I sort of enjoyed the series in parts but there was far too much misprepresentaion of private flying along the lines of us being either incompetent plonkers who can't keep out of CAS or high net worth individuals who think that "if you have to ask the cost you can't afford it". I do have to ask the cost and I have friends who spend more on being Rugby spectators than I do on flying . I was also intrigued to hear from someone at London Info that light aircraft aren't maintained like "real" aircraft and just have the equivalent of an MOT. Clearly we've been wasting our money on 50 hour checks, snagging other issues and even our time doing proper A checks.
I had the impression that for the segments on GA the programme's researcher had contacted the RAeS and possibly a couple of London flying schools but hadn't heard of the LAA or the BMAA. A shame as that would have opened up whole worlds beyond those with their own fast aeroplanes and private strips.
Interesting that the controllers were clearly rather alarmed that the air races were taking place at Ascot.
The high spots for me were the mountain rescue flight and the young lady doing her first solo- that did bring back memories from a quarter century ago though fortunately my own instructor didn't give me any prioor warning.
When the aviation enthusiast mentioned the value of his collection I was practically yelling at the screen that for that sort of money he could afford a PPL instead. I know that's not on everyone's wish list and maybe not his but I'm convinced that there are thousands of people who would love to fly but have somehow got the message that flying is a millionaires' sport and most definitely not for the likes of them.