Boxing Day Sales

I was up over the Bluewater and Lakeside shopping centres at noon today as a photo flight for one of the national newspapers. While everyone, the media included, appears to expect a record number of shoppers, I can tell you that neither one of the two shopping centres had what I would describe as an unusual amount of traffic and I did actually wonder if John Lewis was closed.

If I hadn't known it was Boxing Day, I might have thought of it as being a normal Saturday afternoon's trade!

Captain Snap over Westwood Cross

Captain Snap was flitting about just before noon today, taking photographs of the Christmas Eve activity below and particularly at the Westwood Cross shopping centre on the Isle of Thanet.

I've uploaded some of my photos which take in Westgate, Margate and Westwood Cross on to Flickr and you can find these here.

I can't admit to seeing as many people shopping as I would have expected at the peak time of the retail season but judge for yourselves!

My apologies for the quality as they are not as sharp as I would wish. The light is very poor today and the best my camera could offer for a high-speed aerial setting was ASA 500. I'm tasked with going over Bluewater for one of the daily papers on Boxing Day and so I'm hoping for rather better conditions then.

Falling with Style

Not for the nervous flyer perhaps but the video below displays such outstanding airmanship on the part of the pilot, that other than gawp with admiration at his skill and fast reactions, I can't really pass comment!

A View of Thanet Earth

Having revalidated my night rating at Manston airport yesterday evening, I decided to try out the new Pentax camera on the growing 'Thanet Earth' construction site on the way back to to the base airfield this morning.

Not the best of days to take photos with a 1,500 cloud base but I thought that curious readers might like to see the current progress of the world's largest greenhouse in Kent and the only place you are likely to have a bird's eye view of it all is here I suspect.

Should you require a detailed and hi-resolution aerial survey then please ask.

Captain Snap and the Pool

'Captain Snap' was in the air for the Daily Mail yesterday, the target of interest being Heather Mills' swimming pool in Sussex.

I had been to the house once before about two years ago, when the local authority asked for some photos of an outbuilding extension but this time, there is reportedly some kind of planning dispute involving the lovely Heather's new swimming pool - I assume she received the house as part of the divorce settlement with Sir Paul - and at least two newspapers asked for photos with the Daily Mail seeking an exclusive.

Friday was the first decent break in the weather for a week and offered just enough time and sunshine to take the required photos. No sign of Heather though. If she's any sense she'll be far away in the sunshine. Captain Snap would be too but needs a larger aircraft to get to the West Indies without a stop!

Photo copyright Airads 2008

It's a Mystery

One more lucky marriage proposal today! Even luckier in the circumstances of the weather over the last week.

Northern Ireland was a washout and you'll understand why if you saw the news from the Lake District with two thousand runners stuck up a mountain in torrential rain and gales.

The cloud was too low to support the Chelsea game on Sunday but at least our luck was in for 'Heroes of Sport' over Manchester central on Friday afternoon.

So congratulation to "James" on his proposal to "Jo" of Doncaster this afternoon. Rather like that famous quip from the film, "'Shakespeare in Love' "It's a mystery to me but it all works out in the end."

Proppa Weather - Almost Summer

You might be forgiven for thinking that summer had returned today. The last time I recall the weather was this good in October was in 2000 and it helped us achieve the unexpected, with the BT Vision banners over the Scotland vs. Norway international football match at Hampden Park and three league matches in Belfast with a second aircraft at the same time!

Tomorrow, Sunday, looks set to start with fog and we have the beach races to cover for Proppa.com at Weston Supermare, with a fallback - if it's foggy - to the UK Superbikes Championships at Brands Hatch.

The late summer weather has bought out the lovers as well and I've to fly two marriage proposals within ninety-minutes; one over Whistable Harbour and the second past Canterbury Cathedral on Sunday afternoon. The 100% proposal success record still stands!

Scott Loves Emma

Following the worst possible conditions for a marriage proposal on Saturday, a delighted Scott Greenhill writes:

"I would like to say a very big thank you to you and your team at Airads for making the day a very special one for Emma and myself. I have been very impressed with your service and professionalism from start to finish. The weather was against you and despite this you still flew the banner!"

BBC Essex radio went looking for the mysterious Emma and recorded a nice interview on the subject as did the local paper.

The Sun Welcomes Rocket Man with Airads

Airads and The Sun Newspaper were the first to welcome pilot Yves Rossy today as he became the first person to fly between France and England on Friday with a jetpack strapped to his back.

