We were recently visited by leading aviation magazine publisher Key Publishing to be featured in an article about Bristol Airport for their June 2017 issue. The editor of the magazine Andy Martin met with Barry Bailey and Andrew Sinclair who provided a guided tour of the facilities on offer to students and the general public.
During the tour of our facilities Andy was able to see our classrooms, bmi regional training facility and Flight Lounge bar and café. We were particularly proud to show off our Redbird MCX light aircraft simulator, which is the only one of its kind in the UK.
As a flying club we are privileged to be operating at Bristol Airport with its commercial traffic but are provided with a great deal of support such as security and air traffic control. Andrew Sinclair commented “Commercial air traffic will always get priority, but integrating with airline aircraft is important – if you can get a licence here you can fly anywhere in the world.”
The article explains how Bristol Airport began its operations initially from Whitchurch Airport before moving to its current location after World War Two where it was known as Bristol Lulsgate, an ex RAF base used during the war. Our historic flying club has been in existence since 1927 starting initially at Bristol Filton Aerodrome before moving to Whitchurch in the 1930s.
Bristol Airport saw its first commercial flight depart on April 15 1957 paving the way for a popular regional airport to develop over the coming years now serving millions of passengers each year to hundreds of destinations, we are proud to be part of the journey and also be included in this great magazine feature of Bristol Airport.
The magazine is now available to purchase as a hard copy from all good newsagents or via a digital download from the Airports of the World website. An extract from the magazine that shows our feature can be found below.