West Lancashire Microlight School based at Ince Blundell airfield near Merseyside had some interesting visitors early August in the form of a BBC film crew.

CFI John North and FI Richard Thornborough were both involved in the filming of the third series of the popular programme COAST.

The schools new fleet of Quik GT-450s were utilised during the filming, with John’s aircraft being used as a camera ship, whilst Richard and the programmes presenter Neil Oliver formatted alongside.

With nearby Southport's rich Aviation history spanning some 90 years, this stretch of coastline is of particular interest. There was an airstrip located on Southport beach for many years with flying schools and Air services offering passenger flights from Southport to Blackpool, the Isle of Man and Ireland. In the 1970’s the Birkdale sands airstrip was moved seawards to facilitate the building of the Coastal road and there encountered the first mud patches, which increasingly plagued subsequent pleasure flight operators. In 2001 the Civil Aviation Authority declassified it.

The skies above Southport were once again graced with a historical return of a De Havilland, five seater, Fox Moth Biplane, which was brought in especially for the filming, being a type that was previously operated off the beach many years before.

The school’s GT-450 again provided a camera platform to capture some arial shots of this graceful old lady as she floated along with her gypsy major purring away.

The programmes presenter Neil Oliver was very taken with our wonderful sport, showing a great deal of interest in the training requirements for a license, he commented, "Out of all the various types I have flown in during the making of Coast, the flexwing has been by far the best experience."