How far do you travel to fly?

[undertheweather]

Just as a matter of interest, how far to do travel to get to your home airfield?

My journey distance is 86 miles, (so the return journey is over 170 miles) which usually takes me about 1 hour 40 minutes, most of which is motorway or dual carrriageway.

Why do I travel so far? Its a lovely old grass airfield, with friendly members and staff. Hangarage is available - not cheap, but not as expensive as some. Its relatively free of restrictive airspace. Its a lovely part of the country to fly around.

[big.al]

I used to hire from Netherthorpe - a massive 7 miles from home. But I now own a share, based at Gamston, so the journey is around 16 miles each way. Not a bad run really - a lot less than 1hr40!

[Northern Highflyer]

About 14 miles to my home airfield. Takes about 20 minutes by car on a good day. Can be back over my house in about 5-6 minutes from leaving the circuit which makes the trip home seem like forever. :(

[Penguina]

You drivers don't know you're born! It takes me 1 hour 45 minutes on average to reach my home airfield, which includes a 50 minute walk at the end. And it's really not so far away.

Dedicated to my hobby, that's me! :O

[Dude~]

Ha! That's nothing! I ride 98 miles of M1 on my Honda, each way... quite an effort after a hard flight.

(I usually allow 2 hours to allow for putting on and removing all my clobber, but once I'm on the go, I'm usually at the other end in about 1h20 - need a faster bike really!)

Definately worth it though. All the club aircraft near my home are real tatty so its worth the journey to fly a nice plane. Cheaper too!

:cool:

[knobbygb]

53 miles - just over an hour each way.

That does NOT include time/distance spent on sweetners for the wife (i.e. shopping trips, short breaks etc) when she finds out how much I spend on flying. :eek:

Interestingly (or perhaps not) I drive around 6000 miles a year to and from the airfield.

[shortstripper]

Hmmmmmmm

Put Wellies on,
Walk out the door,
Turn right and walk about 500 yrds!

Shame the strips too short for a Jodel! but it's long enough for the VP2.

:O

[dublinpilot]

Only about 10 min drive (about 4 miles). So very handy.

[AIRWAY]

Hi all,

It takes me more or less around 45 minutes to go from London to the airfield where i fly in Essex.

:ok:

[NinjaBill]

I fly from sherburn, which is about 15 miles away, but takes me about 25 minutes because of the winding b roads, and from Topcliffe, which is 35 miles away, and takes 30 minutes to get to straight up the A1

regards

NB

[Flyin'Dutch']

30mins to each of the fields I fly from.

Sywell, Hinton, Wellesbourne and Turweston.

FD

[jezbowman]

Takes me about 30 minutes to East Midlands via the A6 / M1 - though it can be as much as an hour upwards if the M1 hits standstill....

Flying time to home? From the start of the take-off roll about ten minutes tops.:confused:

I get a good look at the M1 when landing (especially on RWY27), if it looks dodgy southbound I go the 'back way'.

[stiknruda]

A bit like shortstripper except no need for wellies and the walk is less than 10% of his!

Jodel-able, I'm sure;)

stik

off to fly this very minute

[Charlie Zulu]

Sympathies to Penguina.

About half an hour bus ride to the city centre and then about forty five minutes bus ride to the airport. From there its around a five minute walk to the flying club.

So all in all it takes around 1.5 hours if I time the connections right. Sundays are a bit of a binde - 2 hours between busses, and on more than one occasion I've arrived at the bus depot just to find the airport bus pulling away... argh!

No wonder I've just bought a new car (taking deliver tomorrow) and I have my practical driving test booked for the 14th Nov. Fingers crossed.

Should have learnt to drive nine years ago when I was just seventeen, but hey at least I can now afford a car and in the mean time I've had fun obtaining an FAA CPL/IR! Oh and my insurance is a lot cheaper now than it would have been (even as a fully comprehensive provisional driver on my car) ;)

So once I've passed my test the time to get to the airport will be around 30-35 minutes each way. This is via the M4/A4232/A4050 route.

Best wishes,

Charlie Zulu.

[Mr Wolfie]

About a mile from the airfield - takes less then 2 minutes by car from house to hangar.

Mr.W

[shortstripper]

Aha!

stiknruda ... where are you based? sounds like another strip to visit? :p

IM

[Evo]

I'm at about 1.5DME south of GWC ... so that's a couple of minutes then :)

[Aerobatic Flyer]

30 mins or so to Villefranche or to Lyon Bron, and 2 hours if the traffic is clear to Megève.

I'd still go there if it was twice as far!:)

[Chilli Monster]

Depends which aircraft

No.1 - 15 minutes drive / 12 miles from 1 house :), or 2 hours / 150 miles from the other :(

No's 2 & 3 - Step out of work, cross taxiway to hangar - 25 yards :D

[Shaggy Sheep Driver]

It's about 18 miles and can and often is done in about 20 minutes by car. However, that's mostly by motorway, and if it's a nice day and I'm on the bike and fancy a bit of a blast down the lanes and the 'A' roads it can be many miles further and take somewhat longer - via parts of Cheshire and Derbyshire ;~))

SSD

[Pink_aviator]

Pinkster here.
I drive 85 miles along alot of single track road,avoiding sheep and deer.
Around lochs ,under mountains
AND
I used to do it every day ,in order to get my ppl .
(was a bit obsessed in the early days ,that and i liked my young FI .)
Have calmed down a bit now and only go in once or twice a weekif not to fly then ground school.

