Hi Patrick,
When you land you can give Upminster taxis a call: 01708 229400 and they will pick you up and take you to Upminster station for around £7 and around a 5 minute journey. Then jump on a frequent train to Fenchurch street which takes 20 mins (its on the same line as the southend train, only much closer).
Customs can be arranged i believe and fuel is via a small fuel bowser which will drive up to your aircraft.
Callum
Thanks Callum! :) Added to my to-fly list, probably for Spring 2016 already…
On saturday I’m planning to visit London (only my 2nd flight to the UK), after some research, it looks like EGML is the easiest, cheapest and fastest solution to go to London city centre (VFR – Light plane) coming from Belgium. Is this correct or should I consider other airfields?
I’ll fly from EBMO to LFAC – Calais (Customs) and later from LFAC to EGML.
I guess I’ll have to call a taxi to get to the train station, do I need to have cash (Pound, I guess nobody excepts Euro?) or can you pay by card in most taxis in the UK?
I looked at the available hotels and it seems we will stay nearby the Tower of London, is this a good place to stay, or should I look into other areas?
Thanks in advance!
Yes, if the runway is on OK condition (ask!), it is your best choice.
Unless someone from the local microlight school is willing to give you a lift to Upminster Station, you can use a taxi. Try 01708229400 if nobody calls one for you. Whether you can pay by credit card in the taxi depends on the taxi IME. Always better to have some cash (British Pounds) with you. They will not accept Euros. If you don’t have any Pounds at all, you can use Uber, which circumvents this problem. For the rest, see above.
Hotels: you get what you pay for. But generally, they are quite expensive in London (or otherwise very grotty). If you don’t want to spend too much money, consider a Travellodge if you are OK with that standard.
Staying by the Tower of London will be completely fine.
Everyone Will have their preference, but you will find the tube very effective to move around so it only matters if you have specific requirements.
From the Tower, St Katherines Dock is a short walk and lovely to vist, just by TowerBridge.
It’s a 5-10 min taxi ride to the Metro/S-Bahn and from there <45min to the city. Charm makes up for any potential advantages of other airfields. Being in the traffic pattern with a Tiger moth all of a sudden was great, but just a prelude to the things to discover in the UK.
Thanks for the great feedback!
I have one more question about the arrival into Damyns hall, I just bought the AFE subscription for Skydemon and this says ‘Non-standard join’. However in the circuits section I see, overhead join 1500ft QNH. On the website I found this “Joining Instructions: Join overhead at 1,400ft (QNH) to avoid entering the airspace of London City Airport. Please note revised circuit rules for 03/21”
Could somebody explain me what exactly they expect you to do?
I know the UK Standard overhead join as this one:
https://i0.wp.com/www.modularpilot.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2016/04/standard-overhead-join.jpg?resize=525%2C371
Can’t guarantee but you can try this number for taxi +441708444444 (last time I use them was two years ago)
I think it is the best VFR airfield for a quick visit to London and to your hotel it is direct on the tube
For instructions, best is to call the airfield manager he may give some pointers, otherwise I just call “hornchurch traffic for overhead join at 1500ft” then ask which runway they are using and fit with the traffic, 21 is down slop where 03 is upslop, default circuits are 21LH and 03RH
They do aero displays & wing walks just on top of the runway or NW side + there is another airfield grepping farm, so less preference to go NW also 21LH is down-slop and has some interesting pylons same for 03 takeoffs an early 5 degrees offset should do a late 30 degres will not 
I rarely had to deviate on what microlights or tiger moths do, only done it once: it is a non-controlled airfield after all…
Do they really force overhead joins at Damyns Hall? Maybe it is the last remaining outpost of some WW1 RAF regiment but, from memory, I haven’t flown an OHJ in about 15 years. The last time was at Panshanger (now closed) in 2003 where a well known sadist instructor in charge of a handheld radio used to enjoy telling everybody to do an OHJ with a RH circuit which is the worst combination
The VFR airport chart in Jepp says this
so it appears you have a choice of straight in or the OHJ. I have no idea what SD calls “non standard”, though the circuit is RH which is the opposite of the usual one, but hardly uncommon.
Peter wrote:
instructor in charge of a handheld radio used to enjoy telling everybody…
Does he decide on winds as well
