09 climbout at Barton is no worse than many others at other fields. Look left and right, not just straight ahead, for forced landing areas. Look the other side of the Ship Canal and motorway. I think the 20 climbout is actually worse than 09. Some years ago a Mooney suffered EFATO off 09 – he put it down OK and they all walked away. Some years later a Rally off 20 came down and there were 2 fatalities.
And Whirly – are you sure Sleap is so safe? It was threatened with gravel extraction a few years ago. I heard recently that there is going to be some new road construction in that part of Shropshire – and guess where they’ll dig the gravel from?
I hope it’s not true, but it is true that Sleap sits on valuable gravel deposits (and I think ARC have a licence to dig) so it may only be a matter of time…… ;~((
SSD