Spring UK Private Flying Bash?
 

So, we approach christmas, and the sane and rational aviator puts his thoughts to Spring.

I'd like to propose that we have a Private Flying bash, as ever on a friendly airfield where there's stuff to see and do. The last one seems to have been about 8 years ago, so it's due!

So, here's an initial proposal:

Sunday March 25th, backup Saturday 31st if the weather's poor.

Location: open to suggestions but somewhere interesting between 52deg30N and 53deg30N so it's reasonably central for everybody in the UK, medium sized airfield that's friendly to whatever people are likely to want to fly. Accessible by road for those who prefer to drive. That offers the possibilities of:

Wickenby, Welshpool, Leicester, Halfpenny Green, Derby, Fenland, Norwich, Wellesbourne, Conington, Sandtoft...

What do you think chaps and chappesses?

G

Sounds good - want me to have a word with Sherburn re waving landing fees if we can arrange numbers?

3 runways orientations and away from busy airspace :)

Assuming the UK stops at Carlisle !! ;)

Well it clearly doesn't, but somewhere around 98% of us live between 50 and 56 degrees, so 53 is about in the middle.

You could try organising a fly-in at Carlisle, but despite being halfway between Lands-End and John-O-Groats, I suspect you'd get a limited attendance, pleasant a spot 'though it is.

G

Sounds good to me, can't speak for anybody else however.

G

Go for it!

Rod1

Dont worry Genghis I knew what you were getting at!

I've given up trying to attend Fly-ins in Scotland as they fall foul of the weather 99% of the time. Saying that I did attend the Perth one but that basically required me to wheel my plane out of the hanger onto the grass! ;-)

Might actually be a good excuse for me to stretch the legs a bit and head 'darn sarf' as long as its somewhere with about 600m length so I can get off the ground with a full tank of fuel and my fat ass..

Well Sherburn is 830m of tarmac on the longest runway, and 585m of grass on the shortest - I'd hope that we can all cope with that.

Anyhow, that seems to be the quickest and most unanimous decision in the history of Pprune.

I'm happy to offer 2, probably 3 spare seats from Booker.

G

(Have flown into Dundee and Prestwick this year, so not afraid of crossing the border!)

I'd have gone for Conington as it's 10 mins flight from my base, but it's debatable whether I'll have my PPL by then or not so I guess my opinion doesn't count for too much yet :cool:

Sherburn is a bit far for me so would probably have to give it a miss unfortunately, regardless of license.

Hard runway, parking in good condition (no potholes or tall grass or rocks).

Of those listed, the only ones I recall having been to are Welshpool, Norwich, Wellesbourne, Sherburn in Elmet, and the 1st would have too little space IMHO, and is also very risky w.r.t. weather.

Norwich would be ideal but at £50 (?) is perhaps too pricey for most here, unless one can do a deal with one of the flying clubs. When I went there ~2 years ago I went to one of the flying clubs and it was about £15 which is totally reasonable.

Why waive landing fees? Is everybody going to spend £10 on cakes? :)

How about Cambridge? Or Shoreham? Or for a really exclusive get-together, with no risk of exposure to civilisation, how about Lydd? :)

Great idea, any of those are good with me. As Peter says, not much parking at Welshpool though.

Fair enough, 86 nautical miles from Conington to Sherburn is nearly 2/3 of the PPL qualifying cross country and would take almost an hour in most light aeroplanes. Hate to stretch people unreasonably beyond their limits.

G

Maybe we're talking about a different Conington then, as it's showing as 158nm on my map?

Regardless, the costs of renting is the restricting factor as even if I have passed my test, it's highly likely that my cross country and skills test will have been in that month too.

Flippant remarks such as that are hardly going to encourage new pilots to become part of the community.

Sorry if I caused offence, but the implication than anything more than about 10 minutes from home base was a bit far did seem to demand a little bit of mild sarcasm.

More helpfully perhaps, post here where you're coming from and anybody else based there - either with the same club, or maybe their own aircraft might be amenable to sharing. (Similarly to my posting that I can take 3 from Booker - I don't need passengers, but I hate to see empty seats in an aeroplane when somebody else could be enjoying the flying too.)

G

No worries, as mentioned it's not the distance itself but the cost of the distance relative to other outgoings in the same month - just didn't think it would necessary to go in that much detail in a quick post!

I'm based in Cambridgeshire and am actually open to driving a reasonable amount to meet / pick up people etc before flying as I don't pay for petrol. Shame that doesn't cover avgas too though!

pboyall - once I've passed I'll definitely be looking for a share somewhere local or a cheaper route to flying. £30 an hour sounds great compared to the £134 I pay at the moment. Just need to get the PPL under my belt first.

I'll give it a go too.

Obviously have to travel a bit further than most here, so probablity of not being able to due to weather is higher, especially in March. However I did make the last one and that was in November!

So fingers crossed for some good weather.

Thanks Genghis for starting the ball rolling on this.

dp

Well, I turn my back for two minutes, and look what happens! Great idea. 25th is out for me (term time) but 31st is a definite possibility(start of Easter hols). :ok:

Sounds fun. I'll see if I can combine it with the annual, but it really is a bit far for me if I can't (75 knots from LFDW)

How about Duxford or Old Warden.........

A bit far south for some of the northern contingent perhaps?