The simple kerosene-burning jet turbines propelled him the 22 miles between Calais and Dover at speeds of up to 120 mph. The journey took just under 10 minutes.





The 49-year-old Rossy, who calls himself "Fusion Man," ignited the jets inside a plane before jumping out more than 8,000 feet above ground.

After a period of free fall he opened the wing and soared across the water. With no steering controls, the only way to change direction was like a bird, moving his head and back.

When he reached Dover, he released his parachute and drifted down gently before landing in a field with The Sun newspaper's welcome right behind him.

Rossy traced the route of French aviator Louis Bleriot, who became the first person to fly across the Channel in an aircraft in 1909.

It was absolute mayhem above the landing site, with unauthorised French pilots accompanying the Jet Man, not talking to air traffic control and presenting a real hazard to the camera helicopters and the banner aircraft.

Perfect Vision

Floating over Premier League games today with the BT Vision banner.

Our presence clearly didn't help the score between Tottenham and Wigan; a nil, nil draw but arriving as I did just before the match started, I'm sure lots of people saw the banner; the same being true of the match at Middlesborough earlier.

It's a really big banner and 30 feet high and you have to appreciate the effect it has on the performance of a small aircraft. You have to watch something that big very carefully indeed and even the simplest manoeuvers demand considerable effort and attention; particularly to the aircraft speed and the potential for a stall.

It's certainly not an occupation for nervous flyers or even nervous pilots. Today with a nice collection of power lines situated on the climb out, attention to both detail and aircraft performance were absolutely vital.

Football Crazy with Airads

As if by a miracle, a day of good weather and that allowed us to fly the BT Vision and Setanta Sports football shirts banners over Manchester United vs Liverpool, Manchester City vs Chelsea and Blackburn Rovers vs Arsenal, as well as sneak in a marriage proposal over Southend pier as well.

The lucky lady, Annie, said "Yes" I'm told!

Tomorrow, it's over to the Lakeside shopping centre for another proposal and next week its more football matches, involving West Bromwich, Chelsea, Tottenham and Manchester United.

Meanwhile, we have to frantically move the banners around between aircraft and pilots, rather like a bizarre game of musical chairs with the added excitement of not knowing whether UPS will either lose them or forget to pick them up.

A Little Magic with Tesco GoCompare

During the summer, Tesco's advertising agency contacted Airads asking how it might be able to use an aircraft banner to support the supermarket giant's new motor insurance television advertising campaign www.tescocompare.com . The final result wan't quite what we expected but involved veteran magician, Paul Daniels, walking down Croydon High Street and 'by magic' an aircraft flying past with a banner....

See the video here.

Weather Worries

A mixed bag last weekend, thanks to the weather. All the BT Vision banners flew over the North-east football venues, as instructed but in the South, I found it impossible to reach the slot we had before the start of the Bournemouth airshow, thanks to low cloud sitting on the hills around Compton Abbas.

Tuesday was the day of the COI public safety film at Bembridge on the Isle of Wight but while the brand new Coastguard helicopter had no problems operating, the strong winds made picking up the supporting banner impossible. Fortunately and racing back to Sandown on Wednesday, I managed to lift the banner over the pier before the wind became excessive again. To give you an idea of how strong the westerly wind was, I managed to return from Sandown to Manston in 50 minutes.

So up and coming this weekend if the weather allows - and it doesn't look hopeful - there's a Trades Union banner to do over Norfolk and next week, there's Liverpool Blackburn Rovers and Manchester City games to fly with the BT Vision football shirts! to

On the Beach

Beyond the up and coming Bournemouth Air Show this weekend and several Premier League football matches on Saturday, there's another interesting challenge ahead on Tuesday involving fliming with the central Office of Information (COI).

The COI are making some kind of beach/water safety TV advertisement and Airads has been asked to fly over to Sandown on the Isle of Wight, with a banner saying: "Do You Know Where The Kids Are?"

There's a slim chance that the forecast good weather for the coming weekend might just last into next week's and it would be a nice change to fly with the Sun out.

Today, we only managed to get one of the two aircraft booked for a display over Blackpool for the West Lancashire Chamber of Commerce. a wall of cloud prevented the Harrogate-based Piper Cub from crossing the Pennines but one aircraft was still better than none in the end!