Maiden Flight

Over the Reading Festival (2006) this afternoon towing a banner for rock group, Iron Maiden for what was planned to be 90 minutes but we noticed a tear in the banner fabric - you can just see it in the pickup photo at the top - so to save the banner from further harm, we cut short the flight to take it home for repairs.

Apologies to a disappointed Iron Maiden but these banners are like the sails on yachts. Made of hi-tech material able to take enormous forces, just occasionally and very rarely, a seam will fail and if that happens, it's best to get them backon the ground quickly to avoid the risk of an unsightly bundle of washing behind the aircraft if a tear expands in flight.

Meanwhile, on the ground below, I can't remember seeing so many thousands of people packed into such a tight but very large space. You could see the stage from miles away!