Event Director's Report

Get Into Aeros 2025 was held at Popham Airfield over the weekend of 17/18 May with the intention to introduce a group of PPL pilots, with little or no experience of aerobatics, to the world of competition aerobatics and start them on the path into the sport.

The weekend involved 16 participating pilots – all selected for their enthusiasm and likelihood to pursue the sport – being provided with a mix of aerobatic instruction, demonstration flights, informative and inspirational talks and the opportunity to mix with the broader aerobatic community. Aircraft were provided by North West Aerobatics (Extra 200), Leicester Aero Club (Decathlon), Flight Performance Training (Slingsby Firefly) and Ultimate Aerobatics (Pitts S-2A) – all four training providers were generous in their provision of aircraft and instructors and were instrumental in the success of the event.

Day 1 dawned cloudy and chilly as the participants, staff and instructors arrived by a mix of planes, trains, automobiles … and even one bicycle. With all four instructional aircraft and 16 participants present and correct for the morning brief, there were plenty of nerves around. The introductory brief took everyone through the programme for the weekend, safety considerations and matched pilots to aircraft. Sean Link and Julian Murfitt also took the students through the curriculum they would be flying, after which the instructors took their groups for individual briefs. The planned demo flight of the Club sequence was postponed to allow the cloud to disperse and the flying got underway shortly after 11am.

The focus for Saturday was the flying, with everyone flying once, being introduced to loops, stall turns and aileron rolls. The delayed Club demo was ably flown by Sean Link in the Decathlon at lunchtime, followed by the Sport Known sequence by Toby Read in the Firefly. It was great for the GIA participants to see Toby fly the Sport demo as he was a participant in GIA the previous year, showing the progression that is possible from GIA.

As it often is on a sunny Saturday, Popham was busy, made more so by our event coinciding with a social fly-in of the Vintage Piper Aircraft Club (VPAC). This added 30-40 (slow) arrivals and departures to the day but the marshalling and organisation at the airfield was excellent and the pilots managed without any mishap. Except for the demonstration flights, the flying was conducted away from the airfield which helped with congestion and spreading the noise footprint.

Flying continued through the afternoon and, whilst there were a few unsettled tummies, everyone was smiling and the airfield was abuzz with stories of first experiences of aerobatics. The day ended with a demo of the Intermediate Free Known sequence in the Pitts S-2A and a BBQ provided by the excellent catering team. 

As the shadows lengthened and the temperature dropped a few retired to their tents, with the majority of the people traveling the short distance to the Wheatsheaf Inn for some well-earned drinks and story-telling.

Day 2 again started cloudy but by the time the morning brief was complete the clouds all but disappeared, allowing for an Advanced demo to be flown in the Performance Zone, just across the A303 from the airfield. Julian Murfitt took the Extra 330SC through its paces, providing an invigorating start to the flying Day 2 programme. On Sunday, the participants were challenged to learn the remainder of the Club figures and to put it all together in a sequence. In parallel, an Inspirational talk was given by Chris Brook, followed by ‘What Next?’ by Jamie Williams, providing participants a clear and accessible path into the sport. These talks were repeated in the afternoon for those flying in the morning.

Lunchtime saw the demonstration flight series being completed with Chris Brook flying an Unlimited sequence for the benefit of the participants and the crowd enjoying their lunch on the terrace.

The only hiccup in the whole weekend was the Decathlon losing its trim knob in the morning, meaning the remaining three aircraft needed to fly an additional sortie to give everyone 2 flights - the process of who flew in which aircraft finally being settled by a game of rock-paper-scissors! With everyone being switched on and the remaining instructors putting in an extra shift, this was handled without adding delay to the finish time. 

With flying completed, everyone gathered for thanks and to hear commentary from the instructors on the flying and for selecting the pilots who most impressed them – congratulations to Kya Hughes, Alex Sansom, Avi Anant and Toren Phillips!

The whole weekend was a good mix of focused learning, along with relaxed enjoyment giving the participants an excellent introduction not just to the sport of competition aerobatics, but also to the community that makes it tick. I suspect that we will see more than a few of the participants at future events.

New this year, each participant was provided with a SD card (courtesy of British Aerobatics) to film their flights (each aircraft came equipped with a GoPro camera). Not only was this appreciated as a memento, it also provided great content for social media posts, promoting awareness of British Aerobatics, GIA and aerobatics in general. Pilots also got a flight record/evaluation sheet, completed by the instructors, which provided a further memento and a reference for learning and future development. Thanks to Sean Link for organising both of these aspects.

The last word on the event should be one of thanks, as GIA was very much a team effort. Jamie Williams provided the template for the event, copious pre-prepared documents and patient guidance, markedly reducing the ED’s workload. The instructors were fantastic: good humoured, patient and very much entering into the spirit of the weekend. Chris’s and Jamie’s talks on the Sunday were excellent and each of the demo pilots did a first class job of showing the participants what’s involved at each level of competition. Lastly, the team at Popham were great hosts – welcoming and efficient in equal measure.

Charlie Coode

GIA Event Director