About Us

Clearprop! Microlight School

Clearprop! was established in 2007 by David Sollom and Angus Lacy-Hulbert, with the aim of providing top quality microlight tuition at a convenient location in the south of England.  We chose Redlands Airfield not only for its prime position near major routes, but also for the superb facilities it has, as well as the wonderful atmosphere on the airfield.

There has been a microlight club and part-time school at Redlands since the early 1990’s, with the school part growing steadily over the past few years.  Now the school operates on a full-time basis, flying every day that the weather allows.

At Redlands, we have an office and shop, briefing room and large indoor and outdoor seating areas.  There is coffee and tea available all the time, and even a small café for hot and cold snacks which is open at weekends.

 

Clearprop! instructors

 

David Sollom

David first stuck an engine on his hang glider in about 1980; but gave up motorised flying soon afterwards when the engine kept stopping at the most inopportune moments, and he resumed free flying; both hang gliders and paragliders. During the 1990's he set up and ran ParAvion Paragliding School in Marlborough with the philosophy of being very professional, where most others were decidedly amateur. This is the extremely successful philosophy that he has brought to Clearprop! and the microlighting world. 

After a stint in the British Paragliding Team, David resumed powered flying in 2000, when the manufacturers started to build microlight aeroplanes with big, four-stoke engines, rather than the two-stoke units of early days. He now has many hundreds of hours of flying and teaching experience, on both flexwing and fixed wing microlights.

Dudley Pattison

Dudley started flying in 1969, and has flown anything and everything he could get his hands on since. He has over 2000 hours in various microlights and light aeroplanes as well as vast experience of building both models (he founded Flair Products) and full size aircraft (Isaacs Fury, RV4 and six microlights). Amongst his many achievements, he won the Schneider Trophy Air Race in 2000 flying his Robin DR400 G-DUDZ.

Dudley still loves flying whenever he gets the opportunity, and gets a real buzz from teaching new pilots. He also continues to spend any spare moments he gets building his next project and also runs a (very) small company supplying specialist timber and tools for aircraft building.

David Cox

Coxy has had a life long interest in anything that flies, and started paragliding with David Sollom at ParAvion in the mid 1990's. He soon began teaching as well as flying (and competing), and he is still an active paragliding instructor. He started flying microlights and light planes during 2001 and 2002, and is now an experienced fixed wing instructor.