Latest News
Off to a Good Start
9th June 2010
Our season has got off to a good start. It began with our offer of help and support to Anne and Vic Norman, and the whole team at Aerosuperbatics, with the staging of their amazing ‘Bugles at Dusk’ charity event at RFC Rendcomb in May. Dave Walton undertook the role of Flying Display Director and we spent a delightful afternoon in perfect weather watching some wonderful displays. A full review of the event is at Flightline UK.
The following weekend saw the first of our major seafront shows, the Southend Air Festival which is also reviewed at Flightline UK. The Sunday saw bright and sunny conditions but sadly a strong north-westerly wind, at times gusting to 32kts at 1,000ft! This caused the cancellation of the RAF Falcons display and also meant that neither the BBMF nor the North Weald Red Gnat could join us because of the crosswinds at their home bases! Day 2 saw calmer conditions but it was now overcast. So we lost the RAF Falcons display again because of the low cloudbase but thankfully everyone else was able to display. It was a particular delight to welcome the international participation of the Royal Netherlands Air Force AB-412 SAR crew who undertook an entertaining and skilful demonstration with the local RNLI. Overall, although we missed out on the Red Arrows participation because of the delay to their PDA, we hopefully still provided a varied and interesting mix of displays for the large crowds that gathered along the Thames waterfront over the 2 days.
The following weekend saw us on-the-road again. On the Saturday evening we organised a display by Peter Teichman in his Hangar 11 collection Hurricane IIb and Jonathon Whaley flying rarely-seen Spitfire Mk XVI G-MXVI/TE184 as part of an open-air concert being staged on the airfield at Dunsfold. They arrived precisely on time, as the conductor’s baton signalled the start of the Spitfire Prelude, and proceeded to fly a stirring display for the duration of this classical piece of music, to a very appreciative audience!
From Dunsfold, Dave Walton and Ian Sheeley headed for Dover to run the flying display planned as part of the 100th anniversary celebrations of the Hon Charles Rolls’ (of Rolls Royce fame) cross channel return flight of 2 June 1910; the first Briton to undertake such a flight! As is so often the case in the UK, the weather played its part in trying to dampen the celebrations! After some ferocious thunderstorms overnight, we woke on Sunday morning to little more than 1,000m visibility in mist and murk, with cloud sitting on top of the famous White Cliffs! Although conditions did improve slowly, it wasn’t in time for the planned display by BBMF or the first slot of the Rolls Royce sponsored Spitfire display - originally intended to be Phil O’Dell flying the Rolls Royce operated Spitfire Mk XIX but because of its grounding for ongoing maintenance, Phil was using ARC’s Spitfire Mk IXT. Thankfully, despite the towering CBs that seemed at times to be surrounding us, Phil did manage to get airborne from Manston during the afternoon to replicate the original flight across to Calais, before returning for a stunning display over Dover Harbour in near-perfect conditions! Although there was an amazing collection of Rolls Royces, from vintage to the newest models, parked along the seafront for all to view, we think the Spitfire display stole the Show!
Out and About
22nd April 2010
TSA was on-the-road last week visiting the Typhoon Display Team and BBMF at RAF Coningsby and then 2Excel/The Blades at Sywell.
Preparations for the season are clearly going well! We watched this season’s Typhoon display pilot run through a practise session – even though he was still using a 1500ft base, it was clearly a new routine designed to really emphasis the power of the Typhoon. Hopefully, he will be stepping his practice heights down over the next week or two to reach his final display heights ready for his PDA. We were also able to sit in on their monthly meeting to talk through their planning for our shows and had an ‘in depth’ tour of this phenomenal aircraft.
BBMF were as busy as ever preparing for what will be one of their busiest ever seasons as the Country recognises the 70th Anniversary of the Battle of Britain.
At Sywell, the Blades were busy practising their 2010 routine, getting ready for their season to start soon. Just to see how the training was going, Dave and Ray went for a trip with Blade 1, Myles Garland, and Blade 4, Mark Cutmore. From the grins on their faces all the way back to our offices in the Cotswolds, I would say the trip was a success and that preparations are obviously going well!
