Isle of White-Bembridge or Sandown?

[No. 2]

Planning a trip to the IOW and was wondering which airfield is best to visit with only a couple of hours to spare i.e. which is better for going for a post-lunch walk?

No. 2

Apologies for the incorrect spelling of Wight. I don't know how to change the title after posting!

[Genghis the Engineer]

Both are excellent.

Bembridge has better food on and near the airfield, and (if such is your preference) a concrete runway. Alternatively Sandown has more interesting aeroplanes to look at if you're thus inclined and several public footpaths intersect the airfield.

Frankly not much in it.

G

[Evo]

Agree with G - and the runways are almost at 90 degrees to each other, so a nasty crosswind at one is straight down the runway at the other. :ok:

[bcfc]

Went to Sandown at the weekend. The grass strip is in excellent condition and the bacon & egg sarnie was particluarly good.

I wasn't intending to go to Bembridge anyway but looked in my (admittedly 2 yr old) Pooleys and it says Bembridge closed to visiting aircraft. There seemed to be a load of glider activity so we stayed well clear but also heard inbound SEPs. Is it open to the great unwashed?

I'll be back again soon.

[In Altissimus]

Visited Bembridge a few weeks ago, and a friend went last weekend.

It's been reopened for months.

Fairly welcoming - a very nice walk to the Crab & Lobster (the cliff path has also been reopened) - and great food there.

I was a little surprised to be asked to do an overhead join - as the opposing gliding circuit was active, this seemed to me to defeat the purpose of the opposing circuits; must have been some reason I suppose.

[SlipSlider]

Bembridge definitely open to visitors. Britten-Norman engineering even had a stand at PFA Kemble, encouraging visitors with a 50% discount voucher for landing fee.......(£10 down to £5).
Slip

[Flying Boat]

Went to Bembridge on Sunday.

My friend was flying, apparently the standard is an OHJ, but at 1000ft over & in the direction of the active runway.

There was gliding but on the dead side of 012.

There is a pub that you can go to, next to the field, on the gliding side. Food average but take your own knives, more blunt than the ideal airline knife.

About 20 ACs there around lunch.

Flying from & to Shoreham was excitingly active, including all the Goodwood traffic.

Also saw the transatlantic homebuilt N173RG in Shoreham, a sleek piece of kit, mmmmmmmmmm.

:D

[Timothy]

The Propellor Inn, which is on Bembridge airfield, behind the gliding hangar is OKish, with big portions of fairly typical pub food.

But if you can make time to climb the hill to the monument, then turn right and follow the coastal path all the way into Sandown (about an hour's walk each way?) there are plenty of restaurants there and its a really glorious walk.

Alternatively, there is a pleasant beach about twenty minutes from Bembridge...the tower will point you in the right direction.

The walk into Sandown town from Sandown airfield is less stimulating, being along suburban roads, but much shorter.

There used to be an aircraft museum at Sandown that was worth a visit, the other side of the runway from the "cafe" but I am not sure if it is still open.

W

[Aerobatic Flyer]

Flew to Bembridge on Saturday from France. What a nice, welcoming place!

The people in the tower happily faxed a customs form to the airfield in Normandy where we'd stopped for lunch, and they went out of their way to be helpful. When we showed up the next day for our flight back to France, they had a printed copy of the French TAFs waiting for us, unasked. They made sure that we had priority on fuel from their bowser, which was running low, and they made all of us want to go back.

At the Propellor Inn, if anybody knows the name of the barman who was working there on Saturday afternoon, please thank him (again!). We asked him if he knew of anywhere to stay, and he took it upon himself to phone around everywhere he knew to find rooms for 8 of us - which was not an easy task on a hot summer weekend. He then arranged a minibus to take us to the hotel he'd found, and he refused to accept any contribution for his trouble or for the telephone costs.

[Flying Boat]

AF

Saw you waiting to depart, I was in G-BUIK that landed ahead.

Hope you had a good trip to Dinard.

FB:ok:

[Aerobatic Flyer]

Hi FB,

We had a great trip! Round the North coast of the island, just to enjoy the view (having decided not to get up early and go to Kemble instead. RT jitters from my French friends mostly....)

Then a nice trip over to Cherbourg, where we crossed to the West of the peninsula and flew along the coast at 500ft over the oyster beds to Mont St Michel. (The engine failure drill being slow down, flaps out, land on the sand!). Arrived in Dinard mid-afternoon, found the last place to stay (2 mobile homes on a campsite... :rolleyes: - could have been much worse), had a swim then walked into town for some oysters!

Today it was Dinard to Peyrelevade, a private strip in the massif central conveniently close to an excellent restaurant, then a very rough flight over the massif central dodging storms back to Lyon - where it is still 33C as I write this at 11pm.

11hrs flying in 3 days, and nice people all the way - and sorry for taking this thread off at a tangent!

[DOC.400]

Sandown -good to just pop in to for a quick cuppa and buttie. Or taxi in to Sandown for the great British seaside experience.

Bembridge -walk thru the Holiday Park to the cliff top (out of airfield, left, immediately right up lane, left, 100yds, right up gravel track past indoor swimming pool and caravans on your left); 45 min walk along the cliffs to the Crab & Lobster at Bembridge (get there early!!) If tide out, walk along the beach back to the cafe, quick cup of tea and cake, then up the path back to the airfield.

Done this so many times, even taken our hound (but dog ban on beach May-Sep...).

Have fun!!

DOC

PS -I phly for phood!

[Three Mile Final]

Flying Boat

Just spotted a reg I know well - G-BUIK. Did some of my training in her at Luton and Cambridge - what is she doing now ???

BTW - Interesting post, was thinking of an IoW trip from Fairoaks and wondering where to go.

Wonder if with a bit of cheek, I can get a 50% reduction at Bembridge ???

TMF

[No. 2]

Thanks for the replies.

It seems like Bembridge may be the best bet for a short cliff walk. However, I've just been on the AIS website and the entry for Bembridge indicates that it's not open on weekends. Surely this can't be so?

Doc.400 LOL! Sorry phor the mistake.

[Aerobatic Flyer]

Wasn't so when I arrived on Sat and left on Sun!:)

[Timothy]

There has been quite some confusion over the last couple of years about Bembridge's openness and closedness. At one point the freeholder blocked the runway to prevent movements while the future (and, I think, the liability insurance) were in doubt. Then, when it reopened there were, not surprisingly, some manning issues.

There was a period when you really had to phone to see if they were going to be open (NOTAMs or no NOTAMs.)

I imagine that there is still some confusion in the documentation trail.

W

[Flying Boat]

TMF

G-BUIK is at the flying hut, based in Shoreham. Along with an old friend of mine from Jersey Aeroclub, G-BUJO.

:ok:

[Pilotage]

The baseline, I believe, is that the airfield is only open when the tower is manned. This is readily sorted by phoning for PPR, if they don't answer the phone you're not welcome.

So far I've never had a problem, but I do know that BNG were struggling for a few months about the time they came out of receivership.

P