Just got back from another little trip to the Scilly Isles. Last time I went there was in 2021 during covid.
It’s a perfect example of the use of a light aircraft. Any other way this would have been a half-day drive, then the rest of the day spent on a ferry or a very pricey flight from Lands End.
There are actually several islands but this was just a 1-night trip to St Mary; unless you go for 2+ nights you can’t really do the others because it is a local boat trip. Otherwise, Tresco is really nice to visit.
The islands have a big accommodation problem and the owners are totally screwing visitors. There are a few hotels, mostly poor quality which would normally cost about £50/night but on St Mary they get about £300/night! This is 3x more than pre-covid. The other accommodation tends to be booked a year ahead, by birdwatchers and similar visitors. We stayed in the Atlantic Hotel which is the least run-down and nowadays even has oat milk (but you have to specially ask for it) 
The flight was mostly FL060, starting with the usual Solent transit at 4000ft, IFR at 4000ft in IMC. After SAM we flew at FL060 and above the cloud, all the way. This also keeps you below the FL065 Exeter airspace through which you sometimes don’t get a transit (the secret there is that N of EGTE the air is owned by Cardiff which is fine up to FL160 but S of EGTE it is owned by London which prefers to flatly refuse just for fun, but EGTE doesn’t tell you that if you went N, TIVER instead of TINAN, you would have got it). If one needs higher, then you get into this territory with some fun
The approach was the NDB27 with a circle to land to 32. The runways are badly sloped (~5%) on the first 100m which means your flare has to be much bigger than normal. Of the > 200 airports I have been to, I consider this airport to be one of the most difficult to do a nice smooth landing on. The alternative is to aim for the flat middle part but that is less than 400m so unless there is a lot of wind down the runway, you have to do it right. Switzerland has loads of 500m runways but 500m is a lot more than 400m, in a TB20.
The parking is grass, not excessively long. ATC like to tell you to taxi across a little tarmac road but that is very obviously a prop strike risk so I refused and parked before it; they were fine with that. You also have to be super careful not to taxi into one of the taxiway lights; easy to do since they are stupidly placed. And if you try to inspect the edge of the tarmac for rocks, the airport security chimps go berserk (I did that once) even though you are still within the grass parking area
You never enter the building nowadays; payment is with a bank transfer (extra hassle; started with covid). This also means no toilets unless you walk all round the airport perimeter road to the terminal, but fortunately there is plenty of vegetation nearby, just outside the gate The airport is PPR via a form on their website which you fill in and email.
The airport is friendly but I strongly feel they could do a lot more for GA. The parking is not exactly unsafe if you know what you are doing (or are renting 
) but should be improved. They are clearly minting it from the turboprop traffic though. The airport is closed Sundays. They used to do a special concession by permission for a Sunday departure and maybe they still do.
The Kavorna cafe is as nice as always and one of the few places selling edible food They have clearly got problems recruiting staff… I mean, pressing a button on a coffee machine needs a bit of intellect. Walking around the backstreets, there is clearly a lot of poverty there. But it is England and has the usual DSS benefits.
Just down the road from the airport is the Old Town Inn. In years past it was mostly closed but we got nice food there this time. It is under new management
You can also get “food” in some hotels but possibly only if you are staying there and then only if you have a table booked. The Atlantic is OK but in 2020 I got shafted by St Mary’s Hall despite staying there (I forgot to book) and was lucky to find out just in time to get to the Kavorna before it closed. Alderney used to be like that but is a lot better now.
Within typical UK airport opening times one can do it as a day trip and do some nice coast walks in the day. The rock formations are similar to places like Alderney, and Ouessant in NW France.
The climate is great for plants of all kinds, with amazing unusual flowers and trees growing everywhere. But you need to visit Tresco for the best of this.
On the way back, cloudbase about 2000ft so in cloud until top of climb to FL060. I flew south of the EGHE transit corridor which makes their life easier. They have a lot of the twin turboprops – about 20/day I reckon – and the route is clearly a fantastic money-earner, with millions having been spent at Lands End airport to support this (despite which they prohibit their instrument approaches to private aircraft!).
Solent were very slow on the transit on the way back, despite me talking to Bournemough about it for ages beforehand. The signs are that Solent does not like to work with Bournemouth, possibly because the latter is private while the former is NATS, and NATS is a rather anal organisation where everybody looks like they have been on a “corporate on-message” course I got the transit just seconds before I was going to do a 180. A good method is to “request radio check”; they get the message
One day I will find out what that funny metal “valve thingy” does
Outbound flight (return same route) with tracking stopping way too soon:
Nice trip. I love the Scilly islands and do find the airstrip very enjoyable because it forces the pilot to be really concentrated.
You’re really selling the airport 😁They’re all valid points worth knowing, though.
The restauranteur father of a friend went there in ~2006, and spotted an obvious gap in the market for upmarket food at reasonable-ish prices. However, it’s a kind of closed club, and actually buying a restaurant if not an islander was basically impossible.
I like to give all the info, warts and all Also consider that a prop strike on the island could write off the plane. There is no hangarage (some rag “hangars” for 1 plane) so prob90 the plane would have to be dismantled and carted out on the ferry. The famous Timothy Aztec was simply written off there, too, although it had rather more damage. Whereas Alderney and Guernsey is a different thing.
Obviously they make so much from the twin TP traffic that GA is irrelevant. But if I was running it I would improve it because all the time an airport is below capacity, any extra income goes straight to the bottom line.
They have had a PC12 there quite often.
Flight plan not required.
One gets a relatively continuous service EGKA-EGHE with handovers e.g. Solent, Bournemouth, Exeter (or Yeovil), Culdrose (Newquay on weekends) and Lands End (non radar).
Flight plan not required
For some reason, they are required (see AIP AD2 EGHE)
Flight Plans should be filed for all flights to and from Scilly Isles/St Mary’s aerodrome
I asked them and the answer was No.
So I didn’t file one. Previously I did but those were high altitude IFR – example which need one anyway.
I phoned ATC the day before to ask if they need “booking in” and they took my details. I cannot see what use a FP would be if they already have the PPR data beforehand. They can track a callsign on tracking sites.
Ibra wrote:
Flight Plans should be filed for all flights to and from Scilly Isles/St Mary’s aerodrome
Usually in regulations, “should” means that it is strongly recommended, not required.
It sounds like recomandation from what they told Peter on phone (one will have to phone call and book with them anyway)
I tend to agree with Peter that the taxying and parking arrangements are poor/dangerous. Not so much they can do, as the space / tarmac is very limited, and of course they give 100% priority to CAT. Just a description of fact.
There are definitely no Sunday departures for GA anymore, which kills this as weekend destination.
The lodging situation is very poor. Poor availability and poor quality. A bit typical for any small island, but still worse than anywhere else. Plus, few restaurants and usually, everything is booked days or even weeks in advance.
I think the way to do the Scilly Isles is
They could easily fix the obvious parking area hazards I mentioned. I bet most people who get a prop strike there just fly out and report the incident somewhere else…
Alderney or Guernsey are a lot nearer for most people, have accommodation, a decent runway, good parking, and we can do EuroGA meetups there whereas nobody will come to the Scillies And on Alderney people smile at you
Total £58 for a TB20, overnight.
