Come Back Swanton
OK; you loose the 'London' catchment (and gain Norwich) but even with the trees Swanton is still a good site,(especially if you compare it with a lot of civvy clubs). When it was No 1 GC only half of the field was used for gliding as it shared the site with the Norfolk and Norwich aero club with no problems. In those days it was regularly sending off 16-20 cadets per week doing 3 solo's each for the badge and A&B cert, plus 611 doing the w-end bit. When you consider how few solo launches are now the 'the norm' and how much dual a cadet does before 1 solo the risk factor is much lower and a few trees on site not really an issue. With a 360 degree launch option the height available and general 'uncluttered' local area makes it superb, and cables do not have to pass over tarmac. Politics aside I would welcome the return of Swanton as its land value for development is low and even if most of the original camp was eventually sold off there would still be plenty of space and buildings for the long term use of the ATC. Should be designated a 2FTSfree zone, and the call sign could be 'Soapy Control !!!' ARC you must be smiling at all this. Famous Mossie base with a very 'rural' pub just off the peri-trac,a great location. Oh by the way for the glass boys; Swanton would be sending solo's off (3) at between 19-24 launches with an average tot training flight time of about 1h 15 min,and many of these had no previous flight training and certainly no useless PTT, not to mention the lack of two way comms.
Last edited by POBJOY; 25th Feb 2018 at 18:46.