LANCASHIRE LANDING 2010 Pilling Sands

[chesterflyer]

Saturday was great fun with lighter than expected winds. The beach was fabulous
and is without doubt a gem of a landing area that we have in the North of
England. All sorts of aircraft turned up including a Tiger Moth from
Huddersfield and a Cessna 172 and 182, Im not sure of the difference! We had a
Dakota fly by and two flights of the Red Arrows at the end of the day with the
second flight seeing us all on the ground and releasing smoke. It was good to
see a lot of Northern Aviators show up as well.

The Bay Flying Club were superb in running the event and the locals came out in
their droves to see what we were up to. This was the 4th attempt we had at
laying this on but the weather was not playing ball until this weekend and it
was worth the wait. If you have not landed here before you have certainly missed
out! Its unique! It was a shame that it clashed with the LAA rally at Sywell but
this was our last chance this year and we had to go for it. There was a lot of
interest from our LAA contingent but we will get more next year of that I am
sure.

The general consensus from the Bay Flying Club was that it should become an
annual event and I am sure we can make this one grow and put aviation in a good
light as well down there. So to those who did not make it this year for whatever
reason make sure you dont miss it next year. It was good to see both Micros and
Light aircraft mixing it in the circuit and the standard shown by pilots were
very high. One or two struggled to find the gate to fly through but we will make
it a bit more obvious next year (Red Bull Race Cones perhaps?)

We raised £217-00 at first count in donations to the Fusilier Aid Society and I
shall be contacting the Regiment Shortly to let them know how we did. You will
see one of the Fusiliers in the video at the end who was wounded in Afghanistan
last year.

Anyway enough of me prattling on here's the video, enjoy!:ok:


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c9pcb-B6GCU (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c9pcb-B6GCU)

[jxc]

Looked like alot of fun

Pity I didn't know anything about it

[chesterflyer]

Hi,

Sorry you did not hear about it but its been on the LAA and BMAA sites some time now. I did not put it on here but will do for next year.:ok:

[Hugh_Jarse]

What's the score with landing on these sands ? Is this something people generally do, or only during organised events such as yours ?

I was flying out of Blackpool last Tuesday (31st) around 18:30, and someone on the Tower frequency called to report a possible plane down. The tower checked and it was someone who had landed on these sands ...

Please post details of your next "do", I'd love to come ... depending on how long and firm the "runway" is, of course ! :-)

[Microfright]

At Pilling sands most of the 7 mile stretch is ok to land on however be sure to keep clear of the Cockerham drop zone. It is actually on the charts as a Microlight site. If it doesn't look wet then it's usually ok. By using the tide tables there is a general rule of thumb to work out if the tides are ok to land but can't remember it at the moment. Look out for horses riders, kites and buggies dog walkers etc. It can be a little rough sometimes, I know of a motor gilder that once struggled to gain enough airspeed to take off due to the ridges in the sand. Wind direction can vary significantly from inland and can be determined by the finding the lee spots in the ponds slightly inland at the eastern end. be careful when flaring to land, the beach is featureless and it can be difficult to judge height. Please don't overfly Knott End and Fleetwood as it annoys the locals. Keep an eye out for holes dug in the sand by children. I know of at least 2 prop strikes due to this. It may be best to do a low pass first.

Hope this helps.

[chesterflyer]

See following article on the Fly In

A flypast to remember - Blackpool Today (http://www.blackpoolgazette.co.uk/daily-feature/A-flypast-to-remember.6522275.jp)


:D