Leicester East Aerodrome, 29-31st August 2025
The Light Aircraft Association, headquartered at Turweston, represents the General Aviation Community in the UK and holds its annual rally in late summer, usually blessed with fair weather so attracts a few hundred visiting aircraft from across the country. Some visitors travel across Europe, this year in particular welcomed a few from former Eastern Block nations. Unfortunately this year the weather did not cooperate with low cloud, strong winds and afternoon rain forecast every day. This limited flying visits; those with tents might manage to stay over and await the short improvements but a one day visit was more difficult. less than a hundred light aircraft turned up; hopefully 2026 will see an improvement.
For the last two years it has been held at this Leicester Airfield. Among the locations of previous events are Popham airfield, Sywell, Kemble and Cranfield.
The event is a central ‘exhibition’ area, this includes a selection of aircraft and marques and a parking area for visiting pilots. During the day visitor can listen to talks by other pilots and builders, various items in the sales tent, or examine some of the newer kit aircraft available.
Arguably the rarest aircraft was this Hindustan Pushpak of Indian origin; resident in the UK for many years but rarely seen in public. It appears in great condition and was welcomed by hundreds of enthusiasts and photographers who, naturally, made the effort to attend the rally. Hopefully this helped balance the books.
This year aircraft from Slovakia (JMB Aircraft), the Czech Republic (JMB Aircraft and TL Ultralight), Poland (JMB Aircraft) and Italy (Nando) visited to exhibit new designs, older Austers showed how the original light aircraft were built. The LAA also provided a Cessna 172 for some fun. Ten faults were introduced and pilots then invited to carry out a preflight check to find them. The highest score was 7.
An odd aircraft in the exhibition area was the Navion painted in US Army colours from the Second World War.
One anniversary celebrated was in honour of the famous Pitts Special aerobatic biplane. It is unusual to see so many examples in one place as, given its unique aerobatic capabilities, one example is usually enough to demonstrate its prowess in the hands of a skilful pilot.
It is clear that the world of general aviation fibreglass is slowly replacing fabric as the primary material for construction. the Evolution series clearly showed this change. These ‘plastic’ aircraft have grown in scale and instrumentation to a point where they are replacing the familiar Cessna and Piper types that have dominated flight training for many decades.
