Flying into Bournemouth
 

Was thinking of flying from Fairoaks to Bournemouth next Wednesday, weather permitting. It looks relatively straight forward apart from being squeezed between the Middle Wallop MATZ & Solent CTA.

I'm thinking of routing to Guildford, BR tracking on Farnborough to overhead Popham then routing to Fordingbridge before calling Bournemouth and asking for zone penetration etc.

What are my chances of getting zone penetration at Middle Wallop? Does it ever get turned down? Without the zone penetration it looks like flying all of the way over to Frome and then down due to the danger areas.

I have never been refused a transit. If they are open they are usually very helpful. At worst they may dog leg you a little.

Paul, Presumably you've investigated the situation with handling at Bournemouth? The flying club, the last time I asked, are not allowed to handle visiting aircraft.

That would be illegal trade practice.

You have the right to choose what FBO you want.

As bose said, I've never had a problem getting a MATZ pen from them. Your proposed route looks good and you'll find the river a great feature which will take you straight onto right base (the most likely join they'll give you if they're on 26).

Not sure on the handling situation as I have only come in to Bournemouth "as a visitor" once, but I managed to avoid most of the expensive handling etc as I was visiting one of the based companies there and paid my landing fee through them. Might be worth a try if that's what you're doing (or you know someone who works there :ok:)

Why dont you go direct - it is very unlikely you will be refused a Southampton / Solent transit.

I would ask for a zone entry at Hanky - you might find they vector you around a little so be prepared for that. If they refuse you the transit skirt around the zone down to Stoney Cross. Alternatively you could keep east of the zone and along the coast which is very scenic. (Of course I appreciate you might want to go some other way for the scenery or experience which is fair enough).

No problem at all with the Flying club "handling" you at Bournemouth - they are a good bunch and parking alongside all the slowly rotting military hardware is of interest. Mind you, if you want to get anyware (like the main terminal or just off the airport) its a real trek!

As you know its not cheap.

How do so many regional airports get away with their chosen agent for compulsory handling?

Because nobody had the balls to ask for a review on anti-competitive behavior?

Not all FBOs are suitable for all aircraft, but if your FBO is willing to offer you the basics such as parking and re-fuelling, you should then be able to choose it without airport intervention.

I suspect the problem is that at some of the "largest" airports there are no longer any clubs, or if there is a club, there is only one. With one club you use the club, without any, well its the FBO handling. I dare say there are some places with a club but where the airport authority "prevents" the club acting as handling agent - Leeds Bradford possibly comes to mind, and maybe Southampton (I think the club at Southampton is long gone, but there again I could be wrong). Certainly at Leeds Bradford you get firmly steered to the FBO handlers (and very nice they are) whereas in fact there is a perfectly good looking flying club almost next door who I guess dont charge their members anything like the FBO for parking and landing.

Is it anti competitive - presumably it is within the remitt of a privately owned airport to decide who is authorised to "handle" private flights and if they chose not to give that authority to a private club so far as non based aircraft are concerned have they acted beyond there rights? After all I am guessing the airport authorities owns the tarmac on which the aircraft are parked and grants the lease to any FBOs or clubs?

That said I like the approach Southampton takes - they have set aside some spaces for GA on the apron run and operated by the airport - if the spaces are free you dont need to use the handling agents - it is still not cheap mind you. It is a shame a few more of the very "largest" airports havent followed their lead.

It's not that long ago that someone posted on pprune about his experience of taking a PA-28 into Gatwick just because he had always wanted to. He did not get much change out of £900.

Just imagine how many bacon butties you could get for that.

Whatever floats your boat!

An alternative route, and far more scenic for a few extra miles

Plan via CALSHOT VRP (big 600 FT chimney at the south end of Southampton Water) going east of Southampton CTR, call Solent around New Alresford (east of Winchester), you can always ask for something more direct, but expect entry into Bournemouth via Stoney Cross or Hengistbury Head VRPs, most unlikely Bournemouth will let Solent offer you a direct approach, but its worth a try if you would prefer.

Despite the occasional bad press that they get, Solent are OK, if there is no traffic in the way, let will let you go direct. If you at any time feel that you were unfairly treated phone them (02380 627189) your complaint will be noted and investigated.

Bournemouth, well that may be a different story..........

I have to say the only time I've been in to Bournemouth, for Proj Propeller, I was handled by Bournemouth Handling and they were great. But, I didn't have to pay for it as they donated the free handling in aid of the charity. I'm not sure I'd have been that happy to pay.

Interesting question as to the legality; I suspect that it needs challenging in court if there is no choice of handler.

Tim

Leeds
 

Multiflight pretty much have the southside at LBA stitched up, they do all the handling, hangarage, fuelling, maintenance and flying training. They have spent a LOT of money over recent years, so want to recoup I guess and yes the handling is good (you do actually get a little something for the fee), but not really needed for light GA on a quick coffee stop. Although you can get a landing fee discount for training flights, or a handling discount if you're in for maintenance etc.
The flying club is just a short walk and has a really nice cafe, does the best burgers I've had anywhere outside the USA, IIRC it's called the spunkey monkey, or something like that.
Last time I was there, I did hear that they were planning to start charging for car parking as well.

PompeyPaul

Be sure to check your insurance - Bournemouth require £10million and most light aircraft policies are way lower than this.

Multiflight
 

Thanks for your helpful comments about Multiflight. I may be flying into Leeds for the first time in a couple of weeks.

Hell, Fuji took a 'single' into Gatwick as well. They even stopped all the other traffic for him..... :p

It's usually possible to get handled by a flying club at larger airports - I've certainly been handled by BCFT at Bournemouth, on the other hand it was BCFT that I was visiting.

But yes, a few airports manage to be extremely obstructive to private traffic. Edinburgh is for example, completely unuseable - leaving a visitor who wants to fly into the city at night or when expecting to require an IAP, taking the train from either Prestwick or Dundee.

I can't see however why legally these are restrictive practices - in the UK at-least. Virtually all British airports/airfields are in the private sector, so surely the company or personal owning and operating the airport has every right to decide who they have as tenants or subcontractors.

A nuisance, yes. Morally dubious, yes. Shooting themselves in the foot, quite possibly. But illegal, I don't think so.

G

As it happened only one other aircraft, who managed only a single hold, but your version sounds a lot more exciting. The nice people at Gatwick didnt charge a penny, given they realised it was an emergency. Considering the acres of space and how quiet it is at certain times of the day it is a shame they cant find a way of encouraging more traffic. There GA portacabin is quite cosy even if not a patch on the facilities at Oxford or Leeds Bradford.

Just to clarify, there is no separate "flying club" at Leeds Bradford which could provide handling separately from Multiflight. All of the south side GA services are provided exclusively by Multiflight.

In the good old days we had the Yorkshire Aeroplane club, Northair, Knight air, Yorkshire Light Aircraft and a few others on the South side. However Multiflight is well funded and acquired all forms of competition many years ago. There are a few scandalous tales to be told of these times but this is not the place for them.

PS The Cafe is the Square Monkey. I don't think I would care to eat at anywhere called the Spunkey Monkey. ( The cafe is not actually directly run by Multiflight!) Food and service are first class.

PPS I have been based at Leeds for 29 years. Absolutely all of the services provided by Multiflight are first rate but (necessarily) not cheap.