Engineering
Steve Cooper - Airside Engineering
Steve Cooper has been based at Rufforth for more than a decade servicing the requirements of many pilots but especially those in the Gyrocopter community of whom travel from across the UK for him to maintain their aircraft.
Steve is an approved Rotax engineer with 20 yrs experience.
He undertakes LAA/BMAA inspections for permit renewal on fixed/flex wing aircraft.
He is a factory trained and approved Autogyro / Magni Gyroplane engineer.
When not flying he can be found working on his classic sports cars.
Dave Sykes
Dave Sykes is synonymous with the freedom of Flex-Wing Microlight flying.
An engineer with significant experience maintaining Microlight aircraft within the BMAA fleet he services and permit inspects aircraft across the UK, both in person and from his base in York.
Dave works as a mentor pilot and engineer helping and supporting Flying for Freedom a not for profit body set up to help wounded, injured and sick service personnel.
Dave is renowned for his expeditions, having flown across Europe several times and in 2011 became the first pilot to fly solo (and unaided) from York UK to Sydney Australia.
His latest challenge is to fly to the North Pole a journey of some 5000 miles in challenging conditions with temperatures as low as -60DegC.
To cope with this Dave has specially modified his Rotax powered P&M QuikR (registered G-POLR) to cope with the extreme conditions, including teflon cabling, auxiliary fuel tank to provide 14 hours endurance, a heated pod for avionics, skis for the undercarriage and a first for the UK he gained approval to install an advanced fuel injection system from Edge Engineering to significantly improve fuel consumption and prevent carburettor icing in the climatic conditions he faces.
Dave has received many awards and plaudits for his expeditions, continued promotion of Microlight flying and charitable work including:
- Aerobility Aviator of the Year – Pooleys Sword
- GAPAN Masters Medal
- Seagrave Trophy
- Britannia Trophy
- Pride of York
- BMAA Chairman’s trophy
