Compton Abbas
 

Hi all,

Just a quick hello and thanks to all the folks down at Compton Abbas who had the dubious pleasure of our company yesterday. What a fab little airfield, and it was great to get such good, cheerful service from everyone. I know that if we are ever down in that neck of the woods again we'll definitely be popping in again for fuel and grub.

Why can't all airfields get their act together like these guys? Flying should be a pleasure, and these guys look like they love it.

Oh, and what a babe 'manning' the air/ground frequency - rrrowrrrr!!!;)

See you all again soon I hope,

The 'pipeline' guy.:D

Thanks Witchdoctor

Was up ther yesterday instructing, what did you fly in?
Good bunch up there, great view, challenging flying now and then,glad you enjoyed yourself we do aim to please.
Don't know the babe your'e talking about though we have got two !!!!! which one?
Prune badge on next time or just introduce yourself.
Fly safe
FF

The award for best description of a female goes to........................ <drum roll> Witchdoctor .......... :D :D :D

I was at Compton yesterday (not my first visit), and would endorse everything that Witchdoctor says: great welcome, aand friendly radio :-) Some great walking nearby too.

Compton Abbas...and Old Sarum!
 

Without wanting to take anything away from Compton Abbas, if you're in that neck of the woods you'd be foolish to give Old Sarum a miss: it's another fab little airfield.

And as for the Old Sarum ground/tower staff, well what can you say. I would use the phrase "rrrowrrrr" but I really don't think it does them justice. Every one a beauty. They certainly know how to man a frequency...

Oh, and some great walking nearby too.....

Nice to know that there is an appreciative audience out there for genuinely pleasant airfields rather than somewhere just to land, get fuel, food, stretch the old legs and have a 'refreshment break'.

My gaffer has been all over the country with various other pilots to many airfields, and had a number of unpleasant experiences (wouldn't want to embarass any airfields in North Wales or the Western Isles by naming names) and many other so-so experiences, so it was quite interesting to hear him raving about the place too.

FF

We were in between 1430 and 1530L in our glamorous 150 Aerobat. If you were one of the FI's talking about photos on CV's, then you probably noticed the big, ugly guy smirking away behind you.:O

Jimbo

Old Sarum just a little out of our way, as we needed fuel pretty quickly and had to head back over to Street for our next job before heading North again, but I'm sure we'll get a chance to check it out sometime soon.

Oh, and if you want REALLY good walking, you can't beat the north Pennines - wilderness heaven!:D

Witchdoctor

Its all coming back now, changed my mind on the photo now, gonna include mine on the cv, never know they might take pity on me and give me a job !!!!!!!
To all ppruner's out there introduce your selves when your'e up at Compton we don't bite.
FF

Just a quick message for Jimbo-in-debt...i do tower and ground at Old Sarum...are you sure you went to the right airfield???:confused:

Anyways glad we could be of service!!

Tom

FF

Does 'radio babe' bite? Not coming back unless she does - rrrrowrrr!!!:O

Routing through Boscombe?
 

Thinking of maybe popping in on Saturday... if the weather's with us! The direct route from Wycombe would take us through Boscombe's zone: do they usually give a clearance, or should I plan around the long way?

Saturday: Boscombe probably not there. BUT: D127 is permanently active to 12000 AMSL (Porton Down biological weapons research facility) so keep clear. The Salisbury Plain danger areas are also often active (D128/126 etc)

Head for Shaftsbury and then keep an eye open for the strobe light on top of the hill showing where EGHA is.

With Regards to Boscombe....remember to always give them a call they have some wierd operating hours at the moment with lots of movements. The MATZ may not be open but the ATZ is....so make sure you are certain of what you are doing, i wouldn't like you to meet a lovely pair of tornadoes or the like!!

The danger area activity status can be obtained from Salisbury Ops on 122.75

I did my PPL at Compton Abbas and if i remember rightly the two 'babes' are either married or attached....sorry to be a bringer of bad news.

Tom

Fna! Fna! Fna!

Do us a favour. Smutty innuendo doesn't do much for me and I suspect it does less for the few women in aviation. It's too much of a lad's club as it is.

QDM

Well, I was at Compton on the 8th (in a big red aeroplane) and can vouch for it being a very lovely spot.

Thanks to all those who keep places of that ilk on the go...if only there were more of you.

Which spot? The "G" spot????? hehehehehe

QDM

Not trying to offend anyone, just a bit of banter with FF which should perhaps be better left for PMs. I'm well aware of the lad's club element, but we could also do with a few more who have a sense of humour! Dull old world without it.

tomcs

I think Mrs WD would be the bringer of even worse news if I was trying it on.;)

Diversion to Compton Abbas
 

En Route from Popham to Henstridge in the Luscombe on Saturday the mighty C85 started to falter so I diverted to Compton Abbas.

I was very happy to pay the landing fee but they insisted that as it was a precautionary diversion they wouldn't take the money.

Draining off some fuel showed some specks of dirt but not enough I thought to be the cause. Ground run and take-off OK but en-route back to Popham the same thing happened. Symptoms - reduction in max RPM to around 2,200, uneven running, vibration and a fluttering noise from up front. Carb heat had no effect. If left on full throttle it cleared after several minutes but any throttling back made it recur. I think we have a sticking valve. Any engineers with experience of the C85 care to comment?

Many thanks to Compton Abbas, one of my favourite airfields.

Mike

Visited for the first time yesterday - gets a :ok: from me too :)

Found it ok (that light helps) and had a nice cuppa while being entertained by a Yak 50 (?) and a Pitts (nice departures, chaps!). Should definitely be a future PPRuNe fly-in venue

...but what do you do if you have an EFATO taking off from 26? :ooh: :uhoh: :ugh: :ouch: :{

Wholeheartedly recommend Compton as a destination - even if you're not flying, it's got a great atmosphere and usually plenty of activity. If the wind's gusty and from a northerly sector, one does have to be a bit cautious of rotor / curl which can leave you suddenly lacking lift on one side at quite crucial stages of the approach / take off!! :O :ouch:

Evo This wasn't an engine failure after accident, but a Cessna seat pin which wasn't fully engaged and the seat was dislodged on climbout with fatal effect. :(
C172 Seat Accident

This guy was quite lucky and almost made it back to the airfield!
Tobago EFATO

This guy was quite lucky and was on 08 when his donk quit!
08 EFATO

08 approach / 26 climbout also has some very extreme human factors implications (for those who don't know, Compton Abbas is on a high ridge with a deep valley to the west which falls away very sharply). For a low hours PPL to judge the approach / climb out is quite challenging due to the lack of ground reference.

Surely, if your going to have an EFATO, 26 at Compton is the place to have one. Many years ago I practiced one in a Tiger Moth (really it was an excuse to dive down that valley, naughty but nice). Wouldn't do it now though, although I have recently seen a Luscombe doing far worse things than that - like diving down to the village below the ridge (Melbury Abbas?) and then zooming up the ridge to reappear over the field. I wouldn't think that that sort of flying endears the airfield to it's neighbours.