopefully you've been listening to everything else we've done, including two Airspace podcasts for the CAA, our special from the LAA Rally and our Flaps Extended interview with Manuel Queiroz. Oh, we've been on forces radio station BFBS too! We'll reward your patience with the longest edition of Flaps yet (but don't worry, it's still only 41 minutes!) So in the November 2011 Flaps, we speak to Frederick Forsyth, multi-million-selling author of books including Day of the Jackal and The Fourth Protocol. He's this month's Celebrity Pilot and was a fascinating person to interview. The version you'll hear in this podcast is 13 minutes long but in a few days we'll release a much longer 45 minute Flaps Extended version. Pablo Mason talks about running out of fuel - you won't believe how close he got once. Mark visits North Weald Airfield. Like so many airfields across the country it's recently been under threat of redevelopment. That threat seems to have passed but who knows for how long? You'll hear from two members of the North Weald Airfield Users Group. We catch up with Pet PPL Karl, our friendly student pilot. He's got three big pieces of news. Saturday 12 November is File a Flight Plan Day. We've already covered this in great depth in the second CAA Airspace podcast - but in addition to filing using AFPEx you can also file a plan using SkyDemon or SkyDemon Light. We speak to Tim Dawson from SkyDemon. And in the last podcast we said we'd give away two copies of Manuel Queiroz's book Chasing the Morning Sun. We'll reveal the lucky winners. 0.00 Introduction 1.40 Author Frederick Forsyth is this month's Celebrity Pilot 15.16 Pet PPL Karl has three big things to tell us 21.58 We reveal the winners of Manuel Querioz's book Chasing the Morning Sun 25.30 Pablo Mason talks about running out of fuel 29.58 We visit North Weald Airfield, 10 miles or so south of Stansted. 36.28 Tim Dawson from SkyDemon looks ahead to File a Flight Plan Day. 41.07 Wrap up this edition. Duration 41.45

In a bit of a role reversal, instead of asking the questions we find ourselves on the recieving end of a good interviewing. Richard Hatch from BFBS, the British Services radio station which is broadcast all over the UK and around the world to our troops, kindly invited us on to his show tell all about our Flaps. Find out why we fly, who passed first and the answer to the question we always get asked, "Why is it called Flaps?" Thanks a lot Richard for our five minutes of fame.

The Light Aircraft Association Rally took place at Sywell between 2nd and 4th September 2011. Neither Elliott or I had been to one before so we didn't know what to expect... and we're glad to report we really enjoyed it. There was an impressive number of aircraft and - to our virgin eyes - an amazing array of designs. The atmosphere was great and welcoming, and to cap it all, the weather was great too. We took along our recording machines and came back with some great interviews, so listen to this and enjoy. If you were there you'll recall how good it was, and if you weren't you'll get an idea of what you missed. If you've not heard Flaps Podcast before, hello and thanks for coming to find us. We're (roughly) monthly and talk about aviation matters: Elliott and I are both PPLs. Check out all the podcasts on our home page. Thanks to everyone we spoke to and to the LAA for making us feel so welcome. This is a one-off edition of Flaps - there's none of our regular items. We're back to normal soon! Mark. 0.00 Introduction 0.28 LAA Chairman Roger Hopkinson 3.08 Manuel Queiroz - friend of Flaps and round-the-world RV6 pilot (hear more Manuel in Flaps 9 or our full studio interview with Manuel in Flaps Extended) 9.40 Bart Verhees - builder of the Verhees Delta 12.35 Bill Allen - Cozy Mk IV owner 17.51 Malcolm Titmus - an RV9a owner 20.26 Peter Harvey - LAA Chief Executive Duration: 24.20

For the September 2011 edition of Flaps Podcast we spoke to famed PPL Manuel Queiroz, who flew his RV6 all around the world. Yes, all around the world, hey hey hey hey hey. As ever, we couldn't include all of the interview into the regular edition of Flaps for reasons of time. So here’s our full chat with Manuel. And remember - Manuel's written a book about his experiences. It's called Chasing The Morning Sun.

In this edition: Alex James of Blur; a pilot who flew an RV6 around the world; Pablo Mason talks helicopters; the Chairman of the Light Aircraft Association; an amazing home-built plane.

In the July 2011 edition of Flaps Podcast, Elliott visited Concorde G-BOAC that's on display at Manchester Airport's Runway Visitor Park. He was pretty excited and got carried away. Like the Concorde at mach 2, he found himself growing a few inches. And he recorded much more than we could fit into July's podcast. So here's his feature in full - all 45 minutes worth. Apologies by the way. If you try to download this you get a .flac file. If you want an MP3 you can download it from http://www.flapspodcast.com/extended/

Flaps Podcast - What we do by Flaps Podcast

In the July 2011 edition of Flaps Podcast we spoke to Dan Gillespie Sells and Richard Jones from the most-excellent band The Feeling. We had to chop some bits out to fit it into the podcast but here it is in full. Feeling fans - you'll never hear them talk about cyclics again! "What's that," you say. "Can they predict the future?"

