Chilbolton Flying Club
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Chilbolton Flying Club
I did post an earlier thread on this which I had to delete. And this one will be (mostly) bland facts - but I'm aware that there's a lot of gossip going around so I can at least get people on the right page.
Chilbolton Flying Club has been told it has to leave Chilbolton Airfield by June 2011. We are not happy, but it's clear that we can do nothing about it. It appears that Chilbolton will cease to be regularly available to visitors, but the runway is likely to remain for Flying Pictures and Hampshire Light Plane Services, for a while at-least.
The club isn't big, consisting of 24 aeroplanes and 37 pilots, mostly microlights. However, that's a lot to put somewhere else at short notice. We've looked at every option we can find that's reasonably close by.
At the second of two club "crisis meetings", we agreed that no strip nearby seems viable - there are plenty that can squeeze in 4-6 aeroplanes, but not 20ish. We have had offers from both Popham and Old Sarum, both of whom have been incredibly generous in their moral support at-least.
Last Friday, at a meeting of the club, we all agreed to manage a move to Popham at the end of May. About 3/4 of the club seem to be coming with us, the remainder drifting off in other directions - that was probably inevitable, and keeping 75% together is something of a testament to the club spirit and ethos that we have there.
Will this move to Popham be permanent? We don't know - I'm sure that Dick Richardson at Popham, who has been incredibly supportive, hopes so. However, at-least this season we'll keep looking for a "Chilbolton Mk.4" (there have, if you look at the history, been three previous Chilbolton airfields, over roughly 80 years); the odds are that if we've not found it by the end of the year, we'll entrench at Popham, and let's face it, it's a great place to be; it's just not the strip that we've had for the last 25 odd years.
So, at the end of May (when we'll be planning a big fly-in and party weekend, details yet to be announced) may be the end of a happy 80 year long era of recreational and military flying at Chilbolton. A great shame for all of us, and unsurprisingly, most of us feel upset at this being forced on us, particularly at the very short period of 3 months. However, that's just how it is.
For the moment however:
(1) Chilbolton is still open, as advertisted in Pooleys, and will remain so until the end of May.
(2) Chilbolton Flying Club is a great club, and will continue - although for a while at-least we'll become a "club within a club" at Popham.
(3) If you want Chilbolton in your logbook, you've about 2 months left. Please if visiting do take care to read Pooleys and self brief properly, and do your performance calculations for the short runway. We've been good neighbours up to now, and don't want to stop just because we're leaving.
G
Chilbolton in my logbook every year of the last 15.
Chilbolton Flying Club has been told it has to leave Chilbolton Airfield by June 2011. We are not happy, but it's clear that we can do nothing about it. It appears that Chilbolton will cease to be regularly available to visitors, but the runway is likely to remain for Flying Pictures and Hampshire Light Plane Services, for a while at-least.
The club isn't big, consisting of 24 aeroplanes and 37 pilots, mostly microlights. However, that's a lot to put somewhere else at short notice. We've looked at every option we can find that's reasonably close by.
At the second of two club "crisis meetings", we agreed that no strip nearby seems viable - there are plenty that can squeeze in 4-6 aeroplanes, but not 20ish. We have had offers from both Popham and Old Sarum, both of whom have been incredibly generous in their moral support at-least.
Last Friday, at a meeting of the club, we all agreed to manage a move to Popham at the end of May. About 3/4 of the club seem to be coming with us, the remainder drifting off in other directions - that was probably inevitable, and keeping 75% together is something of a testament to the club spirit and ethos that we have there.
Will this move to Popham be permanent? We don't know - I'm sure that Dick Richardson at Popham, who has been incredibly supportive, hopes so. However, at-least this season we'll keep looking for a "Chilbolton Mk.4" (there have, if you look at the history, been three previous Chilbolton airfields, over roughly 80 years); the odds are that if we've not found it by the end of the year, we'll entrench at Popham, and let's face it, it's a great place to be; it's just not the strip that we've had for the last 25 odd years.
So, at the end of May (when we'll be planning a big fly-in and party weekend, details yet to be announced) may be the end of a happy 80 year long era of recreational and military flying at Chilbolton. A great shame for all of us, and unsurprisingly, most of us feel upset at this being forced on us, particularly at the very short period of 3 months. However, that's just how it is.
For the moment however:
(1) Chilbolton is still open, as advertisted in Pooleys, and will remain so until the end of May.
(2) Chilbolton Flying Club is a great club, and will continue - although for a while at-least we'll become a "club within a club" at Popham.
(3) If you want Chilbolton in your logbook, you've about 2 months left. Please if visiting do take care to read Pooleys and self brief properly, and do your performance calculations for the short runway. We've been good neighbours up to now, and don't want to stop just because we're leaving.
G
Chilbolton in my logbook every year of the last 15.
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Chilbolton Flying Club has been told it has to leave Chilbolton Airfield by June 2011
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Chilbolton
As someone who used to fly at Chilbolton in the days when they had the wire crossing the runway it has a special place in my flying log.
