Invisible Airfields
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Invisible Airfields
I flew into Fenland yesterday for the first time. If you've never been there, its a flat grass airfield surrounded by other flat grass fields. The GPS was shouting at me 'Its 3 miles away - straight ahead', but I didn't click on it until I saw an aircraft taxiing, at which point it all became blindingly obvious.
Are there any other airfields which are 'obvious when visible', but impossible to see? Do you have a favourite?
Lydd is notorious for being invisible, I know of people who have flown over it and not seen it and I'm sure there are others too.
Are there any other airfields which are 'obvious when visible', but impossible to see? Do you have a favourite?
Lydd is notorious for being invisible, I know of people who have flown over it and not seen it and I'm sure there are others too.
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I've had the same problem with Duxford and with Old Warden. On both occaisons I didn't see them until I was in their overhead (but above 2000 ft).
If I hadn't done it myself I would find it difficult to believe that anyone could fail to see an airfield whose location they knew and which they were looking out for.
I think a contributory factor was that as I approached I had reduced the scale of the display on the GPS. I suspect that during the flight I had got used to the larger scale and so was looking too far ahead for the airfield.
Now I try to pick a landmark near to the airfield that is easy to spot from the air and then visually locate the field in relation to the landmark.
Popham is easy to find because it is on the north edge of the biggest wood for miles around in the fork of the M3 and A303. Similarly with Compton Abbas. It's far easier to pick up the wood on the south side of the field and then the light beacon than it is to look for the field itself.
Mike
If I hadn't done it myself I would find it difficult to believe that anyone could fail to see an airfield whose location they knew and which they were looking out for.
I think a contributory factor was that as I approached I had reduced the scale of the display on the GPS. I suspect that during the flight I had got used to the larger scale and so was looking too far ahead for the airfield.
Now I try to pick a landmark near to the airfield that is easy to spot from the air and then visually locate the field in relation to the landmark.
Popham is easy to find because it is on the north edge of the biggest wood for miles around in the fork of the M3 and A303. Similarly with Compton Abbas. It's far easier to pick up the wood on the south side of the field and then the light beacon than it is to look for the field itself.
Mike
Why do it if it's not fun?
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White Waltham. Despite having logged well over half of all my flying time from there, I still can't see it sometimes! I know I'll get the hang of it one day.....
FFF
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FFF
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Most fam strips impossible to find at least on the first visit.
Is it Brimpton on the edge of the Aldermaston restricted area? Only found that with the help of a very nice man from Farnborough radar.
Farm strip just north of the OTR VOR went round that 1/2 dozen times with the guy on the ground talking me through it til we finally saw it.
Whats the trick for spotting grass strips in grass fields?
Is it Brimpton on the edge of the Aldermaston restricted area? Only found that with the help of a very nice man from Farnborough radar.
Farm strip just north of the OTR VOR went round that 1/2 dozen times with the guy on the ground talking me through it til we finally saw it.
Whats the trick for spotting grass strips in grass fields?
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And even if you can normally see a particular airfield, a change of season, say a grass yellow hot summer, or lots of flooded fields, or snow covered countryside, and the airfield disappears.
GPS has some uses.
GPS has some uses.
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Little Gransden. Without the GPS we'd have given up!
Chateau La Chassagne. There are several sets of coordinates published for it. Turns out they are the two runway ends and the aircraft parking area. I still didn't find it till the man on the ground told me where to look.
Chateau La Chassagne. There are several sets of coordinates published for it. Turns out they are the two runway ends and the aircraft parking area. I still didn't find it till the man on the ground told me where to look.
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Breighton yesterday (Sunday) despite sunshine and good vis and approaching from the South, with the sun behind me. Didn't see it until less than 1 mile away.
Overhead joins are discouraged because of aerobatics, so the last two miles or so was at 1000 feet aal, which didn't make it easy, plus looking out for the aerobating aircraft.
However, the variety of aircraft on the ground and in the hangars made it all worth while.
Agree with Keef about Little Gransden. I know the area well, but still find Little Gransden is very difficult -- here you have to look out for the gliders, rather than aerobats.
AA
Overhead joins are discouraged because of aerobatics, so the last two miles or so was at 1000 feet aal, which didn't make it easy, plus looking out for the aerobating aircraft.
However, the variety of aircraft on the ground and in the hangars made it all worth while.
Agree with Keef about Little Gransden. I know the area well, but still find Little Gransden is very difficult -- here you have to look out for the gliders, rather than aerobats.
AA
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Aaaaaarrrghhhh! 
I should have more common sense at my advanced age than to confess my failings in front of you Rustle.
Anyway you're P1 on Saturday so it'll be your fault if we get lost.
Besides which I know what it looks like now.
As it happens, it WAS the USAF museum that I recognised, the tarmac being hidden by the enormity of the throbbing pulsating C85 that adorns the nose of the Luscombe.
And before you suffer from premature congratulation remember you may need a lift in something with superior prop clearance
if the runway's not finished in time
Mike
I should have more common sense at my advanced age than to confess my failings in front of you Rustle.
Anyway you're P1 on Saturday so it'll be your fault if we get lost.
Besides which I know what it looks like now.
As it happens, it WAS the USAF museum that I recognised, the tarmac being hidden by the enormity of the throbbing pulsating C85 that adorns the nose of the Luscombe.
