Hot and Sticky

No thunderstorms today, thankfully, as they were forecast, which allowed us to get in a "Happy 60th" birthday over Brighton Marina and a proposal for the lucky Karen, from her partner, Mark, at Knole Park, near Sevenoaks in Kent.

In fact the latter area was getting quite busy with aircraft arriving at Biggin Hill for this weekends Air Show and we had to share the skies with two RAF Tornado fighters and two Tucano trainers, practising before the event.

Good news. G-CEKI, the new Cessna 172 with a more powerful engine and super-long-range tanks is almost ready and I took here up for her CAA flight test this afternoon. Some small technical tweaks are still required but she should be signed-off for work in time for a busy weekend on 16th June.

Back down to Weymouth tomorrow to hit the beaches in the sunshine!

Corona Corona

Another happy Lemming leapt over life's cliff this afternoon with a little air-suport help from a marriage proposal over Maidstone. Good luck to the happy "Jo" and "Steve" in adding to an unbroken record of saying "Yes" to the magic question.

The remainder of the Bank Holiday weekend is looking decidedly "Iffy", with a big Corona Beer banner to be flown over the World Superbikes Chamionships at Silverstone tomorrow.

If you are there, look out for us at about 2pm as a large beer bottle floats by in the sky above the race!

Over Here and Over There

A busy day above Birmingham today, promoting the new campaign for the Foster Care Associates at www.iwanttofoster.com .

Visit their website for more information on fostering children.

The Bank Holiday weekend approaches and Airads will be over the "Superbikes" at Silverstone on Sunday and Weymouth beach on the Monday. On the Saturday, some lucky girl is going to have a flying marriage proposal over Maidstone!

Thank You Liverpool FC

A call from Anfield and Liverpool FC on Saturday, "Jerzy Dudek" the team goalkeeper, who wants us to do a little job for him over Anfield today.

It's all booked for 16:35 over the stadium but the weather forecast is looking awful over Liverpool from 15:00 on.

We'll do our best but if the weather closes in Jerzy will be disappointed. However, we will keep him and the player liaison manager at the ground advised by SMS text.

Fingers crossed!

Update.... Because of the bad weather, the message will now happen on Sunday 20th May at 1pm over Anfield. Be sure to wave!

Jerzy writes: "Hi - Thank u for fantastic event... every one is happy so am I.. thanks once more and wish u all the very best..regards Jerz"

B&Q Open for Business

Celebrating the opening of the new B&Q store in Swindon, Airads is asked to fly around the city for two hours, in order to let people know that B&Q is open for business.

London Marathon

It seems a shame, that with glorious weather over the South-east of England today, nobody thought of placing an Airads skybanner over the start of the London Marathon!

We did try and contact several large sporting companies but as is normally the case these days, voicemail is the default and any attempt at sending an email is likely to find itself caught by the corporate spam filter.

As the London Marathon is only minutes away from our operating hub at Rochester, the cost of an hour's flight would have been less than than £500+VAT, something to think about for next year perhaps?

Football Crazy

May 5th is a football fiesta for us with banners going-up over Manchester City vs. Manchester United and Newscastle United vs. Blackburn. From our own selfish point of view it's a shame that the FA Cup Final has moved back to Wembley as we can't overfly the new stadium.

With restrictions around London, we can just about reach, Spurs, West Ham, Crystal Palace, Millwall and Charlton Athletic for London matches though.

Local Elections

Airads has been asked to fly over Southampton and Portsmouth on May 2nd and 3rd to encourage people to take part in the local election. It's going to be a long job, six hours each, reminding people that their vote counts in the local elections.

Here's a photograph from the last General Election, when Labour and John Reid joined Airads as we flew around the country. - It's the old aircraft.

The new aircraft G-CEKI, has now arrived at Southampton docks and will, with luck be flying in time for the beginning of June.

If you are planning on an aerial banner this summer, then book know, as the weekends are starting to fill.

Wakefield to Weymouth

The first real weekend of the 2007 season saw Airads operating from Wakefield to Weymouth.

Among the flights, a large split banner advertising "The Ministry of Sound" was flown between Maidstone and Eastbourne, two hours were spent over the beach at Weymouth on Easter Sunday and an 85th birthday was celebrated in Ramsgate.

From now on, the demand for aerial advertising will rise until it reaches its seasonal peak at the end of July and so if you haven't booked a weekend date for the summer yet, know is a good time to avoid disappointment.

Captain Cupid over Purley

Another successful proposal of marriage, this time over Purley in Surry.

Congratulations Louise & Russell.

The Season Starts?

You can tell the season is about to start, with a busy day today.

Two marriage proposal enquiries, one request to fly a banner in the South of France next month and a new skybanner to make-up for an existing client, www.funktionrooms.com

From Easter onwards the demand will start to build towards a climax at the end of July and we hope, the Tour De France, as it rides through Kent. Now there's a good advertising opportunity for someone!

New Arrival - Almost

First look at the new addition to the Airads fleet, another Cessna 172, being crated-up and driven to the docks for the transatlantic journey to the UK from Texas.

Hopefully, it won't end up on a Devon beach and is due to arrive in Southampton on April 21st. G-CEKI, which is the new registration, is already booked into it's first banner flight in June, to meet the demand expected over the coming summer from events such as Ramsgate Yacht Week.

Quick Takeaway

I'm noticing sudden interest in this website from a number of domains in China, Guangzhou province, Beijing et al. All a little worrying given that a significant proportion of spamming operations originate from this part of the world.

I doubt very much that our Chinese friends have developed an urgent need for aerial advertising services and it's far more likely that there is another purpose, as yet unknown.

Most likely you'll find that your next online offer for counterfeit software or counterfeit drugs comes with a spoofed Airads domain behind it.

Sand Racing at Margate

Over the beach at Margate today for the Quad bike races.

Given the heavy rain until noon, we didn't expect it to happen but the blue sky started to break through just in time for us to join a Boeing 747 doing practise circuits at Manston, the Jumbo going one way and us the other way, with a 1000 feet of separation over the Thanet beaches.

In fact, we were supposed to be on the same detail on Saturday but strong crosswinds made it impossible to pick up the banner for Terence Painter Properties, the sponsor and after several attempts, we had to concede victory to February weather; the first time in twelve months that the conditions have beaten us. It does happen and clients don't often realise that if conditions aren't right, picking-up their banner in strong winds and turbulence can be very awkward, if the aircraft won't stay exactly on line in the vital last seconds.

Recently we had one helpful onlooker trying to call me on her mobile phone. Afterwards, she commented that she thought we might have a "hands-free" facility, "Like in the car" and could carry on a conversation during the approach attempt. The reality in a light aircraft diving towards a small target on the ground at 100mph is rather different as I'm sure you can imagine.