Going to buy a new 2004 UK Flight Guide, either AFE or Pooleys. Any comments on which is the best from current users?

I quite like the format of the Jeppesen Bottlang flight guide if you've come across one

AFE has bigger diagrams, slightly more airfields, and costs a little less.

Pooleys fits perfectly in my kneeboard, rarely doesn't have anywhere I want to visit, has lots of other information that occasionally comes in handy.

The clincher is that Bob Pooley is a friend, so he gets my custom; also I'm used to it - but to be honest they're as good as each other.

The best laid out in my opinion is the RAF "Minor Airfields Guide", but it covers a very limited range of airfields.

G

Hi,
I'd also seriously consider in purchasing the Jeppesen guide!!
Many Thanks
Dan

The Pooley's, which I have bought every year for twelve years, has a "quarterly" update service that I considered worth paying extra for. Of late, this has been three amendments during the year, not four. And this year, the second when posted to me was another amendment 1. Although I wrote to Pooley's, not a word (or, more important, an amendment 2) was received back.

So I have changed to AFE for 2004.

I've always used AFE, I like the spiral bound format, monthly on-line updates and 6 monthly updates. Theres a lot of info packed into them as well as 4 free landing fees.

But I suspect that Pooley's is just as good.

Don't forget to send your old Flight Guides to Whirly, she can sell them to raise funds for her Camel Trek

Well, I received a brand new 2004 AFE guide for crimbo. Frantically I turn to our page to bask in the glory of the corrections and alterations to our little plate that I had submitted months ago. I was however, dismayed and disappointed to find no changes at all!! Sheesh... all that scribbling and crossing out took literally minutes goddamn it..I'm not happy!

Seriously, this shows first hand that data, even in the latest edition may be wrong. so do treat them as a guide, not gospel.

As for which one? pah! I don't even think we're in the Poolies.... but we've got a whole page in the AFE (almost like a proper place) so my vote goes with them!

Kingy

Kingy,

Just to keep your fellow PPRuNe AFE users ahead of the game, perhaps you could let us in on the updates which failed to make the guide?

Fly Stimulator

Hello, any fellow Ppruners can PM me any time for upto date info on Eastbach. The main changes were change of operator (but the number's still the same), a warning to avoid overflying English Bicknor and circuits now to the west at 500'. There was more stuff too, but I won't bore you with that here...

Ppruners are welcome to visit our beautiful strip, but please, please phone first or contact me for PPR and a brief - cuz it ain't got no longer and it's still just as hilly

Kingy

Kingy.
I used to be the editor of the AFE guide. In fact I created the original plate for Eastbach, and a very nice airfield it looked too! I'm not involved in the amendment side of the guide but know the people who are, so I'll send them an email to look into it and include the details in the monthly free internet amendments. I'd like to apologise to you on behalf of the office team cos I know they'd wish me to do so. They try and contact everyone, and I mean everyone in the guide annually for amendments so they'll be very dissapointed that info they were sent wasn't included.

Spiney.

G-AMMY,

Best advice would be to get down to your local pilots shop, look at all of them, and pick the one you like. It's very much a personal preference.

Other than that, try to get one with a regular update service - turning up at a controlled field that you don't know, and then being told to hold at a holding point which you've located on your airfield diagram, is not the time to find that the diagram is out of date and the holding points have all been renumbered

FFF
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FlyingForFun,

I wish I could, the only problem is that my nearest pilot shop is in England. I live in Glasgow, Scotland. Scottish Pilots are often forgotten about. Maybe Transair will open a shop here in the future.

G-AMMY

Harry Mendelsohn is based in Edinburgh and is a gentleman of the finest order. Excellant value for money and superb service from this familly run business. Pilot is an extremely enthusiastic pilot of many years and his son Roy is currently learning rotary.

I am sure he will be able to help out with flying stuff in Edinburgh.

www.gps.co.uk

I have no conenction to them, just a very happy customer!

my vote is for harrys too good company bought a magellan gps didnt work very well at all had it at least a month rang them up they said return it full refund no questions then got a skymap with my refund you cant ask better than that

oh
pooleys for helicopter pilots their is landing sites in the back they dont have them in afe at all and the free landing sites are for piston only jets are not included [turbine helicopter] i did write a email tothem to ask if they could include turbine helicopters they didnt reply

tried to land at[ well did land ] at peterbro connington they said the same and charged me 25 i was not a happy bunny especially as its a reciprical of sherburn too
never mind wont go there again
steve

I used Pooleys till I took to flying abroad.

Now I use Bottlang because the same format applies all over Europe, which makes it easier. It's loose-leaf with monthly updates - bit of a chore updating, but it makes for a quiet half hour with the missus.

Not perfect, but they respond to customer comments.

Fair point about not being able to get to a pilot shop to look at the options (until other Scottish PPRuNers suggested local shops, at least), but surely there must be people around your club who use each of the guides, that would let you take a look at them?

FFF
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Spiney Norman

Thank you for your concerns. I have tried to PM and E-mail you, but I have been unable to. Please get in touch as I can re submit the info no problem.

Cheers

Kingy

PS thank you for the extremely accurate plate

Ok - another 2p...

AFE - nice, very clear, but spiral bound only - I use a kneeboard with plastic wallets, so loose-leaf is prefered.

Pooleys - good if sometimes the print is a little too small, and the "new" two-ring binder is a pain - please bring back the four-ting binder. The best feature is that it covers a few nearby foreign airfields (e.g. Le Touquet, Ostend).

Bottlang - excellent, but the "UK" edition stops at the Channel, and buying a second volume for the north coast of France (and a third for Belgium) makes it just too expensive for my flying.

Hope that helps,

MD.

I always go for the spiral bound AFE purely because it will fold round and flat, pooleys won't.

And on the subject of ammendments and accuracy I would recommend always ckecking such guides against the AIr Pilot. The last edition of the AFE had some quite serious errors in my area, most notably the bases of some controlled airspace were mixed up...potentially extremely emabarrassing. That said the Air Pilot has had the East Midlands missed approach incorrectly printed for donkey's years so who knows!!!!

er! because the AP only containes licenced aerodromes?

Both AFE and Pooleys list a whole abundance of sites that are not in the AP, along with usefull local information, like noise abatement and where to get the £100 bacon butty!!