Spring Meeting:  1st March 1980, Café Royal, London

The George and Marquise banqueting suite (one of 21, in addition to 2 luxury restaurants) at the Cafe Royal was reserved for the BMPA. Dinner of Ananas en surprise Norvegienne, creme cressus de la fontaine, contre filet do beouf and mouse doe creme brulee et oranges au curacao was enhanced by candlelight, chandeliers and a Scots piper and was attended by 57 people. Both of the RAF’s medical officer pilots, Wing Commander Shaun Marshall and Squadron Leader Michael Bagshaw, were present and spoke about Medical Rehabilitation of RAF aircrew and Flying Training in the RAF respectively. There was a film of the ditching of a Boeing 747 and Brian Pickard spoke about the Guild of Air Pilots and Air Navigators, a City Livery Company, of which he had been Master for the past year. The President, Prof. Maurice Hallett, was newly resplendent with the BMPA medallion.

Lectures

  • Flying training in the RAF (Bagshaw)
  • Medical rehabilitation of RAF aircrew (Marshall)
  • Individual variation on decision-making under stress (Schapira)
  • Oxygen tension under hypo- and hyper-baric conditions (Poolyet)
  • Ditching of a 747 Jumbo (film: Foster)
  • The Guild of Air Pilots and Air Navigators (Pickard).
Autumn Meeting:  20th-21st September 1980, Teeside

Fine weather on the Friday allowed members to fly in, including a Belgian for the first time: Gynaecologist Dr Notelas and his surgeon son flew OO-GLO direct from Genk and he was awarded the Guinness Cup. Saturday’s tour of the York moors took place in dense IMC! This cleared miraculously after lunch on Sunday, allowing flights home. The Sydney Agnew Cup for a photographic competition for aviation subjects was inaugurated. It later became known as the President’s Cup.