Visit to Cambridge

boscomantico wrote:

Which we did, just today….

And with such spectacular weather! Yup, I’m jealous. Next time I will fly in, and add a 7min flight to my logbook :-)

Still, flying to Duxford would have been the “proper” way to do it….

Which we did, just today….

Very nice trip @Bobo!

And I know first hand how nice Cambridge is because I was there too, just weeks before :-)
I was going to start another thread, but I hope others agree it makes sense to add to this one. I did it VFR so I can add that perspective.

I also wanted to make this trip for a long time. I remember the threats of Cambridge airport closing down, and how I hoped that I could make it before that!
First week of May was a school break, and the weather was actually quite good for such a trip, which was a welcomed surprise.

This trip really was a lot easier to plan and execute with all the info available on the forum. Knowing before hand all the peculiarities of UK’s ATC, from ‘pass your message’ to ‘basic service’, from the wide London TMA to the info on transits at places like Southend, but also tips on channel crossing and knowledge of Belgium’s ATC possibilities, not to mention all the immigration procedures with GENDEC and GARs; all of that was great info to have.

I planned a route along Belgium’s coast, crossing Ostend, turning to KONAN and Dover, crossing Southend, proceed northbound to avoid more airspace and finally turning northwest to Cambridge.

The filled route from Costa, the VOR on Belgium border, was COA EBOS KOK KONAN DVR TANET EGMC ABBOT EGSC.

Proceeding along the coast, at 3500’, as instructed by Ostend Approach:

Overhead Ostend, EBOS:

Ostend Approach informed that Koksijde was closed and could proceed along the coast.
Shortly after, asked Ostend approach to climb and turn direct KONAN, and was instructed to climb to FL055. Some cumulus looked a bit menacing in the distance, but was able to remain clear of cloud with minimal changes of heading.

The white cliffs of Dover though the haze:

By this time I was already in contact with London Info, that asked to remain clear of controlled airspace and if I knew that I would need to descend after Dover. I confirmed my intention to continue bellow London’s TMA.

Autorouter kindly included this on the briefing pack, with the route superimposed on a chart of London TMA and other airspace:

After Dover, London Info suggested free calling Southend approach, which was already my plan, and got cleared direct to the field.
Approaching the Thames estuary:

Overhead Southend, EGMC

After crossing Southend’s runway, continued north, and was handed over to Cambridge Radar when leaving EGMC’s CTA.

Soon I had the field in sight, but on my first attempt, I made a too tight circuit and ended up too high and too fast…. I was trying to lose energy when tower asked if I wanted to do another circuit? I took the hint…. and went around.

My co-pilot used the go-around to take pictures :-)

Final for runway 23. Still a bit high, but solved by landing slightly long and backtracking.
You can see the grass parking area to the right.

Border force was waiting for me and my passengers, they only mentioned that Gendec.eu, when generating the GAR, does not indicate who is the pilot on the group, so they asked if I was the pilot and otherwise did not seem too bothered with that.
After those formalities, I used the Bolt app to get a taxi into the city, to our Hotel.

I will not repeat here how nice the city is and how hard it is to get tired of the views, other posts have said it better.

We had an early dinner at The Eagle, the oldest pub in Cambridge, with the historical RAF bar:

Since May 1st created a three day weekend for many people around Europe, the city was very busy on Monday, and also the river looked overcrowded:

The next day, Tuesday, everything was calmer and we started the day with a punting tour, seeing the colleges from the river. Again, see Bobo’s pictures above, it was just as great.

We had two main objectives, besides the city itself; visiting the computer history museum and visiting the Imperial War Museum, just a few miles south in Duxford. I hesitated a lot on taking the plane for the 7 min flight, but in the end, decided to just take a cab there. That saved quite some time, getting to the airport in Cambridge, pre-flighting, getting to Duxford, parking, and then having to leave before the closing time of both airports. Still, flying to Duxford would have been the “proper” way to do it….

The only SR-71 outside the USA:

Serious Star Wars vibes around some of the exhibits :-)

The Concorde prototype:

And the mighty Mosquito:

Wednesday we visited the Computer History Museum.
So much of what got me into this “computers thing” was actually created in Cambridge; the Sinclair computers, the BBC Micro. And the processor we all use on our phones and on this Mac that I’m using now, the ARM family, also was created here.

The magic of this little box, with a whooping 1K of RAM, drawing lines on the TV! I was hooked, all those years ago.

On Thursday, visited King’s college, and then headed to the airport for the afternoon departure.
I taxied the plane into one of the hard parking spots for refuelling, and after paying my bills we were on our way.

Cambridge approach provided me with traffic service until I switched to Southend Approach, which continued to point out traffic pretty much all around me. They were not kidding when they said this is one of the busiest airspaces…. Got to spot a Spitfire crossing bellow my wing, was too busy to get pictures….
After Southend, talked to London Info again, and continued down to Dover. This time, with less haze, I did a 360º to take pictures of the white cliffs:

Soon I was approaching KONAN and on contacting Ostend approachI was cleared “direct COSTA at FL050”. That sounded a lot like the controller assumed I was IFR, but I was in VMC and had no issues with that route. Had a nice tail wind and was pretty much in gliding distance of shore.

While transiting Ostend, overheard military traffic flying along the coast, doing some troubleshooting, and after a while the controller pointed out that I might see an A400 and an F16. I had actually been enjoying the private airshow for a while. Had to zoom in quite a bit, sorry for the grainy photo. In hindsight, I should have thanked the controller, I think he only pointed out the traffic for my amusement, it was not a factor, and I could have replied something less laconic than “traffic in sight”. Got to lighten up a bit, doesn’t always have to be serious and “professional”!

And pretty soon I was back in the Netherlands and had an uneventful rest of the flight.

I find it hard to describe how nice the trip was! We were vey lucky with weather, had nice family moments together, everything was just great!

Wonderful trip, and wonderful that your daughter enjoyed it so much

Sounds like you had a lovely trip with your daughter. It brought a smile to my face

Thank you

Planned for 2030.

Possibly one of the best trip reports I’ve ever read!
How lucky you (indeed we) are to be able to enjoy such simple pleasures.
I thought I heard a few years ago that Cambridge was closing?

Nice lovely trip and glad all worked to go into Cambridge during the weekday

Bobo wrote:

My wife even signed a consentform granting me permission to take our little girl abroad.

This trip is going to cost you a lot of money, not now, one day when she goes into Uni

AndersB wrote:

brings back memories!

Did you fly the CFG Moths?