Interesting Approaches & Departures

[LowNSlow]

Southampton has an interesting option in the event of an EFATO on 20. There's a hill with a cemetary on it under the climbout.........

Newtownards in NI has a lovely approach to their short runway; dodge around the RUC station aerials which are on the approach centreline and then get it down and stop cos there's a seawall at the end of the runway. The approach to the main runway has a cemetary as a turning point and the ground descends at an angle roughly parallel to your glidepath.... Good fun though and an excellent club with the added bonus of a Chinese restaurant on the airfield

Popham has the interesting approach over the trees for the downhill runway (03?) and the lovely curved approach over the petrol station (I really enjoy that one, it's great) and the climbout over the silos on 26.

Swanton Morley has a marvellous dip in the middle which can catch you out on both landing and takeoff on a warm day
:eek:

Beccles was fun before the runway was extended. Major cheek clencher even though you "knew" that you had enough runway.

And finally, one for stik, is the big pile of hay bales still under the approach for the ex B-24 base with the best cheese & bacon burgers in Suffolk???

[White Shadow]

Vigie, St. Lucia (if anybody's thinking of going there) has a vertical rock/masonary sea wall going down into the harbour immediately below the threshold to rw 08.
Interesting, if there happens to be a thundersorm-related downdraft on short-final. (something from my memory-bank.......)
Hm.
WS

[stiknruda]

LnS,

I have conquered my fear of that r/way in NORFOLK! (Well I used it once and it wasn't as bad as I'd led myself to think it could be! Landing was more than acceptable as well.)

My favourites:

Walkers Cay in the Bahamas - the runway undershoot is the sea and last time I was there they'd bulldozed all the wrecked airframes to one side... certainly attention getting!

Nelspruit, RSA. it is like landing on an aircraft carrier and surrounded by steep hills (not so bad now but years ago it was a challenge, esp. as it is quite hot and high!) Once had to go around in a Seneca I there and lost the left engine as I was late downwind. Had I lost that donkey on the climb out or on x-wind I may well not have been here today! A very old chum of mine wrapped a Comanche up into a ball there in the sixties.

A private strip just north of Colchester - dogleg approach to avoid overflying the neighbours, watch out for the 'lecky cables, through the 50' gap in the trees and keep it straight on roll-out as there are wire fences at each side of the strip. If you need to go around decide early as there is a perpendicular row of pylons on the overshoot.


All good fun!


Stik

[LowNSlow]

Sorry stik I was mixing up my dumplings and carrot crunchers :D :D

[distaff_beancounter]

My all time favourite has got to be Fair Isle in the Shetlands.

I have only been there once, as a pasenger, but I managed to grab the front right hand seat, in the Islander, as no one else wanted to be up front with the pilot. :)

The runway is 486m x 22m of GRAVEL!

Per Pooleys:- Runway is banked above surrounding land & is subject to turbulance with Westerly winds. Ground falls away very steeply approx 30m from each runway end. Runway surface prone to moss growth & may be slippery in patches, particularly when wet.

I was the most thrilling landing that I have have sat through, I was very glad that the pilot was a skilful, ex Royal Navy carrier pilot.

And during the walk from the Fair Isle "Airport" the Arctic Skuas dive bomb all the passengers.

[Tinstaafl]

Fair Isle's major worry is wind. If it gets above about 20kts from Sheep Rock or the hills to the N then the turbulence out classes the controllability of the a/c.

Foula has a similar problem but the wind limits start at about 15 kts if it's from one of the adverse directions.


If you liked Fair Isle, you would love Out Skerries.

It's 381m, downhill to the E & has a fence about 1 or 2 m from the Islander's wingtip if you're at the RWY edge. The approach to 09 has a ridge ~50m prior to the threshold that intrudes into a normal approach profile.

It then drops into a steep sided gully between it & the threshold.

There's no undershoot area in either direction.

It's particularly 'interesting' at night because the ridge isn't obstacle lit unless couple of battery powered roadwork lights are placed on it...

There's a few other cautions, but they're the major ones. ;)

[skua]

Cromer in Norrfolk - friendly welcome after you have got over an arrival at what looks like a microlight strip.

