Members ideas are always welcomed. The most popular ideas are for tours in various parts of the world, and over the years we have visited many countries in this way. Currently there are three such tours "on the books". Members may join in at any stage in an appropriate aircraft. The usual Club banter on TeamSpeak is an integral part of these tours, and cements the social side of the Club, in spite of Members' scattered locations across the world.
The 1930's saw many aviators seeking routes for their country's fledgling airlines. Spurred on by the demand for fast and reliable conveyance of passengers and mail, mainly between Britain and it's Colony's. Simultaneously rich financiers were offering large sums of money for record breaking flights, e.g. London to Sydney and London to Cape Town. One such epic flight of exploration was made by a young South African pilot, Victor Smith, who was a pioneer of African air-routes. Flying a Gypsy-engined De Havilland Moth of 100 horse power, modified with extra fuel tanks to increase range, this intrepid aviator took off from Cape Town to fly, day and night, the length of the African continent, then Europe to arrive in London, attempting to break the Capetown to London record.
This is a tour to visit all the State capitals in the contiguous USA and collect a souvenir from each. You can stop off at intermediate stops, you just have to visit each State capital at some point. Here is a list. To start, fly into the USA from Canada to the first capital city of Augusta, Maine. You must of course fly a light aircraft - no skipping round in executive jets!
This long range event is a recreation of the epic flights of the early US postal air service. The web page is here: http://www.airmailpioneers.org/index.htm. The flights were made in the Curtiss Jenny aeroplane (download). It was a typical aircraft of the day and had no brakes, no flaps and no airspeed indicator. Apart from a magnetic compass, it had no navigational instruments, The entire route is approximately 2429 nm, and it took the pilots some 25 hours flying time to complete the journey. The full time elapsed for the west bound flights were in the region of 35 hours using several pilots and two overnight stops. Later on, night flights were inaugurated and proved to be successful.
Take off from Deadhorse, Alaska (PASC), and fly 14,000 miles to Ushuaia International (SAWH). You are allowed to stop at intermediate airfields on the way! Club members have flown this route both north to south, and south to north. There is much spectacular scenery en route, as well as some boring deserts.
If 14,000 miles is a bit long, try this one. Route 66 crosses the USA from Chicago to Los Angeles, a distance of 2448 miles. Ed Sterling has written on the Club forum some fascinating stories about the history of the pioneers who pioneered the exploration of America's west and you can land at small airstrips and absorb the atmosphere outlined in his stories.
The original 93 UK Farms Strips developed by Gerry Winskill, and the 10 developed by Pete Chapman, have been re-organised. The Farm Strips page gives the complete itinerary in groups, starting from Gloucestershire, and finishing eventually at Biggin Hill. A more formal start was made in January 2015. Usually two groups were assigned each month. Monthly assignments were shown on the Locations page, and details were discussed in the forum. Whilst that cycle has been completed, it is still possible to make your way round the planned route.