Most Challenging GA Airfields in the UK

[aviatorrossy]

I've got just over 140hrs now, mainly flying my boss's C150 Aerobat. Looking for some good challenging fields to fly into.

So far, the most challenging fields I've been to are:

Ledbury
Meppershall
Eddsfield
Bagby
Milfield Gliding Site
Dunkeswell (full night landing with 17kts straight across - easy during the day)

As you can probably tell, for me, the more out there the better. Microlight fields, gliding sites, the smaller the better!

I also live in Newcastle so anyway not 200 miles away would be appreciated but I get most will be from the south.

[A and C]

St Mary’s scilly isles

[Ebbie 2003]

UK - Nayland, every day and twice on Sunday!

[PPRuNe Towers]

Another vote for Nayland - I based my shared Jodel there for many years.

Get a proper briefing first - one way for landing and the other way to take off. Runway on a genuinely steep hillside with steeper hills directly bordering the runway margins.

Rob

[India Four Two]

I had never heard of Nayland, so I looked it up, expecting it to be in suitably rugged part of Britain. I was very surprised to discover it was in Suffolk, just across the border from Essex! I looked at it on streetmap.co.uk - the contours and the appropriately named Hill Farm give the game away.

During my search, I saw a reference to a 2004 PPRuNe thread about a legal challenge to the airfield. Interesting reading but no follow-up. What happened in the end? What was the legal process that prevented the presentation of evidence?

https://www.pprune.org/private-flying/151044-nayland-airfield-needs-your-help.html

[horatio_b]

Crosland Moor (Huddersfield)

[Sam Rutherford]

Any/all private strips...!

[Mike Flynn]

https://cimg5.ibsrv.net/gimg/pprune.org-vbulletin/1800x893/b27adb20_15b9_47a9_89f3_b7803ed3332b_37ac6252459846daf030fde 422886dc75b940a5b.jpeg
Spilstead Farm near Battle in Sussex.

Undulating to put it mildly.

But well worth a visit to meet Bill Cole.
https://m.facebook.com/story.php?story_fbid=638943289812038&id=100865096953196&_rdr (https://m.facebook.com/story.php?story_fbid=638943289812038&id=100865096953196&_rdr )

https://mobile.twitter.com/bbcarchive/status/896037868749115392

https://www.scoopnest.com/user/BBCArchive/896037868749115392-1971-the-mignet-hm14-or-flying-flea-had-some-rather-alarming-design-flaws-undeterred-bill-cole-built-himself-a-modified-version

[Genghis the Engineer]

Stoke, Isle of Grain.

G

[Mike Flynn]

Lundy in the Bristol Channel https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=2ju9M1gDLCQ

[Ebbie 2003]

Nayland, land, pointing at what looks like a vertical cliff - then FULL throttle to get up the hill.

There is a tractor for those who dont.

Take off, like going off an aircraft carrier - no visible runway after a couple of hundred feet.

Very scary, much more than St. Barts which I did the training on earlier this year.

Lots of taildragger types at Nayland, Champs Austers and such.

Easy to find - has Nayland in big letters painted on the hillside.

I recall a nasty accident there a decade ago when a couple of women in a PA28 out of Southend thought they would give it a go.

[anchorhold]

My vote goes to: Westbury sub Mendip

I am not sure if it is still open, but when I last went there in a MS-880B around 1990, it was built on an old railway line, with cinder and an embankment that fell away either side. A few years later I know someone who managed to deviate on landing down the embankment, writing off the aircraft.

Westbury-sub-Mendip - UK Airfield Guide (http://www.ukairfieldguide.net/airfields/Westbury-sub-Mendip)

I have to add, that not enough PPLs experience flying into airstrips, but it requires more preparation, research and revision on the performance data. Sadly I suspect quite a few clubs in this country discourage strip flying.

[Mike Flynn]

John Lloyds old strip. Interesting approach to say the least and a runway made from old tarmac scalpings. Long closed so ignore that one.
https://cimg3.ibsrv.net/gimg/pprune.org-vbulletin/1629x1101/9b565fba_97f5_49d1_93a2_56f47ba9465e_ac9ca80ed8f543bb4dea518 dbd099c4cafa07a88.jpeg

[ShyTorque]

EGNF's a bit challenging (short) for those who can't land on the numbers (or find it in the first place)!

[pilotmike]

I agree with the previously mentioned:
Nayland
Lundy
St Mary's to a lesser extent.

I should add:
Kersey (Suffolk) - rather short and sloping, but not as steeply as Nayland
Priory Farm - relatively short with a hangar at the Southerly end
Northrepps International circa 2000 - it moves from time to time, but the yr 2000 incarnation was short and sloping.
Bodmin - humped
Davidstow - very badly potholed
Roche - very short
Gweek International - very very short
Mendlesham / Mickfield narrow grass strip
Dennington - short
Needham - short
Lawford - very short
Milden / Harvest Farm - short
Belchamp Walter - short
Gt Cornard International - short, wires nearby
Somersham / Little Blakenham heliport - surrounded by HV cables and pylons

[ChampChump]

The long-gone Canterbury strip ate a few aeroplanes.

[Maoraigh1]

https://youtu.be/9OvHmJdUXxw

[piperboy84]

Any field without “strip” in the name e.g. stubble field, harvested pea field, newly sown barley field, cattle or sheep grazing field. Or “beach” if you want to lower the odds of bending your machine. As far as semi recognised landing sites, a mate has a ski jump type strip set up on the face of the Glens at the back of Auchenblae with power pylons just below the leap off point. Always a bum clencher on departure.

