..........or at least postponed until the early part of the 2021 season.

We regret that the latest upturn in COVID infection and the control measures introduced today (14th September) really do mean that the safe running of our Senior Nationals at Sywell (24th to 27th September) and Junior Nationals at Conington (8th to 10th October) is no longer possible. We have therefore decided to cancel both events and will arrange refunds for those who have already entered. Please remember to cancel any hotel bookings you may have made.

Running multi-day events was always going to be a challenge. Our two one-day events at Leicester (Tiger Trophy) and Sleap (Golding-Barrett, Roy Legg and Duxford Trophies) showed what can be achieved safely with good planning and compliance with social distancing and sanitisation. Both were really great contests, well attended and with some fantastic flying. Now we have to recognise that bringing multiple households together from around the country and close interaction at busy airfields and hotels over a number of days really isn't in the spirit of the Rule of Six nor of helping the national effort to contain the inadvertent spread of the virus. 

We are very conscious that we would like to support UK airfields at this difficult time through fuel sales and also support our aerobatic training organisations. It should be possible to run some small training events if there is demand and we are also looking at whether we could run the Club event with small numbers at multiple locations. Again, the key will be to minimise the risk of spreading the virus, but please let me know if you are interested in getting involved in either of these initiatives by emailing chairman@aerobatics.org.uk.

The challenges of operating with COVID are not going away anytime soon and we will continue to monitor what is possible and safe. If pilots are able to maintain currency over the autumn and winter we will look at running the 2020 national championships early in 2021, with next year's championships later in the year. At least we will have something to plan for and look forward to.

Meanwhile, enjoy your personal flying at Stay Safe !

Steve Todd

Chairman