Having learned much about the Canadair Regional Jet in a lecture given at the Society’s HQ by Eric McConachie, I was keen to see the CRJ100 at the show. I had been detailed by my editor, the great J M (Mike) Ramsden, to cover the press briefings by Bombardier Regional Aircraft (as it then was) but had no idea that the company would be offering demo flights during the week.
It was purely by chance that when attending the pre-show briefing by the display pilots, I met Karen Adair of Air Transport World. In our discussion of potential show news, the tale emerged of how, despite my time at the RAeS (and the fact that I was now in my early 30s), I had still not flown – and once again it was met with a certain amount of disbelief.
Knowing about Bombardier’s plans for CRJ demo flights, Karen immediately thought my no-flying situation should be ended and made it her goal to get me on the guest list. It was some time on the Tuesday afternoon that Karen announced that I had a place on the flight. All the time since the pilots’ briefing, I had been wondering – given my fear of heights – if I would be able to go through with it?
And so, Wednesday afternoon arrived and all the participants met at the Bombardier ch…
