Whats a....and how do I......

[englishal]

In the ideal world, I would live next to an airport, have my own de-iced ME aircraft, have a maintenance company that works on it for free, and not get charged hangarage, insurance, or landing fees......but:

I have a 45-60 minute drive to my nearest airport. I live on the South Coast of the Uk and love flying to the Channel Islands, France and down to the SW, Scilly Isles etc. [ok, not flown there yet, but plan to]. I have a JAA PPL IMC and FAA ME IR. I have given up on the idea of flying ME aircraft in IFR in the UK as:

a) they cost too much over here [to rent or buy]
b) I do 3-4 trips to the US every year and get my 100hr fix of ME / IR time
c) by the time I get to the airport I might as well have driven in the first place.

So my solution seems to be to find a landing spot close to home, and have my own reasonably cheap 'fun' SE aircraft which I can doss around the UK, Channel Islands and France.

So how do I go about finding a field to land in? There are bags of them around my house, do I just pop into the local farm and have a word with the farmer or what?...I have no idea of what to expect or what to request come to that. Apart from the 500' / 1500' rule, are there any other considerations to take into account when looking for a landing spot [apart from being flat :D]? What about costs? How much could you expect to pay a farmer for the privilege?

Secondly what sort of A/C would suit my purposes? Something reasonably strong [I have this paranoia about the wings falling off :D], capable of fairly good distances, perferably 4 seats, or at least enough to carry me and Mrs Englishal plus our [her] bags to the Scillys, Channel Islands or France for a week......oh yea, and not hideously expensive to insure / maintain....

Any advice greatly appreciated. I fear otherwise that my UK flying will stop all together. Over the past few years it has got less and less, while my US flying has increased. I enjoy flying around the UK, and I particularly enjoy using an aircraft as a form of transport, especially on a clear summers day. Beats sitting in a traffic jam, thats for sure.

Cheers
EA:D

[Monocock]

EnglishAl,

You mention the "friendly farmer". I am a farmer and can vouch that we ARE a friendly bunch but please believe that things aren't as rosy as they might seem to the rest of you.

Farm incomes are down by 70% and if we can still fly then we are very lucky. You might think that farmers with their own private strips are very lucky. I suppose we are in a "flying sense" but you would not want to be in our shoes at the mo'.

Our whole lives seem to be spent trying to minimise financial losses at the moment and the last thing we are interested in is a local PPL looking for a home for his/her mount unless it rewards WELL. Yes, we do fly from our private strips and believe me, many of them are being watched by the NIMBYS to make sure that the 28 day rule is not being exceeded.

I operate frok my own 650 m grass strip near Newbury and have spare hangarage that I would gladly rent out for a samll fee BUT I cannot risk losing the right to fly from there due to extra take offs/departures.

Please, someone, tell me, what is this world coming to when we are dictated to by the people who know nothing. We go about our hobbies in an innocent way and someone always seems determined to drag us down.

I would love to accomodate you Englishal. Sadly, due to the backyard "moaners" I can't afford to.