The BMAA 1994

Bill Brooks becomes the new BMAA Chief Technical Officer, replacing Paul Owen.

The AX3 gets a flight test. Paul Dewhurst finds it a surprising aircraft with good performance and manners. In its current form, the A3's Weedhopper ancestry is well concealed, but the basic structure was found to be little changed.

Image: The side-by-side two-seat high wing monoplane with conventional 3-axis control

In the summer, Richard Meredith-Hardy attended the annual Italian show at Bassano. He found that microlights were getting bigger... and smaller. Most design activity was concentrated at the far ends of the spectrum. New backpacks were appearing, and there was a lot of interest in the very-nearly-light-aircraft such as the Storch.

The annual Popham event also reflected the backpack revival, with Chris Scable showing his Scobojet with a WAM 342 engine.

It was 75 years since the first commercial international passenger flight and Brian Milton led 23 pilots on a flight from Heathrow to Le Bourget to celebrate the anniversary. The group were waved off in marginal weather conditions, but 16 of them completed the journey.

Tom Grieve and Hugh Knox became the first to cross the North Sea, flying from central Scotland to Norway, Denmark, Germany, Holland, England and home in a Flash 2 Alpha and an AX3. The flight was planned in order to raise money for Amnesty International and to highlight those countries which didn't enjoy political freedom by touring those which did.

Image: Tom Grieve and Hugh Knox won the Steve Hunt Trophy for the most outstanding flight of the year, the BMAA's highest award, for their record breaking flight.

Flight for Life, a venture undertaken by Judy Leden and Ben Ashman, involved flying from England to Jordan in memory of a young friend who had recently died of lung cancer - Jasmin Saudi. Prior to her death Jasmin had invited the pair to fly in her homeland of Jordan. Proceeds from the sale of a video to mark the flight, which went to the Cancer Research Campaign, had passed the £100,000 mark in less than a year.

Image: Ben Ashman avoiding the camels in Wadi Rum

Cyclone Airsports and Solar Wings merge to become Pegasus Aviation. The sister company, Cyclone Hovercraft remains independent.

Paul Dewhurst tests the Huntwing for Microlight Flying. He finds it flies better than he expected, with good handling and the performance 'quite respectable'.

Image: The Huntwing Experience 462 LC. A tandem two-seat flexwing aircraft with weight-shift control. This machine was said to provide an extremely cost effective alternative to the used Q or Alpha.

At the AGM, the BMAA's membership stood at 3 796. A lively debate took place when it was proposed that the Association's magazine should revert to its former name of Flight Line, since so many members still used that title. However, it was felt that such an action would send out negative messages about the Association moving backwards rather than forwards, so the new name remained.

The show this year was the first to be held over two days at Telford. Tempest Aviation brought their prototype nosewheel Thruster, while the Sluka, a fixed-wing single-seater also made its debut. For flexwing enthusiasts, the show marked the launch of the Mainair Blade.