[Flyingmac]

Closer to home for you. Hexham. https://vimeo.com/185611822 There's also Peterlee, Causey Park, Currock Hill, the other Peterlee etc. In fact you're pretty much surrounded by strips. Many not on the charts. Perhaps you're just not talking to the right people.

[robin]

Popham on a busy event day can be very challenging

[chevvron]

Luxter's Farm (near Henley)

[Piper.Classique]

Does your boss know where you intend to take his aeroplane? Maybe look carefully at the insurance policy?
ok, to answer your question, Midland Gliding Club at the Long Mynd. In an East wind. Phone first.

[timewhite]

Glenforsa in a southerly (wonderful location and great hotel next door)

[Forfoxake]

Glenforsa in a southerly (wonderful location and great hotel next door)

Agreed. Or Feshiebridge in an Easterly.

Nearly all the trickiest strips I have used in my Kitfox are not on the chart and not suitable for a 150 Aerobat anyway.

However, I think the shortest strip that I went in and out of in a 150 Aerobat is not far from you either- East Fortune microlight. And I had a similar level of experience at the time.

[cats_five]

<snip>
Midland Gliding Club at the Long Mynd. In an East wind. Phone first.

Now that would be *very* 'interesting'...

[Maoraigh1]

" Or “beach” if you want to lower the odds of bending your machine"
Unlike the others, beaches change with wind, waves, and tide. Without tundra tyres they're not safe unless checked by a vehicle or walker very near to the time of landing.

[piperboy84]

" Or “beach” if you want to lower the odds of bending your machine"
Unlike the others, beaches change with wind, waves, and tide. Without tundra tyres they're not safe unless checked by a vehicle or walker very near to the time of landing.

Come on now Mr. M Dont be a big fearty.

[x933]

Netherthorpe - shortest licensed runway in the U.K. and only an hour or so in a 152.

Popham Runway 26, Lundy, St Mary’s if your going touring. Clacton?

apparently Skegness is a bit of a handful.

[Sir Niall Dementia]

Does your boss know where you intend to take his aeroplane? Maybe look carefully at the insurance policy?
ok, to answer your question, Midland Gliding Club at the Long Mynd. In an East wind. Phone first.

Very good thinking. I run a fly-in at an unlicensed site every year and a couple of years ago a PA28 got himself into bother. Chatting with the group instructor the next day I was surprised to find that their insurance did not cover landing at unlicensed strips, the whole thing was written down in their group agreement and covered in a series of instructions each group member held, but this pilot had not read it. Actually he hadn't read the POH or performance for take-off on a hot day from a grass strip with fuel to the tabs and three up. :eek:

SND

[flyems]

Roserrow

https://cimg6.ibsrv.net/gimg/pprune.org-vbulletin/732x1024/airfield_732x1024_b4f59abec92a047a2cfa3022c639606be6984780.j pg

[snchater]

apparently Skegness is a bit of a handful.


Really?
800m & 650m of smooth well cut grass and clear approaches - I’ve never found Skegness a challenge ( but well worth a visit).

[PPRuNe Towers]

Agreed, Skeggy a classic grass field of the coastal type. I wonder if some were intimidated new local structures?

Mrs Towers did her ab initio training there just for it to be in a tailwheel aircraft and I had the fun of delivering her via Nayland in the mighty Jodel.

Rob

[biscuit74]

Agree with Feshiebridge and Glenforsa, both very wind dependent..
Knockbain looks interesting; Shempston is also challenging.
Currock Hill also has awkward slopes.

Try Insch for an interesting climb out in a Westerly, or Carr Valley in most machines, given its lack of length !

Biscuit 74

[Piper.Classique]

It's an interesting thread. I haven't seen any feedback from the OP, but in case he/she is still around I'll second Feshie, and add Milson, always assuming it can be found. Being as it just looks like any other farmers field.

[chevvron]

Nympsfield gliding site - on top of a hill.
Baldock; on the side of a hill.

[Local Variation]

Another vote for Netherthorpe.

Now’t wrong with Skegvegas. Plenty of room. Although a PA28 did go through the hedge not that long ago.

[Kemble Pitts]

Sandhurst strip, about 3.4 miles WNW of Staverton. A distinctly one way in and the other way out due to a steep, and steepening, runway. Plus a large tree to fly around on the threshold. I felt unsafe turning the Jodel around after landing as the angle of the slope made me feel as though we'd topple over onto a wingtip.

[spittingimage]

I think the most challenging airfield in the UK for me was Out Skerries in Shetland; it is short and not flat. In fact, if you get yourself up there you will find that there is a whole bunch of interesting island airfields all within 30 mins flying time of Tingwall (EGET) which can be used as a base. Also Fetlar, Foula, Whalsay, Papa Stour and Fair Isle are all interesting to visit. Superb scenery and deserted airspace (mostly); a real treat. The weather can be a challenge too ! And en route to Shetland, why not call in at some of the Orkney airfields too ? Many of them see very little GA.

SI.

[snapper1]

How about his one. Although its not in the UK.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8bTimub3x_g

[shed26]

Try Stanton in Northumbria, strictly "one way in one way out" on an extreme slope.

[India Four Two]

How about his one. Although its not in the UK.


When I did a mountain soaring course at Omarama in the South Island, my instructor always pointed out every top-dressing strip we flew over, for potential emergency use. He stressed the fact that the white area, where fertilizer had been spilt during loading, was always at the uphill end of the strip!