19/11/2013 Back to News
Humber Bridge @ Leven
PRBA members; cleared for take off.

Well it would be rude not to wouldn't it? So we did.

Photo courtesy Tom Bulloch
Thank you to Hull Aero Club once again for welcoming us to Linley Hill Aerodrome for our annual 'Humber Bridge' balloon meet. Even Captain Muffin, the Aero Club's four legged pilot, was on hand to welcome everyone back again with a wag of his tail.

We had five balloons booked in; Terry Chamberlain and Malc Skilbeck in G-WIMP, Graham Hill in G-BVPV, Alex Smith in G-OATV, Duncan Lambert in G-RIXY and Ray Wright with his brand new, not yet out of the bag, Cameron Concept-70.

Sadly the weather on Saturday did not favour us so flying was put on hold for the day which meant that Captain Muffin got more attention from us whilst we all stayed for breakfast - cooked by the club's pilot chef, thank you Peter! After which we could all go and explore the beautiful East Yorkshire towns and villages, such as Beverley and many more.

We all met up again that evening for the annual dinner, for the second year at the Old School House Restaurant on High Stile in Leven. Again we were not disappointed and left feeling very full after an evening of good food and good company, including a paper aeroplane fight; it seems that the pilot can be removed from the aircraft but he/she is never that far away from flying! After apologising to Barry Nelson, the owner of the Old School House Restaurant and an ex-RAF man, for the litter louts leaving their planes all over the place, he reported back on also having lots of fun flying the paper aeroplanes after we had left.

After flying the paper variety the previous evening, we managed a flight in real aircraft on Sunday morning despite the weather not looking too promising, we have photographic evidence too from Tom Bulloch!

Duncan Lambert in G-RIXY, Malc Skilbeck, Colin and Julia Wolstenholme in G-LIMP and Alex Smith & Phil Traviss in G-OATV all flew out of the airfield and travelled, ooo, all of a few hundred metres in the still morning air. Alex flew Peter Haughton, another of the airfield club's Peter Pilots (lots of them!) in exchange for the flight to which he treated Barnaby and Elaine Smith a few years ago in a Cessna.

The challenge was set to win the new perpetual trophy for the closest landing to a bridge marked on the OS map with lots of them to choose from with the area being littered with canals and dykes. Alex thought he was in pole position for this one after landing a smidgen closer to a bridge than Duncan who was only a stone's throw away from him - but crucially further away from the bridge, but then home came Malc, Colin and Julia, triumphant by landing practically ON a bridge. Well done Malc, look after that trophy!

Malc and Mo Skilbeck obviously have a penchant for bridges as they went on to win the bridge themed quiz too.

Many thanks to all the Peter's and more at Hull Aero club, which is an absolute credit to all the hard work put by the members in making it such a lovely, friendly club, and we have a promise that we can come back again next year. Mark the dates of the 14th to 16th November 2014 in your diary so you don't miss out on the fun.

So that's it for the PRBA weekend meets - we've had a great year with lots of successful meets both old and new. Thank you to everyone who has contributed to this success.

Over and Out!
   
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