4 October 2017
More than 40 aircraft attended the joint Cavendish Aviation and Alpi Aviation UK fly-in held at Earls Colne Airfield in Essex over the weekend of 23-24 September.
Both companies are led by Steve Allen with Alpi Aviation UK becoming the official British dealer for all of the Italian Pioneer aircraft at the start of 2017.
Despite early rain on the Saturday, the weather was kind across the whole weekend with clear blue skies and Indian summer style conditions on the Sunday as fly-in guests enjoyed complimentary refreshments and bacon rolls from Steve and his team in Hangar 2 at Earls Colne.
Visitors included LAA chairman Brian Davies who arrived on the Sunday in his Europa XS while a dozen Pioneer aircraft flew in from all four corners of the UK. Three Pioneer 300s flew in from Shobdon while Andy Sellars brought his four-seat Pioneer 400 down from Northcote.
Socata TB10 at the Earls Colne fly-in.
An Alpi Pioneer 400 aircraft at the Earls Colne fly-in.
Socata TB aircraft was also represented by a dozen pilots from around the country. They included Neil Richardson in his Tampico TB9, Jon Parker in a TB10 that was one of the first Cavendish Aviation Socata refurbishments, and Chris Hunt in a TB20.
Other fly-in aircraft included a 1935 Hornet Moth from Suffolk, a Luscombe 8 and an Aeroprakt A22-L Foxbat from Malvern.
One of the event centrepieces was G-IGGL, the current Socata refurbishment from Cavendish Aviation. Steve and his team rescued the TB10 from the aircraft graveyard earlier this year and the aim is to see it back in the air by the start of 2018.
