FIFTY aircraft from across Europe touched down in Guernsey for a weekend of flight and fun at the Guernsey Aero Club’s 36th annual rally. Director Colin Ferbrache said the event had been a success, thanks in no small part to the weather.

‘If we don’t get good weather, it always ends up a bit of a cliffhanger,’ he said.

‘But we’ve had nobody cancel this year and the only thing was that some of the UK people had to change their routes because of poor weather over there.’

The event is now the only air rally left in the British Isles and about 120 people came especially for it.

‘It’s the one time of the year when our club members come together for the one event,’ said Mr Ferbrache. ‘It focuses attention and it is a great generator of club spirit.’

The rally began on Friday with a precision flying competition in which 22 aircraft took part.

The course, set out by Mark Dravers, took crews from Cherbourg Airport over the Normandy beaches and inland before making an assessed landing at Lessay.

The winner was Marcus Ciesielski, a German pilot who was taking part in the Guernsey event for the first time.

‘It was the most impressive flying I’ve seen in the eight years I’ve been organising it,’ said Mr Dravers.

He said with no previous form, his dilemma was whether he should put Mr Ciesielski in the open class, where penalties are higher, or the sportsmen event.

‘I said you’re not a German champion or anything are you?’ said Mr Dravers.

‘He said no – I’m the number five.’

Mr Ciesielski flew the course to within an accuracy of seven seconds, which Mr Dravers said was as close as he had been able to set it.

Mr Ciesielski and his wife, Astrid, from Cologne, took four hours to fly here in their single-engined Cessna 172.

‘We have wanted to come here for a long time but either the weather has been bad or we have been working,’ she said.

Martin Nielsen, a photographer from Denmark, was taking part in the Guernsey event for the 14th time.

He flew from Copenhagen in a Piper Arrow with his friend, commercial pilot Iver Iversen, via a two-day stop at Belle Ile.

‘We always try and visit a new place on the way before we get to the well known one,’ he said.