Spitfire Flight FAQ's

No. Your booking time is the time of your briefing. We like to start the briefings as promptly as possible, so we’d kindly advise that you arrive five to ten minutes early.

No. We have a number of people flying with us during the morning and afternoon sorties. A typical day will have three guests flying in the morning and four in the afternoon so it is very important that you arrive on time.

We now only book one person per slot so you will be the only person being briefed and kitted for your allotted time slot.

We would always suggest to budget for a minimum of two hours for your slot to accommodate for any slight unforeseen delays we might have.

All our operating locations have designated viewing areas and lounges that can be utilized by friends and families. Food and drink can also be purchased normally. Goodwood has a cafeteria at the Goodwood Aero Club and Solent Airport Daedalus has one at Café at Zero Five. ​

Yes, but post Covid-19 we allow only one extra person into the facility to be with you for the briefing. The rest of your friends and family will be able to wait in and spectate from the adjoining areas.

You don’t have to stick to the route suggested on our website. The suggested route has been designed to demonstrate the beautiful surroundings of the locations we fly from. However, if you’d prefer to fly to a specific location, you can under the following conditions: The area isn’t inside restricted airspace (permanent or temporary) There are no built-up areas It isn’t beyond gliding distance of land There’s suitable visibility and no clouds that could restrict us from flying at a safe altitude We can achieve this route within the flight time

In short, yes! We will always offer you the opportunity to take control of this iconic aircraft. The academy’s Pilot will perform the take-off, all aerobatic maneuvers (should you want to try an historic “Victory Roll”) and the landing. Provided it is safe to do so, that communications are clear and understood by both parties in the aircraft, you will be offered control!

If you’re flying during the cooler months, the coldest part of the experience will be walking to and from the aircraft. Our flight crews and operations staff generally wear the same flight suit as the one you will be offered to wear. We recommend you wear a t-shirt or shirt, and jeans, chinos or cords. Natural fibres are preferable. Enclosed shoes are essential, as sandals and flip flops aren’t permitted. You’ll also be required to wear one of our Nomex flight suits over your regular clothing. Your flight suit will be fitted with you after your briefing and will be lent to you for the duration of your flight.

The Spitfire is indeed a loud aircraft. No expense or effort has been spared to ensure you can hear and communicate with your pilot as best as possible. Our ground crew and operations officers will instruct you on microphone positioning to ensure clear verbal communications can be made. The helmets worn during the flight are state-of-the-art and have built-in noise-cancelling technology. While effective, the system won’t mute the sound of the Merlin engine! It remains very loud, especially during take-off, and those with hearing difficulty may struggle to hear communications from the pilot when the aircraft is at certain power settings during the flight. To maintain safety standards, we usually request that hearing aids be removed before flight. In exceptional circumstances, hearing aids may be permitted at the pilot and operations officers’ permission. However, if you struggle to hear voices at a reasonable volume on the ground, we may need to discuss this before the flight commences. We must ensure that both you and the pilot can communicate clearly and effectively.

This aircraft was designed as an effective aerial weapons platform. While beautiful, the Spitfire was and remains an incredibly capable aircraft. The Spitfire is fast and highly manoeuvrable. Small levels of G-force may be incurred during general flight and while steering the aircraft in any particular direction. We always try to keep these forces to a minimum during general handling. But, G-force is directly related to speed and is sometimes unavoidable. Once again, we aim to keep these general manoeuvres as precise yet gentle as possible. We like to be fair to you and the aircraft! If you’d like to undertake some aerobatics, many manoeuvres can be performed at very low G-force. To explain this further, while standing on the Earth’s surface, we’re subjected to 1G permanently. It’s holding us to the ground. When flying straight and level, we’re also subjected to 1G. There are at least two aerobatic manoeuvres that can be undertaken at 1G or very close to it. The famous ‘Barrel Roll’ is one of them. It’s a very gentle manoeuvre whereby the aircraft climbs and rolls simultaneously, resulting in a dynamic and enjoyable aerobatic manoeuvre – all conducted at 1G! Loops incur a higher G-force due to the amount of energy required to dive, climb and recover to a straight and level attitude. Loops can usually be flown at no more than 3G. While all aerobatic manoeuvres incur some form of G-force, we always encourage our guests to go upside down in a Spitfire once!

We make every effort to ensure your safety. And in the many years we’ve been offering Spitfire flight experiences, we’ve never had a serious safety issue. So you can have utmost confidence when you book a Spitfire flight. However, in the interest of transparency, we can’t negate the fact that the Spitfire (including the two-seater version) was never designed to carry passengers. The two-seater TR-9 was designed to train existing pilots and those with an extensive knowledge of flying. So it’s loud, fast and compact. However, you should feel comfortable when seated. You’ll be wearing a fire-resistant Nomex flight suit, leather flying gloves, a life jacket with a personal locator beacon and a helmet with integrated headphones and microphone. You’ll also be fitted with a parachute with a static line attached to the aircraft. Our operations officers will instruct you in its proper use. The seats in the aircraft are also equipped with ‘Hooker’ four-point harnesses. The central buckle and clasp, and their operation, will be explained by our operations officers. With regard to maintenance, our Spitfire is thoroughly inspected at the beginning of each flying day. Additional checks are carried out by professional engineers and the pilot flying in between sorties. The Spitfire is subjected to more in-depth inspections every 25 hours and we perform an annual inspection. This is a protracted process that can take a few months to complete, and is one of the reasons why we don’t fly over the winter months. While we make every effort to maintain the aircraft with no expense spared, she is much like a classic car. Her technology, though limited, is still very complicated. So rarely, but on the odd occasion, we may have to investigate peculiarities or concerns which could result in flight delays or cancellations.

