[jonkil]

The fly-in scheduled for the end of May, the 29th and 30th at Tibonine Airfield, Co.Roscommon has been cancelled and will not take place.

[mark]

Hi Jon,

That's unfortunate, was there any reason given for the cancellation? Three of the four fly-ins so far this year have been cancelled, not a good start to the flying season!

Regards,
Mark

[jonkil]

Preliminary because most visitors are from N.Ireland or fly on NPPL(M), owners/operators of airfields (microlight fields especially) simply will not run fly-in's until the mess is sorted out, they wont risk or accept responsibility for crews being potentially targeted by the IAA ....... this will make the Northern Ireland fly-in's larger and more crews going across to ones in the UK.
It will be a lean year for fly-in's in the south, and the Island Hop event we hoped to re-run for 2010 is also cancelled.

[hibby]

Just as a matter of curiosity, do non-microlight planes such as Cessna 172s visit Tibonine? Or is it pretty exclusively used by microlights and STOL aircraft? An internet source (I don't have a flight guide handy) reports it as 360m runway length. According to the C172 POH this is sufficient landing and take-off distance, but in practice it seems it would be very tight.

[DonalMW]

Here's Dave Bruton's Sukohi EI-EAI there: (Destroyed by a fire a while ago)


And A C172 EI-CLQ


And both :

[nosedive]

That's a pity - I was really looking forward to that but it's hardly surprising. Another irishflyin episode with the toys being thrown out of the pram. How long are events like this going to be ruined for those of us who ARE legal. If you took short cuts in your training or aren't legal then that's YOUR problem. If you're not legal then don't fly - but don't ruin it for everyone else and complain that the big bad IAA might enforce rules you always knew applied.

Thanks guys - great way to support microlighting in Ireland (oh sorry that should say Northern Ireland)

[jonkil]

That's a pity - I was really looking forward to that but it's hardly surprising. Another irishflyin episode with the toys being thrown out of the pram. How long are events like this going to be ruined for those of us who ARE legal. If you took short cuts in your training or aren't legal then that's YOUR problem. If you're not legal then don't fly - but don't ruin it for everyone else and complain that the big bad IAA might enforce rules you always knew applied.

Thanks guys - great way to support microlighting in Ireland (oh sorry that should say Northern Ireland)

No short cuts re:Training nosedive, I resent that, 4000+ NPPL's issued with the best safety record in the world, personally 1000+ hours on a NPPL all over Europe. Ireland is the only country in Europe who does not accept another member states licence for microlights.
Not complaining about lack of fly-in's, its just a fact that many wont run this year, field owners such as myself wont run events unless we ban all NPPL pilots, that wont happen, but there is loads of events in Northern Ireland and the UK.
Spread your wings a little and get across the pond in 2010, a lot of crews already been across to Popham already this year and many more planned trips to the UK happening in 2010. Drop a PM and I will send you details.
Hopefully 2011 will be better, the NMAI have got an agreement for visiting NPPL pilots in their recent deliberations with the IAA, however when this will be implemented is anyone's guess.

[bean_ian]

they wont risk or accept responsibility for crews being potentially targeted by the IAA

It is nobody's risk or responsibility but the PIC of the visiting aircraft. Is there insurance implications for airfield owners here or something that I'm missing?

[JFH]

b

[nosedive]

Jonkil, you've just reinforced everything I was trying to get across. Those with an NPPL won't be happy until the system is changed to suit them rather than taking PIC responsibility for flyin or not flying. I really can't understand why these events are cancelled making us all suffer - there are people who fly legally who'd like to go to fly-ins too you know!! But don't worry, you boys look after yourselves and like I said - good luck continuing to support microlighting in thr UK.

While I would like to do popham/spamfield etc a flyin in IRELAND would be nice too!

[damienair]

Hi Nosedive,

Unfortunately it just not that simple, at one stage the only Microlight licence available was the UK NPPL(M). People generally who fly microlights do so because it is a very affordable way of self ownership and maintenace and running costs are also affordable. Then the schools started up in Ireland but the syllabus was basically a PPL A without the Instrument rating, so again people decided to travel over sea's or across the boarder. This was very unfortunate for Irish Schools as the playing pitch was so uneven.
I have a UK NPPL(M) , straight away after qualifying I did a class II medical , got my RT Licence and made sure that all was above board and legal, and so I was able to validate my licence and I have always been legal. Unfortunately though some people whom travelled the same route as me have had difficulty with getting their licences validated and are given no explanation as to why. The Microlight community in Ireland is a very close one and many of these flyin's have been cancelled because no one wants to get a good friend or a over sea's visiting pilot in trouble. And I can completely understand.
Thankfully I hope this mess is close to being cleaned up, a few very good members of the NMAI committee have had discussions with the IAA and the future looks much brighter. It is very unfortunate that these flyin's have been cancelled, as they are very good friends of mine and always put on a fantastic spread and an excellent day out. Hopefully next summer will have them back on again and we can get back to flying in peace.
It should not be turned into a discussion about people throwing their toys out of prams, it's just that no one wants to organise an event where a good friend could be grounded as a result of visiting through no fault of their own.

[jonkil]

The IAA really makes my head tilt to one side sometimes like a dog thats confused!!!!

I can fly my G-reg Cessna 152 with my UK issued PPL(a)SEP and I can also fly 3-axis microlights with that in the uk and the rest of europe. But, for some Bizzare reason when I want to fly from the UK to ireland, its grand as long as im in the cessna but forget about it if im in the microlight! Its so stupid like.

You sum it up perfectly.

I really can't understand why these events are cancelled making us all suffer - there are people who fly legally who'd like to go to fly-ins too you know!! But don't worry, you boys look after yourselves and like I said - good luck continuing to support microlighting in thr UK.

While I would like to do popham/spamfield etc a flyin in IRELAND would be nice too!

No intentions to make anyone suffer at all nosedive, it is just a reality that a lot of "microlight" type fly-ins wont happen this year. I fly legally on the NPPL, many don't, many of our N.Ireland chaps are not going to jump thru hoops just so they can fly down south... why would they?
Yes, I will continue to support microlighting, be it in the UK or Ireland and I will indeed look after myself, always have, always will.
There will be fly-in's in Ireland this year, many will be far south where the reliance on overseas and UK pilots will not be as big of a concern so all hope is not lost of you being able to attend an event in the south....
I am not being awkward, I am being realistic... last year over 60 overseas crews attended our fly-in here, this year without them it is not viable, the sad thing is that it is the local charities (Donegal hospice in my case) as well as the crews like yourself that will not benefit because of the current situation.
Damienair summed it up very well, hopefully 2011 will be better.

Regards,
Jon

[Higgie]

Hi Jon and James.
Very sorry to see one of the years best events cancelled. Any chance of postponing it until August/September instead. The NMAI are making good progress with the IAA in simplifying the licencing requirements and making it easier for foreign pilots to visit here. Hopefully the dark days where a Northern Ireland microlight pilot has had to wait for 18 months after jumping through all the hoops to get permission to cross the border for a day are nearly over.
remember NMAI AGM Bridge House Hotel Tullamore 12 o clock on sun 16th may.
regards
Higgie