“You might picture pilots, but it’s true of everybody else


‘There’s a real


importance in people having access to ‘grassroots’ aviation’


as well, because if you love the machines, and you love what they do and what they stand for, then you won’t just be interested in flying them, you’ll also be interested in restoring them, making them work and fixing them — it’s that role of the past inspiring the future has always been a part of driving people into aviation and it’s still the case now. “To help that take place, access is the most important


thing. There’s a real importance in people having access to ‘grassroots’ aviation so that aviation is seen as something everybody can take part in. “Now that might be from an inspiration perspective


that you go and visit a local museum, it might be that you go to a local airshow, that’s from a historic aviation perspective, but you also need to make sure that we have access to the GA airfields so that people can go to a local airfield. They may fly in aircraft, they may look at them, they may maintain them, they may even want to go and build them, they may be involved with the running of the airfield itself, but it needs to be something everyone has a real day-to-day accessibility to grass roots aviation. “We talk about making the UK the best place in the


world for general aviation, that’s what we mean by it because there won’t be a next generation of commercial or military pilots if there isn’t ‘grassroots’ aviation. “So access to it is absolutely key — that’s access to it on


an every day basis; that it’s seen as something that’s there for everybody from whatever walk of life. "I'm conscious that when we go to an airshow and see something flying, we need to think too of the importance of the mechanics, the ground crew, the air traffic control — there’s the whole ecosystem that goes behind the one act that a member of the public sees, which is flying. There are hours and hours of prep, skills and expertise behind that. “For me, and I know this will be the case for others,


there is something absolutely magical about walking into a hangar and smelling that smell; that mixture of oil, grease, aviation fuel, and then that little something extra that when you go nearer — and particularly it’s the case with historic aircraft — there’s that unquantifiable, magical atmosphere that surrounds every aircraft hangar and I am hugely inspired by that and I know


6


many others feel the same. “What I want is for that hangar to be open to them. I


want this to be for anybody to think ‘that is something I can go into, I could go down to my local hangar and get involved with a light aircraft and then graduate up to being involved in the next generation of Jet Zero (zero emissions) aircraft’.


“It all starts with someone being young and thinking that looks amazing and then checking it out and going ‘Yeah, there’s something special going on here’. To help spur that spirit he points out that the Department for Transport is working hard to champion both general aviation and the UK’s aviation heritage. “There are a number of things we are doing within the Department,” he says. “Things like working to safeguard airfields is a major part so that we have that space, and raising awareness amongst local authorities and local politicians of the importance of GA and what it brings. That it has huge economic benefits of around £4bn to the UK economy and 40,000 jobs, so there’s underlining the economic importance of that as well; underlining the fact that this is where aviation begins is critically important. “The work that the CAA do as part of the airfield


advisory team and the GA unit is absolutely key in this, because this is day-to-day underpinning of the foundations of this critically important sector. “What I’m keen to do now that I am able to get out and about as part of the formal role is to see some of the things I can and really get into the detail and understand what the issues are that affect the sector. “I’m also keen to get involved in some of the things


from a non-flying perspective. One of the things that Lincolnshire is really key about is skills. Those skills may be used in restoring ‘Just Jane’ to flying condition, but equally they are transferable to go and work in either GA more widely or the commercial sector.” So whether it’s because of a Lancaster, an Airbus


A380, some other aircraft or flying display, UK aviation is providing the inspiration and opportunities for the next generation to want to become involved in making the UK the best place in the world for aviation to be a flourishing, wealth-generating and job-producing sector of the economy.


FLYING HERITAGE


PHOTO: BAE SYSTEMS


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