This page contains images and information about the 2003 Internation Airsports Exhibition held in Telford on 6th and 7th December.

I attended the exhibition as part of a trip organised by Malcolm which saw us fly to Bristol attend the exhibition and return home, again via Bristol, on Saturday 6th December. Also on the trip were Robert, Kenny, and Chris, all in the photo below.

			We arrived at the show at around 11:30. One of the first impressions that was evident to all was the huge variation of interests within the exhibition.
Within the group of the five of us that travelled there was a wide variation of flying interests. 3 Microlighters (1 weight shift and 2 3 axis), and 2 paramotor enthuiasts.
			As you can see for most of these photos not even the floor space was enough and several of the exhibitors had their products hanging from the roof.

This photo showing a few more of the exhibitors in the second main arena and also shown is the way to the food hall, which I think most of the people there ventured to at some point, if only to catch up with friends.
		Final picture taken from the gantry level showing a few more of the exhibitors in the second arena.

As an Xair owner probably as you can imagine one of the first stops was to see this new verner engine that has created so much interest.
Initial tests showed a substancial decrease in fuel consumption along with a small increase in cruise mph.

		So now on to the competition, stop one was the Savannah. This was of real interest to me as it had incredible preformance from the small fields. Certainly looked impressive with its all metal contruction. One thing that I did notice with 2 fairly big people on board there wasn't a lot of shoulder room with the doors closed apart from that really impressed.

Then onto the the next two aircraft which seem fairly similar in appearence with each other. I didnt get a chance to get into the Rans but having flow in one a few years ago I remember it to be a very comfortable aircraft. The Rans is a more expensive, than the next aircraft the Skyranger.
		This was the first time I had the opportunity to see the Skyranger in real life. Initially I was very impressed, but for me it had one major problem Head Room. My head was hitting the bar above the pilot and this was without a headset or helmet on. Apart from this problem the aircraft did seem similar to the Rans, but can'thelp thinking the Rans was a little better finished.

Now the Kolb. Although I knew from the web that this aircraft had gone through a major redesign recently, I really did not know much about it. First thing to strike me was the visability that users have, in a word outstanding. On sitting in the machine I found it comfortable and it had ample room for 2 big people.
		The center consule used for instruments was very tidy and obviously did not take up too much room nor I suspect hinder the view when flying. However it was the cruise speed and take off preformance that really caused me to give it a second look. Next time at Popham I will be in the queue for a spin.

The final aircraft which I took a keen interest in was the Escapade. It was the first time I had opportunity to see this machine first hand, and I was suitably impressed. The cockpit was roomy with both doors closed however the instrument panel was a lot higher than the skyranger and for what I could remember the Rans.

After all the interest in the machines above then I had a look at how the other half live. The machines here at first impression were both very expensive and outstanding aircraft. Maybe some day I look seriously at them or maybe it remain a dream.

	After having a good look around at all of the machines and meeting up with a few friends, I decided as I couldn't afford any of the aircraft maybe a few books would give me a retail theorpy fix for the weekend. Brian Milton was only to glad to help out with this idea, by selling me books.

The autogyro was also creating a lot of interest.		Robert just couldn't wait to get home to start his reading or was it just because Easyjet was running late ???