Flying the world from a Shropshire airfield
Step into a storage unit on an airfield in Shropshire and you can suddenly be flying on the the approach over the blue Mediterranean of the Cote D’Azur into Nice, the heat haze of the deserts of Australia or the hectic flight paths to Heathrow.
Newly-launched Chesim Air Ltd is the brainchild of Shropshire pilot Nigel Chesters and is based at Sleap airfield.
Nigel, 60, caught the flying bug ten years ago when a friend bought him a flying lessson: “I used to hate flying,” he said: “But I went up with an instructor for an hour and I loved it.
“He told me to land the plane and I know there were dual controls but I must have made a reasonable job of it and I was hooked and carried on and got my pilot’s licence.”
He says the 20-foot storage unit provided by Denbigh-based Container Sales Centre is the perfect base for his operation.
"The container is a perfect host for what is part of an actual aircraft. The simulator with its wrap-around screen is housed in the actual cockpit of G-WARZ, a 1997 Piper Cherokee Warrior two-seater with a state of the art G1000 avionics suite.
“You can get flight simulator programmes for your computer but they don’t come with wrap-around screens which give you the actual sensation of being in a real aircraft which this is and this is the first of its kind around here.
"Anyone can book an hour session and I’m already getting plenty of interest.”
Denbigh-based Container Sales Centre is a newly-launched business specializing in the sale of new and used shipping containers which range in size from 10-40-foot long units.
Lisa James from the company said they provided options from storage to work from home offices and even as parts of innovative new housing.
"We offer a full range from brand new to used ones which buyers can fit out to their own bespoke requirements.
“Some people insulate them and even fit windows to use them as an office. Others just want them as a simple and safe storage facility.