Southend Air Festival Press Launch
15th April 2010
Despite the Volcanic Ash Cloud that crippled much of the UK's commercial aviation on the 15th April, Southend Council launched the 2010 Air Festival. The Festival is the first of a series of festivals Southend runs throughout the year, and 2010 is also the 25th running of this popular airshow. Sadly, the risk of flying through the ash prevented the RAF Hawk and Tucano teams attending but Peter Teichman made the short hop over from his North Weald base in his beautiful P-51D Mustang. TSA's Dave Walton was able to announce some of the highlights of the Air Festival flying programme. Sadly, the Red Arrows are unable to attend due to delays in their training programme following the training accident in Greece. However, all of the RAF's regular solo displays (Typhoon, Hawk, Tucano and Tutor) will be displaying alongside the Battle of Britain Memorial Flight and Falcons Parachute Display Team. The Navy will be sending their Black Cats display team and there will also be displays from The Blades and Breitling Winglwalkers. For the latest news of the Air Festival, please visit the official website.
Sunderland International Airshow 2010 & 2011
14th April 2010
TSA Consulting is delighted to announce that we have won the tender process for the Flying Display contract for the Sunderland International Airshow for the next 2 shows (2010 and 2011). Being part of this 'flagship event' for the North East is a real treat for us and we look forward to working with the team from Sunderland City Council to deliver another spectacular show in July.
Bournemouth Air Festival Launch
19th March 2010
The Bournemouth Air Festival was launched on the 19th March 2010 at the Odeon Cinema. Hallmark Productions have produced this short video of the launch.
European Airshow Council Convention 2010
19th February 2010
TSA Consulting, as a member of the European Airshow Council, is delighted to have been asked by the Board of the Council to run a one-day training seminar on "Airshow Management" as a precursor to the Council's Annual Convention to be held next week in Hasselt, Belgium. Proving to be extremely popular, the Seminar is already fully booked with 40 of the Convention's 160 delegates planning to attend, representing 17 different countries.
National Airshow of Wales to return in 2011
19th February 2010
Swansea City and County Council has decided not to stage a repeat of last year's Wales National Airshow in 2010 but, instead, to make it a biennial event. So we look forward to a spectacular return of the event to Swansea Bay in the summer of 2011.
Southend Festival of the Air 2010
10th February 2010
TSA Consulting is delighted to have been asked to organise the flying display element of the Southend Festival of the Air 2010. This will see the 25th staging of an airshow on the May Bank Holiday weekend along the Thames Estuary at Southend – the longest running seafront airshow – and all have seen the critical involvement of Ray Thilthorpe in the role of Flying Display Director and latterly as a member of the Flying Control Committee and ‘specialist aviation commentator’ to the team from BBC Radio Essex
Strings and Wings comes to Dunsfold Park
9th February 2010
Back by popular demand, Dunsfold Park Ltd are delighted to confirm they will be holding a two day concert, Strings & Wings, which will take place on Friday 4th and Saturday 5th June.Friday night will feature leading Queen tribute act, The Bohemians with a support act yet to be announced. Re-enacting the glory days of Queen, The Bohemians perform hits including Radio Ga Ga, Bohemian Rhapsody, and A Kind of Magic. It's the world's most exciting Queen tribute act guaranteed to rock you with their energy, outrageous costumes and showmanship.
On Saturday, the history of the aerodrome is celebrated with a classic concert in honour of the 70th Anniversary of the Battle of Britain. The Philharmonia Orchestra conducted by Carl Davis and accompanied by Claire Sweeney will perform a mix of classic and popular scores which express the emotion and story of the Battle of Britain. A flypast and fireworks will conclude the celebrations.
TSA Consulting will be overseeing the flying display elements of the classic concert with displays from Hangar 11's Spitfire and Hurricane. For more details, visit the Wings and Strings website.
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TSA Consulting Ltd
Lodge House
15 Gosditch Street
Cirencester
Gloucestershire
GL7 2AG
Tel: +44 (0) 1285 659590
Fax: +44 (0) 5602 048854