Despite the best attempts of the Irish weather to scupper the inaugural Private Flyer Show at Weston last Saturday (1st April), the event turned out to be a tremendous success. Poor weather on Friday prevented a number of display aircraft from the UK from making the trip over but over half did make it including a range of impressive aircraft from agents such as Beechcraft, WF Aviation and Cirrus Aircraft.
Having a mix of indoor and outdoor displays made the show work and gave visitors the opportunity to shelter indoors during some of the regular downpours. A seminar programme ran throughout the day and included speakers such as Gerry Humphreys, NFC Pilot Academy, PPL/IR Europe, WF Aviation, Altitude Insurance and Garmin. GASCo/GASCI we’re running a preflight inspection competition on Cessna 152 EI-BJM to spot various defects during a standard preflight inspection. Pooleys were on hand to provide a range of pilot supplies while FunFly Aerosports were available to talk to pilots about flight training and hour building.
Outside the unique Cirrus Jet got a lot of attention from visitors as did the Airbus H130. WF Aviation had a range of pre-owned aircraft on display they currently have for sale. Their team were also on hand to offer general advice on buying second-hand aircraft. Some classic Weston residents such as the Grumman Goose and DeHavilland Dove were also on show.
Private Flyer ran in conjunction with the Irish Golf Show which worked well exposing GA to individuals that might not generally have known much about private flying. Exhibitors reported brisk footfall with an estimated 1200 visitors for the Private Flyer Event alone. It was great to have such a big event to kick off the flying season for the year. The GA community was significantly disrupted by Covid so it was great to get so many leaders from the GA community under one roof to ‘reset’ and prepare for a busy flying season ahead.
The next Private Flyer Show takes place in Wycombe Air Park just outside London on 19th/20th May followed by Leeds East Airport on 7th/8th July. Hopefully, we’ll see the event back again next year. More information at www.privateflyershow.com
Thanks to Alan Dwyer and Trevor Buckley for the photos and to Weston Airport for the video.
