Thorpe group forming in SE UK

[SteveR]

The T211 is a sweet lil' low-wing aeroplane with performance comparable to a Cessna 152.

If I've got it right, these groups are sponsored by the manufacturers and as a result the fees are low and utterly predictable: £5 per hour dry, £55 per month, £500 membership (which can be sold on if you leave).

Some local pilots are wanting to start a group and we need 5 of us to show a commitment for the a/c to be allocated to us. We've got 3.5 so far....

There is a decision to be made about where it will be based, but for my part I want it to be at Rochester (cheap a/c parking, free landings, out-of-hours flying).

Other possible bases are Biggin or Redhill.


I've been waiting for a chance like this since gaining my PPL last August - if we can rustle up a couple more members we could be flying cheaply in a matter of weeks!!!

Interested? Call me on 07970 794294


SteveR

ps. I think I've heard most of the stories, good and bad, about Thorpe groups - but I'm happy to see 'em repeated here.

[Yogi-Bear]

You can check out the Thorp Club website here:- http://www.ad-holdings.co.uk/thorp/ :) :cool:

[SteveR]

Thanks for the URL - I'd mislaid it. It's a pity the site isn't particularly fresh...

OK, I invited gossip and comment re: Thorp groups - here's some I've collected. (This is hearsay and anecdote - advance apologies if I've got summat wrong, I'm simply passing on what I've heard and if I hear different I'll happily pass that on too).


The aircraft I'm hoping to get involved with is the one that was at White Waltham. The group at WW has collapsed in acrimony I believe, because the a/c suffered a shock loaded engine and damaged prop tips - and the responsible individual cannot be identified ?!?!?!

I find this so hard to understand.

Apparently it's one of 2 possible members and neither will admit it (the £750 insurance excess may be the root of this).

How there can be no documentary trail defeats me - or is somebody claiming that they missed damaged prop tips before flying it?

The T211 has a very fragile nose-wheel. Apparently, so fragile that the Liverpool group now never land with any flap - this is to ensure a nose-up attitude on final, and to ensure that the elevator has enough effect to get the nose skywards during the flare.

Visibility during final ain't a problem - the Liverpool member who showed me the plane took particular trouble to get me acquainted with the cowling picture during the climb because you can still see so many fields with climb attitude set (there was a strong tendency for this Cessna jockey to set more nose up and then watch the speed decay rapidly).


Steve R

[stiknruda]

Steve R1.

Wow - one minute it was, well I'll pop over to Biggin and view

and now it's

Buy, Buy, Buy


Less flippantly though, if the aircraft has a history of a less than totally robust nosewheel, do you really think that 34 at Rochester would be at all suitable? I have found it one of the bumpiest strips in my experience.

Stik

[SteveR]

Stik: You have a good point. Trouble is, with only 4 or 5 on the register, it's kinda difficult to base glass-nosewheel opinions on statistics. Where did the perception of this trait come from?

Also, it's not got a stall warner and the fuel consumption according to the Liverpool group's spreadsheet is nearer 26 litres per hour than 22 - both things which lessen my ardour.

Anyway, it's probably all academic really. It seems that I've got a one-in-two chance of being jobless soon, not one-in-five as I at first thought.....

SteveR1 (what a good handle - should've chosen it myself)