Flying Legends Duxford
Some friends and I had a great day out yesterday at Duxford. Arriving by air beating the traffic, with a convenient arrival slot, and good ground transport.
The day was spoilt by the archaic departure procedures, which will probably prevent me visiting again. (And a loss of more than £150 into their coffers, we spent on the day,in landing and entrance fees, and catering )
On a clear VMC day it took nearly an hour from start to getting airborne, with a number of others behind me in the queue still waiting. Only the hard runway was allowed for departures with acres of grass being used for pleasure flights. (Some with very poor VHF radios)
Departing aircraft were prevented from lining up and waiting on the hard, until the Tiger Moths etc. had cleared the grass, further prolonging the delays.
Periodically allowing both runways for vistor departures with a flagman system for example, would have allowed at least four depatures a minute using stream takeoffs, as used at other UK venues, clearing the visitor departures in less than half the time. (And allowing more unhindered pleasure flights !!)
Last edited by cessnapete; 2nd Jul 2012 at 10:24.