The Royal Aero Club
of the United Kingdom

• Who are we ? What do we do?

• The Royal Aero Club of the United Kingdom (RAeC) is the national co-ordinating body for Air Sport in the United Kingdom.

• Our Patron is Her Majesty the Queen, and our President is His Royal Highness The Duke of York, KG, GCVO, ADC.

• The Chairman is Patrick Naegeli of the British Gliding Association.

• Our history and origins date back to 1901, when we were founded as a Club for balloonists.

• The Club is made up of member organisations and individual members. The Full Members are the national governing bodies of the major individual air sports in the UK, and they each appoint a representative to the Governing Council. Associate and Corporate Member Organisations and Individual Members provide valuable additional support. People who have made significant individual contributions to the Club are awarded the title Companion of the Royal Aero Club.

• Our principal role is to co-ordinate, promote and protect all forms of recreational and competitive air sport in the UK, and to represent UK air sport internationally.

• Directly and through our member organisations, we represent the interests of many tens of thousands of people who participate in air sport, on a wide range of committees, consultation groups, political contacts, etc.

We are the UK representative on the Fédération Aéronautique Internationale, which is the World governing body of sport flying, and which controls World and other international Championships and the registration of World Records. It also has a major role in setting technical standards and negotiating with international official bodies. In consultation with our member organisations, we appoint the UK delegates to the various FAI Commissions.

We are the UK representative on Europe Air Sports, which is affiliated to the FAI and co-ordinates responses to legislation and regulation affecting recreational flying within the EU and more widely throughout Europe. In consultation with our member organisations, we appoint UK Technical Officers and Working Party Coordinators and Members.

• Our work is managed through the RAeC Council and the Parliamentary, International, Technical, Medals & Awards, and Finance Committees.

• British participation in FAI World Records is supervised on behalf of the RAeC by the RAeC Records Racing & Rally Association.

• Our Annual Awards Ceremony takes place in the Spring, recognising achievement and service in all forms of aviation in the previous year. The Awards are often presented by the Club President, HRH The Duke of York, subject to other official duties.

• We have been making awards since 1908 to recognise achievement in aviation. The Historical List of RAeC Awards includes several of the most famous names in British and World aviation, as well as many people who have made major contributions serving in background roles. It has now been expanded to include a list of UK recipients of FAI awards. Also abbreviated citations back to 1995 have been added and it is planned to go further back in time as information becomes available.

We have established the Royal Aero Club Trust, which is a charity to provide resources for youth involvement, education, promotion of air sport, and the conservation of historically important items related to aviation.

• Our sister organisation, the Royal Aeronautical Society (RAeS), was founded in 1866 and now represents all aspects of professional aeronautical and aerospace engineering and operation in the U.K. Its primary role is as a Learned Society covering Engineering Council registration, education and career development in this field. It also encompasses a variety of special interest groups. Its local branches, in the UK and overseas, organise programmes of lectures and events. A series of major conferences, lectures and events is held at the headquarters in central London. Lectures and conferences are normally open to interested non-members, see the events page on the RAeS website.

INFORMATION & NEWS

Special Notice

• New! 2012 Olympic Games Restrictions
  If you are planning an aviation event or just simply planning to fly in or to the UK in Summer 2012, you need to be aware of these measures. They will affect all types of flying, including microlights, gliders and balloons. They are scheduled to apply over a large area of South East England from 14 July to 15 August. It will be required to file a flight plan, obtain an approval code and use a transponder for all flights in the restricted area. Following on from this, during for the Paralympic Games period, there will be local prohibited areas around the venues until September 12. There will also be a prohibited area around the sailing venue at Weymouth from 14 July to 12 September. For full details, see: http://olympics.airspacesafety.com/

Royal Aero Club News

• Updated! Events
  Click here for the RAeC's International Calendar of Events. This is an extensive listing of aviation events of all types: competitions, fly-ins, displays, exhibitions, etc., anywhere in the world.

• The BMFA has provided a comprehensive list of UK model-flying meetings and competitions.

Royal Aero Club Trust News

• For information about the Trust, please visit the RAeC Trust website.

