Lundy Island

[Lemoncake]

Hi all,

Sorry...another Island thread!!! Did a search on Lundy, and came up with some useful info. Consensus being that it's obviously short, and rather rough in some places. My dad and I plan to land next week in a Cessna 182 (the plan had been that we would take 2 passengers, but we are re-thinking this now.) The old man is a proficient short fielder, and the main concern is the "runway" surface. Has anyone flown in recently, and if so has anything been done to improve things?

Any advice gladly received.

Thanks

[QNH 1013]

I haven't flown in for a couple of years, so if someone can give you more recent information than me, then listen to them. The strip is rough but not too rough for a 182. Forget the extra passengers for the first trip and keep the aircraft light. Don't believe the published distance of 400 metres. The SW end is (was?) very rough with many rocks so not all the length is useable in my opinion. Best go on a day with a strong SW wind ! Keep the gap in the wall between the two fields in view on short final because you loose sight of it when you land (strip is humped) and you want the gap in the stone wall to appear in front of you during your landing roll. Similarly for the take off; you can't see the gap from the "24" threshold, but you need it to be in front of you because you are likely to still be on the ground as you pass (hopefully through) the gap in the stone wall.

The other things to watch are:

Avoid the dark clumps you can see on short final. When you walk the strip you will see that they are very dense vegitation of some sort, possibly matted together. I kicked one clump to see how hard it was, and it hurt my foot. It would have hurt an aircraft wheel a lot more.

Unless things have changed, there are no pilots on the island, so no-one can really give you the sort of information you want on the state of the strip. Do a low pass first and decide where you are going to put the wheels. Walk the whole strip before your take-off run.

I am assuming you have got the necessary permission from the island.

Good Luck, its a fantastic place to fly into.

[BRL]

Hi Lemoncake. Any chance of writing it up when you return for others to lookup in the future? Thanks. :)

[robin]

The Devon Strut go in to Lundy once a year so they are a good source of knowledge

http://www.devonstrut.co.uk/

Then look at the events page for the 4th July fly-in

[Lemoncake]

Cheers all,

Plans have now changed. The reason for the trip is for filming of the island for a series called "Britain's Finest Natural Wonders" which my brother is presenting. The crew were to be flown in on two flights, one 4-up and one 3-up (to be filmed for the programme.) However, with the info gathered so far this option has been binned. Therefore a 150 will be used (for the landing shot.....less weight and less aircraft to repair if the nosewheel falls off) with the crew travelling over by boat. Unfortunately this means my old man will do the flying and I won't be going (gutted.) Other filming for the programme, on the South Devon coast, will be done from a Mignet Balerit. I'll keep you all informed when and on what channel the programme will be shown.

BRL - Sorry not to be able to give you a first hand account, but I'll certainly post any useful feedback for any interested Ppruners.

Many thanks once again.:ok:

[arrow2]

Hi Lemoncake, how is married life treating you?!

Shame you will not be making the flight- a friend of mine took his C150E in last year to the fly in and said it was wonderful, but obviously care is needed. No reason why you could not take your dad's 150 in solo on another occasion. Get out the performance manual!

Regards to Roger,

Kevin