Gloucestershire Airport

[goddammit]

What a find for the ppl/pa28 flyer - lots of room, lots of runways, easy to find and just a short taxi ride to cheltenham spa for lunch. The onsite cafe is a disappointment, rather smokey and dirty on the day i visited.
The lady did firmly refuse my request for an SRA on the way in, and i must concede i hadn't arranged thAt in advance. One SRA would have been covered by the standard landing fee, and would have left me feeling i had got a good deal from my visit.

Will this airport remain the domain of the private flyer or is it ripe for development?
I noticed the declared distances in the AIP preclude its use by larger types, but is there a cost effective way of overcoming those problems?

[Yak97]

..only if they moved the motorway and knocked down GCHQ!

[matspart3]

goddammit
Glad you enjoyed your visit...tell all your friends and come again! The lady who refused your SRA had to because, unfortunately, she's not a Radar rated controller...it's a rostering constraint that we try to avoid but sometimes it's inevitable. Generally, if there's a male voice on the frequency a 2NM SRA is no problem...phone us before you leave and we might even manage to arrange a half-miler! NDB/DME is always an option, although we do get extremely busy with Instrument Training. There's no additional charge for a training approach if you land and you'll get a further discount if you buy 50lts of AVGAS.

The 27 Landing Distance (997m) is the major issue affecting the viability of significant Commercial operations at the Airport. Obstacles close to both runway ends displace the thresholds and preclude the full usage of the 1419m of actual tarmac for landing. Nevertheless, you could operate a Dash 8-200 from here at just about MTWA and MLW so who knows....

In the interim, with over 130 resident aircraft ranging from homebuilts to Bizjets, and around 85 000 runway movements per year, we've managed to operate at a healthy profit in the last few years and witnessed substantial inward investment. Anyone who hasn't been to Staverton in the last 5 years probably wouldn't recognise the place, with virtually the entire southeast corner of the airfield having been redeveloped. The Goverment White Paper recognised the importance of the Airport to the GA sector, albeit with a brief paragraph, so I suspect that's where we'll continue to focus our efforts.

The cafe's not the worst you'll come across, and there are plenty more eateries in Cheltenham nearby.

BTW we're strictly PPR next Tues, Wed & Thurs when the National Hunt Festival is on at Cheltenham Racecourse...you'll need to book an arrival slot on 01452 857700 x 223

[Snigs]

Noooooooooo. They can't knock down the doughnut, after all they've only just built it.

Besides, I need it to be able to locate the airfield when I have to switch the ADF off for training purposes. :O

On a serious note, as an instructor at Glos, I believe that it's one of the best, if not the best GA airfield in the country.

[360BakTrak]

Well said Snigs!!!!:ok:

[Sir George Cayley]

See that the ad for Gordons replacement appeared again in Flight.

Has anyone been appointed yet?

Sir George Cayley

[VCR]

Graham Greaves was appointed as MD last week