Been a long break since we last put fingers to keyboard so apologies to start with followed by the inevitable what we do stuff like hi and welcome if you haven’t been here before and expect to find useful and relevant stuff on balloons and airworthiness. It is here somewhere and we thank you for looking. We do obviously look after the continuing airworthiness of balloons as a Part M organisation if you actually give a flying ferrit and do try and keep things airworthiness as simple and as cheap as possible for balloonists Eurowise. Thank you for your support we do really appreciate it. Anyway onto things more tangential. In the news is a rake of Eurobollix from EASA as they try and dig themselves out of the monstrous hole that they managed to dig when they tried to make licensing requirements across General Aviation more complicated and obscenely more expense. Bless all those that gave them a hard time. The pressure needs to be kept up by responding to the response documents that EASA will be spewing out in the near future. Don’t be shy we all need to send them anything that shows our displeasure. Polite? Maybe concise I think. For us this year is again being quieter than last and, come to think of it, quieter than the year before but that is the way it is so heads down and forward ho we say. The new workshop has taken a turn for the different approach so more on that later. Seems we may be getting a new building but with a less idyllic view. I will, on the other hand, be happy as I’ll only be a short stroll from me horse. Love it.
Seems a lot of déjà vu is going on as we seem to have lost the plot on what we have been intending to write and what exactly goes out so if you get that feeling you have read that before then you probably have! At least we have now got some pics to go with stuff so will endeavour to catch up in the next few days which will no doubt turn into weeks as I seem to have found a really great desire to get airborne again. We had a great flight over Didcot Power Station the other week, story and pics elsewhere and Phil Lawton’s Hurricane also got airborne. Things then are all round great actually despite a series of broken Frank the Lorry bits laying around and parts difficult to find. I think this is all actually a plan to get me to finish all the other jobs in advance of those outstanding. In the workshop arrived a rather puzzling homebuilt hopper bottom end that was put together by the sometimes misguided Andre van Wyk. As it happens it is nearly OK but did require some fettling to make it safer. It is basically an old T&C sawn off Cloudhopper with a new blast valve and whisper bit mated to some reworked curvy frames and probably what is a parascender seat. More on that elsewhere later. So what is on hold and nearly done? Well that’ll be the write up on the Kubicek Balloon, a check flight in Northern Ireland and the trip to the Railex exhibition. Then I forgot we have a half written thing about Ken the Fireman. There is a nice little piece on the recent Leeds Castle get together just up as well. Nearly forgot that one.
Out the back and down the field the seasons have gone mental. Eddie assaulted the oilseed rape and now all the wheat and barley is being cut. We love it but it is all a tad early. Worry is everything will be ploughed before you can say September. On the vehicle front, no sooner had we popped a new radiator into the Landcruiser (must be over 300,000 miles now on account the mileometer doesn’t shift from year to year) then the clicketty click from the back brakes turned out to be a cracked drum! Best bit was it was only £20 odd quid from Milners for a new one. Mistake I fear on their part. The VW Golf with the rude numberplate is back on the road but has temporarily gone on loan to Barry as the propshaft on his Colorado has gone west. He did get around to 35 to the gallon as he pussyfooted around in it. The Bonnie is OK to go having sailed through the MOT but is currently resting in the barn as I can’t sneak past the dog to take it for a ride. Maybe I’ll get to blast down to Bristol at the weekend? Frank the Lorry is still poorly but we do have seals for the front brakes now and hopefully the ones for the rears will trolley along soon. I still have the shopping basket to fly and Mr Chadwick has an Annex 2 jobbie that would be perfect so maybe that is one thing to take to Sackville which is now not that far away. Again I apologise for the longer than normal break and somewhat disjointed latest issue of Easy Balloons webbystuff but, let’s be honest, we are loving the weather and just making the most of it. We naturally assume that if we are out and about then you, like us, won’t be that interested in scrolling through the Wibblywobbly web. Thank you then for visiting when you probably have a lot more interesting things to do and, if you do have more interesting things to do leave now and go do them. All the very best whether you are climbing quickly or descending gently, Chris, John, Jane, Dotty and Alice who we would appreciate getting off her horse and coming and doing some filing at the very least (o: The picture is G-UINS getting his feet sorted by our John.