Tag: list of criteria

We’ve been enviously watching the comings and goings of Charlie on Flight Radar over the past few weeks, but we’ve been in Tier 3 and that’s not likely to change so we’re not going anywhere. That’s the consequence of living in a different area to the airport.

However, there’s nothing like planning for the future and when the 59th edition of the Pooley’s UK Flight Guide arrived fresh off the press, we were like kids pouring over the toy section of the Argos catalogue, mentally ticking off where we’d like to go first.

With nearly 1000 aerodromes available ranging from huge international airports to tiny air strips, it seems there’s nowhere in the UK out of bounds.

Yes, we can meet up with friends, no matter where in the UK they live
Yes, we can take mum to her cousins’ without spending hours in the car
Yes, we can see all those wonderful sights on our “would love to visit” list

But hold on a minute!

A casual read of some of the pages in the guide started to set off alarm bells and so I took a closer look. As I turned over the pages, certain comments leapt out as if they were written in red ink and highlighted in neon yellow: “Danger areas nearby”, “Powerlines on approach”, “To avoid overflying … [with suggested instructions]”, “Steeply rising ground”, “Undulating runway”, “Railway line on short final”, “Possibility of [insert relevant word here] crossing the runway”, and so on. On top of that, Will has said he’d rather not land on grass and I’m sure he’s not too keen on competing with a load of commercial traffic either.

Bearing all of this in mind and with information provided by the guide, I decided to compile a list of criteria for our next few flights. Here it is:

1. The page describing the airfield must not include any sections with the heading “Cautions” or “Warnings“
2. The section for each airfield headed “Remarks” must not contain the word “risk”, or any sentences starting with “A public road crosses …” or “Look out for …”
3. The airfield map must not feature any buildings labelled “passenger terminal” or “cargo”
4. The runway must be level, smooth and made of asphalt
5. There must be no possibility of meeting up with flocks of Greylag Geese or any other type of bird. The same goes for gliders, parachutists and hot-air balloons
6. Animals of any kind, pedestrians, cyclists or general road traffic must not be allowed anywhere near the runway
7. Because I always like to break with coffee and at least a snack, if not a full-blown lunch, there must be a cafe or restaurant on-site or within walking distance (unless we’re going on to somewhere else)
8. Fuel must be available as Charlie is only small and can’t carry a huge amount. Otherwise there must be somewhere to fill up en-route which meets the above criteria

So where does that leave us?

Taking all of the above points into consideration, I think we have a choice of about zero airfields to choose from, or perhaps two really obscure ones if I look hard enough. <sigh> Guess I’m going to have to revisit the list and think again!