And before you suffer from premature congratulation remember you may need a lift in something with superior prop clearance
if the runway's not finished in time Mike
Oops!
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Ausie Andy's got it in one. Nowhere in the world is quite like Lydd. I've said it before and I'll say it again - PAINT THE STRIP DAY-GLO ORANGE!!!!! 
They're a great bunch of people down there though (once you find the d@mn place). . . .
They're a great bunch of people down there though (once you find the d@mn place). . . .
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Once had a strange experience approaching Leeds from about 3 miles in haze - could see the warehouses to the north and other local landmarks, but not the field, until I saw a F50 on the apron taxiing and a glint of sunlight off the fin caught my eye.
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Tricks for spotting grass strips in grass fields:-
1) The field has to be long enough for a runway. So that eliminates a number of them.
2) It's got to be accessible by road, so look for a road on one side of the field.
3) There's likely to be some sort of building on one side of the field, probably hangar shaped/sized.
4) There's likely to be at least one or two other aircraft, if you look closely.
5) A runway is likely to be of shorter grass than the rest of the field, although at this time of year that isn't always the case. And farmers do have a habit of mowing strips of grass too. BUT you have to be able to get to both ends of the runway, or turn round at one end and backtrack, so look for taxiways or turning circles...farmers don't do them.
6) Finally...look for a windsock.
1) The field has to be long enough for a runway. So that eliminates a number of them.
2) It's got to be accessible by road, so look for a road on one side of the field.
3) There's likely to be some sort of building on one side of the field, probably hangar shaped/sized.
4) There's likely to be at least one or two other aircraft, if you look closely.
5) A runway is likely to be of shorter grass than the rest of the field, although at this time of year that isn't always the case. And farmers do have a habit of mowing strips of grass too. BUT you have to be able to get to both ends of the runway, or turn round at one end and backtrack, so look for taxiways or turning circles...farmers don't do them.
6) Finally...look for a windsock.
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Netherthorpe. Not easy to spot until you're used to where to find it. Has the shortest licenced runway in the UK. When the sun is in your eyes or the sky is hazy, you can bladder around for ages trying to see the place!
Never been to Fenland, but once used it as a turning point en-route from EGNF to Norwich. Funnily enough, had no problem spotting the airfield on the way down, but on the way back I couldn't see the place for looking!
Never been to Fenland, but once used it as a turning point en-route from EGNF to Norwich. Funnily enough, had no problem spotting the airfield on the way down, but on the way back I couldn't see the place for looking!
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Finding them is one thing landing is another. At the last PFA rally to be held at Wroughton a number of people landed on the taxiway because on the approach you saw a yellow strip between two areas of green. That however was the taxiway not the runway. I was flown round the circuit on the Sunday afternoon and despite having helped to set out the runway markers and spent the whole weekend there I was hard pressed to pick out the runway 
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Shobdon from the South is very hard to spot, it just seems to blend in with the rising ground behind it. I heard that it was the second most 'not found' airfield in the UK.., or perhaps my instructor was just putting me at ease before cutting me lose for my first X-C..
Kingy
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Floppy-link,
Yes, Fenland still has the scrap-yard, the landmark that I'd forgotten about. The in-laws used to live nearby and I had plans to visit, so I'd been to the airfield by road and knew roughly what to look for.
Yes, Fenland still has the scrap-yard, the landmark that I'd forgotten about. The in-laws used to live nearby and I had plans to visit, so I'd been to the airfield by road and knew roughly what to look for.
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On my skills test I was given a diversion to Shotteswell, just north west of Banbury. Completely invisible. I eventually saw the tiny windsock after flying around in circles for a bit. The examiner was greatly amused.
Since then I have, like everyone else, failed to see Fenland (like Brig a Doon, it only appears once every hundred years) and Lydd. I also recall one fine day with an instructor just before my test, after a wizz-bang sortie involving instrument flying, a practice pan, etc etc, when neither of us could find Stapleford. We think that it had gone to a parellel dimension (some call this Essex) but then came back again.
I can usually see White Waltham, except when coming back from the west, when I am too busy crashing into the non existent mast near Reading.
Since then I have, like everyone else, failed to see Fenland (like Brig a Doon, it only appears once every hundred years) and Lydd. I also recall one fine day with an instructor just before my test, after a wizz-bang sortie involving instrument flying, a practice pan, etc etc, when neither of us could find Stapleford. We think that it had gone to a parellel dimension (some call this Essex) but then came back again.
I can usually see White Waltham, except when coming back from the west, when I am too busy crashing into the non existent mast near Reading.
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Skegness - the turning point on my skills test navex. Neither I nor the examiner could see it. So I lied - he seemed happy. I'd been told beforehand that it was 'just next to a caravan park'. Easy I thought, but anyone who's been to skegness knows that everything is just next to a caravan park.
Fenland - you've got me worried now - I'm supposed to be stopping there on the way home from Duxford on Saturday. Might give it a miss (literally!). Where's this scrapyard in relation to the airfield then? Any more clues?
Fenland - you've got me worried now - I'm supposed to be stopping there on the way home from Duxford on Saturday. Might give it a miss (literally!). Where's this scrapyard in relation to the airfield then? Any more clues?