7.04.10

Does this scenario bring anything to mind - the whir, whir, whir of helicopter blades as planes fly in formation above? ‘Apocalypse Now’ or ‘The Deer Hunter’ I hear you say!

Well no, that’s not it, so add to it the intrepid reporter dressed to blend in with the rest of the personnel as they dodge the down draft of blades as the vapour trails from the planes cloud their vision as they home in on the main story. Kate Adie in the first Gulf War or perhaps John Simpson in a burkha in Afghanistan? No wrong again!

Add to that, then, the handheld camcorder and the tough questioning by the reporter of the Government Appointee – Jeremy Paxman asking Michael Howard the same question twelve times perhaps?  Sorry not in the same league!

No, I have to tell you that I refer to none other than Ron Alalouff of Info4fire.com who, while under the downdraft of the Agusta rotor blades and the vapour trails from the Aeroworks Extra 300 LP aircraft, carried out a gruelling round of interviews at the Fire Industry Association’s Annual Conference at Sywell Aerodrome.

A great day was had by all at Sywell, with presentations including those on fire investigations, Fire Safety Order prosecutions, the Services Directive, watermist, visual alarm devices, apprentices, and the joint venture between the Institution of Fire Engineers and the FIA on a new route by which engineers working for FIA companies can gain Eng. Tech. membership of the IFE.

During the lunch break while the Blades Aerobatics team got ready to fly, it was all the FIA could do to restrain Ron from begging them to allow him to fill the wing walking slot which was to end in a stall turn of such ferocity that even Adie, Paxman and Simpson had refused to volunteer!

Once airborne, the Blades carried out a short display of death defying flying which brought gasps from the crowd and from Ron exclaiming “I should have been up there with them!”

It’s going to be difficult to for the FIA to top the Sywell experience. We are looking for a new venue with crowd appeal and one at which the representatives from the fourth estate can further test their mettle. So far we are considering the Tracy Island Conference Centre with the lunch attraction expected to be a flypast of Thunderbird 2 with Virgil Tracy at the helm. International Rescue has requested a stuntman body double for Virgil.  Ron?

As for me, I’ve accepted the role as body double for Parker, so watch out Lady Penelope!