Hannah Said Yes

Very tricky weather today but sterling work from John W. ensured that Richard's proposal to Hannah arrived in time at Southend pier for 3pm, where she was waiting for an unexpected surprise.

Not exactly the finest weather to be out on the pier, drizzle and low cloud but like the fabled "Pony Express" Airads managed to get there and the girl said "Yes". Another succesful marriage proposal to add to our 100% record!

Captain Cupid Strikes again!

I've attached a short YouTube video. It's not great as I only had my little camera with me and the light was very poor. Hope you can see the major details though!

Trading Up Over Croydon

Trade Depot has selected AIRADS to publicise the opening of its new store in Croydon at the beginning of March.

To support the flights, the company is having a "Split" digital sheet banner designed, which can of course be used for other stores and messages if required. The banner involved allows interchangeable 5' letters to be attached to the end to give greater flexibility for different messages.

Love is in the Air

A full page spread for AIRADS in one local paper and again in a second for the City of Canterbury, following our last flying marriage proposal. Given that the latter involved flying round and round the city walls with "The Big Question", the people of Canterbury were bound to notice in the week before Christmas, much as the people of the Isle of Thanet did at Westwood Cross with our charity Xmas Card in aid of the NSPCC, sponsored by the island's 'Bloggers'!

Valentine's Day and the Leap Year are approaching fast. You can tell because it's increasingly wet and windy, making it very awkward for us to operate. Fingers crossed we aren't rained-off in February again!

Old Trafford and Everton in the News

Lots of reporting today in the papers and on TV of yesterday's flight over old Trafford.

The Liverpool Daily Post reports:

"Fans aiming to keep Everton in the city took their campaign to the skies of Manchester yesterday during the Premiership match between Everton and Man Utd at Old Trafford.

A protester flew a plane with a banner reading Keep Everton in Our City over the stadium. The stunt was part of the group’s on-going campaign to stop the club moving to a proposed new stadium in Kirkby.

Similar protests have taken place at home games, but this is the first at an away game."

The Telegraph reports:

"And five minutes after Ronaldo's opener, Wes Brown failed to cut out Pienaar's cross and Tim Cahill rose above Nemanja Vidic and Patrice Evra and, with the ball in the net beneath the Stretford End, dashed over to punch a corner flag. The light aircraft that had been patrolling the clear winter skies over Old Trafford carrying a banner protesting about Everton's move from Goodison to Kirkby was still swooping above the great arena. From the cockpit, they would have been pleased with what they saw."

Not sure we could see that clearly but more flights yet to come!

Christmas Greetings

It must be Christmas and AIRADS will be making a flight over Kent having raised £150 for the NSPCC for the winner's seasonal message on eBay.

On Saturday, we are over Old Trafford for Everton vs Manchester United and have a Russian marriage proposal over the historic city of Canterbury, if the fog stays away. Our Chinese wedding flight to Oxford earlier today fell victim to freezing fog in the vicinity. It happens and one can never be certain that the winter weather will be in the limits we need to pick-up and fly a banner safely.

A Merry Christmas to all our clients and readers and a prosperous and Happy New Year to come!

We Shall Not be Moved

There's no stopping Airads - with luck - even in the middle of winter, with Everton fans booking us over Goodison Park over the coming weeks, with the message "We Shall Not Be Moved."

Meanwhile, the Sky Bar "Sports Arena" nightclub is opening in Basildon, Essex on December 7th and over the coming two week, we will be letting everyone know, with a little help from a banner they are having designed to celebrate the opening!

Superbike Sunday

The British Superbikes Championships at Brands Hatch today. Bennets may have been the official race sponsors but it's more likely that the appearance of an Airads aircraft over the top of the circuit may have had the sale now on at Laguna motorcycles, noticed by most of the 40,000 or so at the races today.

It's ironic that try as hard as we might, the big names of motor insurance and motorcycle racing simply wouldn't pick-up the phone and as a result, missed hearing about what was, an opportunity missed, for all of them on what looked like an early summer weekend.

Red Lion Proposals

Congratulations to Mike and Amie and Tim and Sally. Mike and Tim used our suggestion of the Red Lion at Stodmarsh as the venue for his special marriage proposal.

Recommended in the Times Online, the Red Lion in an ancient Kent villlage, has great food, an eccentric landlord and is right next-door to a nature reserve, which offers both a romantic setting and an easy spot for us to locate the happy couple! It's also the cheapest spot for a proposal in the country, as it's only minutes away from the airfield and incurs only the basic £295+VAT charge for the proposal flight and the special sheet banner that goes with it.

There's another advantage to this and similar spots close to Canterbury outside the summer months, in that on a day like today, with patches of very low cloud about, we are in line of sight with the area we will be flying over and the risk of disappointment as a result of unpredictable autumn and winter weather is almost ruled-out.

Jose Jose

We had to do Chelsea vs Manchester United this afternoon. A message from Jose Mourinho, "Goodbye and thanks for all the fish", might have been interesting in the circumstances but he didn't ask.

Come tomorrow, it's the Labour Conference and I can certainly think of a different message than one asking the Prime Minister to support small business. "Vote Tony - Get Gordon" springs to mind!

On Season - Out of Season

Almost forgot to post any updates! As this is an occasional diary, we only do it from time to time when our feet our on the ground.

We had the TUC conference and two London Premier League football matches last week, today, there's a flight for a night club over Liverpool and over next weekend, we are in the north for two more Premier football matches for a client.

Add to this, the Labour Party conference in Bournemouth on Monday and the Conservative Party conference in Blackpool - I wonder why nobody wants the LibDems?) and you can see that even with the season ended we are quite busy; Battle of Britain day last Sunday and an EU protest march this weekend too!

While aircraft advertising peaks in August, as you might expect, it still works well at other times of the year if the focus is correct and the weather is good; football and party conferences being two excellent examples. And there's still all the weddings and marriage proposals too!

A Message for Gordon Brown

"Return Metro to Public Ownership" said the message and it was delivered, as promised to Gordon Brown, this afternoon as he arrived at the Trade Union Congress. Couldn't get a better photo from the outside but perhaps the TV news cameras picked it up along Brighton seafront? I could see them swivelling in our direction as we passed the convention centre.

A Surprise for Gordon

With the Trade Union Congress taking place in Brighton next week, pictured here is a potential surprise message from the Union, waiting for Prime Minister, Gordon Brown, to arrive at 'Congress'.

Keep it a secret though!

That Special Spy Plane!

Described as the "Special 192.com spy plane", high-resolution photographs from both the Leeds and Reading festivals can be found here. Now that was a long day's flying, mapping both festivals!

Good Reception

Over the Pegwell Bay Hotel in Ramsgate this evening to help celebrate a wedding reception taking place there. My best wishes to Laura & Randolph on their marriage and for the future ahead.

I was planning to tie the banner to the Oasis 747 yesterday but I couldn't find a suitable attachment point!