Its that time of the year again or is it?. The exhibition seemed to come around a lot faster this year but then it would do as the organisers brought it forward to May this year instead of the usual September.

As usual, we faced the long drive up on the Friday and arrived just in time to set up our stand before 5pm and then a much deserved relaxing evening to prepare for our early start on Saturday morning.

As per usual, Saturday morning saw the busy bustle of flight exhibition stands from all over Europe gearing up to sell their wares when the doors of the centre opened. This year saw a slower start to the arrival of people than last year but by 10.30am the exhibition was in full swing with no hint of a recession anywhere in sight. One of the most frequently asked questions this year from 90% of the visitors was "HOW TO FINANCE THE TRAINING"  and of course there is no easy way (unless you have just won the lotto) but again we were on hand to talk them through the very many options we can offer here at Atlantic. We had people from all walks of life just as we did last year and I noticed ,once again,a huge interest from people wanting a change of career regardless of age. We had quite a number of young people/school leavers but I think we could have had a lot more but the timing in May is not ideal for people studying for school exams. What I did notice was the increase in the number of young women interested in taking up aviation as a career more so than any other year. It was a long, hard but hugely enjoyable day and as usual everyone was unable to talk on the journey back down to Cork. Already I am looking forward to next years exhibition which by all accounts will be in the Crown Plaza Hotel, "a new year ,a new venue", should be interesting. I would like to say a special thanks to all our crew who worked so hard on the day to make it such a success, Head of Training Captain Mark Casey, instructors Mary Hennigan, Daniel Lynch, Emmanuel Hirth, Fergal Daly and David O Regan,senior students Jenel Davis and George Taggart and of course not forgetting our two beautiful models on the day. That’s it for now, safe flying and I will be back to you with a report on the next Atlantic seminar in Limerick on Wed 28th of June.

Allen Field
Chief Flying Instructor