Happy birthday to us. Flaps is one – and we’re having a party! For our first anniversary birthday bonanza podcast, instead of getting a stripper in, Pablo Mason offered to turn up in just a thong and a headset. As tempting as that was we declined and instead we’ve got him talking about being a bit nicer to our fellow aviatiors. We do however have some sexy glamour in the form of Alpha Charlie – G-BOAC – the beautiful Concorde at the Manchester Airport Runway Visitor Park. Top guide Ross Williams takes us on a technical tour and we get up close and personal to the the gorgeous old girl. Every birthday party needs music, so we’ve got a band in. Richard and Dan from the brilliant, Brit-nominated band The Feeling are our celebrity pilots this month. (They’re so good that Mark even bought their first album Twelve Stops and Home on CD. Their new album Together We Were Made is out now too.) It’s a shame we can’t get the late, great Roy Castle along with his trumpet because we really need the Record Breakers theme in this edition. Dedication is certainly what you need, and that’s what Mike Roberts the boss of Take Flight Aviation has got, as he’s just broken an impressive aviation record. And finally our very own Pet PPL Karl has not one, but two big announcements. In a couple of days we’ll be releasing longer versions of the Concorde and The Feeling interviews here on the site as Flaps Extended features. 0.00 Introduction 1.16 Celebrity Pilots from The Feeling talk about their experiences as trainee pilots. 11.09 Elliott visits Concorde G-BOAC at Manchester Airport Runway Visitor Park. 24.10 Take Flight Aviation boss Mike Roberts tells us how he broke a record making more landings in one day than most of us do in a year. 32.26 We catch up with Pet PPL Karl and hear his news, which is quite literally big and getting bigger. 37.42 Pablo Mason wonders if aviators could be more polite to each other. 40.09 Wrap up this edition. Duration: 41.30

For the June 2011 edition of Flaps Podcast we visited the RAF Museum at Cosford. It's a brilliant place to visit if you're interested in aircraft - and it's free too. Allow yourself some time to visit: you can easily spend half a day there. And take a camera! We couldn't get as much as we wanted into the podcast for reasons of time, so here it is in full - it's over twice as long as the version used in June's edition. Here we're speaking to the museum's creator, Al Mclean.

In this edition, we pay a visit to the fantastic museum at RAF Cosford. If you’ve never been and are interested in aviation, then add it to your list of things to do. We were lucky enough to be shown around by the museum’s curator Al McLean. Celebrity Pilot is Wolverhampton Wanderers goalkeeper Marcus Hahnemann. When he’s not flying between the goalposts, he’s flying in the skies above Britain. Maybe obtaining a PPL was inevitable: he’s from Seattle and his dad worked at Boeing. In recent months a great new piece of flight planning gear has been getting the forums buzzing: mainly because it’s very good and it’s free. It’s called SkyDemon Light. If you fly and have never used it you really should take a look. We speak to its developer Tim Dawson -who developed its bigger and more capable brother Sky Demon – along with Jonathan Smith from NATS, who give it their backing. In 2009 there were over 1000 airspace infringements, so the thinking goes that with better planning, we’ll have fewer infringements. And, inspired by our visit to Cosford, Pablo Mason talks about his Cold War memories. 0.00 Introduction 1.56 Introduction 1.56 Wolves goalie Marcus Hahnemann tells us why he learned to fly, his plans for the future, and playing soccer in England. 12.24 RAF Museum Cosford’s curator Al McLean takes us around his museum. 23.18 Pablo Mason shares some memories of being a Cold War airman. 27.33 SkyDemon light creator Tim Dawson and NATS Infringement Lead Jonathan Smith tell us what SkyDemon Light is and why it came about. 36.35 Wrap up. Duration: 37.39

After much slaving over a hot editing system, the second edition of Flaps is ready. It’s not quite as jam-packed as the first one, but for a very good reason: 0.00 Introduction 1.15 We speak at length with Peter Burkill. Peter was the captain of the BA 777 that crashed at Heathrow in January 2008. You might have heard about it. Anyway, he’s got a book out detailing the accident and his life since. This is a fascinating interview – and thankfully not one we need to do very often. 23.14 We catch up with our Pet PPL, student pilot Karl. He takes us right back to our very own training days – he’s been learning about stalls. 28.58 Pablo Mason talks about the time he proved to doubters that he indeed was an RAF pilot… 32.54 …and we check on Pablo’s bar tab. 33.41 We look ahead to next month’s Flaps.

It’s here! The very first edition of Flaps. Here’s what’s in it: 0.00 Introduction 1.05 Private pilot and former Liberal Democrat MP Lembit Opik – we hear about an expensive prop strike and find out about his worst day in aviation. 9.07 We went along to the high-speed taxi run of the lovingly-restored Vulcan bomber XM655 – and spoke to one of the crew. 16.26 And we ask – is a Vulcan louder than a vuvuzela? 17.26 In our “Pet PPL” feature, student pilot Karl takes his first flying lesson. Good luck Karl! 22.16 We welcome straight-talking former airline and RAF pilot Pablo Mason: he reckons you can’t over-estimate the power of common sense. 26.16 In 1982 a British Airways crew inadvertantly flew their 747 into a volcanic ash cloud. It’s mainly because of their experience that European airspace was shut in April. We speak to the man at the controls that day – Captain Eric Moody. 31.06 We look ahead to next month’s Flaps.