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Post by ChrisGazzard on Jan 8, 2020 19:45:50 GMT
Ohh I like a puzzle... 13/3 I-PDVE arrived , became G-LKAM 18/7 OO-XSA which became G-LKAM 21/8 G-VBAW balloon you could also add G-ATEF that was damaged 14th June and departed by road in October for repair. Hopefully that will return in the next couple of months from what I heard at the weekend. I must get out more... Rob You got it. Fortunately G-ATEF made many other landings this year. And I-PDVE became G-LKVA (typo)
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Post by ChrisGazzard on Feb 5, 2020 9:26:23 GMT
Morning all, Here's the info for January. PerformanceDespite a general feeling that the weather was poor in January, we still beat last year with 2,419 movements (up 4%). This is our best January since 2009. 100LL was down 9%, but when combined with UL91, overall AVGAS sales were up 1%. We weren't stocking UL91 this time last year. JET-A1 was very good, up 77% YOY All of this was borne out in the financials, and whilst Blackbushe is still loss-making of course, we saw 30% improvement on January last year. The January spider diagram is as below: Notable AircraftI keep a tally of new aircraft. By "new" I mean we haven't seen them since before 2015. We had 20 in January, all visitors. Visitors were down 27% year on year with 76 landings, but we had a free landing voucher in Flyer last year which we didn't repeat this January. Common Land Deregistration11th and 12th Feb - next week - for the judicial review hearing which we are very much looking forward to. We will keep you posted. Chris
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Post by ChrisGazzard on Mar 2, 2020 12:38:48 GMT
Afternoon all, Here's the info for February PerformanceThe wettest February in 150 years apparently. It certainly feels like it with many of the grass parking areas flooded and the wind and rain relentless. That manifested itself in the monthly movements, down 20% on last February despite the extra day. Fortunately with a few big Jet uplifts our fuel was only 7% down. The February spider diagram is as below, and doesn't reach as far this month, with far fewer unique destinations reached also: Notable AircraftI keep a tally of new aircraft. By "new" I mean we haven't seen them since before 2015. We had 16 in January, including 2 new based aircraft for BFG. Visitors were up 5% in February despite the bad weather. Common Land DeregistrationWe did all we could do in the court, we now await the judgement. We will keep you posted. Chris
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Post by ChrisGazzard on Apr 1, 2020 14:39:42 GMT
Afternoon all, Here's the info for March PerformanceObviously we lost 8 days of flying following the closure. We did see a bit of a bump just before the closure, as I think everyone could see it coming. As of the 23rd March, we were up 62% year on year. Ultimately we ended up down 10%, and March last year wasn't particularly exceptional. We were down 22% on the average for this time of year. The March spider diagram is as below, and despite the lower movements, we had a good spread of destinations. Notable AircraftVisitors were down 49%, I think partly to do with the Farnborough Airspace, but mostly COVID-19. Even before we closed, the advice had been to avoid pubs & cafes, and so visiting other airports was a lower priority for a lot of pilots. Common Land DeregistrationStill no decision. I've been informed by our lawyers that they've heard nothing also. However, the judge did emphasise we would have to be patient, as it's a particularly complex piece of law. Stay safe and hope to see you all soon. Chris
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Post by ChrisGazzard on May 1, 2020 13:24:46 GMT
Well here goes for April. PerformanceWith the airport closed with the exception of a few types of flight, movements are unsurprisingly down 97% on average, with just 104 for the month. Thankfully according to Boris we are past the peak, but it remains to be seen how businesses can open safely. Whilst pilots and staff on the ground can fairly easily distance themselves from one another, our based flying schools and indeed the cafe may have a harder time of it. We have had a few maintenance flights, and survey flights, so we are able to produce a spider for this month, although it's a lot smaller than usual. Notable AircraftJust the two visitors this month. G-WPDD, the Electricity Survey helicopter, and OY-MNS which dropped in for fuel and was doing aerial survey also. Common Land DeregistrationYou'll all have seen the decision I'm sure. The judge, Mr Justice Holgate, gave us Permission to Appeal as part of his order, and so the lawyers are currently working on the grounds. When we have news, we will share it. Hopefully next month I'll be writing with a few more movements! Chris
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Post by ChrisGazzard on Jun 1, 2020 15:52:15 GMT
