Compton Abbas - Frangible aerials?
 

I am planning a visit to Compton Abbas tomorrow.

The Compton Abbas entry, in Pooleys Flight Guide 2002 , under Warnings:

"Frangible aerials penetrate the the transitional surface by 7 ft."

Can anyone tell me what that means in plain (or even plane) English, please? :confused:

I have been there several times before, so I have presumably managed to avoid them, where ever they are :D

Well I am based there and I did my PPL last summer. And all i can say is that there are no frangible aerials!! The only ones are the radio mast on top of the Ops Tower, the mobile phone mast with the flashing beacon. However.....on the northern side of the runway there is the windsock and a weather station which is approximately 7 ft above the height of the runway (low because they're on a down slope away from the runway)

There u go, and hope it helps

Tom

Thanks tomcs, you are perfectly correct.

We did not go to Compton Abbas today, as we went to Exeter instead. I did telephone Compton Abbas, to ask for an explanation, which was roughly as follows:-

The windsock mast, also holds the anemometer, & is technically an arial has it has a small transmiiter in the top, to relay wind speed & direction to the display in the tower.

The mast is just north of the 08 threshold, & within 50ft of the runway, so has to be mentioned under warnings in Pooleys.

"Frangible" just means that the mast is designed to collapse if hit by an aircraft. The man at Compton said no one has hit it so far, to prove if that happens! :D

Well ... I am still learning new things about flying ;)

Distaff........., it doesnt matter where you go in the UK, anything which is likely to be hit by an aeroplane within the immediate vicinity of a runway or a taxiway, has to be, in theory, frangible.
What they don't tell you is the likelyhood of consequential damage to whatever you happen to use to test the frangibility.:D

They're so frangible they were almost bending in the wind at Compton Abbas today !!

;)

Thanks for the replies folks.

I was just puzzled by the Pooleys entry, as it gave me no idea what to look out for, & where it was in relation to the runway.

I was aware that it is a good idea to avoid ALL masts & fixtures on an airfield, whether they are "frangible" or not ......

..... cos, airfield operators usually send large invoices to pilots who damage things! :D

gijoe yer not kidding had 38kts (thankfully pretty much 'down the 'pike) when I popped in with the Arrer for a cup of char on Sat.

In fact, the windsock decided to go cross country and has never been seen since!

I thought they eventually found that one! It blew down twice in Feb and March and my friend went to southampton to have it tied on with shipping cable with a rating of 10 tons or something so it aint goin nowhere now!!

tom