Life can change in a second

The Tannkosh Airshow is one the highlights for us light aircraft buffs. Held every other year at the Tannheim Airfield in Southern Germany it is billed as the largest aviation event in Europe it attracts well over 1,000 private light aircraft from all over Europe. It also has a small, air show elements with some rare, vintage or otherwise interesting aircraft. Weekend before last I gorged myself on this feast of aviation.

The airfield is split into two sides. The main public side contains the exhibition stands, parking for the display aircraft, some parking for visiting aircraft and the main food and drink outlets. It’s where the majority of the public spend their time.

However the majority of the visiting aircraft part on the far side of the airfield. Also the airfield is surrounded by corn fields, in which are gaps. Gaps that they taxi aircraft down and park in field behind the corn. It’s the sheer number of aircraft that make Tannkosh a must for us light aircraft spotters. Many different types. Some common, Some unusual and rare. Highlight for me was a Cessna that had come all the way from Qatar.

Unfortunately Saturday was marred by an accident. The pilot of a visiting biplane lost control of the aircraft on take off, swerved off the runway and crashed into the parked aircraft on the far side of the airfield, before ending up in one of the cornfields. I sat and witnessed it all. It was quite noisy there up to that point with the queue of aircraft waiting for their turn to depart. A weather front was forecast to hit the area that afternoon and many pilots were trying to get home, or at least out of its way, before it hit. The airfield was immediately closed and the engines of the aircraft in the queue fell silent. This silence was an eerie experience and me and a friend sat there for a while contemplating what had happened. We were told that the two pilots of the aircraft had got out quite quickly and were OK. But what about anyone on the ground. Three ambulances and an air-ambulance were called and we could see at least one person being transferred to the air-ambulance. Never a good sign.

We hoped that none of our group was involved in the accident but we knew that all of us would probably have passed that location at some point that day, logging and photographing the visiting aircraft. Sadly our fears were realised when we got back to the coach, to be told that someone who I have been friends with for years was hurt in the accident and was the one taken away in the air ambulance. The tour operator had spoken to him in hospital. As he dived out of the way, the wing of the aircraft had hit him on the back of the head. He landed on his binoculars causing him to fracture some of his ribs and causing lung damage. He knee also took some damage along the way. He spent a week in hospital in Germany but is now back home. It could have been far worse. He can say that he was inches from death, for had he been hit by the propeller rather than the wing the outcome would have been very different.

He was in the wrong place at the wrong time but the sobering thought is that it could have been me stood there. The day before I did the airfield in a clockwise direction but ran out of time so started the Saturday in an anti-clockwise direction. My friend did it the other way round. If I had managed to see all the aircraft there on re Friday I too would have done the airfield in a clockwise direction on the Saturday as well.

All in all it was a very sobering experience. One minute you are enjoying your hobby. Fit and healthy and the next, BAM! Life changes.  

 

(Here is a link to a local  news story on the article. It does contain a picture of the aftermath of the accident and on my friend in hopital, you have been warned.

http://www.bild.de/news/inland/hubschrauberabsturz/drei-verletzte-beim-tannkosh-fliegertreffen-31972360.bild.html )

Easter and a few days away

Gosh it has been a long time since I blogged hasn’t it dear readers. But I’m back. Good Friday I went off to Barnet to see the mighty AFC Bournemouth play. Though they weren’t so mighty and lost 1-0. Still got some spotting in and it’s a new ground for me. So far I’ve watched matches at 18 football grounds.

Had most of last week off as it was Sue’s birthday. Went and stayed in a Travelodge near Eastbourne. On route we stopped off at a Nature Reserve to see if we could see a rare bird that had been spotted there. Only info I had was that it was sighted near the car park. However and 10-15 bird watchers had set up their scopes/cameras near by and were all looking in one direction. This did make it easy for me. However it was 45 mins until the White Throated Sparrow made an appearance. Nice one. One to add to my life list and in some ways more importantly, it added to my Hampshire list. Whilst waiting for the sparrow also made a blackcap and a marsh tit. Nice one.

Stopped off at Midhurst on route to Eastbourne area and a look at someone’s garden that they had opened as part of the National Garden Scheme. Always nice to look at good looking gardens. Poke around their potting sheds and compost heaps. See how other people do it and I always leave with ideas.

Next day (Thursday) did a little driving tour of Sussex villages. Stopped off to look at five historic churches, one of which was locked (boo), saw the Long Man of Wilmington and the Litlington White Horse.. Both hillside chalk figures. Then the evening spend near a reservoir, just sat taking in the evening sun, watching the birds and the fisherman out on the water. Lovely.

Next day it was a bit rainy, so at Sue’s insistence (well she suggested it) we went to the Bluebell railway. Managed to get on the footplate of two steam locos, whilst they were in steam. A first for me. Really nice of them to allow people up on the footplate. Lovely railway. Would recommend a visit if you are ever down that way.

