Sandown...

[bar shaker]

... will be pretty busy this weekend as its the annual Spamfield microlight rally. Over 400 aircraft expected.

If the weather is good, most of them will be in the circuit at the same time. You have been warned ;)

http://www.wightparty.org/2003/DSC00970a.JPG

[bar shaker]

Up date...

Its been announced that spamcanners are very welcome to come along and join in.

I know that many of you have attended this do before, but for those that haven't, the Saturday night marquee party is without question the best aviation bash that the UK sees.

bs

[Kolibear]

400 aircraft at, lets say , 1 per minute, is near enough 6 hours. (They are microlights, they can land quickly). Sandown opens at 08:00 so aircraft No 400 wil rumble t o a halt at 02:00.

But Sandown closes at 1700, so if all 400 aircraft want to leave, a/c no1 will be departing at 11:00.

Its going to be a bit busy chaps!

[Aim Far]

There will be 1700 boats out sailing the Round the Island race on Saturday too. It will be quite a spectacle. Sounds like IOW is the place to be this weekend

[TonyHS]

Generally, 1 minute between each plane is far longer than we used at peak times :p. Last year, there were about 1,100 aircraft movements on the Saturday, so it does get very busy.

[Kolibear]

The weather forecast for last saturday was a bit dire, so what actually happened to this event?


BS - any chance of a report?

[bar shaker]

Yes, the weather was less than ideal, especially for flying microlights.

I flew in on Friday, with a 3 other Essex based microlights and the flight down was great. We had cloud down to 2k over Kent but pressed further south and the channel was completely cloud free. More Essex flyers joined us during the day and by late afternoon Sandown was home to around 100 aircraft.

On Friday evening, we went for a local over to the Needles and it was absolutely perfect for bimbling around for fun.

Saturday was light rain with cloud occasionally down to the deck. We hadn't expected to fly due to the weather forecast, so made a start on the beer tent. Plenty more did fly in but plenty had to abort and stop off at enroute destinations.

Saturday night saw a big party in the marquee, with a lively karoake. Although the numbers were well down on last year, the bar still took £3500 :eek: and the night didn't finish until 3am.

More people flew in Sunday morning but the winds steadily increased and by late morning it was blowing 16kts to 28kts. We planned to wait until the evening before leaving and watched microlights and GA geting tossed about as they went for home. By evening the TAFs were giving CBs for Essex and Kent and loved ones started ringing, saying it was tipping it down.

Another night in Sandown then ;)

We got up at 4am and were in the air at 4.50am for a beautiful flight back to Essex. I hadn't flown this early before at it really was lovely flying.

I landed, drove home, showered, shaved and was in work for 8.00am :p

Its a shame that Saturday and Sunday were not favourable for flying slow aircraft, but it was still a great weekend. Despite the weather, people came from afar as Ireland and Scotland.

I think final numbers were around 250.

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http://www.bigblueyonder.com/flightclub/albums/userpics/10001/normal_Primark%20Watford%20005.jpg

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