Ibra wrote:
It is sad to hear but after many attempts trying to fly there, I always end up in Duxford
Same here actually. Never had a chance to fly to EGSC, there was always some reason why I can’t
We had a good EuroGA fly-in there a year ago. Unfortunately it rained so most cancelled but we still had a good group.
I’ve been there many times. Here’s a video of a flight from Shoreham to Cambridge
It was grass parking mostly but occassionally one could get tarmac, for something like 30 quid extra per day.
If Cambridge is lost, many based pilots will just give up flying.
alioth wrote:
Especially if they make it so awkward for visitors to fly in, traffic drops off, so they can say “well there’s not demand for an airport anyway”.
Agreed, it has not been a very useful airport recently. I used to fly into EGSC relatively frequently, both to visit Cambridge and for practice instrument approaches, but the following type of NOTAM has been active for a while (since end of 2018 I think):
Q) EGTT/QSPLC/IV/BO /AE /000/021/5212N00011E
A) EGSC
B) 19/05/12 07:00 C) 19/08/11 17:00
D) SAT-SUN 0700-1700
E) CAMBRIDGE AIR TRAFFIC SERVICES (TOWER, APP AND RADAR) NOT AVBL, AD NOT AVBL TO VISITING AIRCRAFT ATZ REMAINS ACTIVE
I’ve been told by some local sources that this may also take quite a bit longer to resolve (i.e. past 11th August)
Probably not so easy to find a fully qualified controller who wouldn’t rather go to Stansted for more £ and more traffic?
Airports which have lost ATC and don’t have a lot of money are to a degree limited to employing young ATCOs who are building experience. These people naturally tend to move on as soon as they find a job at a big airport.
Duxford is a friendly GA airfield with a lovely long runway and no terrain or obstacles to interfere with a straight in approach to either end. It is as close to Cambridge City centre as many airfields are to their cities.
But this is another nail in the coffin for aviation in the UK.
TimR wrote:
I’ve been told by some local sources that this may also take quite a bit longer to resolve (i.e. past 11th August)Probably not so easy to find a fully qualified controller who wouldn’t rather go to Stansted for more £ and more traffic?
Wasn’t the issue with Shoreham because of Gatwick going from NATS to a new company and the combined shortage across the country requiring lots of controllers for the busier aerodromes. I presume Cambridge has fell victim to this too.
What is the parking situation at Duxford? Don’t they force light GA into grass? Well, Cambridge did too, but that was presumably to keep the “dirty GA” away from the bizjets.
From here
When I say big one, I meant open to visitors, many small airfields slightly north west are very friendly but the whole lot I come across in UK SE are “owner & co” only
Cambridge is big piece of tarmac but not the easiest place to visit, I just got this reply back on email, hopfully that Tarmac & ATZ are taken off the chart soon, it seems they are wasting everybody’s time and taking more space on the chart !