UK - Where's the best place to fly for a two day adventure? Personal experiences!

[Halfbaked_Boy]

Hey everyone,

Here's a quick (or maybe it's a long?) question then!

So, I find myself in the position of having 60 hours of flying in an Arrow over this Winter, and the key point is, I want to make the best use of this time by challenging myself and flying into different/interesting/unusual airfields. Forgive me if I sound a little in over the top, but I have commercial and instructing aspirations and I want to make sure I'm doing the right kind of flying, and gaining the best possible experience in the time I have, as flying doesn't come cheap as we all know!

But asides from my own point of view, I thought it would be interesting to see where other people have flown (from a GA perspective), and hopefully it'll make good reading for everybody else on here as well!

At some point I'd like to make a two day trip (which is part of a birthday present for a friend of mine and his other half), to somewhere which will give them both an experience to remember, and I've been toying with the idea of places such as Oban, Papa Westray, St Mary's, and other such similar places, and I'd really appreciate people's input on this, and any advice such as places to stay (a bar would be a most welcome addition!) would be really appreciated.

And of course, birthdays aside, where else has stood out in your memories of flying, somewhere you'd reccommend to other pilots? Despite the title, ideas of places within reasonable reach of an Arrow would be greatly received, within or outside of the UK.

All the best, and thanks for reading :ok:

p.s. any input on the condition of the runways at Andreas (IOM), would also be very useful - family out that way, but have heard it's not in the best of shape these days? Cheers

[englishal]

Channel Islands for one stop - Cheap fuel / Booze, cheap to land, and an experience. Fly to all of them. I'd stay in either Alderney or Jersey, Alderney probably as it is something completely different. Next day you could fly back to the main land and down to the Scillies, stop over night then return home the following day. That would be a flight to remember "The Island Experience"....;)

[PH-UKU]

Or ..... for something completely different ..... head over to Enniskillen (St Angelo to give it it's Sunday name) in Northern Ireland and go fly some seaplane time with Steve Powell (http://www.the-amphib-flyingclub.co.uk). :ok: Then you can get duty-free fuel at EGAB by filing across the border to Sligo and going for a night on the town in Eire. Good craic. Just avoid Galway due to their extortionate fees.

Or .... slightly further north - fly to Oban and see if Neil's Seaplanes (htp://www.neils-seaplanes.com) can meet up and take you splashing around the westcoast. From there it is a short scoot (well a couple of hours) up the Great Glen past Inverness to Orkney. Just keep a wary eye on the weather and take some good tie-downs.

If you get days like today ... you're in for a real treat. :)

[BackPacker]

If the weather up North looks iffy, why not cross the Channel and visit mainland Europe? You've got plenty of opportunities to avoid any weather there.

Once you've done the customs formalities at your first stop on the mainland, no more customs to worry about. Only remember to file a flight plan to cross an international FIR boundary. And if the Arrow has mode-S and and ELT, that's two other things less to worry about.

[wsmempson]

1st stop Guernsey for fuel (£1 per litre) and then down to Carcasonne or Avignon for an overnight stop and then back via Lilles for lunch. :ok:

[Shunter]

St Marys is a cracking trip out. Loads of nice little hotels. I stayed in Schooners last time from which you can walk 50yds down the beach to the Atlantic which does a damn good steak.

[modelman]

As you are thinking about Oban,why not Glenforsa,nice place,nice hotel with own strip.
MM

[NorthSouth]

you can walk 50yds down the beach to the Atlantic which does a damn good steakA shark steak presumably? But only if it can spontaneously combust. ;-)
NS

[tarnish26]

Scottish west coast....looks good to me from 39000ft :ok:

[tarnish26]

Scottish west coast looks good from 39000ft to me :)

[XXPLOD]

Another vote for Scilly Isles. I accompanied a mate in to there last month - fantastic! Could also do Lundy and either Sandown or Bembridge on the Isle of Widget to make a trio of southern England isles!

[BabyBear]

Scottish west coast looks good from 39000ft to me

just imagine what it looks like from 3900 feet.

Two days is enough to get a taster and a hunger for more, but would only go if forecast is good as being at 3900 feet can be challenging in IMC.

[PH-UKU]

I noticed job vacancies at St Marys last year for ATC, which got me thinking .......

Is the RT callsign "Scilly Tower" and "Scilly Approach" ? :}

[Halfbaked_Boy]

Fantastic response so far, thanks to everyone! So it sounds like the Channel Islands and the Scilly Isles are places for definite penciling in - and thank you so much to the people who have made reccommendations for accommodation as well, I know only too well how sensible it is to plan by the experience of others!

Modelman - thanks for the input - on first reading, sounds interesting! Is there any other information you could give me on Glenforsa? I've had a quick look on Google Earth and its search engine counterpart, but fail to find it in my flight guide or farmstrips guide, so that would be very useful.

It's a shame I'm not doing this during the Summer, as some of the beaches in that direction look absolutely breathtaking, especially some of the more isolated islands to where it's only possible to reach via aeroplane or boat! Based on what you've all said, I think I'll definitely be paying St Mary's a visit too, once again thanks for the input on places to stay.
PH-UKU, just had a look in my 2002 (:eek:) Flight Guide and they like to be called 'Scillies' App/Tower etc, I wonder why!

A couple of people have mentioned mainland Europe via the Channel Islands - sounds great, and at some point I'd love to stay over in Ostend (always wanted to see the city at night!), does anybody have any experience with that?

Please keep them coming, I'm finding everybody's input really useful.

Cheers :ok:

[Halfbaked_Boy]

Modelman - don't worry, have found somewhere with fantastic info on Glenforsa, although any personal experience would still be helpful! :)

[vanHorck]

Day one to Midden Zeeland (Grass, NL) to Dahlemer Binz (Tarmac, Germany). Day two (Luxemburg Int'l) somewhere in France (take you pick) and back to the UK.

Dahlemer Binz is a very well maintained tarmac aerodrome (gliding takes place there too!) just east of the Ardennes. Luxemburg has one of the longest runways i've come across and at least when I was there was very GA friendly.

But if it's food you re after the earlier post of going to Avignon is a great choice, although I'd route via Troyes

[BackPacker]

Or, if you want to do something seriously spectacular, don't make your first stop Midden Zeeland, but make your first stop Amsterdam Schiphol International Airport (EHAM/AMS).

Yes, it'll cost you somewhere around the 200-250 euro mark for landing and handling but this is, what, the third largest airport in Europe? And probably the largest airport that you can go to as a simple low-hours PPL on a VFR flight plan.

[wsmempson]

....But only go to Amsterdam Schipol if you have an ELT and a mode-S transponder (which must be switched off).:}

[tdbristol]

Amsterdam Schipol is certainly interesting (a 747 landing on 36C while I was landing on 36R in a DA40) and nice to hear 'give way to light aircraft on taxiway' [said to a 777 to allow me into the taxiing queue of jets] but it cost a total of Euros 305 in said DA40 (landing fees, take-off fees, compulsory handling....). And if you go there, be aware they no longer have AVGAS (from 1 Sep this year).