As Halton is an RAF station, the OC airfield had to be involved with the operation. OC airfield (not the Station Commander) was in these days an experienced RAF pilot of Sqdn Ldr rank and he was very keen on the microlight operation so he carried out the initial evaluation of the AX3 and made 2 main recommendations:
1. The aircraft as presented had 2 instrument panels; one above the windscreen with engine instruments and another below the windscreen with flight instruments. These needed to be grouped into a single panel below the windscreen.
2. There was no floor so nowhere for the pilot not flying to rest their feet.
This was communicated to Ultralair by Bill and they readily agreed to carry out these mods, so Bill and Rob (OC Halton Squadron ATC) paid several visits to the CAA to get UK approvals arranged and a registration allocated. Ultralair asked what colour scheme was required so they were sent a photo of a Tucano in the standard colour scheme of red and white.
Some time later, those of us who had attended the intitial evaluation day were invited back because representatives of HQ Air Cadets were coming along to 'check out' the suitability of the AX3 in its refined version for cadet flying.