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| January 2008 Newsletter |
Let me wish you all a Happy New Year and Safe Flying for
2008 - member Gavin Mealing has been creating some computer
programs lately which should make life a bit easier for
us but he has also bullied me into recreating our defunct
school newsletter so here goes! - this will be produced
quarterly online and there will be some hard copy available
for collection within the Flying School
Memberships/Security.
Many of you now will have new Gate 8 passes, these are
chip and pin and are easier to use but more secure than
the old passes - the system is now fully online as of
this week and your old pass will now not work! - the old
readers have been disabled and new touch pads installed.
If you haven't already got your new pass get in touch
with the pass office (ext.2224) and get it organised otherwise
it will mean a trip around via Gate 7. On the subject
of passes please note that in order to obtain and retain
a valid Gate 8 security pass you must be a current and
paid up member of St George Flight Training i.e. you cannot
have one without the other! In that respect we are issuing
members with the opportunity to pay memberships (currently
£45 annually) by standing order - you may download
this mandate by clicking here
or alternatively collect one from the office or we'll
post one out to you.
Finally do not be caught 'airside' without current membership
or a valid pass, trial flight customers who decide to
proceed with training should complete these formalities
after their first taster flight - all passengers boarding
hired aircraft must have visitor passes and carry their
means of ID (passport or photo drivers licence) with them
at all times when 'airside'. Failure to comply with the
above may cause permanent withdrawal of your airside priveledges.
Training/Rental
slot bookings.
I am sorry that some of you are having difficulty in getting
regular bookings- the situation arose when two of our
regular instructors joined airlines mid last year together
with a surge in new students and we have been so far unable
to replace them with suitable, preferably St George trained
instructors - this situation should resolve during the
next couple of months and I hope that you will bear with
me on this, I can only apologise if you have been disappointed
recently in respect of slots available to you. In order
to make advance bookings more convenient for our members
please log on to 'Community' on the web site and there
is a link for bookings requests which we will respond
to quickly - I hope to get the instructor situation back
up to full strength by Easter.
People.
We are fortunate to have Bill Blakemore still doing his
fair share of student training - Gabriel Kristensen and
Andy Watt were very popular instructors during 2007 but
both have moved to the airlines. Brian Taylor is carrying
out our professional FI training and yours truly will
be carrying our CPL GFT Training once the Arrow
IV is
approved. Not forgetting Paul Booth and his trusty 150
which is a big help at weekends. David Jenden helps out
at times when he is not working offshore! My grateful
thanks to these instructors for their efforts, also to
Caroline, Carol, Louise and Ted for their help in other
ways. Once we replace Gaby and Andy we can get back to
normal!! - we have had several serious training enquiries
since the start of 2008 for both Private and Professional
training resulting in three new 'starters' in the past
week - like the butter on the TV ad. our fame is obviously
spreading!
Our
Price List.
Despite a difficult 2007 in terms of Fuel Prices and Airport
and Maintenance Costs going skywards I have managed to
keep our tariffs very competitive and our various discount
payment options are popular. I am hoping to maintain this
keen pricing edge in 2008 - member Jonathan France has
acquired a lovely Piper Arrow
IV Turbo and provided the
aircraft can be moved onto the Public Transport register
we should be able to offer both Professional and Private
training on type - this is a real 'go places' aeroplane
and should appeal to the businessmen amongst members.
Our three Tomahawk PA38's remain very popular as basic
trainers particularly because of their 360 degree all
round visibility from the generous and roomy cockpit together
with docile handling characteristics. The two Warrior
PA28 four seaters remain popular for advanced instrument/night
training and rental.
Whilst on the subject of prices we have some fantastic
terms with the major aviation goods suppliers, this
means we can offer you GPS, Headsets, Kneeboards, Books
and almost everything else you could possibly need or
want at extremely competitive prices, as good as if
not better than the prices you see on the back pages
of the flying publications. We have the necessities
in stock, and the niceties we can get overnight!
Recent PPL Issues/IMC and Night
Ratings/1st Solos/New Members.
Our congratulations to;
| PPL Licence Issue; |
Dr. Khalid Khan |
| |
Andrew Langton |
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Ben Orde-Powlett |
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Richard Hutchins |
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Ashley Chessher |
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Stuart Conley |
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Graham Whittle |
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Adrian Grantham |
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Alan Rowley |
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| IMC Rating; |
Keith Steward |
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| Night Rating; |
Gavin Ward |
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| 1st Solos! |
Pat Kaina |
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Gerry Osborne |
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Rob Tindle |
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David Hall |
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Matthew Falcus |
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Grant Readman |
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Edward Clarkin |
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Jamie Davies |
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Dave Hall |
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Chris Ginet |
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Fred Nightingale |
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John Rutter |
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Dr. Jonathon France |
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Alan Waudby |
| Welcome to new Members; |
|
| Janet Evans, Paul Cowie, Robin Frost,
Ian Fenny, Marc Gonsalves, Michael Golding, David
Green, Richard Gilderoy, David Glendenning, David
Hall, James Hooton, David Hodgson, Patrick Kaina,
Timothy Kilvington, Charles Leadbitter, Martyn
Lee, Stewart Mason, John Milner, Barry Park, Garry
Potts, Alan Rowley, Peter Spoors and Alan Waudby. (Apologies
if I missed anyone!) |
| |
Xmas Cards this Year.
Many of you will have wondered
what happened to your school Xmas Card this year and
no it wasn't lost in the post, we didn't send any! I
started to prepare lists of names etc. and got up to
220 plus and given the cost of postage etc. I decided
that a charitable donation might be more in order. It
occurred to me therefore that I should donate the total
cost of sending Xmas Cards etc. this year to a Cancer
Charity and thought of one of my ex students Captain
Peter Smith of Thomsonfly who tells me he is carrying
out a sponsored 'row' at the moment in aid of Cancer
Charity - I believe he has 'rowed' almost half a million
km's to date out of a target of one million km's (on
a gym rowing machine!) - I am sending him a cheque from
the directors, instructors, members and friends of St.George
Flight Training, I hope you will agree with my decision.
And Finally...
Let's hope that the weather is kinder to us this year
- and if any of you would like to speak to me about
anything connected with the school or a flight training
matter please give me a call on either the school numbers
(01325) 333431/335806 or my mobile 07970 072559,
kind regards
Eric Reed. CFI
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