Flying visit on a clear, sunny day to Shobdon airfield.

At the end of October we had a nice flight down to Shobdon airfield, home of the Herefordshire Flying Club.

Planning a few days out I was supposed to be by myself, as the weather was stunning in the morning I gained a passenger.

Arriving at the airfield, I checked and readied the aircraft then had a quick break before pulling her out of the hanger, taxying and departing Tatenhill. Making sure to make a phone call first to Shobdon as they require Prior Permission before landing there.

The flight to Shobdon was fairly smooth at 2500ft below some cumulus clouds. I contacted Shawbury and obtained a basic service from them and routed between Cosford and Wolverhampton and then past the isolated Clee hill with its radome on top.

Approaching Shobdon we dropped Shawbury and called Shobdon for joining information, as they had our details it reduced some of the traffic on the radio and they were able to pass the runway in use (08 - Right hand circuits). I announced my intention to do an overhead join and was reminded to not descend below 1500 feet until on the downwind leg, due to noise abatement as there is a small village to the north of the airfield. Part of the reason to hold the descent at 1500 is to allow for the gliding club climbing out of the northern grass runway.

Landing in a reasonably short distance I made the turnoff and crossed the northern grass runway. The parking for visiting aircraft was well signposted and I was also given guidance over the radio to a parking slot.

After shutting down the aircraft, and entering the buildings booking in an paying the landing fee was a swift process. The landing fee was £14 and there is a loyalty scheme for regular visitors.

The lunch menu for the day consisted mainly of fried products and we both opted for the light breakfast that was available.  The office, the cafe and a club bar area are in a nissan hut that is quite well maintained.

After refreshments I booked out and was given a short briefing on a couple of points to avoid e.g. ensure taxiing on the grass taxiway and not the grass runway, once power checks were done to keep a good lookout up the approach as there may be glider traffic on the approach to the grass runway before crossing.

The aircraft parking and taxiways are very clearly marked and so there was no issue with taxiing out.

For the return flight we passed up the west side of Clee Hill and then between RAF Cosford and Halfpenny green.

Arriving back at Tatenhill we refuelled the aircraft, cleaned the windows and parked it back in the hanger.

Shobdon is a welcoming airfield which has nice facilities, I understand that since our visit the Cafe is changing management, so we might return to visit to see how it changes.

Sometimes you have to change plans.

On Sunday 23rd Sept I had a reunion to go to in Norfolk, which is a 4½ hour drive each way from home. Or 1 hour 20 minutes in the aircraft.

Having checked that I could fly into Cromer airfield and get a couple of taxis and trains to the reunion I decided that I would either fly or not go.

The weather forecasts in the weeks preceding were as expected of 10-15 day forecasts, unreliable and changed to the opposites each day that I checked them. With a few days to go it looked like the remnants of one of the American storms would be sitting in the middle of the country, calling Cromer the day before they were suggesting that in the afternoon of the 23rd there would be strong winds gusting up to 45 knots.

On the morning of the 23rd I headed to the airfield early under a lifting stratus cloud layer, arriving at Tatenhill however there was a lower cloud base and rain. I opened the hanger doors and gave the aircraft a thorough check. Checking the weather showed that the rain would move off to the south and clear the whole route by around 11, and looking out the window this was matched with clearer weather to the northwest.

After a coffee and a breakfast the weather at Tatenhill cleared and improved dramatically. I pulled the aircraft out of the hanger checked my final preparation for the flight.

The weather continued to improve into a good clear sky. So I taxied out and took off, heading south east initially to avoid the East Midlands zone before turning east. The journey east was relaxing with good visibility and receiving a basic service off East Midlands it appeared that there was little other traffic around. I ended the service with East Midlands as the route was passing through the overhead of Fenland airfield.





Contacting Fenland to let them know I was passing through their overhead I requested if they were available for a fuel stop, which they said was OK, and that there was currently no traffic in their circuit, so I joined and landed to check out Fenland and pick up some fuel.

Fortunately one of the locals helped me get used to the self service fuel pumps and I topped up my tanks and recorded the landing and intended departure in the airfield logbook. After updating the paperwork in the aircraft I started up and headed off again towards Cromer.

Just after Kings Lynn the cloud base dropped dramatically to 1500 feet so I descended to take a look at the conditions below the clouds. Spotting that the clouds were clearer towards the coast I turned around and climbed up to 2500 to go over the restricted areas of Sandringham and Anmer Hill, before trying my luck along the coast. It wasn’t long before I was back down to 1500 and shortly after that I was faced with a wide band of showers, having a look at the showers they were quite heavy and I realised that I would have limited visibility and would be close to Instrument Conditions (IMC) which I am not currently licensed to fly in. I did not fancy arriving at a short grass airfield that I had never been to before, low and in limited visibility. Looking north the showers appeared to extend a few miles out to sea, I thought that they would be around for some time, so I made the decision to turn around and head for home.





The return journey was great and the weather over the centre of the country remained excellent throughout the rest of the day. Although I was only on a basic service with East Midlands the controller warned me of other traffic just before I changed frequency back to Tatenhill.

Although I did not make it to the reunion, it was an interesting trip and I managed to get into a different airfield and get experience on a shorter, grass airfield and learn of a great location to pick up fuel/ break if I am out to the east.

Return from Beverley via Spurn Point

The return leg of our flight up to Beverley was folloing  more scenic route down the coast to Spurn Point before turning inland at Grimsby, as this was a weekend and the weather was good we transited over RAF Waddington at 4500ft.  One of the reasons for coming north on this trip and not south was because the weather was good and there were a number of gliding competitions to the south to avoid (as one pilot found out).