Here is May's report. PerformanceWe opened on 19th May to recreational GA, but PPL Training was unable to resume. So on the 10 days we were open, we were down by about 33% on last year. Still not a bad showing, and fuel sales have been good. I'm also really pleased to see a great looking spider this month! Notable AircraftI think Rob picked up most of the notable visitors etc. The Westland Wildcat did not land. It hovered a few metres above the H, then departed to the west on 25 doing a RH circuit over the top of Yateley! Eyes peeled tomorrow, I am told another brand new aircraft is coming to us, weather etc permitting. Common Land DeregistrationOur appeal has gone in to the Court of Appeal, and I've seen corresponding documents from opposition parties also. It's all taking a bit longer due COVID-19, which is to be expected. The good news is that we don't need permission from the CoA to appeal, as thats already sorted, so that saves some time, money and paperwork. I very much doubt there'll be any update on this until into 2021 now. We open tomorrow again, and will remain open 7 days. Good to see a strong bunch of "spotters" observing social distancing. I'm always looking for new pics to keep our social media alive, so if you get any nice shots that aren't so focussed on the aircraft, but include it within the airport setting (showing her beautiful side of course) I'd be interested to see them and share on our Instagram, FB, Twitter etc. Chris
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Post by ChrisGazzard on Jul 2, 2020 8:21:20 GMT
Here is June's report. PerformanceWe were open 29 days in June (closed on the first). Overall movements were down 48% on last year. This is to be expected and we're eagerly anticipating the return of Flight Training from 4th July. We just have to hope for some good weather. Notable AircraftWe saw 85 visitor landings in June. We saw the arrival of Blueplane's new SLG2. We have one other new based fixed wing. We also have a couple of aircraft here for short-term purposes. "Exciting" visitors saw the second Irish Air Corps since reopening, and a CJ1 thats visited a couple of times now. But really, any visitor is exciting . Oh, and whilst not in June, yesterday saw one of the Phoenix Helicopters aircraft return in anticipation of Flight Training resuming. We'll be keeping minimum staffing in the beginning of July, but we may have to increase this once Flight Training gets going, depending on their demand. Chris
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Post by ChrisGazzard on Aug 3, 2020 9:42:58 GMT
We're back - and in a big way. July was a fantastic bounce back! PerformanceFlight Training resumed on 4th July but the weather was poor until the 8th. From 9th onwards we were 15% up on last year, our busiest in 13 years. On the month overall we ended up 2% down on last year, but 2% up on average for the time of year. Very happy with the result. We sold 7% more fuel than the same time last year, mainly helped by the business travel coming back who uplifted lots. And you can see some of their exploits in making the spider very healthy looking indeed. On 30th July I tried to track as many aircraft as possible on ADSB Exchange and came up with these diagrams: Notable AircraftWe saw 158 visitor landings in July, down about 16% YOY, but more than in 2018 and 2017. We saw G-LKSM take to the sky under her new registration, and we've welcomed two new fixed wing residents, and a temporary resident too. We had some interesting visitors, the Citation II, a CJ2 with a beautiful paint job, a C510 Mustang we hadn't seen before, and we saw the Falcon 50 here too. In total 20 new aircraft visited us this month that we hadn't see before. We are pretty much back to normal now, albeit with more social distancing etc going on. Here's hoping the good weather continues in August! Chris
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Post by ChrisGazzard on Sept 15, 2020 11:16:49 GMT
Sorry for the delay on this one, but here's August. PerformanceWe started strongly, but there was lots of wet weather in late August. We ended up 11% down on last year, but still better than any other year since 2009 and 11% up on average for August. Another strong month. We sold 8% more 100LL than the same time last year, JET-A1 was up 25%. And here is the spider: Notable AircraftWe saw 112 visitor landings in August, down about 25% YOY. We saw G-DANL, GSIIX and G-TOML take to the sky under their new registrations. We saw the Kingairs in and out lots, as well as the Falcon 50, Globeair C510s, a couple of CJs and a couple of PC12s. In total 17 new aircraft visited us this month that we hadn't seen before. Stay safe! Chris
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Post by ChrisGazzard on Oct 1, 2020 14:09:09 GMT
September's data then - nice and promptly. PerformanceWhat a month! We ended the month on 4,645 movements. That's the second highest number of September movements since digital records began in 2000 (2003 had 4,841). It is also the most movements in any month since June 2008. We sold more 100LL than in any month since digital records began in 2010. Jet Sales were very strong, the best in several years, and far above average. What caused this? Weather was very good certainly. There is also the looming threat of tighter COVID measures, and a certain amount of pilots wanting to make hay while the sun shines. I know I've seen a lot of students completing their PPLs over the past few weeks. Instructor availability for the schools has improved, with some who had departed to the airlines in the last few years coming back to instruct again. Here is the spider: Notable AircraftWe saw 154 visitor landings in August, up about 45% YOY. This was probably boosted by a landing voucher in the LAA magazine which ran for September. We had 29 exec jet landings, 16 turbo props. Most of them were regulars, but I counted 6 Jet / Turbo-props that we hadn't seen here before. All in, 37 new aircraft visited us this month. I think Rob can probably figure them all out! Stay safe! Chris
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