Supporting NO to AV Above Mr Cameron

Airads was sitting over an Academy in Maidstone today, watching the Prime Minister, David Cameron arrive with his entourage.

I'm sure he noticed his 'No to AV' banner!

Racing at Goodwood

Airads was operating from Goodwood airfield over the Bank Holiday weekend, promoting the horse racing weekend at the famous racecourse at the end of this month.

The beaches between Portsmouth and Brighton marina were packed with with sun-worshippers enjoying what felt very much like July weather. Over in the naval dockyard at Portsmouth, I saw the nuclear submarine had gone but two modern warships were moored-up for the weekend.

Aerial Views of the Olympic Site

I promised to give you some aerial photos of central London on this unusually warm April day and I have added in some passing shots of the Olympic stadium , so readers should feel a little privileged to be able to see what's going on there before anyone else! Follow the links to the online library for the rest.

Manston Airport Welcomes The Turner Contemporary Gallery with an Airads Banner

Manston Airport welcomed the opening of the Turner Contemporary Gallery with a banner fly past this morning as local artist, Tracey Emin and Jools Holland started the ceremony. For anyone wishing to enjoy a 'Bird's eye' view of what was happening at exactly 09:45 this morning as the gallery opened, a historic moment for the town of Margate after many years of waiting, here are some photos to enjoy. The link to the gallery will give you higher resolution, although not quite good enough to identify individual faces!

Airads Flies The Brighton Marathon 2011

Back home from an hour sitting over the start of this year's Brighton Marathon. It's a little warmer and sunnier on the southern side of the country and I wonder what any visiting alien might make of all the thousands of people running up and down the Brighton seafront? In this weather I don't envy them, having experienced the real pain of running the distance in warm sunshine and little wind when I was a little younger. There's an episode of National Geographic, 'Running the Distance', which shows me rather worse for wear in the Sahara desert.

This week we have two days of away training with the GliderFX display team in preparation for the season ahead. Lot's more flights to come so do look out for us!

American Advert Shows Benefits of Plane Banners

A video from a US aerial advertising company, shows the benefits of using aircraft to market one's message or brand!

Spring is in The Air with Airads

Congratulations to Matt and Fiona, on the first truly Spring weekend and Airads was running romantic messages and marriage proposals from as far apart as Brighton Beach for Steve and Lisa and then to Lytham, with a quick stop for a religious festival outside Coventry.

Now's the time to start booking your own aircraft banner as from March onwards, the weekends start to become booked into the summer, for weddings and big events and there of course only four capable aircraft in the entire country.

My Funny Valentine

An unusual Valentine's Day job yesterday with a flight over Sittingbourne, (photo by Jim Bennett). I'm still not entirely certain what it was for but I did put the Kentish Gazette, who called me when I landed, in touch with the sponsor.

Sittingbourne being a relatively small town, I can honestly say that in a sixty minute flight, if anyone didn't see the banner message, they were most probably asleep!

Congratulations Luke and Kellie

Photographs just in from Paul Johnson of the first marriage proposal of 2011.

Touch and go with the weather conditions once again and with Rochester closed, we had to divert to Headcorn to set-up the operation. But like the film, 'Shakespeare in Love', it all worked out in the end and from the air, I could see Luke drop to his knees and propose to Kellie, who of course said "Yes"

Congratulations from Airads.

Ice Pilots

I've been floating above the snow-covered Suffolk countryside this morning over a stately-looking pile at place called Ellingham, where WikiLeak's Julian Assange is hiding from a small army of satellite vans and press photographers camped among the trees. It's bitterly cold out there and I'm only just getting the feeling back in my hands after putting the aircraft away. Somehow, I don't think Assange is likely to break bail without someone noticing or him leaving footprints in the snow but I do feel sorry for the world's press as my aircraft's outside thermometer was showing -10 degrees Celsius at 1000 feet.

As High as a Kite on Margate Sands

It's the annual international  kite festival on Margate sands this weekend and Airads provided a little extra marketing for this popular event

At noon, in time to catch a good weather window, we were towing a banner advertising the event between Birchington and Broadstairs, with an orbit of Westwood Cross shopping centre thrown-in for good measure.

Some of the kites are pretty high up and needed to be treated with some caution, one small one in particular being at a thousand feet, which forced me to keep a very respectable distance from them all as I orbited between Dreamland and the harbour arm, before breaking off, from time to time to visit other areas of The Isle of Thanet.

A Surprise for Ulrika at the Big Brother House

Airads was back over the Big Brother House today with a surprise birthday banner message for Ulrika Jonsson.

The message said "Vi alskar dig Ulrika BCMM" which means "We love you Ulrika" in Swedish. BCMM are the initials of her children - Bo, Cameron, Martha and Malcolm - which she has tattooed on her wrist.

A Bank Holiday Blow

The gales had the better of us this August Bank Holiday weekend but at least we managed to see the two marriage proposals flying; one being very much a 'touch and go' affair with a happy ending for both couples.

With winds gusting as high as 40 mph at times, the conditions were far in excess of what was needed to fly the larger sheet and display banners and its always best for clients to remember that we have safety and performance limits to follow.

One more consideration for clients is that once an aircraft is en-route with a banner, it's simply not possible to call and ask it to hold-off for another half an hour because of a delay on the ground. There is no air to ground communications with the pilot beyond the air traffic control unit he is working at the time and we can only work to the schedule we have been supplied with; being unable to accommodate last minute changes once airborne.

Here and Now Flies over Henley Festival

A video clip of the 'Here and Now' tour banner arriving back at Brimpton airfield  from the Henley "80's Rewind" festival on Saturday: