WARBIRDS
Jamie Ewan heads behind the scenes at Duxford-based Aircraft Restoration Company’s recent pilot training day
“Help yourself to a doughnut and coffee,” beams world-renowned display pilot Paul Bonhomme as he and other Aircraft Restoration Company (ARC) pilots – Dave ‘Rats’ Ratcliffe, Cliff Spink, Lee Proudfoot, Lars Ness, Steve Jones, Martin ‘Mo’ Overall and Barry Hughes – discuss the final details for the outfit’s 2019 flying training day.
Commenting, head of training ‘Rats’ explained what the gathering was all about: “We recently ran a ground training day covering things like engine and parachute handling techniques, along with recent CAA [Civilian Aviation Authority] changes and Duxford rules and regulations. So, the idea of today is to put some of that into practice in the air. We also have to do something called essential training requirements – or ETRs – in the Chipmunk, before carrying out dual checks in the Spitfire, and then some of us have currency training as well. To that end we have the [Spitfire] T.9 flying four sorties, the Chipmunk two, Lee [Proudfoot] is going to fly the Blenheim for the first time this year and I’m going to take up the Lysander for the first time.”
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