Hawarden EGNR

I had a meeting scheduled with a colleague who lives close to Liverpool and Hawarden seemed a reasonable location to meet up – the costs for landing were reasonable, PPR was freely granted – although for the next few weeks, the Runway is being resurfaced so the airport will be closed. Fuel is available, ISTR it was around £1.88 / litre and landing fees about £20 so all in all, definitely an airfield I’ll return to.

Unfortunately it wasn’t all without drama, I rolled out on final but wasn’t cleared to land; I called “final 22” at least 3 times but no clearance was given so at less than 50 feet AGL, I went around. Just after I had applied full power and rotated upwards, the controller called to let me know that I was cleared to land – however rather than try to abort the go around and land on the runway, I decided to continue and advised the controller accordingly.

On the ground, two bizjets were holding short of the runway so the controller cleared the first on to line up and wait. Once I turned crosswind, the controller announced to the BizJet that there was an issue with his clearance, which he was working upon. This appeared to take some time hence I was then asked to orbit at the corner of the downwind / base leg as the runway was occupied by the BzJet.

A Jet Ranger also joined the circuit from the west and was asked to orbit mid downwind. 4 orbits later, I was cleared to continue my approach, noting the rain was starting to fall. Rolling out on final, I was cleared to land, touched down and taxied to Apron N – at which point the heavens really opened up, drenching the field, with the associated drop in visibility and cloud base.

Directly after I landed, the Jet Ranger was also cleared to land and air-taxied behind me to the Aviation Park. As I shut down, I saw 2 business gentlemen alight from the helicopter and stride purposefully off, followed by the pilot who looked pretty ashen. At the Aviation Park, hangar he informed us that he had just taken more than 2 and a half hours to fly a 90 minute mission, had flown through some pretty shocking weather and was ready to turn back when the passengers said that it was ‘imperative’ that they arrive in Chester.

That made me grateful that I will only fly when I want to and if I can’t reach where I want to go, I’ll not push it. To imagine a paid professional wanting to turn back but being told NO is something I do not wish to contemplate – I just wonder if those businessmen realised what a risk they were taking?

Whilst talking about Hawarden, the guys from Aviation Park are really supportive and a big thank you to them all, they were more than willing to answer any and all questions I had. they provided us with a pass to allow us to come and go as required, without asking. They made us feel really welcome and they really did give you the feeling that they enjoyed their jobs. They also advised that, for groups, Airbus, who have three production sites on base, are willing to allow tours of their production. Currently they produce A320, A380 and the new composite A350 wings that are transported by the Beluga aircraft to the assembly sites so perhaps you might want to consider a UK fly-in with factory tour, Peter?