< Back New LAA Inspector - Paul Armstrong 16 Jul 2025 We are pleased to welcome Paul Armstrong as a new LAA Inspector, having attended an LAA Inspector Assessment Day at Turweston recently. Paul started flying gliders at the age of 15, later progressing to TMG and then to light aeroplanes about 20 years ago. Maintaining aircraft as a part of his hobby is now an integral part of a love of aviation that is approaching its 50th year. Next Previous

< Back New LAA Inspector - James Coyne-Downhill 15 Sept 2025 We are pleased to welcome James Coyne-Downhill as a new LAA Inspector, having attended an LAA Inspector Assessment Day at Turweston recently. James started flying at the age of 14 with the Air Cadets, flew solo on his 16th birthday, and earned his Private Pilot’s Licence at 18. By day, he works on Dassault Falcon 20 business jets as part of a base maintenance team, following an aircraft engineering apprenticeship at Cobham. Outside of work, he enjoys flying and maintaining Luscombe 8As. Next Previous

< Back New LAA Inspector - Ed Stinton 27 Mar 2024 The LAA is pleased to welcome Ed Stinton as a new LAA Inspector. Ed came to an Assessment Day at LAA HQ at the start of March. Ed has restored two crash-damaged Avid flyers and one crash-damaged MW7. He also restored a barn-find ARV Super2, including Rotax engine conversion. He has been involved with numerous RV builds, including his own Harmon Rocket (modified RV4). Ed has held CAA approvals for welding carbon steels. He is experienced with fabric, wood and composites, Wankel Rotary and Lycoming engines. Ed has worked with both two-stroke and four-stroke Rotax engines. He has worked for MidWest engines, Diamond Aircraft and numerous maintenance organisations. Next Previous

< Back Mandatory Technical Directive issued for Chipmunk aircraft 24 May 2024 Mandatory Technical Directive, MTD-04-2024 has been issued by our Head of Airworthiness, Nick Stone, today to introduce mandatory recurring inspections of the flap operating cables following a recent potentially serious incident where one of the flap cables on a Chipmunk failed in flight, leading to an asymmetric flap configuration. The MTD allows a 5 flying hour period of grace before the inspection must be carried out and is being emailed today to all owners of LAA Chipmunks and all LAA Inspectors approved to inspect Chipmunks. Next Previous

< Back The importance of airfield location 12 Feb 2024 The first results of a survey conducted by the new Strategic Airfield Network (SAN) indicate that location is the number one reason airfields consider themselves important. For more information, head to the Flyer article below: https://flyer.co.uk/location-location-location-airfields-are-important/ Next Previous

< Back Alert A-08-2025 - Gen 4 Jabiru 3300 Engine Crankshafts 25 Jul 2025 LAA Alert A-08-2025 - Gen 4 Jabiru 3300 Engine Crankshafts On 11.4.25, Jabiru Aircraft Pty Ltd issued a new Service Bulletin, JSB 046, which applies to specific Jabiru 3300 engines and requires the replacement of the crankshafts on engines within certain serial number ranges, which they state were supplied between April 2017 and June 2024. Jabiru regards the Bulletin as mandatory. The Bulletin advises that Jabiru has identified that, as a result of an issue with heat treatment, crankshafts supplied with the affected engines are in some cases susceptible to failure. Jabiru have specified that the crankshaft must be replaced by a crankshaft of the later, improved design. Affected crankshafts must be replaced prior to 15th December 2026, or 150 hours total time in service (TTIS), whichever occurs later. A-08-2024 can be found HERE and is also shown below. A-08-2025 - Gen 4 Jabiru 3300 Engine Crankshafts .pdf Download PDF • 202KB Next Previous

