It's been a couple of years since I last flew into Bournemouth. I remembered it being the perfect place to mix it with the big boys. Very friendly ATC. Landing fees were not low, but not excessive. A bus to take you to the terminal building. A little window next to the passenger check-in desks to pay your landing fees. Lunch in the cafe in the terminal building. Then argue with the security guards to get back out onto the apron again! Altogether a pretty GA-friendly place, but without any illusions of still being in GA-land. It's been a while since I last flew into this type of airfield, so last Saturday I decided it was about time I went back.
I was very surprised by what I found!
The first worrying sign was the NOTAM declaring that all light aircraft now needed to be handled. That certainly wasn't the case the last time I was there.
It turned out that there was no need to be worried - I was very pleased with the whole setup. I phoned the published number, and was re-assured that the handling would only cost me £5, and that includes tea and coffee. It's £5 more than I like to spend on handling, but I was happy that my bank manager wasn't going to choke at the thought (well, no more than he does already), so I got my "PPR Number" to give to ATC when asked, and pressed on with the flight.
If you like my earlier description of pretending to be an airline pilot, then forget Bournemouth. We are now kept completely separate from the commercial operations, off to the east of the airport - in our own little GA world. Outside, there were a couple of helicoptors practicing hovering, and a few people coming and going, talking about and watching aeroplanes - really no different to a small GA airport, except that it happened to be a few hundred yards from a big terminal building!
Everyone at Bournemouth Handling is very friendly (especially the girl who was just covering for someone else, who took my landing and handling fees - pity she doesn't work there permanently, or I'd be going back again regularly!) There was a small group of people sat around drinking soft drinks and chatting.
We asked for directions to the toilet, and were told to walk through another building into the musuem, and use the toilets at the far end of the museum. The musuem itself looks like it would be worth a visit, but we didn't really have enough time to explore it properly. The volunteers told us that many of the aircraft still fly regularly, too, so give them a call to find out if there's going to be any interesting activity. Unfortunately, the landing and handling fees don't include free museum entrance. In fact, the volunteers were quite surprised that we'd had to pay handling fees. Apparently, they own the apron which Bournemouth Handling now run, and the person we were talking to was quite angry that the museum never got to see any of this money. I got the feeling that there may be a little bit of political wrangling taking place here...
Anyway, all in all it's still a great place to visit, although completely different to a couple of years ago. Landing fees are a little steep, and I would think that would be more likely to put you off than the handling fees, which I think are pretty good value.
Now I need to find somewhere else to go where I can strut through a passenger terminal, though
FFF
--------------