Flying into majors..........

[Kiev23]

Is it possible to safely fly light aircraft into major international airports like manchester and heathrow, as these airports have many jets coming in and out, every minute.

[Duchess_Driver]

...but Manchester, Gatwick and all the others yes.

But get your cheque-book out - not cheap! Book a slot, off you trot!



Recent thread on this topic. Bit of searching will give further answers.

HTH

DD

[mcgoo]

You only started the same thread about 4 days ago????????????

http://www.pprune.org/forums/showthread.php?t=315325

[llanfairpg]

I flew a C172 into Heathrow-- very exciting, especially 120 kts on final!

[PA38]

I did 90% of my training (ppl) at liverpool and my GFT from manchester, on a day when concorde was due, so I had thousands of people watching me take off on my GFT.
The only problem I had with Manchester was all the orbits at hilltop, waiting for a suitable landing slot, it was costing me a fortune just going round in circles:sad:

[Captain Smithy]

It is possible, however at the largest airports (a la Heathrow) you would probably have trouble getting a slot. Plus, as has been mentioned, it can be a little steep £££-wise. :uhoh:

Landing fee at Edinburgh is currently £25 for a light single... not sure what the parking/handling is... I would imagine most other "major" airports are similar price-wise.

[Merritt]

Another chap on here flew a PA28 into Gatwick last year - cost him about £860 in handling fees, landing fees, parking fees for 3 hours!

Steve

[apruneuk]

Kiev

You asked pretty much the same bizarre question on this forum a week ago - didn't the two pages of responses you received that time help you at all?

AP

[Contacttower]

Another chap on here flew a PA28 into Gatwick last year - cost him about £860 in handling fees, landing fees, parking fees for 3 hours!

Indeed, :O.

They later refunded half that...they'd accidentally charged me the 'summer' rate rather than the 'winter' rate', but it was still on awful lot...and not something I'd do again in a hurry. I may have been lucky with the time of day (aprox. 1100) but I came away suprised at just how easy and painless the whole thing had been; ATC were great, the handling agent was friendly and helpful and the traffic wasn't too heavy either.

My inspiration had been seeing a Seneca in the take-off queue at JFK while coming back from a holiday last year...I know people like bose have been to Gatwick many times but I actually thought it quite a big 'thing' at the time. The reality was that it was a piece of cake though...just make sure your RT is slick. :ok:

[Genghis the Engineer]

Expensive trip! Did you consider just taking a taxi from Redhill?

Seriously, most airports will take most aeroplanes, but if you want the experience of a big airport there are cheaper places. Bournemouth for a landing and half-day stop last year cost me £42, and Newcastle a few years ago was something similar. A safety diversion and overnight stop into Southampton a couple of years ago cost me (from memory) £26* - all give you that "big airport experience" without too much of that "big airport bill".

Best ever was Palm Springs - free landing and US$10 overnight parking, plus an evening sipping iced margueritas on the strip.

G


* Wasn't free apparently, 'cos I didn't declare an emergency.

[Contacttower]

Funnily enough that was the first thing suggested on the original thread and in future (if Redhill stays open that is :E) then that is what I'd do...but I just felt like splashing out on that particular day. Like I said though...it's not something I see myself doing again any time soon.

If you want the 'big airport experience' regularly then go to the US...so much cheaper!

[Henry Hallam]

Probably cheaper even if you include the airline fare to the US...

[Shunter]

Vallance International not tempt you then? Runs parallel with the Gatwick runways, about 500m away!

http://www.gatwick-aviation-museum.co.uk/graphics/info2.jpg

[englishal]

My inspiration had been seeing a Seneca in the take-off queue at JFK while coming back from a holiday last year
But they probably only paid $20 if anything ;)

If anyone wants to fly into big airports, do it in America. LAX charges are ~$20, and sometime you can get away without paying anything if you're just stopping for a few mins, or taking on fuel ....

Last time in Edinburgh, it cost me £95 with all the fees, handling etc....plus a £40 taxi ride down town....

[Captain Smithy]

Ah, would that be the "mandatory handling" charge, AKA the wee bus that takes you a couple of hundred yards from the plane to the office? :rolleyes:

Forget taxis from EDI... load of cowboys. Plus they drive like psychos. Better getting the Airport bus... only about £1.50 or something and it takes you straight into the centre of Edinburgh!