LAA are proud to announce our Rally 2025 sponsors Other Attractions The LAA Leicester Rally 2025 opens on Friday 29th August at 9.30 am and closes at 4pm on Sunday 31st August. Aircraft Park – Over 600 aircraft, dependent upon the weather are expected to fly-in over the 3 days of the Rally Airside access - a unique opportunity to inspect the aircraft and chat with the owners Large trade-exhibition: everything from a nut and bolt to an aircraft kit Aircraft Covering Display LAA Team present throughout the weekend Pilot Coaching Scheme coaches available to give advice Flea Market: Sell those unwanted parts or buy yourself a bargain! Speakers Corner: Seminars by keynote speakers throughout the weekend Strut Members' Area Outside catering including bar: Selection of fast-food and beverage outlets including bar and ice cream van; seating area Evening Bar, Food and Entertainment provided by Leicestershire Aero Club On-site campsite GASCo's Aircraft Competition LAA Education and Hands on Skills information and advice Full range of LAA clothing and merchandise

< Back Engineering updates in August and September 1 Oct 2024 The following documents have been issued/updated in the Engineering 'Info Library' during August and September. Standard modifications: Europa SM12871 cockpit fresh air rotary ventilators issue 2 Propeller type lists PTL-1 : Aeronca 7-series Kitfox mk1-mk3 Next Previous

< Back New LAA Inspector - Mike Maddams 20 Mar 2026 We are pleased to welcome Mike Maddams as a new LAA Inspector, having attended an LAA Inspector Assessment Day at Turweston recently. Mike is a wood and fabric specialist with extensive experience on a wide range of LAA aircraft types. He owns and operates a 1942 Auster LB369 and is Director of Aero & Auto Ltd, Vintage Restorations. Next Previous

< Back Alert A-12-2025 - Aeroprakt windscreens 14 Oct 2025 LAA Engineering has issued Alert A-12-2025 to highlight the recent issue of a series of Aeroprakt service bulletins that require older style windscreens to be replaced at certain intervals, with the Vne of the aircraft being temporarily reduced in certain circumstances. A-12-2025 - Aeroprakt windscreens issue 1 .pdf Download PDF • 231KB Next Previous

< Back Alert A-05-2025 - Alpi Pioneer 300 - Inspection of Undercarriage Components for Cracking and Corrosion 12 Jun 2025 LAA Alert A-05-2025 - Alpi Pioneer 300 - Inspection of Undercarriage Components for Cracking and Corrosion LAA Alert A-05-2025 has been published on the LAA website (and is also attached), highlighting Alpi Pioneer 300 and 300 Hawk aircraft that have suffered different malfunctions and failures of various components that make up the undercarriage. This Alert strongly recommends a close inspection of the undercarriage at 25-hour intervals for corrosion and cracking, as well as a retraction check, to verify that the retraction system components remained correctly adjusted, to avoid undercarriage collapse due to the mechanism not being adequately over-centre when extended. A-05-2025 - Alpi Pioneer 300 Landing Gear Corrosion .pdf Download PDF • 204KB Next Previous

Certification & Approval Having worked out a promising-looking layout, initial three-view and performance and weight specifications, now is the stage where the hard work begins of transforming concepts to working drawings. Essential decisions have to be made about types of material to be used, the structural arrangement, exact choice of powerplant and so on. You’ll probably need to make a cockpit mock-up to check the ergonomics and control system arrangements, and maybe build a flying radio controlled model of the design to give faith in the handling characteristics. With the basic geometry laid out, stress calculations and assembly drawings come next, then drawings of individual piece parts. Keep an up-to-date tally on weights. As the drawings get more detailed you must re-evaluate whether you are going to meet your original targets in terms of weight, strength and aerodynamic cleanliness, whether you need to re-visit your original assumptions or re-design from scratch. Is there a way that the part or assembly can be made more easily, more cheaply, lighter, stronger, more fatigue or corrosion resistant ? Fewer parts and fewer joints generally means fewer problems and less weight. Can you use off the shelf parts rather than having to make them specially ? Are there other aeroplanes around that have already solved a particular problem in a clever way ? Will the aircraft be easy to inspect in service, easy to repair if it gets damaged ? Can it be broken down for transportation ? If the handling isn’t quite right when the prototype is test flown, does the design make provision for ‘tweaks’ to put it right ? Does the design include reserves of strength to cope with weight growth in service and more powerful engines, or is everything pared down to the minimum ? Downloadable Spreadsheets Technical Leaflets Design Tutorials