slingsby firefly
 

I fancy trying out a Slingsby Firefly. So far I've found 2 places that have them:
Cambridge & Thruxton.
Does anyone know of any others within 2 hours drive of London?
Thanks

I think Stapleford have one, too.

Foxy

Two at Hinton in The Hedges
 

Two of 'em sitting on the grass there a couple of months ago - don't look like they've moved in months.

Cubair at Redhill have access to a T67MII.

Good choice.

I can give you the same briefing that I received. 'It's a very nice aeroplane. You will like it!'

pboyall,

RAF Wyton do indeed have two, though you need to be a member of the flying club there. How easy it is to join I don't know. I can find out if you like.

Foxy

wyton
 

contacted wyton....no go.....service personel only

Hmmmm, had a feeling that was the case. Bad luck. There are restrictions on some of their flying activites, so it may not have suited you anyway.

Foxy

You should be able to drive to Cambridge in about 90 mins....................
I can do Cambridge-Gatwick in 1 hr 45
Cusco:rolleyes:

Slingsby Firefly
 

A bit further from London - 2hours25mins on the train from York - Full Sutton east of York has one along with an acclaimed instructor.
http://www.pprune.org/forums/archive.../t-147118.html
The above posts give some more detail.

The USAF Academy flew them as part of a flight training program for the cadets. After a very thorough evaluation following three fatalities, they destroyed all the aircraft...wouldn't even allow them to be sold.

cjboy is correct as far as I know. Anyway, other nation's airforces use them as a primary trainer. Can't remember them off hand, but I'm sure a ppruner will come along soon with the details.

Stapleford have at least one. I did an hour aerobatics in it - fabulous fun. Mind you, compared with a Cessna 152, any low-wing, high-power aircraft would be! :O

The last time I was at Stapleford, they were actually using the one from Cambridge - their own one was in the hanger being repaired - and apparently the one from Cambridge was rarely used, so Stapleford leased it. Best to check first if you're going to Cambridge !!

Because had they been sold, and then operated successfully in civilian hands, awkward questions might have been asked about why the USAF had a problem with them.....

They had the leased one and their normal G-BYOB at Stapleford last week.

What's wrong with the one at Thruxton? Its my local airfield, takes me 45 mins from the M3/M25 interchange on an average day.

the a/c is active a fair bit...

Steve

Just to add - when you get checked out on it (where ever it maybe).. Get the instructor to demonstrate its spinning capability ;)

cjboy,
Its you who should get facts straight. The US tests could not find fault, they put them back into service, and still continued to have problems.
Of real concern should be the civil UK experience. I know of a number of expert pilots who cannot fault the aircraft. BUT, in the UK, just in the last 6 years, 5 people have been killed in three accidents from non recovery from spins, from a height where this should not be a problem. In two of the cases, it was with an instructor who was conducting training.
All should read the AAIB reports - these are the facts.

In my (very) limited flying experience, I have to say, I was totally shocked at how easily and quickly the firefly just flips in to a spin with the 'wrong' control inputs (spin training post PPL)..

I used to fly the Slingsby, and went through a pretty comprehensive spin training exercise before flying solo aerobatics. I have also spoken to two very experienced Slingsby instructors (who teach spin recovery in the T67 almost on a daily basis) and both stated that if you apply the correct spin recovery controls and keep them applied - it WILL stop. Every time.

If you don't, it won't.

So, the moral seems to be, allow plenty of height for your practice aeros and get the proper training.