Franglais Friendly 2023: an unmissable event at Salon-Eyguières Aerodrome
The Franglais Friendly is a friendly meet devised by Rob Keene, former champion and UK and world competition director, with the idea of creating a France–England synergy around competition flying. As in 2016, the 2023 edition was organised by the Aéroclub Nostradamus at Salon-Eyguières, the main host club on the French side, with Yoann Gini as competition director and 16 machines on the starting grid.
This year's edition took place under the sign of weather woes and international friendship between pilots. From Monday, a ferocious storm, localised over the site, tore a Nynja from its tie-downs. Luckily the machine hit no one, nor any of the other neighbouring three-axis aircraft. A special mention goes to the owner, Spencer Harvey, who showed exemplary calm and, while we were all standing in 10 cm of water holding down the other three-axis machines, was already saying “I built it once, I'll build it again!”. And indeed, a few weeks after the meeting, the machine that had been lying upside down in France was flying again!
The rest of the event went well overall, although we discovered that the definition of “it's windy” depends on where the pilots come from. A wind that is “strong but flyable” for southerners is not necessarily appreciated in the same way further north…
The Franglais Friendly is also a meet where traditionally all the organisers try to show the invited pilots the host region. This edition was no exception, with very special thanks to the Tricastin and Carpentras microlight clubs, each of which welcomed us for a shared lunch.
The meeting ended in joy and good cheer at the private aerodrome of Saint Martin de Castillon, where we celebrated this lasting Franco-British friendship as well as the 35th anniversary of the Aéroclub Nostradamus
Results of this friendly meeting:
Single-seaters:
1. GB - Adrian JONES (class 3, CFM Shadow)
2. FR - Lison REBOUILLAT (class 2, La Mouette)
3. GB - Matthew BURNHAM (class 3, Skyranger)
Two-seaters:
1. GB - Owain JOHNS – Richard GIBBS (class 2, Quick)
2. GB - Jeremy HUCKER – Jan HUCKER (class 3, Skyranger)
3. FR - Serge AMIEL – Claude LAMBERET (class 3, Savannah)
Overall:
1. GB - Adrian JONES (class 3, CFM Shadow)
2. GB - Owain JOHNS – Richard GIBBS (class 2, Quick)
3. FR - Lison REBOUILLAT (class 2, La Mouette)
Author: Yoann Gini