With 24 aircraft and 37 pilots based there surely that amount of rental income would support quite a sizable mortgage if it was put into a pool.
Is it possible to buy a field nearby of 5 to 10 acres that would be big enough for a 5/600 metre strip ? I know that it is a prize agricultural area around there but even a leasing land would be better than having to up sticks and break up the club completely.
With 24 aircraft and 37 pilots based there surely that amount of rental income would support quite a sizable mortgage if it was put into a pool.
Is it possible to buy a field nearby of 5 to 10 acres that would be big enough for a 5/600 metre strip ? I know that it is a prize agricultural area around there but even a leasing land would be better than having to up sticks and break up the club completely.
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No, we don't have a lease, so don't have that protection.
Regarding creating an alternative strip nearby, we'd love to and a lot of club members are running around looking at possiblilities, so far without a good result - hence Popham, but we've far from exhausted that. Anybody here with 500m roughly SW-NE in North Hampshire, we'd love to hear from you!
G
Regarding creating an alternative strip nearby, we'd love to and a lot of club members are running around looking at possiblilities, so far without a good result - hence Popham, but we've far from exhausted that. Anybody here with 500m roughly SW-NE in North Hampshire, we'd love to hear from you!
G
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No, we don't have a lease, so don't have that protection.
PM me if you want to discuss further.
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Re: Lease
Ghengis,
I didn't mean do you have a lease ? I meant perhaps leasing some other piece of land in the area might be a solution.
If all of the 24 a/c are paying even £100 a month to park or hangar then that amount would service a substantial mortgage. You should only require a fraction of that to service a loan sufficient to buy a parcel of land.
I didn't mean do you have a lease ? I meant perhaps leasing some other piece of land in the area might be a solution.
If all of the 24 a/c are paying even £100 a month to park or hangar then that amount would service a substantial mortgage. You should only require a fraction of that to service a loan sufficient to buy a parcel of land.
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Have you looked at farley farm
Farley Farm Airstrip
Also there an Airstrip at Crawley just SE of Chilbolton
rgds trevor s
Farley Farm Airstrip
Also there an Airstrip at Crawley just SE of Chilbolton
rgds trevor s
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Thread Starter
Have you looked at farley farm
Farley Farm Airstrip
Also there an Airstrip at Crawley just SE of Chilbolton
rgds trevor s
Farley Farm Airstrip
Also there an Airstrip at Crawley just SE of Chilbolton
rgds trevor s
I think that we've also had similar issues with Crawley.
But thank you for the pointers,
G
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I'm delighted to say that it hasn't closed now, nor is likely to.
After some lengthy discussions which are still going on, and best kept between the club membership and our landlords, I'm very glad to say that we have all found common ground that will allow the airfield to be kept open for the indefinite future, and Chilbolton Flying Club will remain where it belongs and has been happy for several decades.
So, if you want to fly in - the information in Pooleys, etc. remains correct. If you are interested in joining the club, drop me a PM and I can give you a bit more information about what things are, cost, etc. at the moment and in the future.
The Abbotts Mitre, about half an hour's walk into the middle of Chilbolton village does great Italian food these days as well.
G
After some lengthy discussions which are still going on, and best kept between the club membership and our landlords, I'm very glad to say that we have all found common ground that will allow the airfield to be kept open for the indefinite future, and Chilbolton Flying Club will remain where it belongs and has been happy for several decades.
So, if you want to fly in - the information in Pooleys, etc. remains correct. If you are interested in joining the club, drop me a PM and I can give you a bit more information about what things are, cost, etc. at the moment and in the future.
The Abbotts Mitre, about half an hour's walk into the middle of Chilbolton village does great Italian food these days as well.
G
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Genghis
Many thanks for your reply. I used to keep a PA28 at Chilbolton for a while until the villagers got a bit restless; crew buses from Southampton was the issue in those days.. We moved to Southampton after that and then on to Thruxton. I personally moved to Cilboldentune a few years ago and have been to the talks held at the White Lion, Wherwell. If the club is anticipating Winter talks, I would be very interested.
Many thanks for your reply. I used to keep a PA28 at Chilbolton for a while until the villagers got a bit restless; crew buses from Southampton was the issue in those days.. We moved to Southampton after that and then on to Thruxton. I personally moved to Cilboldentune a few years ago and have been to the talks held at the White Lion, Wherwell. If the club is anticipating Winter talks, I would be very interested.
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Excellent little place. I too used to keep a C172 there many years ago in the days of Agricopters, and remember the memorable day when a friend of mine gently trundled off the end of the strip into the corn field because he had 3 burly passengers on board and was way overweight. In those days the wires went straight across the middle of the strip, which used to freak visitors out a bit on finals.
My wife saw a ghost there one Summers day as well.
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My wife saw a ghost there one Summers day as well.
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