Ideas needed for Spring Fly-away weekend

[chris2309]

Hi Everyone

I’ve been given the task of arranging a fly-away weekend for our flying school at Newcastle to go away some point in April/May and I’m looking for suggestions of where to go. In the past we’ve been to places in France and Belgium and even just to the south coast of the UK, but this time we’re looking at places in Ireland and Northern Ireland.

We would like to do a couple of legs during the day and find somewhere to stay overnight, and then do a couple of legs the next day to fly home.

Ultimately we want to go to an airfield that is GA friendly and stay somewhere with decent accommodation and food and drink. We’ve been looking at Cork and Waterford but may just stay further north and go to perhaps Donegal.

I’m looking now for some suggestions from fellow members who have a bit more info and even personal experiences of some of the airfields there

Many thanks

[thing]

Weston at Dublin is the place to pop into for a day out in Dublin. Then onto Sligo which is GA friendly out on the west coast. From there you can do the Father Ted Island which is Inismoor. There are three islands in the group (Arran Islands) all of which have an airfield. Wish I was going with you!

Without looking I would say your shortest crossing would be to head out to Castle Kennedy and across to Newtownards. I'm a bit further south so my crossing is Anglesey direct to Dublin.

[Pace]

Thing

Castle Kennedy brings back memories as I used to fly in there firstly in a Baron 55 and then a crusader 303! Most weeks for nearly a year.

There used to be a titled gentleman who met us with bad back problems not old either. I remember him flat on his stomach on the runway trying some exercises I recommended to him ;)

Personally having flown Ireland and all these areas I would make the flying trip north past Prestwick over the islands and then along Loch Ness to Inverness.
Even head up to Skye or stop off at one of the other islands en route.
Low level along Loch Ness! Amazing !!!

I did this in a twin at no more than 500 feet agl! It was a trip that stuck in my mind for the shear beauty,I also had a low time training female co pilot along on the trip and equally stunningly beautiful :E

Pace

[thing]

Personally having flown Ireland and all this areas I would make the flying trip north past Prestwick over the islands and then along Loch Ness to Inverness.
Even head up to Skye or stop off at one of the other islands en route.
Low level along Loch Ness!


Did the Great Glen route myself last May. Oban up to Inverness on a cloudless day. Absolutely spectacular.

[rkgpilot]

Follow the entire coast to Inverness - some stunning coastline views.
Pop into Dundee for a cuppa/fuel. Lunch at Inverness.
From there, along the Great Glen to Oban, at low level.
Overnight Oban.
Next morning spent sightseeing the islands and their airfields, e.g. Glenforsa, Skye, Coll, Islay, Gigha.
Lunch/fuel Islay/Campeltown/Prestwick.
From there around the coast to Kirkbride or Carlisle.
You know your way back from there.

You will not be disappointed. As has been said, the trip along the Great Glen at low level is unforgettable. I did it last year - looking up at Ben Nevis with its peak in cloud was superb:)

[2high2fastagain]

I can recommend the following itinerary in Ireland after a couple of memorable trips last year.

Day 1 - Newtownards lunch - Donegal evening. Fly via north coast for great views of Donegal and Scottish islands (vis permitting)

Day 2 - Early start - Abbeyshrule or Ballyboy - Weston for lunch - Newcastle

Newtownards - no problem getting taxis for a 5-10min journey into town for lunch
Donegal - we stayed at the An Chuirt and had a good meal and plenty of Guinness
Abbeyshrule - friendly and beautiful
Ballyboy - very pretty
Weston - The restaurant might now be open, otherwise Dublin is your oyster
VFR routing out of Weston is via the Liffey River through the centre of Dublin - fantastic!

Remember your GAR forms for both the UK and Ireland. Donegal kindly allowed us to fill them in on arrival after I emailed details in advance.

[thing]

The restaurant might now be open,It is indeed open.

VFR routing out of Weston is via the Liffey River through the centre of Dublin

You can also be routed out via Killiney which produced some frantic map scrabbling on my part until I realised it was the NDB beacon KLY just south of Dublin. ATC don't refer to it as 'Kilo Lima Yankee' but Killiney.

[dublinpilot]

I suppose a lot depends on how much flying you guys want to do, and how much time you have.

Donegal is nice, especially the coast, and Donegal airport is very GA friendly, but it is in the middle of nowhere. There is nothing within easy reach apart from the beach.

Letterkenny (Co. Donegal) is on the edge of Letterkenny town, and is very GA friendly. However the runway is very narrow (Just about the width of the undercarriage of the PA28-200R that I fly ;) ). If you're feeling confident, then it's a good spot to stop at (but no AVGAS).

Sligo is GA friendly too, has avgas, and is within walking distance of Strandhill village. There is a lovely beach there (popular with surfers) and a few places to have lunch.

Some of the most beautiful scenery that you'll see from there air, is along the coast here as shown below.

http://imageshack.com/a/img834/7103/58l7.png
Flying over all this little islands in this area is fantastic.


This would bring you the Arran Islands which Thing mentioned above. They are a wonderful place to stay overnight, though don't expect 5* accommodation. A B&B/Guest House is pretty much all that is on offer. The runways are about 500mtrs (with a little overrun too) and are hard, but have a few loose chippings, so be careful where you do your power checks. There is a runway on each of the three islands, but InishMor is where you'd want to stay overnight, as it is the biggest of the three islands.

Cycling around them is popular, but be aware that they are hilly, so it's hard work!

Others have mentioned the Islands off the west coast of Scotland. I was going to say them too, until you said you wanted to come to Ireland ;)

dp

[chris2309]

Thanks to all who have contributed, they are all brilliant suggestions. We'll have to spend sometime now deciding upon one of the routes suggested :)