Beachy head
 

I'm thinking of visiting the Belle Tout lighthouse near beachy head at some point. Does anyone know of any airfields nearby where I could park my aircraft overnight?

Deanland EGKL

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Deanland is the nearest. Ppr, 500 metres, 15 minutes by taxi or a 5 ish hour round trip walk along the south downs way. No problem with overnight parking. There is a strip just south of lewes but it is further and more difficult. Interestingly there use to be an airfield at friston and the strip is still in very good condition but long since closed. It would be fun to get the farmers permission.

Anyway in terms of nearest deanland it is, after that it is a train journey to eastbourne from somewhere like shoreham, or redhill, or maybe even headcorn all some distance away and pretty pointless flying really unless you are coming a very long way.

Deanland is grass and very short. Shoreham is the next one, a proper airfield. BH is about an hour's drive from there, on the A27 and then the A259.

IO,

You falter old boy !

Swanborough nr. Lewes plenty of length. From there onward, as with anything connected with flying is the usual problem. (Slow/costly or a jolly long walk)

mike hallam.

Not too difficult to keep it short in this weather.

Thanks for the info. Not sure I'd want to try taking a da40 in and out of a 500m grass strip.

I drove to Deanland a while ago and it was made clear they do not want visitors, unless previously arranged, and many aircraft types are NOT welcome there.

This is the case for probably the majority of "strips" of this type.

No idea if it has changed, but a phone call would be highly advisable.

Swanborough is actually further and the approach less kind; nick is a gent though. Deanland do welcome visitors or at least i havent had a problem but i agree a da40 is not the aircraft to visit in.

Shoreham is your best bet, and thence a cab or train into brighton and a bus to belle tout, i think there is even one that goes past or the coastal service to eastbourne gets you a short and very pleasant walk to belle tout.

It would make a pleasant day out.

(from my time in da40 no problem landing but the departure would be interesting cant remember the performance figures mind you)

Beachy Head is normally a one way trip, isn't it?

It has been for many, including some women who fell out with their bloke and drove the kids off the cliff in a car... You see bits of car wreckage on the bottom; one can walk down there.

It's not that much of a drop, but enough....

The highest point HSL actually has one of the shorter drops - about 150' to a ledge which in summer is covered in bracken and gorse - you'll probably lay there and die of your injuries.

Go a bit to the west and the HSL is a bit lower but the drop is straight to the beach...

I have been over a couple of times and lived to tell the tale ;)

HTC

As crows allegedly fly. Shoreham to B Head 21 Nm.
Swanborough ditto 12.
Deanland/Ripe ditto 9.

Swanborough has 650 m according to AFE Guide and IMHO very good approaches.

BTW the Vickers Vimy Replica landed at Ripe only a few years back, easy peasy ! I have movie pics from that day's visit.

mike hallam.

If length matters (oo err) there's the Ringmer gliding site.

SGC

Has the radar bunker at BH ever been opened to the public?

Not that I am aware, though the one underneath Truleigh Hill is a lot more interesting. People do get in every so often; plenty of pics on the internet.

It might be a bit difficult to get in now

Subterranea Britannica: Research Study Group: Sites: Beachy Head

Fascinating. Now just the other side of Eastbourne north east of Pevensey Bay was another radar station at Wartling..............!

Deanland operator is a nutcase AFAIC
 

I called in recently and the guy refused us access in an airplane that has a ground roll of 900 feet at max gross. Het kept ranting about accidents and running off the runway incidents etc...They also refuse microlights, which made the bracket of aircraft they allow there a bit puzzling to me.

But hey, it's their airfield, so if they only allow pink underpants wearing PA-28 pilots, I can live with that...

Do they ban Citations as well?

I am sure one could get one in there just fine.. with enough juice to fly to Shoreham :) :)

chevvron - one of the most perversely fascinating things I found in the "military underground" scene were the thousands of single-room ROC nuclear explosion observation posts. Astonishingly, the last of them closed as recently as 1991. Some bloke has managed to break into every one of them (those that haven't been built over) and has catalogued the whole lot on some website, with photos. Apparently, during the last decade (or more) of the operation the whole thing was just an excuse for a beer :)