LAA Grass Roots Fly- in – Popham

01 The scene outside the airside entry gate on Saturday saw homebuilt aircraft of all types, like the new Sling TSi, as well as three examples of the MK26 homebuilt Spitfire mixed with vintage machines like the fabulous Percival Proctor. Weather during the show was generally kind, aside from misty starts on Friday and Saturday mornings, and a short rain shower on Friday afternoon. 350 aircraft attended the show, including several overseas visitors.

02 Flying in on Sunday to become the star of the show was Mack Rutherford and his Shark microlight aircraft. Having completed his record-breaking round-the-world flight just a few weeks earlier, 17-year-old Mack was joined by his parents, Sam and Beatrice, who flew in alongside him in an accompanying aircraft. Mack took questions from the crowd and spoke a little about some of the challenges of his 29,225nm, which took 221hours of VFR flying over 142 days. His longest leg flown was 10 hours (Japan-to Attu, an uninhabited Alaskan island).

03 Spotted walking the aircraft park, retiring LAA Chief Inspector Ken Craigie and the new CI, Lucy Wootton, who had started the job the week before the show.

For 2022, the LAA hosted a different sort of annual event. The Grass Roots Fly-in might have been a bit smaller, but there were plenty of aircraft, friends and vendors to see.

Words & Photos Ed Hicks and Nigel Hitchman.

01 Working it’s way towards an approval as the LAA’s first 600kg microlight type, the Aeroprakt A32 Vixxen will soon be available to buy as a ready-to-fly type from UK agents Foxbat UK. The latest demonstrator was looking great in it’s blue colour scheme. www.foxbataircraft.com

02 This DH82C Tiger Moth was originally from Canada, where it was built with an enclosed cockpit. It was converted to open cockpit status and has recently been restored by Tony Palmer from Sussex.

03 Enjoying a very photogenic location among the trees on a corner of the Popham parking, there was a wide array of vintage types, including various Tiger and Gypsy Moths, and this lovely Boeing Stearman.

04 Famous as the ‘Lockdown homebuilder’ on national media a few months ago, Ashok Thamarakshan flew his Sling TSi to the show. Ashok has a new venture, seeking approval for Skyleader 600 and 400 aircraft in the UK as 600kg microlights.