Essential profile E
Come fly with me This month EW puts the questions to James Crabbe, Chief flying instructor at Sussex Flying Club Why Did You Become A Flying Instructor? I became a flying instructor because I loved flying and completed my first flight solo when I was 16 years old in a glider. I then spent 15 years working for an airline, which meant I was involved with flight operations a lot of the time, though not as a pilot. However, I went on to get my commercial pilot’s licence and decided I liked teaching people to fly, and found my previous background in aviation a great help. How Long have you been working at Shoreham Airport? I have been working at Shoreham Airport for over 20 years and our company is now 20 years old. During that time I have seen a lot of positive changes here at Shoreham and hope we have played a small part in some of this. Tell us about the history of Shoreham Flying School? When what was Southern Aero Club ceased operations in 1992 we needed to provide an alternative for instructors, many students and pilots who wanted to continue flying. We set up the company
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with just two aircraft, two instructors, a back room here in the main terminal building and a business enterprise loan which consisted of the princely sum of £2,000, which we had to pay back! Since then we have gained a reputation for first class training and have grown from that point. We have the most up to date fleet of Piper Warrior aircraft here at Shoreham. We set up our sister company Sussex Flight Centre some 10 years ago, which undertakes training for commercial pilots. We now occupy a large area in the main terminal building overlooking the airport above the main restaurant.
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What does success look like for you? For me, success is seeing our company grow to have eight aircraft and become the longest established flight training organisation here at Shoreham. During that time we have trained hundreds of pilots and many people now come to us by recommendation, something that is not achieved overnight. Describe an ideal Saturday evening? An ideal Saturday evening is getting home in time to think of going out to a Brighton restaurant. In flying, we often work late, especially on a Saturday and especially if the weather is good, so more often than not thinking is as far as it gets! So it is usually feet up at home with a good takeaway while we watch a film. What’s your favourite piece of music and why? I have always liked the Scottish bagpipes since I was very young, which I guess puts me in a minority! My favourite is ‘Mull of Kintyre.’ I was actually involved with the flying around of Sir Paul McCartney when he lived in Campbeltown where he wrote the song but that was pure coincidence.
Silky smooth water
Henry House has green standards that will prevent red eye
Re-Tiled December 2011
Of course the water must be treated and filtered to prevent infections spreading - a well run pool monitors this closely. Most of us will want to know as much as possible about the health benefits and risks of swimming especially when taking the elderly, disabled or very young babies into a public pool. At Henry House we check the water every 2 hours and are independently tested by Worthing and Adur Environmental Health Department. Last Christmas we replaced our old system with an Ecosanitiser and the results have been outstanding. The pool has a very weak solution of special grade salt(about 1/10th the concentration of tears) which the unit ionises .This gets rid of any bugs but leaves the water feeling silky smooth as there are no nasty chemicals. It’s much more skin and eye friendly plus no chlorine haze above the surface aggravating asthma- common in other pools. Swimmers tell us their eczema has dramatically improved. It’s much better for the environment too-so we and our customers really are green not red! Are you feeling a bit stuck on what to give to babies, children or adults in your family this Christmas ? Have you thought of swimming lessons? Henry House classes have a maximum of 5 in a class with the teacher in the water.The pool is really warm 35c 95F so it’s ideal for babies, children, adults and particularly supportive if they are a bit nervous. Henry House offers Gift Vouchers and don’t forget we have Bubblepix too-our underwater photo shoots with Miles Davies check our website www.henryhouse.net .Call us now on 01903 232875 for more information or email info@henryhouse.org.uk