2016 annual reviews

[graham]

Gents, please feel free to tell us about the best bits of 2016 for yourselves.

[graham]

I'll get the ball rolling. First trip of the year for me was to Wellesbourne on 2oth January, a field I'd never visited. I was granted airside access from the friendly staff and away I went. An hour or so later, I thanked the guys for the access and went home 49 frames better off. I also called in at Bidford and made a further seven there. On 10th February I visited Enstone for the first time and left 61 frames the richer.

Working as I do predominantly in the West Country, it's often relatively easy to nip in to various fields if I have half an hour or so to spare. This year saw me visit Yeovilton several times, as I drive past the station 4-5 times a month, good inroads were made to my Wildcat and Merlin numbers as well as the occasional Grob and Alpha Jet. I also visited Bodmin and Perranporth, both wonderfully friendly fields but as these are regular ports of call for me, I rarely make more than a couple at each. I also paid a couple of visits to Exeter, a good regional airport that often throws up a few surprises. I also nipped to Culdrose a couple of times and made a few more Merlins.

On 30th April, I rolled along to Popham for the Microlight Trade Fayre, met a fair few forum members, and ended the day 164 frames better off .

On 6th June, several of us hopped on an EasyJet flight to Hamburg to tour the Airbus plant at Finkelwerder after which we spent the remainder of the day on the restaurant terrace at HAM. Boy was it hot, 30C and the plate glass that surrounds the viewing terrace only made it worse but in true Bulldog spirit, we soldiered on until our flight was called to take us back to LGW. A thoroughly enjoyable day which saw me log 57 A320/A321s, two A330s, seven A380s plus a further 70 or so at HAM plus a few OTTs. Bill kindly put me up the previous night as we had an early start, so we met with Jeff for a curry bang opposite FAST, where we logged the lot and I made everything there.

The 21st June saw the eagerly anticipated Middle Wallop base tour organised by ZZ. This was probably the biggest gathering of AFA-ers since the forum formed and so on a bright and clear day, we were given the full treatment by the base personnel including an induction into the history and current responsibilities for the base.

If I recall correctly, we were given access to all hangars bar one and what a worthwhile trip it was, coming home as I did having made seven out of the ten Apaches we saw, four of the eight Squirrels, 13 out of 13 Gazelles, 12 out of 18 Lynxes, three out of three Bell 212s, plus two Sioux, a Scout, an Alouette, a Skeeter plus six fixed wing frames.

With the takeover of my present employers' company, there were many trips to Birmingham where fortunately, meetings were conducted in a hotel very close to BHX, on a high floor which afforded superb views of the airport. Trips here throughout the year really became my "ace in the hole" for 2016 and enabled me to fill a lot of gaps in my Lufthansa, KLM, Emirates and Qatar fleets.

Staverton also featured strongly during the year, again, I drive past the airport several times a month so it's usually easy enough to find half an hour to nip in. Staverton never disappoints - despite never having done the hangar tour here, I always make at least ten and often quite a few more.

Kemble is also relatively close to me and I paid a dozen or so calls here throughout the year to catch up with the exotic and not-so-exotic airplanes that come here, invariably to meet their makers. Highlights for me were the Saudi 747s, the Mexican Embraers and the Bolivian RJ.

The 30th July saw the eagerly anticipated Blackbushe Air Day; many of the AFA regulars volunteered to help with the day, for my sins I spent four and a half hours on traffic duty behind the BCA warehouses but once my stint was finished, I was able to meet some more of the chaps and spend a couple of hours wandering around the exhibits. Only made about 2o I think, but for me, the best part of proceedings was seeing the life breathed back into this historic airfield. Bigger and better things are on the cards for this year!

I met up with Bill and Jeff at LHR a couple of times and as always, potted loads, all the continental and middle and far east stuff that never ventures further west than London.

On 24th November, I met up with Bill, Jeff and Dave again for our long anticipated road trip to some outer London fields. We met at Blackbushe for the traditional fry up. made a couple there, then hit the road and took in Denham and Booker, neither of which I had ever visited, plus White Waltham (last visited about 40 years ago) and Northolt which was loaded with biz jets, although I only needed 3 or 4 of them. Some hangar access was granted at Denham, airside access plus the main heli hangar at Booker and saving the best for last, a full accompanied hangar tour at White Waltham. I made about 170, essentially everything I wrote down or took a shot of.

Validation Day at FAB on 6th July gave me the chance to meet several AFA-ers and a further 30 or so hit the book, both show stuff and OTTs.

Finally, 2016s summer hols took the OH and I to sunny Rhodes where despite not being a spotting holiday, about 250 frames, all airliners, hit the books as they criss-crossed over the island.

So, a good year, I ended up on a final tally of 3,028 frames of which about 200 were scrapes. Will 2017 be as good? I certainly hope so.

[Jeff]

Morning all, a simple breakdown of the year for me,

136 helis
309 General aviation
55 military
5 Russian
41 props
1342 airliners
27 biz props
265 biz jets

So a total of 2180 which beats last year so am
Please with my haul :-)

[zz]

Happy New Year all

2016 wasn't a great year for various reasons, so hoping for a better 2017 with a bit more spare time!

It was good to meet AFAers at Popham and then Middle Wallop.
As a teaser, in December I contacted a couple of military bases to request a group tour in 2017. Still waiting to hear back...

My highlight of 2016 was a long-awaited visit to Cuatro Vientos and Madrid. (Log and many photos on the site) Valencia and Teruel were also visited, before flying to Berlin air show so several hundred were made on the trip.
RIAT was particularly good in 2016- haven't posted my pics from my drive round the airfield yet!

I did visit several UK fields and shows, and with the help of some of the AFA members, found a few of the military wrecks and relics that I need. Thanks again!

For 2017 I'm hoping for good weather for Popham, LAA and next weeks's Icicle, all of which must surely be deserving of some good luck by now! Looking forward to the new Scampton airshow and the USAF anniversary at RIAT.

I try and visit a new, big museum in Europe every year- haven't worked out 2017's destination yet, but may combine it with Paris air show.

Current plans for 2017

Icicle meet- weather dependant
Popham - microlight fair and other events
Aeroexpo Booker
Paris air show
RIAT
Bristol Balloon Fiesta
LAA Sywell
Scampton air show
European museum - ??

Maybe

Scotland trip?
Metz for weekend?

Perhaps see some of you at Newbury next weekend?

[egcc]

Back up in Manchester for 2016 (having spent 9 months in Andover!) but plenty of trips out and about meant the year wasn't too bad. In terms of frames...

2016 885
January 28
February 20
March 99
April 70
May 53
June 106
July 199
August 67
September 54
October 140
November 32
December 17

Best year since 2012, looking forward to a decent 2017 - lots of things in the works so should be good!

[n48284]

Having completed the task of logging everything I had from 1980 to present into the Freebird database, this year has been the best since 1999.

1211 for 2016

Jan 4
Feb 52
Mar 107
Apr 33
May 70
Jun 133
Jul 306
Aug 137
Sep 45
Oct 87
Nov 79
Dec 68

I was also lucky enough to fly 14 odd hrs in various Gazelles, G-CBSK, G-ZZLE, G-CBSI, G-VOIP, G-EZZL, YU-HPZ and also the Cabri G2 G-SDTL. Oh and a Tiger Moth G-AYDI and 4 Monarch A321's.