Who to rent from in/around Cambridge
 

With Marshalls/Cambridge Aero Club having just reduced their fleet from six aircraft to three it seems possible that it might become rather difficult to hire an aircraft for solo flying at weekends.

What other aircraft do people rent round here, what are the aircraft like, what is the service like? (I'm not interested in learning anything difficult or exotic, so please don't suggest I start flying the Tiger Moths. Plus I don't want to spend time hanging around on the ground helping to run a club, I just want to turn up, fly, pay, and go away again.)

Anyone interested in an answer to this private message me,

-- Andrew

I'm currently flying out of Bourn and really enjoying it. Nice club, nice aircraft and the club/instructors are good too. If you take the Gold Membership you'll find the hire rates are very cheap.
It is also nice to be flying out of a (relatively) quiet airfield without the full ATC. It is a bit different using their shorter runways that aren't quite as smooth as Cambridge.
Worth giving it a go in my opinion.

Chris

You could try Skyline at Little Gransden.

CC

Modernair at Fowlmere have got some really nice machines. Just down the M11 from Cambs.

Have you considered buying a share in a group based at Cambridge or close by?

... turns out to be someone I've known on and off for a couple of decades ...

I honestly don't think I'd fly enough to make it worthwhile. And it would usually be not quite the right machine in quite the right place; I'm sure I'm better off renting.

Flying from Cambridge

Rather an odd question, however from this far flung corner of the Empire :cool: may I suggest you walk out of the Aero Club building, turn right and stroll down to Mid-Anglia School of Flying (MASF).

They have several PA28-161's and a PA28-181, which I used. They seem a friendly bunch, and the aircraft are in good condition.

So if you can find your way to Marshalls, MASF ain't far away.

BTW, are you still on the Town Council?

Back to MASF, they also do a good quality T-shirt, I wear mine often, it discreetly advertises my links to flying and is a good conversation opener, and that's here in KL :)

Sultan Ismail

Apologies for a brief diversion of the thread. Why/How has Marshall's reduced its fleet size? Is this part of the grand move away from small aeroplanes and into being "Cambridge City Airport"?

Charlie.

City Council, please. You'll have to ask them the "why".

The "how" is that they've sold four of the five 152s and replaced them with one 172, so they now have two 172s and one 152. They "might" buy another 172 if it turns out they need one. Now, it was certainly the case that they didn't need all six aircraft on an average weekday, when most of the people who could afford to hire aircraft were at work earning the money needed to hire the aircraft, but my suspicion (and that of the people I spoke to there on Saturday) is that three aircraft won't be enough at the weekend.