It has been realised that the kind of people who don’t energetically crap their pants when it comes to the thought of sending their $5m McLaren at high speed up a narrow track with flint walls either side, probably have a certain number of excess quid knocking about with nowhere to go. Those people have nothing to fear. Goodwood has made special provision for their needs. Roads? Where these guys can afford to go, they don’t need roads.
Pretty much any budget is catered for, to suit anybody from the obnoxiously wealthy right up to the deliriously plutocratic. For those with serious dollar, how about the TBM 900? The company behind these stylish turbopropelled executives currently goes by the name Daher-Socata, and the plane itself has been around for a good couple of decades. In fact, keep an eye out for an earlier TBM making an appearance from The Carchive some time.
If you’re more of a Cessna man, the perennial classic Caravan is on hand….
….Or if you don’t need anything quite that big, Beechcraft are ready to serve with one of their lovely Bonanzas. But what if you’re looking for a second, smaller plane to use around town, or maybe something for your daughter? Or what if your fortune barely breaks into seven digits? Well, the likes of you aren’t going ignored, either. There’s a smattering of small light sports aircraft to choose from, some of which I had never heard of.
The Aero AT3. Is this Aero as in the Czech company who built the L39? If so, that’s a damn cool key fob to have dangling from your chain.
This one, the PS-28 definitely is Czech, it even says so on the advertising. It “looks cool and flies great”, and that’s pretty well my two main flight requirements satisfied right there. Of course, there was one plane making an appearance which eclipsed, well, pretty much everything else I’ve seen, felt, smelt or tasted this year.
Yes, the legendary Vulcan. The only one flying in the world, it’s financed entirely by well-wishers and those of us who care dearly about our aviation heritage. Nothing prepares you for the drama and sheer spectacle of watching one of these great, ghost-like aircraft casting its huge cold shadow over a chins-skyward crowd. A quirk of the gas-flow into the turbine inlets in the wing-roots gives the Vulcan a terrifying, elephantine roar when the throttle is pulled back, which sends the little downy hairs on the back of my neck quivering. It sends an electric tremble through me. It’s almost a primal thing and had the same effect on me when I was six and Vulcans were a much more frequent experience on the Airshow circuit. This will be my signing off post for today, more tomorrow. Sorry about that. (images copyright 2014 Chris Haining and Hooniverse)
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