The big news this month is that following negotiations and considerable pressure from a number of key individuals it was announced on 11th July that the implementation of EASA licences for ballooning is, subject to a formal vote in October, delayed until at least April 2018. It is also considered likely that the upper age limit for Commercial Air Transport pilots will be raised from 65 to 70. Full details are published in the July 2014 BBAC Pilots’ Circular.
We feel this is at last a move in the right direction towards EASA’s stated aim of making rules & regulation to GA in general and ballooning in particular more proportionate. It is likely to at least delay a number of pilots from giving up on our sport and should make life easier for the new entrants so desperately needed. We need to not only thank various BBAC officials, notably Phil Dunnington & Don Cameron for their tireless efforts fighting this case, David Court, Paul Spellward & others for their enormous efforts to make us ready for the original deadline but also our own CAA, who from the top down, have been sympathetic to our cause and that of General Aviation in general – as illustrated by their ‘Road Show’ as part of Aero Expo at Sywell on June 1st. … Common sense at last?!
July was another good month for trading with 4 envelopes / complete balloons sold in the smaller size range 31-90, replaced this issue with 4 more envelopes, 3 of them at the other end of the scale, including 2 x 300s and a 425. The fourth is Zebedee’s Colt 77A G-BUVB a real gem – it flew 120 hours in its first couple of years existence (from 1994) then 18 years of good dry storage. It looks and flies beautifully. We nearly kept it for ourselves but cannot justify hanging on to so many envelopes …..! Meanwhile our other recently restored 77, G-BSEA is still for sale. Whilst this one has some white mould inside (and a few blotches outside) it flies really well – see the August Aerostat page 10 for a recent pic – you can only see the mould close up! We should add that one of those 300 envelopes above only has 4 hours – see G-CBAW.
Also new for August is a titanium cylinder, 11hp fan, radios, 2 Westfalias, Worthingtons, Holiday accommodation/launch site in Southern France and items from Koen in Belgium which include yet another excellent condition bottom end – where does he find them?!
In not so good condition is fan F148 in the Zebedee Fan section. Most fans for sale with us have been serviced & cleaned up, however we detect that there is a demand from the DIY enthusiasts amongst you to do your own work/cleaning. Hence F148 is offered at between a third and half its potential value but ‘as is’ having been stored for some years!
As threatened, Zebedee has had a cull of long standing ads this issue – all ‘static’ ads where we have had no update or response to our emails over the past year are gone. All it takes to get them back in (for free) is a line from the seller.
Finally we have to report the theft of G-LOLL, a Cameron V-77 from Harrogate, North Yorks around midday on Saturday 19th July. No trailer (or fan) was involved, so presumably whoever took it was after a balloon ….. Any info (or for details of equipment stolen) contact Rob McCulloch on 07709 599295.