Prestwick - Open Invitation?

[Pax-man]

Hello,

Noticed whilst watching the golf over the weekend that there's a varied amount of large and noisy traffic in and out of Prestwick.

Whilst I know it handles freight / Ryanair, I'm just curious to know what sort of activity goes on up there? Certainly saw a VC10 on the TV. Take it there's plenty of military traffic? Crew training etc?

Anyone up round those parts got any more info? Just being nosey!

[jettesen]

The noisy aircraft are generally ryanair 200's!! There are a lot of users now. various charter operators for the summer season, and military use the area often. Prestwick seems to be the place for new pilots to practice take off and landing circuits. Quite a busy airport now

[Port Strobe]

Pax-man, you've pretty much summed up what goes on. Ryanair are the main user of the airport and there are a lot of cargo movements as well, mainly 747's beloning to Polar, Cargolux & Air France, although there's probably more that haven't sprung to mind at this moment. The military are around quite a bit as well (watched a Tornado take off on Tuesday there, good to see & hear :ok: ), HMS Ganet is on the North Side of the field which operates SAR Sea Kings and there's also a fairly busy GA scene, there are 2 clubs on the south side. Quite a few airlines use Prestwick for circuits when crews are training on a type. And it also acts as a parking spot for rich golfers at certain times of the year! There will be other people that are there daily that will be able to tell you more detailed info than I can. Hope this is of some use to you.

[NWSRG]

Saw said VC10 depart on Saturday, follwed shortly after by a TriStar. Many heads turned on the course!

VC10 was awesome. Fantastic noise, and a wonderful sight.

Sunday saw a 747F depart over the grandstands. Brilliant way to get an impression of the size of that wing. Flats and slats deployed, it is MASSIVE.