It's a hot summer in England

It's an SOP (Standard Operating Procedure) for a pilot to log a flight in the logbook on one's birthday.
This I did by taking a Sling 2 for it's first flight, (fledging), so a celebration for both of us.
We flew from Barton Ashes airstrip to Popham where flight testing was to continue, with basic handling and stalling done along the way. The radio failed and so I joined after a phone call to the radio operator at Popham.

Sling 2 built by Philip Hooper at Barton Ashes.

The Sling 2 has gone through it's flight tests with no snags, this is unusual, but indicates a job well done.

30th June, flying the Cardinal RG, I took the opportunity to photograph the old army strip.

Always delightful to fly a Piper Cub.

From time to time I do pre-purchase inspections...
I flew with David in the BFA Citabria in Thailand, and now he, and a couple of students in Thailand, are looking for one or two to buy.
David is over here for a while and so we went into deepest darkest Kent to look at a Champion 7ECA... 'Problem is the engine, it would need an overhaul before going to Thailand where the CAAT are strict on such things. The airframe was in good condition.

The 7GCBC is not the best for aerobatics, but with an O-320 engine, and flaps, it is suitable for flying in and out of short strips.
This one looks very nice, and its engine is low time since overhaul, so it is twice the price of the 7ECA above.
But overhaul the 7ECA's engine, and it will exceed the cost of this one...
Though the price is steep, a little out of reach, I think this 7GCBC is a good aeroplane to consider if resources are pooled.

HS-BCS was the first aeroplane I flew in Thailand.
I spent six days teaching the local 'ace of the base' aerobatics in this aeroplane in 2004, with the accent on recovery from unusual attitudes (UPRT). HS BCS was imported into England as G-CEHS.

We took the Sling down to Lee on Solent for a transponder and ads-b test as part of the LAA Flight Test requirements.
Then we did the two hour endurance flight that is also an LAA Flight Test requirement.

I am amazed by what a microlight pilot is allowed to fly within the 600kg weight allowance.
This is a serious performer... Microlight aircraft were fabric and tube contraptions with two stroke low power engines that permitted flight around a grass patch with minimal energy when they crashed.
Now what?
High performance aircraft which in the past would require the pilot to have at least a Private Pilots' Licence.

As a CRI I can do Biennial flights with pilots and sign their licences off for another two years.
Once again I flew with Russell in his Auster...
There are a few mandatory items to be covered on the ground and in the air, but primarily I like to use these flights to do something to expand the pilot's skills.
And so we did straight and level at various airspeeds to find the best cruise power setting, and then back into slow flight.
We did turns at reduced airspeed... The Auster 6 is capable of doing 45 degree bank turns at an indicated 40 knots airspeed.
We could simulate flying over the Malaysian jungle looking for communists, something this Auster did in it's past.

The Auster was made for looking down.

The British Microlight Aircraft Association is looking at the certification of the Chinese engine.
A cheaper alternative to the expensive Rotax 912 engine.

In 1977 I flew this Rallye to Schaffhausen Neunkirch in Switzerland, it took seven hours and was an adventure.
I was working at Blackbushe when a couple of idiots offered to respray this aeroplane for £160 (they had a business spraying cars in peoples driveways).
They sprayed it with Nitromores paint stripper and it went everywhere and up the sides of the canopy where it attacked the perspex...
I washed the wings out with white spirit, cleaned out every bit of paint stripper I could find, and then I sprayed chromate primer inside the wings... I must have done a good job because 48 years later there's no corrosion in the wings.
We resprayed the wings themselves and fitted a new canopy.
Andy did not want to pay the bill! So one night another aircraft engineer (Geoff) stole the aeroplane from our hangar, it was criminal, dirty business... Geoff had the audacity to post a cartoon of me in his workshop, supposedly sleeping while he whizzed the Rallye out of the hangar.
I am glad to see this aeroplane still airworthy. I did a lot of maintenance work on it at Blackbushe, and I had a lot of fun flying in it.

Within the flight test schedule one has to do the death dive Vne test, where you dramatically dive the aeroplane at the ground to Velocity Never Exceed, gently play with the controls and then ease out of the dive... Phew!
As this aeroplane has a VP/CSU propeller, I had to do it twice, the second time with the propeller set manually to full coarse pitch.
Then there's the autopilot which has low speed and high speed limits set... You select 0.9 x Vne (120 KIAS) and a ridiculous rate of descent, and check that the autopilot refuses to allow the aeroplane to go faster... Worryingly exciting.

On Thursday I renewed both my Transport Canada Category 1 medical, and my British Class 2 PPL medical, total cost: £708.
Now I have three months to do an exercise/stress ecg because my age raises my Q Risk, I have to find a place to do this, and it's cost will be an additional £500 to £700, a total of four months of my British pension to keep flying as an instructor!