IO540 wrote:
I gather they used to have an ILS until fairly recently and then sold it. That's a shame because the absence of terrain would make it an ideal south east coast bad weather diversion; now one has Southampton / Bournemouth only.
"Kirstie" is something of an expert on Lydd, but even I can fill in on this bit of detail.
There was an ILS with associated instrument approach procedures during the 1980s when SECOAT (South East College of Air Training) was based there and Instrument Rating Tests were routinely flown from Lydd.
Times changed, SECOAT disappeared and the ILS was sold to another well-known field. The current management are still attempting to make a go of Lydd, from an admittedly low base. This has included the installation of the "new" tower and the purchase and installation of a new ILS. The trouble is, in the intervening years, the Lydd Ranges have grown in vertical extent, the power station TRA has appeared, and the surveying of instrument approach procedures and associated airspace has become much more accurate.
The net result is that a conventional ILS approach procedure cannot be accommodated within the constraints of the airspace.
Doubtless the management at Lydd are working with the powers that be to fix that problem, but it all costs time and money.
2D