There are those of us who remeber Jimmy Denyer. Ask around and someone will tell you. It is truly a sad state of affairs to note the tenor of this thread.
Agreed. From what I know of the man he was a business man first, and a huge enthusiast for flying second, with flying only
just in second place.
I suspect Jimmy would be pleased to see some continuing GA flying at Newcastle, whether it's under Neil Clarke's auspices, or Samson, or Ashton Aviation, or whoever it is. At the end of the day the business model which the old Aero Club was following had only one destination; the one we have been watching unfold over the last few weeks.
Someone said earlier on this thread that £105 an hour for a PA28-141 compared badly with BAWK at £80. Of course it did: the business running a PA28 at £80 an hour, based somewhere like Newcastle, has only one place to go.
We have to get real; flying is not cheap, EGNT is being run like a business - maybe brutal but profitable - and so long as they are not breaking the CAA ERG rules, then there is nothing criminal about that.
I suspect something will rise from the ashes, simply because there will always be people in the Tyneside area who want to go flying, and for whom Eshott doesn't have the equipment / licence / runway lenght, or is in the wrong place, and for whom Carlisle and Teesside are too far away.
It's market forces, guys; the thing the country voted for in 1979. I think even Mr Denyer would have understood that; although I am also quite sure that he would be very sad to see where his old club has ended up.
I would still like to know what happens to the Norton-Griffiths trophy at Northern Goldsmiths, since before JD won it 3 times, my grandfather won it twice, include once from a newly laid hard runway at Woolsington.....