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Islander.

This is a Britten-Norman Islander with a diffrence. It has no engines, not even electric motors. Oh,no, this is the quietest Islander ever created. it is what could be called a PSS (power scale soarer). It is built from the MFA kit (original type, not the new better looking, better flying one) as a complete experiment. After the recent homicide of a Cutlass glider (it never flew properly anyway) I remembered that this half built kit was stashed away in the corner of the shed waiting for the next skip. So, I decided to finish it off and cover it in basic yellow solarfilm, then went out to Pleinmont to see what would happen. Well, the testing afternoon was a test on my flying skills as well as the plane itself. From the launch, the flat bottmed wing provided so much lift that it just rose up to about 100 feet in just over a second. And with all the drag rom the wide fuselage it also drifted a fair way downwind in just over a second. I tried to regain control and it dropped in the next field with no damage.

It was then decided that the best way to make it fly better was to make it heavier (so it would penetrate the wind without rocketing upwards) and this was much better. I flew around for a few minutes to get the feel of it then decided that the adrenaline was pumping enough so came into land. It was here where I noticed the sensitivity of the controls near the ground and it rolled over and snapped off the fin.

So we (Pat Vaudin and myself) fixed it up with masking tape (which makes a nice whistling noise (and lots of drag) when placed at the right angle) and flew again. I then went home and finished covering it. It now sports the famous Aurigny Livery with an authentic reggy, G-AWBZ. It has done loads of flying since that test flight just a few days after the start of the new millenium.

Here is the long awaited picture of my islander. Recent exploits with it have included trying to fly it in a force 8 gale and it has even taken part in glider towing at Chouet.

And here are a few more photos I just got of it...