Back home on the Saturday via Shoreham airport. Which seems to have improved its viewing facilities. Which some airports would take note. Then home. Spend the rest of the weekend in the garden. Really bust at this time of year. I feel that we’ve had the last of the frosts, I hope, so was planting out in Ernest. Spuds, lettuce, onions, spring onions, cabbage, parsnips, runner beans, peas etc. More stuff in the green house. By Sunday evening I was pooped. But really glad that the growing season is finally here. We’ve even started to harvest some of the items as Sue made a lovely omelette with chives from the garden. Nice.

Monday morning now, and back on the train to work. Most of the regulars on board but I notice that one or two are missing. Wonder if any of them notice when I’m not around..

Bournemouth Aviation Museum

Oh what a good weekend. Sue and I spent most of Saturday afternoon in the Garden. Got some good work done. Clearing out the borders. Weeding. Trying to get my holly bush to have baby holly bushes. I’ve got some cuttings in pots from a branch that I accidentally snipped off and I’ve got another branch, part of which I’ve buried , which I’m hoping will root like one of my other bushes have. The other bush has produced four others, the smallest one I have potted up and hope to grow on.

Sown my first seeds of the season. Might be a bit early but Carol Klein told me to do it (via an article in the Guardian) Fifteen broad bean seeds are now in compost filled toilet rolls in the greenhouse. If they grow they grow, if they don’t well I’ve always got some spare seeds.

Now some of you will know that I used to be on the committee of the Bournemouth Passenger Transport Association, aka the Bournemouth bus museum and was involved in organising their annual rally. Well Sunday I relived those days by helping out my mate Steve and the Bournemouth Aviation Museum. They held their First annual Vintage Transport Day and what a good day it was. I was in two minds as to whether I should help out with the event, doing odd jobs and trying to help the event run smoothly and sort out any problems or to take my stall down there and help out the museum by donating some cash to them from any money I might make. It was really a tough call and I was debating about it right up to when I left home. But I chose to help out with odd jobs and there was quite a few to do in the morning. All skillfully organised by Steve. Yeah it was fun. The museum project is one I would really like to get more involved in. They have a wonderful museum there, which really looks like its heading in the right direction, all they need is a half-decent website. Anyway, the museum itself is all down to the hard work of a handful of volunteers. Well done lads, Roll on the next project?

sparrowhawk

Spent most of Sunday sat in the garden with the laptop. Looking at openatc.com. Bagged a nice lot of aircraft. Did a bit of gardening. Some of the flowers I planted from seed are beginning to come up. My broad beans are not looking their best. I’m not sure why. First time that I’ve grown them. Perhaps I felt them inside too long and they got too tall before placing outside and the wind isn’t helping them. Or it could be that they need tying up properly, or I not watering them enough. I don’t know.. They are still alive and so fingers crossed that well get a crop off them this year.

Saw some sort of bird of prey circling over the garden. Studying pictures of it I think it might be a Sparrowhawk.. No wonder our sparrow boxes are still empty if that this is around. Still when confirmed it will be a new one for my life list.

Popham Airfield

First Popham Fly-in of the summer today. Been looking forward to it for ages. Mainly to see if any of the stuff we have bought during the winter months for the stall would sell. Its quite a buzz when you buy something to sell on and it does sell. Some did sell and were snapped up and we sold out. Others didn’t sell, still its early days. Mind you there are only about half a dozen Fly-in a year, so we got to sell sell sell.

I will be listing the aircraft at Popham on my Plane Spotting Blog, or at least the ones I took pictures of. You see, for the first time ever I didn’t keep a written note of the aircraft. Just relied on my photos. Here’s a link to my Popham Aircraft photos

No Respect

Had quite a good night last night getting my pictures sorted out a bit more. Adding them to my pbase.com account. Also I got my band website up and running. OK So it was my mate Dave who has done all the work and all I’ve done is copy the files onto the webserver. I asked him today whether he thought that we should do a band blog but he never dignified my question with a reply. So I take that as a no.

Also started a new 'blog' to record my aircraft sightings and photos. Exciting stuff eh!

Earnt loads of Fiancée points today. Went to pick up the Ricky Gervais tickets today. Also went into WH Smiths today and noticed that The Times had already started their book of the week promotion. So bought the book for Sue. Two lots of points to me today.

Sent in an update for the guy running the Hampshire Bird Watchers List this evening. It's just a list of how many different species have been seen in Hampshire by various bird watchers. So far I've seen 18. So I’m currently bottom of the list. Nearest person to me has seen 44. I spoke to Sue about me being so far behind and she just made a L shape on her forehead and started saying ‘LOSER LOSER LOSER’. Hmmm what's the point of Fiancée points when they don't earn you any respect.