There is no maximum age restriction. The minimum age we can accept is 18 years old.

Our guests are allowed to wear glasses, sunglasses and/or contact lenses in the Spitfire. Unfortunately, due to the location of various items in the cockpit and the possibility of abandoning the aircraft, we can’t fly those who are legally blind.

You are required to have a reasonable level of hearing. Under exceptional circumstances, hearing aids may be worn subject to the approval of the operations officers and the pilot. You must be able to hear the pre-flight briefing and our operations staff and pilot should be able to communicate with you at a reasonable volume. We cannot fly those who are deaf.

Our height restriction is 6’6" or 198 cm. There is no minimum height.

Our weight restriction is 17 stone or 108 kg. There is no minimum weight.

General health should be reasonable enough to take a commercial flight or to have a flight experience in a light aircraft. With regard to physical health, our guests are required to enter and exit the aircraft unassisted. Please imagine getting in and out of the bath for a fairly accurate comparison. ​ A Doctor's note will be required for the following: - HEART CONDITIONS - LUNG CONDITIONS - BRAIN CONDITIONS - EAR/NOSE/THROAT CONDITIONS - BACK AND/OR BONE CONDITIONS - EPILEPSY - DIABETES (TYPE I) For their own safety and the safety of the aircraft we cannot fly people who are: ​ - LEGALLY BLIND - DEAF - PHYSICALLY IMPAIRED - MENTALLY IMPAIRED

If you meet the requirements above and are physically fit enough to enter and exit the aircraft in an emergency, you are fit to fly. However, if you are concerned about your physical health and flying in our Spitfire, we would encourage you to request a Doctor’s note explaining that you are fit to fly with us. Before you fly, you will be asked to sign an indemnity form declaring you are fit to fly.

No. No unauthorized items are permitted in the aircraft. The Spitfire doesn’t have a conventional floor. Items can be dropped into the bottom of the fuselage and restrict flight controls and control cables. The flight will be recorded by our approved fixed position 360° video camera. We record all flights. A video of your flight can be purchased.

We’ll assess the weather during the early afternoon of the day before your flight and advise you accordingly. The weather conditions that could affect us are visibility, cloud base, wind and rain. Once we’ve made our assessment, we’ll do one of 3 things: If the weather looks like it’ll be too bad to fly, we’ll cancel your flight and arrange another date with you If there is a 50/50 chance of flying, we’ll state this and ask if you’d like to visit us with a view that we might or might not fly If the weather is looking good, we won’t contact you If the weather during a morning session deteriorates, we may call afternoon bookings to notify them of the change of weather and that we might or might not fly. Please note that while every effort is made to predict the weather, the conditions on the day might not be forecast and can even change on the day. Also note that ground conditions can affect the Spitfire, too. Grass aerodromes are subject to becoming soft under foot. Since the Spitfire is a heavy aircraft, we might deem it safer not to fly under these conditions. We’re restricted to flying during daylight hours, clear of clouds and in sight of the surface.

If your flight is cancelled due to aircraft serviceability, weather, events beyond our control or an illness that prevents you from flying, we’ll try to offer you an alternative date to fly. If you decide that you need to return to the aerodrome or airport during your flight, a refund isn’t possible. If we shorten the flight due to a technical or weather issue, we’d try to fly again at the nearest opportunity to make up for lost time. However, in this instance, we could also refund the difference in time if you prefer. For full refund conditions, please read our terms and conditions.

We have a number of civilian and ex-military pilots who could fly your Spitfire. But we can’t schedule a particular pilot over another due to both our and their rostering. Occasionally, the day before your flight, we’ll know who’s rostered to fly the next day. All of our pilots are trained to the highest standards. They also undergo proficiency checks and recurrent training to ensure their levels of captaincy are up-to-date and frequently refreshed.

After your flight, we will offer you a pair of 360° goggles to view your 360° video which can be purchased at additional cost. We also present you with a squadron print of the Spitfire you’ve flown in, the flight suit patch that you wore in the spitfire for your flight and a sticker.

We record/video every flight. You can pay for a video after your flight or when prompted to do so when your video preview is emailed to you.

On the very rare occasion that a video camera fails in-flight and you have pre-purchased it, you will be entitled to a full refund of the video payment only. If your video was gifted to you as part of a seasonal offer or for any other reason, no refund will be issued.

The 360° video needs to be processed after your flight. It can take up to two weeks to go through processing and to be emailed to you via WeTransfer, an online large file delivery system. Due to the size of the file, we do not save the file to a USB or a DVD.

Full payment in advance is required