VERTICAL FLIGHT SOCIETY UK
The Vertie21 Flight Socw UK Foundation Charitsble IDcorporAted Organization
Report of tbe Trnst￿9 for tbc period l May 2023 to 30 April 2024
Aim and Purpose
The Vertical Flight S(Kiety UK works ¢105ely with The Vertical Flight So¢i¢ty (VFS)
headquartered in Fairfax, Virgini& USA and pr¢viously known &8 the American Helicopter
Socicty. Thc VFS is th¢ world's Premier Professional Vertic￿ flighi trchnical society and is
recognised by the United States Internal Revenue Ser4ice (IRS) as a 501{cX3) charity (sLt
for rnore detsils}.
The VFS UK operate5 throughout EnglaniL Wales and Scotland.
l)bjective8 and Aelivities
The VFS UK is committed to educating as many people as possible living within the British
Isles in vertical flighi science and technology and relatd mechanical and engineering skills.
VFS UK organises pre5entstlODS and leaures on subjects relevani to Vertical flight with a
fo¢us on Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (known as STEM).
The benefits of the pur￿SeS are advancing the education of the public, particularly engineers
and scicntists, in scientific and technological subjects Telaied to vertical (lighL
VFS UK advertises its events through links with Universities and other educational
establishments. It also advertises through relevant prof￿1onal websites.
VFS UK ev¢nts are open to all with most activities taking place on-line.
A working party meets throughout the year to review and produtt policies for the VFS UK.
All activities perfomed We￿ aiming to m￿lMise public benefit and there were no fees charged
for participation.
Achievement 2nd Performance
The Trustees met regularly {virÈual, on-line meetings) to plan the management stjuclure of VFS
UK and to plan all CIO activities. The Tn￿ also llnd￿Wk trainin& again, virtually.
During this rqx)rting p¢riixl the media-outlets of the Charity were U￿kned with a complet¢ re-
drafting of the web pages. X. Fac¢EwL YouTube and Linkedln. There is now a p)licy in place
for managing the outlets and for checking the disseminated inforniation.
In addition, online public events were organiz&J using stTeaming and onlineLX)Ilalx)ration tools.
On 24 May 2024, the VFS UK held a joint conferfflce with the RAeS on turbulence eff￿ts.

The event was held at Shrigley HalL Cheshire and brought together researchers from the UK
and abroad. The audience was treated with 12 extraordinary presentstions over a very full day.
sparking insightful dISc￿s1Ons. This mini-conferen¢e was put together following the Mou
between RAeS and VFS. Air ntybulence is still one of the Unsolv￿ challenges in modern
aerodynamics and has gre￿ implication and impact on helicopter operations. Modelling and
simulation were seen &s key to understanding the intmction between the aircraft and the air.
More imp)rtantly, the speakers highlighted the need for more data and more in-flight
experiments. Keynote presentations from QinetiQ. th¢ UK AAIB and WSP of Canada
demonstratd the clear interesl of indu5ty in this difficult problem.
On 20th November 2024. Prof Antonio FiliptK)ne of the University of Manchester delivered a
webinar on aerial fircfighting using hcli¢opters. This is part of the VFS UK Chapter seminar
series 2024. The seminar LX)Ver￿ some of the data from recent fires in the US and discussed
how scientific analysis can be used to strcamline operation4 improv¢ practices and even pave
the way for new vehicle designs suitable for fire-fighting.
The Atmual m¢eting took place on 23rd Febnwy at the RAF Club in London.
This event attracted the interest of 65 delegates and in¢luded talks on hcliwplcr fllght tests.
The lopic of flight tesiing is not only interesting for engineers bul is also seen &s important for
the management of development projects due to its link with certification and the ultimate
completion ofthe design of vchicles. The event also included exciting updates on new eVTOL
start-ups detsiling someofthe charact¢rAstics of fiiture vertical lift aircraft. The VFS UK Award
Ceremony Closed the conference celebrating the contributions of our members and providing
encouragement to young members for ¢aTeers in vertical liti
Each year, the VFS UK mak&s a numixr of awards. This ycar.
Bryan Finlay and Jeremy Graham [￿tIv￿ th¢ President's Award for Lifetimc Achievement:
Richard E Brown received the Award for Extraordinary Work in Verti¢a] Fli8hL and
Dmitrij (Dima) Usov rtteived the David Gibbings Award for Early Career Achievernent
The VFS UK Management structurc is detsiled in the Administrative Section below.
The Officers of VFS UK meet (virtual) on the aftern¢￿ of the first Friday in the Month.
The VFS UK promotes its activities through the VFS and the VFS UK Chapter. Membership
of the VFS UK Chapter has been stable al near 2￿ po)ple during this reFM)rting period and is
drawn from Industy and A¢ademi&
FiDaoei*l Review
VFS UK has ￿￿e1Ved no income duTing this repxting perid.
VFS UK h&$ in¢urr&l no expenditure durlng this rew)rting peri(Kl.
VFS UK has no assets or liabilitics.
VFS UK Dow h&$ a bank a¢counL
The Truste¢s therefore consider that a financial audit is not requir•1 for this re￿rtIng period.

Volunt¢¢rs
The Trustses would like to thank all those who Volunteer￿ to serve as Officers of VFS UK
during thls reporting peri(Ml making valuable contributions to the runntng of VFS UK allowing
this ¢harity to fulfil its aims and objectives.
Administrative Infomation
The corffspondence addre&8 for the VFS UK is 17 King John Road. Gillingham, Dorset, SP8
4PG.
The following hav¢ served &s Officers during this rq￿]ft8 peri¢xl:
George Barakos
Antonio Filippone
Thomas Fitzgibbon
lan Frain
Secr¢tary and First Trusfre
Treasurer
Student Chapter Chair
Public Relations
Rafael Morales
Adrian Neve
David Niven
Darrcll Swanson
Paul Taylor
Mark White
University Liaison
Awards & Scholarships Chair
Technical Chair
Vice PrcsidenL Tech Mectings
President and FIN Trustee
Membership Chair and First Twstee
Prof. Antonio FilIp￿ne has agreed to be a Trustee "in waiting" allowing the Charity to
ontinue to operate in the event of one of the Trustees being indisposed.

FinaDcial Statements for the year l MAY 2023 to 30 April 2024
Income
VFS UK h&$ received no ineome during this rcp)rting period.
Expendithre
VFS UK has incurred no expenditure duTing this rcwrting FWi(xI.
knets and Liabilili
VFS UK has no a$￿S or liabilities for this rerx)rting ￿lOd.
Approved by lh¢ Trustee8 OD 18th Febrnary 2025 and $igned on their behalf by Paul
Taylor (VFS UK President and Trn