Genghis the Engineer
23rd Mar 2011, 18:35
I did post an earlier thread on this which I had to delete. And this one will be (mostly) bland facts - but I'm aware that there's a lot of gossip going around so I can at least get people on the right page.
Chilbolton Flying Club has been told it has to leave Chilbolton Airfield by June 2011. We are not happy, but it's clear that we can do nothing about it. It appears that Chilbolton will cease to be regularly available to visitors, but the runway is likely to remain for Flying Pictures and Hampshire Light Plane Services, for a while at-least.
The club isn't big, consisting of 24 aeroplanes and 37 pilots, mostly microlights. However, that's a lot to put somewhere else at short notice. We've looked at every option we can find that's reasonably close by.
At the second of two club "crisis meetings", we agreed that no strip nearby seems viable - there are plenty that can squeeze in 4-6 aeroplanes, but not 20ish. We have had offers from both Popham and Old Sarum, both of whom have been incredibly generous in their moral support at-least.
Last Friday, at a meeting of the club, we all agreed to manage a move to Popham at the end of May. About 3/4 of the club seem to be coming with us, the remainder drifting off in other directions - that was probably inevitable, and keeping 75% together is something of a testament to the club spirit and ethos that we have there.
Will this move to Popham be permanent? We don't know - I'm sure that Dick Richardson at Popham, who has been incredibly supportive, hopes so. However, at-least this season we'll keep looking for a "Chilbolton Mk.4" (there have, if you look at the history, been three previous Chilbolton airfields, over roughly 80 years); the odds are that if we've not found it by the end of the year, we'll entrench at Popham, and let's face it, it's a great place to be; it's just not the strip that we've had for the last 25 odd years.
So, at the end of May (when we'll be planning a big fly-in and party weekend, details yet to be announced) may be the end of a happy 80 year long era of recreational and military flying at Chilbolton. A great shame for all of us, and unsurprisingly, most of us feel upset at this being forced on us, particularly at the very short period of 3 months. However, that's just how it is.
For the moment however:
(1) Chilbolton is still open, as advertisted in Pooleys, and will remain so until the end of May.
(2) Chilbolton Flying Club is a great club, and will continue - although for a while at-least we'll become a "club within a club" at Popham.
(3) If you want Chilbolton in your logbook, you've about 2 months left. Please if visiting do take care to read Pooleys and self brief properly, and do your performance calculations for the short runway. We've been good neighbours up to now, and don't want to stop just because we're leaving.
G :(
Chilbolton in my logbook every year of the last 15.
Chilbolton Flying Club has been told it has to leave Chilbolton Airfield by June 2011. We are not happy, but it's clear that we can do nothing about it. It appears that Chilbolton will cease to be regularly available to visitors, but the runway is likely to remain for Flying Pictures and Hampshire Light Plane Services, for a while at-least.
The club isn't big, consisting of 24 aeroplanes and 37 pilots, mostly microlights. However, that's a lot to put somewhere else at short notice. We've looked at every option we can find that's reasonably close by.
At the second of two club "crisis meetings", we agreed that no strip nearby seems viable - there are plenty that can squeeze in 4-6 aeroplanes, but not 20ish. We have had offers from both Popham and Old Sarum, both of whom have been incredibly generous in their moral support at-least.
Last Friday, at a meeting of the club, we all agreed to manage a move to Popham at the end of May. About 3/4 of the club seem to be coming with us, the remainder drifting off in other directions - that was probably inevitable, and keeping 75% together is something of a testament to the club spirit and ethos that we have there.
Will this move to Popham be permanent? We don't know - I'm sure that Dick Richardson at Popham, who has been incredibly supportive, hopes so. However, at-least this season we'll keep looking for a "Chilbolton Mk.4" (there have, if you look at the history, been three previous Chilbolton airfields, over roughly 80 years); the odds are that if we've not found it by the end of the year, we'll entrench at Popham, and let's face it, it's a great place to be; it's just not the strip that we've had for the last 25 odd years.
So, at the end of May (when we'll be planning a big fly-in and party weekend, details yet to be announced) may be the end of a happy 80 year long era of recreational and military flying at Chilbolton. A great shame for all of us, and unsurprisingly, most of us feel upset at this being forced on us, particularly at the very short period of 3 months. However, that's just how it is.
For the moment however:
(1) Chilbolton is still open, as advertisted in Pooleys, and will remain so until the end of May.
(2) Chilbolton Flying Club is a great club, and will continue - although for a while at-least we'll become a "club within a club" at Popham.
(3) If you want Chilbolton in your logbook, you've about 2 months left. Please if visiting do take care to read Pooleys and self brief properly, and do your performance calculations for the short runway. We've been good neighbours up to now, and don't want to stop just because we're leaving.
G :(
Chilbolton in my logbook every year of the last 15.