There appears to be a selection of possible airports, and am hoping for local knowledge for which of the following might be the most convenient when visiting Edinburgh. Last time I visited nearly a quarter of a century ago, Edinburgh was then GA friendly, but assume no longer the case.
Likely GA bases in what seems a logical order might be
Cumbernauld EGPG
Fife EGPJ
Perth EGPT
Dundee EGPN (with IFR approaches)
By convenience I would prioritise good runway surface and parking, public transport links, reasonable cost, in that order.
EGPH itself is around £200, so high but may be ok depending on how far you have come.
Peter wrote:
EGPH itself is around £200, so high but may be ok depending on how far you have come.
Peter, according to https://www.euroga.org/forums/trips-airports/10637-uk-regional-airports-price-league-table-757kg, EGPH was at least £400+ for a C152, so for anything else would be much more expensive – it IS a Signature-infested airport, JFYI.
I heard that usually pilots use EGPG or EGPJ. No matter what you use, it takes ~1hr to get Princess Street.
@arj1 thank you, a quarter of a century ago a ‘umble Piper Apache cost around £25 at Edinburgh.
Am contacting Fife as it seems more convenient to Edinburgh. Although Cumbernauld has a good reputation. Will report back after the visit with info on the airport database.
Q back: what kind of aircraft exactly?
There are rather a lot of small airfields in the vicinity, even more if you are ok with short grass fields. Unfortunately, the small ones are only partly covered by the usual moving map programs. But there are other possibilities as well, last time we had the nice opportunity by surprise to use RAF Kirknewton EGKT and they actually drover us into town for free = worth a try to kindly ask them.
Btw, our next trip will take us to Strathallan airfield, a tad North but still in driving distance.
@MichaLSA a BE33 and I only use dry grass or tarmac. Will be overnighting so hope to also get hangarage. Checking out Fife and Perth at the moment.
I would definitely recommend Cumbernauld.
Went there a few months ago.
Extremely friendly, called for Taxis for us (taxi was cheap) and the train ride to Edinburgh is very pleasant.
Fees were very reasonable. I’d almost say, to support the field I’d consider taking landing there over the option to land at Edinburgh even if I had Edinburgh money to waste.
@GA_Pete thank you, am meeting relatives from Aberdeen so am plumping for Perth Scone. Will report back but they have been helpful, and close to Dundee if I need the approach.
Edinburgh – EGPH is £1k a night to Park at.
In summer 2019 I flew my bird from the US to the UK. One of my stops was Edinburgh. At the time, there was extremely limited ramp parking, so they were charging a punitive 1k per night to discourage anything but a drop and go.
I ended up going to Fife EGPJ which has a decent 700m hard runway, fuel, and both hard ramp and hangar space. They also have a cafe on field, along with an active flight school. It was a short taxi and around 45m or 1h train ride to Edinburgh. I’d definitely go back to Fife when visiting Edinburgh.
