Sambro Flying Super Hero Action Flyerz, Ironman

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Time to climb – and become a test pilot. My 170 is equipped with a Sportsman leading-edge stall kit, and I knew that my indicated stall speeds would be pretty low, between 40 to 0, depending on the configuration. Well… as for me… I’d like to fly a DC-6. At least fly with me. Is there something that could be done…?” I ask cautiously. He directs us to create a grid with one column for the different flaps position, one for the stall warning activation, and a final one for the actual airspeed, and says, “today, we are going to be test pilots.” The first flight of the day was going to be dedicated to performing stabilised approaches and spot landings. We also discussed how to aim for a spot using an imaginary ‘rifle sight’ and make precise landings every time. By precise, we are talking about hitting a marked line on his runway!

On the dual frequency, we dial up Sandown and copy their arrival details to save time on the RT later – there are already a few aircraft in the circuit. At some stage, after gradually climbing to 3,000ft-plus, we gradually head out to sea and aim for Ryde pier, then overhead Bembridge airfield from where you can see the airfield at Sandown, just in from the coast.

Even with his reminder, I try to set the first notch of flaps too early, he tells me to wait. “Now,” he says, and I pull the Johnson bar, and the large fowler flaps of the 170 go down to 40°, increasing my rate of descent. “Hit your spot,” he reminds me, “Imagine you only have a 600-foot area to land in and remember to retract the flaps to force the aeroplane to land.”

This machine belonged to Hughes. When we bought them, there were still tons of personal belongings on the plane,” says Ragar. We like to route inland on the return to Kent, following along the edge of the towering South Downs, while occasionally swooping a little lower over the steep-sided valleys. We are home in 1hr 25min, before most people are having their breakfast. Saturday at Spamfield is always the biggest arrival day and sitting with a coffee and an enormous breakfast bap in the cafe area you can enjoy all the landings – good and bad. OK, SkyDemon refused to play ball, stubbornly repeating that our ‘subscription had expired’… OH NO IT HADN’T!Vilnius is Europe’s only capital you can overfly in a hot air balloon – complete with a zone transit overhead its international airport. Ryanairs will hold for you, because, remember, powered aircraft must give way. It’s around 100 miles for us if we fly direct – alternatively we can follow the coast and take in the majestic splendour of Beachy Head and the Seven Sisters gleaming white chalk cliffs stretching away towards Brighton. In 2005 the Royal Navy was being reviewed at Spithead for Trafalgar 200, although we couldn’t get too close! In 2009 the Red Arrows did a low pass, so we all had to be on the ground for that. I then take a few photos of the unloading, marvel at the amount of oil under the engines and climb into the aeroplane.

Unfortunately not,” says Rob, shaking his head. “Really not. At least not in the short term. We are not allowed to take passengers on these planes. There would be trouble. You would first have to apply for a special permit – and then wait a long time.” Rob will be here in 20 minutes. Just spoke to him. Get on your way,” says Chris, putting the radio aside.

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Some of these nuts and bolts did look a bit tired – but everything seemed functional, and the price was very reasonable. This airfield is named after Steponas Darius and Stasys Girėnas, two pilots from the 1930s who sit right at the top of Lithuania’s national pantheon. Their portraits, along with a picture of their aeroplane, adorned the national currency before Lithuania switched to the euro. Darius and Girėnas attempted the country’s first transatlantic flight in 1933, but crashed just 400 miles short of Kaunas (the country’s capital at the time). Away from the capital, the south-east where our Auster is based, is Lithuania’s answer to the Lake District. You take off, turn south and immediately find yourself cruising over a glacial landscape, with miles of blue lined by pine forests. The only thing missing are the fells – Lithuania is a very flat country. The following year it was held at Sandown and the ‘modern Spamfield’ (to use Olympic terminology) was born, and I haven’t missed many over the years. For the local supermarket,” explains Rob. But some of it would be distributed directly to smaller planes and then flown to even smaller towns with even smaller airports.