All posts by Amy Whitewick

News

Scouts Aviation Taster day Success at Audley End Airfield

An Aviation Taster Day for Scouts was held at Audley End Airfield on 16th October 2021.

Around 60 scouts attended the event from Newport, Thaxted, Carver Barracks, Bocking and Clavering, all located in N.Essex

At the first base on the day, Rules of the Air were covered in a fairly relaxed atmosphere:

The Second Base the scouts visited was to learn about Elementary Navigation:

How to conduct PREFLIGHT CHECKS was next at Base 3:

Our 4th Base Covered Aviation ART:

Some of the amazing artwork produced that was entered into the LAA Young Artists Competition:

The 5th Base was Aviation Careers.

Lunch was served to all Volunteers:

At the End of the day the Mayor of Saffron Walden, Richard Porch and 100-year-old PPL/LAA inspector Ted Barret exchanged notes:

A big thank you to the LAA who came to promote the aviation art competition and the Guild of Aviation Artists for their help on the day, Vintage Fabrics who allowed us to use their hangar for the art sessions, and all the PPL Pilots, Instructors, Scout Leaders and Counsellors who were all part of making the event so successful.

Thank you also to the WW1 Aviation Heritage Trust who took part in the event and have some exciting and interesting projects planned for the future.

News

Project Slingshot Update

On 20th October the fuselage, undercarriage, firewall forward and canopy kits for the Sling2 arrived at Cosford.

We have a lot of work to do now – the empennage still has to be completed so we are now planning to double the length of the build session each week.

Uncategorized

Plane Amazing! Design the easyJet Aircraft of the Future Competition

easyJet are on the lookout for talented young designers to enter their competition to design a sustainable easyJet aircraft of the future!

easyJet are calling on school children up and down the UK – like you – to join their Aircraft of the Future competition to design a passenger plane for travelling across Europe, powered by a sustainable energy source.

easyJet are supporting the development of new zero-emission technologies for planes – and they want you to feel inspired to become part of the revolution of future air travel as zero-emission aircraft designers and engineers.

Your design will be judged by a panel of world-class experts in flying, sustainability, design, and zero-emission technology:

  • easyJet’s very own First Officer and zero-emission aircraft modeller for FlyZero – Debbie Thomas
  • easyJet’s Director of Sustainability, Jane Ashton
  • Airbus’ VP of Zero-Emission Aircraft Glenn Llewellyn
  • Wright Electric CEO Jeff Engler
  • World-renowned designer Frank Stephenson, known for his innovative work on designs for electric flying taxis as well as his iconic car designs for the new MINI and Fiat 500.

Find out more and enter below:

ENTER COMPETITION

News, Uncategorized

Air Scout Group visit AAC Wattisham for close-up look at Apache helicopter

Over 100 members of the 1st Thaxted-Carver Air Scout Group visited AAC Wattisham Suffolk recently to learn all about the Apache helicopters stationed there.

On the day the members had a look around the hangar, a close-up look at an Apache helicopter and also the vehicles that keep them flying such as a fuel tanker, MT vehicles, Defence fire and rescue.

They were also treated to a visit from a Survival Equipment Services (SES) expert from the RAF to go through some of the kit that is used for survival and emergencies including sea ditching.

“The feedback from the young people was fantastic and we are very grateful to AAC Wattisham for allowing us to visit, creating an amazing experience for all involved.”

Rory Wilson

Group Scout Leader

thaxtedscouts.org.uk

News

Progress with project Slingshot

Students from Aston University Engineering Academy are progressing well with their school’s build a plane project as part of the Air Leagues Project Slingshot.

The Air Leagues programme will give young people practical, hands-on experience in aviation manufacture and flight. Working outside of formal learning environments, this programme will support groups of young people to deliver a complete aircraft, thereby developing practical skills in engineering, project management and teamwork. Project Slingshot aircraft will deliver a legacy beyond the initial build programme, with each completed aircraft planned to deliver many years of flying for cadets, other youth groups and Air League scholars.

Project Slingshot uniquely focuses on a professional build standard delivered by actively mentored young people, through drawing upon expertise within the RAF Sport Aircraft charitable organisation, industry, the Light Aircraft Association and core programme partners.

Each project will employ an innovative distributed build, with for instance the empennage, wings and fuselage being built at different locations within a region. Teams will come together for final assembly and ideally build sections in rotation, in order to maximise the impact of the project. This very much mimics the way in which aircraft are built by major manufacturers.

The Aston University Engineering Academy’s students first task is to construct the empennage for a Sling2 light aircraft, with their work being carried out at RAF Cosford who have generously provided workshop facilities.

The Cosford RAF Museum has also allowed us to use the MBCC paint shop to spray all the components with anti-corrosion primer. The students will soon be moving on to the next task which will be to build the fuselage.

Find out more below:
https://www.airleague.co.uk/project-slingshot/