Also, being entirely selfish - and much as I love both Shuttleworth and Duxford, I visit both for some reason most years, and would prefer to go somewhere I've not been for a while.

G

Sounds like a good idea, count me in. ( Subject to the OC signing my 'leave chit' that is! )

How about Hucknall? Home.

Important consideration !!, what about the food options at the final chosen location?

Count us in, we will bring two planes, that would be 8 seats, and we could tie up with other Gaelic Ppruner's who would like to admire the views.

Pointless bringing empty seats down:cool:

Excellent idea, I'm up for it. Here are my experiences and recommendations of the suggested airfields...

I didn't really rate Wickenby's runways or cafe. Perhaps too crowded for a meet and if the aeros box is open it can be hard work to stay out of the way.:=

Welshpool, I agree with the above that its too small wrt parking.:=

Leicester/HPG/Derby/Sandtoft: not visited these so would be interested on others views.:confused:

Fenland: two runways 36/18 and 26/08 so crosswinds shouldn't be an issue. Both are shortish grass (600m/640m respectively I think). Lovely food in the cafe too.:ok:

Norwich - again as previous posts: excessive landing fees and possibly too commercial for a GA meet(?).:=

Wellesbourne: Nice hard runways, lots of parking space, and a cafe with good food. Busy place with many aeroplanes and interesting pilots of all experiences and age ranges.:ok:

Conington: Pretty much as per Wellesbourne. Nice standard overhead join pattern (pictured in Pooleys), friendly service and nice cafe. Not sure of the parking space available. I parked on the apron and someone helped to push the aeroplane back into a snug spot; easy exit though! :ok:

Sherburn: all been said already, very nice strips with a spacious cafe!:ok:

GW

Edited to add:

Duxford: nice place. But quite a walk from apron to visitors centre for landing fee payment and restaurant.:=

Also, I can have 3 spare seats and am happy to pick up at places such as Cambridge (Ds3?) if anyone would like a lift/costshare?

(at Wellesbourne)

When did you go there? I visited a few weeks ago and the food was nothing short of disgusting. The veg looked like it was prepared the previous day.

The airfield itself is fine, and they do have a little bit of hard parking which would be important (essential) for a proportion of visitors.

As I said, Norwich may be worth a look if one can do a deal with one of the flying clubs. Personally I would happily pay the £50 and park on tarmac.

Duxford should be fine, and the food is edible.

Duxford works great for me! ;)

GeeWhizz - very kind of you to offer. Unless the destination ends up being local to me, pencil me in for a seat - will happily share your costs. Out of interest, what do you fly?

Visited Wellesbourne in July, and it all seemed fine. Quite enjoyed the lunch as far as I remember.

I learned a very important lesson during the Duxford visit, one that should be shared and never forgotten...

Never ever ever leave a headset on top of the dashboard if parked into strong hot sunshine during mid summer. The black rubber ear cup seals become immensely hot and leave red burn marks on ones face! :*

Ds3: see PM.

Or Coventry, reasonably central, plenty of runway and parking, plus converted DC6 Diner and Musuem

We had a small meet there for 6 aircraft and they waived the landing fee as we booked the restaurant.

DC6 Diner opens in plane at Coventry Airport | Mail Online

Sherburn sounds good to me, if it's mid week I would prefer school hols for us teacher types. Sywell is pretty good too, hasn't it recently won 'GA Airfield of the year' or some such nonsense?

Can we have somewhere with a choice of runway direction and preferably a grass option please? And not a silly landing fee.....

Sherburn and Sywell have more runways than you can shake a stick at and reasonable landing fees.

Sherburn or Sywell it is, then! Just have to arrange some VMC now ;)

Almost anywhere EXCEPT Sherburn in Elmet. I will not go there. I have several reasons, some personal but the last time I went (about a year ago) the state of the carpet in part of the eating area was absolutely vile and that was the final straw. It may, of course, have changed since then.
Halfpenny Green is fine and I hear that the cafe has improved. There is a great choice of runway there and there is even a little grass strip for the microlights. Wellesbourne used to have a good cafe, Shobdon's isn't too bad either. The food at Wickenby when I went with Project Propeller was fine and it's not too far away from Scampton. ;)

Ha'penny Green sounds good, never been but keep meaning to. Or, glancing randomly at the chart from a distance, Derby/Tatenhill? It appears both are central to the entire universe!

tatenhill
 

Hey all i fly out of tatenhill and it really is a nice airfield with a decent runway 08/26
They have just put a little conservatory on the end and mad a small cafe in it (my friend said bacon rolls are nice:)
But the cafe area is small.
Liecester has a much bigger cafe which is basically a pub with a very very good glass conservatory which sits high and has a perfect view of the runways (i liked that bit) but the guy on the radio was ignorant and rude... Other than that i quite liked it.... Sure it was about £12 landing fee too

It would be nice if we could go for a fairly Easterly airport. Then maybe I can get Backpacker on board and we can fly in from Rotterdam :ok:

Some of us are planning on coming from the West too you know ;)

How about setting aside 2 dates, say 1 week apart?

The airports being universally proposed are inaccessible in any "weather".

Whilst we're still haggling about what airfield (although Sherburn and Sywell seem the current favourites), everybody seems to have been happy with those dates.

G