PINK-AVIATOR

[Monocock]

About 1 mile, approximately 2 minutes from home to the hangar door.

Just enough time to phone the weather and chase the pheasants off the strip!:ok:

[ChrisVJ]

If Jemima is in the hangar then it takes about 25 mins. If she's on the dock then less than a minute, about 40 yds.

[Potter1]

25 minutes, 15 miles door to door. A bit longer if the owner hasn’t cleared the pheasants off the strip! :ok:

[stiknruda]

As of this morning, they'd better keep their heads down or keep well off my strip!

Partridges first, though!

:D

Stik

[Bootlegger]

'bout 16 miles to "Nethers" from where i live...have to avoid annoying rush hour traffic, usually takes about 35/40 mins....but well worth it when i get there.

[Whirlybird]

45 minutes to Hawarden to instruct; 45 mins to Sleap to bore holes in the sky; 45 mins to Welshpool to improve my f/w flying with my favourite instructor. Used to be 68 miles and nearly two hours on winding roads to Shobdon when doing my PPL(H), then later 62 miles on better roads in about an hour and a quarter to Woverhampton Intergalactic.

I dream of an aircraft in the back garden, but I live on a steep hillside with great views...but barely room for a small car, never mind any kind of flying machine!!!

[BeauMan]

About 15 miles from home to EGSC. Found out something quite nice the other week - If I stick my Pink Floyd Pulse tape in the car as I pull out of my road, and if the roads are clear, I arrive in Mid Anglia's car park just as 'Learning To Fly' finishes. :ok:

What's that saying about little things and little minds...?

[Circuit Basher]

Going to Perth - 55 miles (or so) - takes around 1 hr 15 mins, depending on traffic on the Forth Bridge.

Going to Kirknewton - 2.5 miles, around 10 mins!! :D

[murphy1901]

Circuit Basher

Do you mean the old airfield at Kirknewton where the ATC operate gliders at the weekend?

Fond memories of doing my BGA Cat. A with the ATC there many years ago in Sedbergs and MKIII's and staying overnight on Saturdays, "Chez RAF" at RAF Turnhouse :D

For me now, its a quick sprint down the M8 and A80 to Cumbernauld. Only a 25min journey when the traffic is light.

[Marco_71]

Hello folks!

Takes me about 20 minutes to drive the 6 miles from my house to the airport. It's even more than I can stand ... when i am about to go flying i wanna fly not drive! (especially in the NJ traffic!! :yuk: )

[Tiger_ Moth]

Phhhh... I beat you all! 2.5 - 3 hours there, the same back.

wait a second.....that's a bad thing!

[Circuit Basher]

murphy1901 - affirm! ;) There's a bit of a fight at the moment between the powered flyers and the ATC as a result of some bad (visiting) infringers on the gliding operations this season. The locally based pilots are OK, but several visitors have not PPRed and barged straight through the gliding operation without even any radio contact. There is certainly one report sub judice with the CAA at the moment and a certain pilot is likely to be the subject of a severe one-sided interview without coffee at the very least. I am involved with both the powered flying side and the gliding side, so have a foot in both camps, so to speak!

There was also one pretty unorthodox downwind (10 kt tailwind)departure by a visiting C310, full of pax off a 1000m runway. He was only just clear of the deck at the 900m point and his gear was just coming up as he cleared the boundary fence by what an eye witness reported as <5m!

Word to the wise - Please telephone for PPR before visiting Kirknewton (certainly at weekends) and follow any radio instructions you're given!!

If you did your A&B at Turnhouse, then you'll probably remember Allan Gillespie (who's now CO), Dan Maclennan and a few others... :D

(Edited 'coz I had been doing some HTML formatting on another site and got in a mucking fuddle with the codes!! :D)

[murphy1901]

Circuit Basher

Wow! The memories are flooding back now! :D
I'm sure I do remember Allan Gillespie. I was told the CO at the time I was there was sadly killed in a flying accident (GA, not a glider). A great bunch of people at Kirknewton, who delivered top class training to us spotty 17 and 18 year olds!

Changed days too - when I was there the only other traffic we ever saw was a Cessna which was based at the airfield and the occasional sports car which would zip up and down the runway a few times on a Sunday.

Is the pig farm still on the other side of the road? Used to be one of my landmarks on downwind! Was never much fun being up wind of it on a summers day tho'! :ugh:

My best regards to all at Kirknewton! :ok:

[witchdoctor]

186 mile round trip (3.5 hrs), but worth every penny. Love the drive, love the flying.:D

[DOC.400]

15 minutes in the Porsche....

:D

DOC

[Cusco]

Airstrip 15 miles from home: 30 minutes on country roads:

I allow exactly one hour from locking front door at home to airborne:


works well for flight calculations and planning ETAs.

Safe flying

Cusco:ok:

[Fancy Navigator]

...about 60 miles return for me. Not too bad, given that the airport is in uncontrolled airspace...
Cheers :)