Vintage Flying
 

Found out about this today.......

www.vintageflying.co.uk


Looks like something that would be great fun! :)

Geez :cool:

The Vintage experience, you're either a puddle of sweat or oil up to your eyeballs.

Mind you when the b*gger finally does condescend to start all is forgiven and magic really does happen.

Best of luck to all concerned, blue skies and happy landings :ok:

£159 for thirty minutes in a Chipmunk - ouch! You can hire Prestwick Flying Club's Chipmunk for an hour for only £115. If you want the full flight experience treatment, they'll give you a half-hour trial lesson for £85.

A commercial operation and they surely need to be able to make a profit so good luck to them. These vintage machines cost a lot to keep in the air. I am researching the Chipmunk for a mag article I am writing and one of the groups I have spoken to have annual maintenance costs of £20,000!.

This is an area where forums such as this can assist. I am sure there are owners of vintage aircraft happy to take a genuinely enthusiastic existing PPL on a brief flight to engage them in vintage flying.

I have access to both a Tiger Moth and a Chipmunk and when they are in the air (not often enough) I am happy to demonstrate the appeal of these great examples of our aviation history if I am planning to fly anyway and have a spare seat. I am sure there are others in a similar position.

I agree with you about taking passengers to fill the empty seat - I've been trying to give as many people as possible the "Chipmunk Experience" whenever I go flying.

£20,000 for a year's maintenance seems a lot. I presume they either had to have some significant repairs/rectification or a major component replaced (engine, prop etc). If you're interested in talking to the Prestwick Chipmunk operators, their contact details are on their website at www.skylarkaviation.co.uk - I'm sure they'd be happy to give you some more information.

I used to fly that Chipmunk when it was at LPL for £120.00 ph. You will find it sweet enough to fly, but a bit tired. Hope they fixed the taxi brake setting too!

Comed at Blackpool have a Chippy at around £120ish, and the club at Hawarden used to offer one dual.

If you want biplanes then the real home is the Tiger Club at Headcorn where you can solo on the tigers and stampe. Also Cambridge Flying Club with two tiggers at around £100ph.

Northampton have a tigger for hire and dual rates used to be available at Nottingham.

This months Pilot gives the annual where to fly supplement (I think) so have a good scour of the listings and you will find plenty of interesting types at rates well below those offered by these commercial operators whose main market is the one off thrill seeker in the high street.

Hmmmmm all I have to say is good luck ! With those prices you'll need it, we'll see if your still in buisiness this time next year !

Ah yes the Chippy is the G-BBRV formerly of DeHav Chester sports & social club at Hawarden with a new lick of paint. What happened to its Sisters G-BARS & G-BAPB ? Are either of them still in the Chester colour scheme ?

Neg G:D

Cheap as chips...
 

I do believe that there is a general lack of understanding about the costs of operating old machinery.

My 2 old wooden birds are not on Public Transport CofA's and are thus not insured for hire or reward either - very expensive indeed.

Nevertheless - I reckon they cost me £300+ per hour each to operate, based on 50-75 hours a year between them.

The Chippie - with its raft of AD's, aint the cheapest toy in the box to operate either.

Sounds a good deal to me, especially if the price reflects a well maintained, sweet aircraft and not a dog.

THe other option for all is a ride in a Tiger at Old Warden when The Moth Club have their annual Charity Weekend. It ain't dear. It is also a wonderful spectacle - like moths round a light bulb.....!

HP

I do believe that there is a general lack of understanding about the costs of operating old machinery.

This is very true. That 20K per year figure is for our Chippy group, with a utilisation of over 300 hours per year. It is based on very many years experience of operating the aeroplane and is an average. Some years it is lower, other years it is higher; we recently paid 4K for a new fuel tank (plus VAT plus fitting), for instance. Annuals are rarely less than 4K and have been over 10K if problems are identified.

These aeroplanes are superb to fly but they are military machines not built with ease of maintenance as a prime consideration. Also, many are now over 50 years old and not only do parts need to be replaced, but mods are required from time to time - we recently had the heads modded to take 'modern' plugs since the originals were becoming unobtainable and were, in any case, unreliable due to sheer age.

Parts are becoming ever more rare, so command a premium price (witness our fuel tank - 4K for a rubber bag:( ).

The true costs of running these old aeroplanes should not be underestimated. It is tempting to think you can pick up a Chippy for the same price as an old 172, but ongoing costs are in a different league. I'd rather see these aeroplanes operated by folk who appreciate what the costs are going to be, and have budgeted for them, rather than a bunch of optimists who fly for a few hours then get a massive maintenance bill they can't afford which grounds the aeroplane.

SSD

Big Bucks
 

SSD -

Respect!

How many hangar queens do we know of - sh@gged out, often- interesting aircraft operated on a shoestring and grounded when the inevitable words 'take out your wallet and repeat after me - help yourself' - are uttered by the guy whose b@lls are on the block if he signs it out 'still limping'.

It seems that a large proportion of syndicate members either have no idea or have been 'sold a pup' by a member clearly in the know about the actual state of it.

It is really sad to see enthusiasm turn to despair when 'the biggie' - which often ain't that much of a biggie to those of us in the know - causes heads to shake and the members scatter to the four corners.

Lets face it - the first thing a new syndicate is going to do is all fly the @rse off the thing - lots of heavy duty check rides - probably more hours in a week than it did in the preceding year... Old machinery will protest. Don't I know it. I wear the Tee shirt.

HP