• RAeC Archive Website
  The Royal Aero Club Trust is carrying out a major programme of conserving and cataloguing the Royal Aero Club's unique archive of documents and memorabilia. The work is continuing, but an extensive variety of initial results has now been made available on a new website: http://www.royalaeroclubcollection.org

• RAeC Trust "Flying For Youth" Bursaries
  The Royal Aero Club Trust provides a number of bursaries to people aged between 16 and 21 years and who hold a basic air sports qualification, who wish to progress their involvement to a higher level. Applications for 2012 have now closed, see the Bursaries section of the RAeC Trust website. Watch out for the announcement of Bursaries for 2013.

• RAeC Trust Conservation Programme
  The Royal Aero Club Trust is carrying out a major programme of cataloguing and conservation of the Royal Aero Club's unique archive of documents and memorabilia, most of which is at present stored at the RAF Museum, Hendon. The work is being led by volunteers from the National Association of Decorative & Fine Arts Societies. A major fund-raising appeal has been launched for £65,000 for procurement of specialist conservation materials. For details of the work and the appeal, please visit the Appeal section of the Trust website.

• RAeC Trust Volunteer Opportunities
  The Royal Aero Club Trust is seeking volunteers to help with a variety of tasks. These include some executive roles, and people to help with conserving and photographing the Royal Aero Club archives at the RAF Museum, Hendon. For further details, please visit the Volunteer Opportunities section of the Trust website.

Member Association News

• The British Gliding Association has moved offices. Their new contact details are - Address: 8, Merus Court, Meridian Business Park, Leicester LE19 1RJ. Phone: 0116 289 2956 Fax: 0116 289 5025. Website and e-mail details are unchanged.

• British Hang Gliding & Paragliding Association has moved offices, sharing with the British Gliding Association. Their new contact details are - Address: 8, Merus Court, Meridian Business Park, Leicester LE19 1RJ. Phone: 0116 289 4316 Fax: 0116 289 4949. Website and e-mail details are unchanged.

• The Light Aircraft Association has announced that they have appointed Richard Dunevein-Gordon to be their new Chief Executive Officer, with effect from 1st September 2011. for further details see the announcement on the LAA website.

• The Royal Air Force Museum, Hendon is staging a special exhibition of historical items from the Royal Aero Club collection. These have recently been conserved and restored at the Museum by the project funded and organised by the RAeC Trust.

International News - Fédération Aéronautique Internationale & Europe Air Sports

• For information about the FAI, including World and other International Championships and World Records, please visit the Fédération Aéronautique Internationale website.

• For information on the negotiations in hand on a range of Europe-wide legislative issues, please visit the Europe Air Sports website.

• The Fédération Aéronautique Internationale moved offices within Lausanne with effect from 26 April 2011. The new address is: Maison du Sport International, Avenue due Rhodanie 54, CH-1007, Lausanne, Switzerland. Other contact details are unchanged:. Phone: 0041-21 345 1070, Fax: 0041-21 345 2077.

Participation

• For information on participation by young people, please look at the following links: the Air Training Corps and CCF, the Air Scouts, the Girls Venture Corps Air Cadets or any of the RAeC Member organisations.

• There are several organisations which from time to time offer a variety of scholarships and bursaries. These are to encourage participation in air sports by young people and to facilitate professional aviation career development. These include our own Royal Aero Club Trust, also the Air League, the Guild of Air Pilots and Navigators (GAPAN) and the British Women Pilots Association.

• For information on opportunities for disabled participation, please contact Aerobility and Flying Scholarships for the Disabled.

Other News & Information

• Aviation Website Links
  For an extensive list of links to other aviation websites, please visit Howard Curtis's Airnet website.

The Royal Aero Club

General Secretary: David Phipps,
Royal Aero Club,
Chacksfield House, 31, St Andrew's Road, Leicester LE2 8RE

Tel: 0116 244 0182, Fax: 0116 244 0645
E-mail: secretary@royalaeroclub.org

Office hours: 0900-1700 Monday-Friday

The Royal Aero Club Ltd is a Company Limited by Guarantee.
Registered in England Number 1093859.
Registered office: Chacksfield House, 31, St Andrew's Road, Leicester LE2 8RE

Web-site contents maintained by David Wise.

This page last updated: 10th May 2012

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