Nayland - for its skijump profile. Made the mistake of going in there when it was covered in 1" of snow - impossible to see the right runway direction - oops.

San Salvador in the Bahamas - similar to Walkers Cay - the wrecks on the sea bed on finals are most distracting.

Innsbruck looked an interesting approach from the back of a 737....

[Aerobatic Flyer]

The Glacier du Tour... there are several spots to land on the glacier, but the best is right at the top at over 11000ft.

You need full power to land, and drag yourself up the slope a bit. Then you judge your moment to turn round and face downhill, slide down the slope and take off. The take off can be done almost without power, if you're in the mood! (All this assumes, of course, that you haven't a) fallen into a crevasse, b) landed long and dropped off the precipice at the top or c) landed too short and got stuck...):rolleyes:

Click here to see some pictures of it. (http://www.flight-system.com/TourVM01.htm)

They don't really do justice to it, but will give you an idea.

Needless to say, I haven't tried it without an instructor next to me. It's not at all difficult if you get it all right..... but it's also not at all difficult to get it all horribly wrong!!

[Them thar hills]

All good fun, also depends what you call short, any offers ??
Hardest thing is avoiding the spelling mistakes on short finals, the flying bit is relatively straightforward................
TTH
:)

[LowNSlow]

Aerobatic Flyer you've taken the prize so far. The runway is where :eek: :eek: :eek:

[Chimbu chuckles]

Here's a spot I used to frequent in my youth. Could be very interesting when wet, either early morning or after/during rain.

Satwag PNG (http://www.fototime.com/{FCD75B26-EADA-4928-A543-49558CD96AE1}/picture.JPG)


Chuck.

PS. Photo taken by a friend of mine as the vast majority of my photos were destroyed in Rabaul, PNG, during volcanic eruptions that destroyed the town in 1994.

[Final 3 Greens]

Avalon on Santa Catalina ISland (circa 45NM west of LA) is interesting.

The runway is on top of the island with sheer drops at either end and optical illusions too!

[Leslie]

Nice has a lovely approach (despite being ICAO black listed!).
Once visual you can tank along the coast at 3000ft, 290 Kts. Then when your ready, shut the thrust levers, run out the flaps, drop the gear and fly it round into the bay finally rolling level around 700 ft. The sea sparkles, the speed boats poodle around and there are normally a few comedians that decide to go fishing under the approach and you fly over them at about 200ft - a peaceful day out.
Top place to fly into!
Lisbon can be nice as well.
Good old visual flying - thats what we want and the carribean appears to offer plenty!
kind regards

[FlyingForFun]

distaff,

If you like gravel runways, remind me to tell you about Superior airport in Arizona one day...

FFF
-----------

[PhilD]

Not as spectacular as the glacier, but I'd agree with Avalon (Catalina Island) - it takes a lot of concentration to avoid looking at the 1500' cliff immediately in front of the threshold, and the runway has a serious hump and another sheer drop at the downwind end.

Changing the subject - I'm in NY for 3 months, so got checked out at a local (large) school so I can rent one of their planes. In the rules it says that renters (no exceptions) are not allowed to land one of their Warriors or 172s (or anything else) on anything less than 2500' or any runway that is not hard surfaced. How restrictive would that be back home in the UK???? Would certainly count out Bodmin, which I think fails on BOTH criteria. Has anybody rented with more restrictive conditions?

[LowNSlow]

Chimbu not much of an overrun either end is there :eek:

What were you flying in PNG?

[Lowtimer]

LowNSlow, Stik -
Glad to report that the Old Buckenham obstacle course on 25 has significantly reduced in height over the past year and is now a shadow of its former self.

[FNG]

Not in the same league as some of the places mentioned above, but Weybourne (next along from Cromer) is a fun outing for confident newish PPLs. Small knoll in undershoot mucks up your visual perspective, sea cliff at far end concentrates mind, ski jump departure over cliff great fun.

Hmmmm, Glacier du Tour: skied it, never flown it. This September I'm going to get checked out for Courchevel (tree lined rocky ridge in the undershoot, no go-arounds, land up a ramp, lauch off a precipice: http://www.aeroclub-courchevel.com/), and might ask the instructor to pop over for a look at the Glacier, while we're at it.

