Aerobatics Training in the North of England

[Groups Are Bad]

I'm writing to enquire about the best place to do aerobatics training in the north of England/Yorkshire region. I’ve done quite a lot of asking around and only found three places that offer such training.
1. Sherburn Aero Club offers a Robin 2160.

2. I hear that York Flying School at Breighton airfield have just bought a Slingsby T67M Firefly, from what I’ve heard these are absolutely smashing aeroplanes and it only costs £100ph dry, with a fuel burn of around 40l per hour. I’m not too familiar with Breighton, although whenever I’ve been in the school seem to be very active and their instructors seem very knowledgeable. I think that this looks the cheapest with a nice aircraft!!!!

3. I also hear that Tom Cassells is very active with aerobatic instruction and that he has both an Extra & Slingsby T67M200 available. I’m not too sure how much he charges but for an aerobatic champion, it can’t be cheap!!!! At least you know that if you fly with someone of this calibre you know you’ll be pretty skilled when he sends you off on your own.

Does anybody know of anywhere else??

[ak7274]

Full Sutton. Cas Smith and a Firefly.

[worrab]

I hear that York Flying School at Breighton airfield have just bought a Slingsby T67M Firefly, from what I’ve heard these are absolutely smashing aeroplanes and it only costs £100ph dry, with a fuel burn of around 40l per hour. I’m not too familiar with Breighton, although whenever I’ve been in the school seem to be very active and their instructors seem very knowledgeable. I think that this looks the cheapest with a nice aircraft!!!!

You are correct on all counts. I had the pleasure of flying in this very aircraft yesterday and even to my inexperienced hands it was delightful. I would imagine that it's a pretty good aircraft for starting out in aeros, but it's not certified for some manoevres (tail slide & inverted spin spring to mind) and there are probably better options for intermediate and higher levels.

Membership at Breighton (required for going solo) is around £60 and fuel there is IIRC £1-45.

(Incidentally, this isn't to detract from Cas or Tom in any way!)

[sapperkenno]

Depends what you want...

If you're looking to compete, and want instruction at competition aerobatics, how to read Aresti symbols and manoeuvre within the confines of an aero's box and someone to hold your hand working towards competitions etc, from people who know that game inside out, then Tom Cassell's would be my first choice in this part of the world, followed by Cas Smith.

If you wanted solid instruction in aircraft handling, expanding your own handling skillset, and learning the basic aerobatic figures (eg, walking before you can run) from the position of someone starting out, then Breighton would be a good choice. If you're not a Sherburn member, I'd say it's probably pointless joining just for their Robin, when Breighton's T67M MkI and Full Sutton's T67M MkII are only up the road.

All depends what stage you're at, how much you want to spend, and what you want out of it.