[LowNSlow]

Lowtimer I'm glad to hear it. I haven't been to Old Buck for a while, must pop up there next time I'm home.


FNG Courchevel sounds like a challenge and Weybourne sounds like fun, maybe I'll go there (Weybourne of course) after Old Buck.

[Aerobatic Flyer]

FNG - Enjoy Courchevel! It's quite fun, but relatively tame by mountain standards. Nice unobstructed approach, wide runway, and you can land anywhere between the threshold and halfway up the slope.

You do need a lot of power to get to the top of the slope, though, and nobody has ever done a go-around without breaking the aeroplane unless they made an early decision. It's also embarassingly public...... several hundred skiers can watch, and the more experienced observers can probably identify the moment when the instructor grabs the controls!!

While you're there, you should definitely ask the instructor to take you to Meribel, which is 5 mins away, and harder - flatish and narrow runway between trees. Also nearby is La Rosière, which is quite difficult - short, moderate slope, but better in winter when there aren't thermals (2 weeks ago I needed full power for 20secs on final just to stay on the glideslope, followed by a good 10secs of idle as the downdraft became an updraft...).

Another really fun spot near to Courchevel is Vaugelaz. You land the plane on a steep slope, slide up to the top of a ridge, turn right through 20 degrees or so then slide down the other side of the ridge to take off! It's buttock-clenching stuff the first time, but becomes quite fun after a few "circuits"!;) It's not at all easy to stop the plane at the top of the ridge.... too slow, and you get stuck, too fast and you're over the top and will take off even if you turn the engine off!

Nothing beats the glaciers, though. I think Courchevel currently only has 1 plane equipped with skis, so make sure you book early.

[QDMQDMQDM]

And some more very interesting approaches and departures....

http://www.gletscherflug.ch/glacierlanding.htm

QDM

[QDMQDMQDM]

And some of these are pretty special too...

http://www.pilotlist.org/montagne/terrains.htm

Lac Fourchu looks particularly interesting...

http://www.pilotlist.org/montagne/lacfourchu.html

7,000 feet altitude, 200m strip, 'precision indispensable'. I'll say.

QDM

[Chimbu chuckles]

LowNslow,

C-180/185, Helio Courier, BN2,C402/404, BE65, E110, DHC6/7,F28

Chuck.

[Whirlybird]

Probably not as exciting as some of those mentioned, but the following may be worthy of mention:

Inisheer, smallest of the Aran Islands. A hard runway, ending on a gravel beach at either end of its approx 500m, and so many uphill and downhill bits it looks positively undulating from final approach, over the sea of course. In a crosswind you could very easily get stranded there; we nearly did. Lovely place though.

Big Bear, In California. Not particularly short, but interesting as it's at 6,700 ft, and you need to climb over 10,000 mountains to get there. I've only done it in an R22, which completely ran out of RPM due to the heat and altitude as we cushion crept to a halt just off the runway. But I gather it's pretty interesting in a f/w aircraft too.

And on the subject of helicopters...One of these days I must try and land at Lake Vyrnwy Hotel's helipad. It's a pocket handkerchief lawn next to the hotel with an H on it. That's normal, but you have to either approach over the lake, which means you're coming in downwind (not recommended), or follow the curve of the hills, or come in from the north west approaching the hotel and turn round into wind at the last moment. All of these would be...quite interesting.

Hmmm... now I've mentioned helipads I'm sure someone will tell us about landing on a yacht or an aircraft carrier or something REALLY interesting.

[treadigraph]

Saw an Enstrom on the back of a largish yacht at Fort Lauderdale once... not sure if it had landed there, or whether it was craned on and off whenever the owner got the urge to rotovate... Couldn't see whether it had wellies...

I liked Avalon too, though seated as I was in the back seat of an Archer, we did appear to be climbing up the approach and were going to land short; the American instructor front right assured us it was an optical illusion. He pointed out the myriad skid marks at the point that the uphill portion of the runway changes to downhill (about halfway along?) where people thought they were about to overrun!

Gibraltar is quite fun as well - I was lucky enough to sit in the jump seat of a GB 737 for a landing there - it looked VERY short as we turned finals, but we stopped with plenty to spare.

And Kai Tak - pity it's gone...