After a little time and booking out at Beverley I checked the Cessna over and manually checked the fuel tanks to see how much was left in. Happy with the aircraft we climbed in and prepared to the return journey. After the last checks just short of Beverley's Alpha old, we lined up rolled down the grass of runway 12 and in a short time were airborne, turning left we headed out of the circuit to the north until clear and set course east for the coast, before following the coast southbound, and contacting Humberside radar for a basic service.

Offshore windfarm

Looking out to sea, I pointed out that the sight of the offshore wind farm was a bit of a surreal sight. A huge area of white stalks sticking up out of the sea, as we were moving it reminded me slightly of the graphics from old computer games.

Spurn Point

As we approached the Humber Estuary I turned inland to avoid the Gas Venting station that was marked on the map, such that we passed slightly inland of Spurn point. The Humber estuary is quite a substantial body of water and it feels odd flying over it for someone who is used to normally flying overland, at least this takes some of the edge off When I decide to head to the continent at some point.

Leaving Spurn Point behind we passed to the east of Grimsby and started the turn inland towards Bardney disused airfield.

Climbing up to 4500ft, we travelled through quite smooth air up until our next turn at Bardney disused airfield.

Having confirmed with Humberside that Waddington Zone was not active the controller politely reminded me that at my altitude we could go straight over the top as long as I stayed out of their ATZ.

After shortly after passing over Waddington the controller said that I was passing outside his cover and that I should free-call East Midlands for a service off them.  I tuned into East Midlands and listened for a gap in the comms.  G-OM had just called them requesting for a 'traffic service', this is a service from a radar controller that gives information and warnings of other traffic that may affect the flight.  As soon as the controller had identified G-OM he gave him a warning of 'two contacts straight ahead 1 mile, no height' which G-OM replied, 'seen, gliders taking avoiding action'.  There then followed a couple of minutes of radio exchange between the two of them as the pilot weaved his way out from the middle of a large group of gliders with the assistance of East Midlands.

Once the airwaves settled down, both me and another aircraft contacted East Midlands to request services from them.

The rest of the flight went well, and as the route approached Tatenhill and the controlled airspace surrounding East Midlands lowered, I descended a couple of  times to keep clear. Passing over the recently disused Hucknall airfield, which is rapidly becoming a housing estate.

Arriving back at Tatenhill at 1645 I was happy to see that fuel was still available and topped up the aircraft so that the next pilot didn't have to.  Taxiing back to the hanger, cleaned the bugs off and put the aircraft to bed until its next adventure.

All in all a successful trip as we got to see a new airfield, had a nice view of the coast and some different sights. Additionally I have gained more confidence talking to air traffic and using the radio equipment in the aircraft. I look forward in the near future to either doing a transit of controlled airspace, or utilising a traffic service.

Flight Details:
Distance: 127nm
Duration: 1h 27m
Sights: Spurn Point, Humber Estuary

Early August flight to Beverley airfield

Just over an hour away from Tatenhill is Beverley airfield, which had a free landing fee voucher in the summer edition of Flyer, although I didn't really feel put upon by the rather reasonable £5 landing fee and didn't take much effort to take the Flyer voucher with me.

The weather was good, with light winds and cloud bases around 4-5000 feet, so I opted to take advantage and fly at a higher altitude than I had flown since renewing my licence.

We decide to head out to the south of Gamston airfield and then head up between Doncaster and Humberside airport at 3500ft, the return journey was more of a coastal route.

Arriving at the hanger I was greeted with the new hanger doors which had been installed since I was last flying these took a few seconds to work out how to open them.

With the preflight checks complete, we strapped in and headed for the runway. Following a smooth takeoff we turned right to head north, being careful to stay clear of Darley Moor hang gliding site, which was a good thing as looking over n their direction we watched one of the hang gliders completing a winch launch. Shortly after passing Darley moor we took up the Easterly track to Carsington Water and on to the next way point of Ossington Disused airfield.

Contacting East Midlands for a basic service and getting their QNH which lets us setup the altimeter to ensure that we remain below East Midlands airspace. Once clear of East Mids we could then climb up to our planned cruise altitude of 3500ft.

Passing Mansfield, East Midlands requested we change off their frequency and suggested we contact Doncaster, however I decided to head for the rest of the trip north without talking to anyone until we we closer to our destination. This Altitude would provide us with some buffer over the airfields and gliding sites on the next leg, although I did turn off the track to avoid a glider that was gently climbing to the north of Darlton.

The Humber and bridge from 3500ft

Flying further north we could start to make out the humber and Hull beyond, which allowed us to get a good view of the Humber bridge out of the right window. Starting the descent towards Beverley as we passed over the suburbs of Hull.

Setting the radio for Beverley’s radio frequency, Beverley have a new radio frequency that is based on the 8.33Khz separation rather than the older 25Khz frequency. I called up and received the latest information, that they were on Runway 12 passed me their QFE, shortly after one of the arrivals (a Europa) announced that they had dead sticked (landed without power) the landing and had stopped at the end of the runway, this would mean that it would be unsafe to land until they had been cleared off. I continued to do an overhead join and enter the circuit, the overhead join unusually at Beverley is at 1500’ and all the circuits are to the north of the field which allowed a left hand circuit onto runway 12.

Beverley clubhouse and hangers.

As we continued to join and fly round the circuit we could see the rescue truck driving out to assist the stranded Europa and assist removing it from the runway, fortunately it was clear of the runway when we turned onto finals. After a nice approach and a short landing we were able to taxi off the runway and follow the Europa back to the parking.  We did not take on fuel at the airfield, although the fuel bowser is conveniently located near the clubhouse with good access from the parking area.

Beverley Clubhouse

Once parked up we found that Beverley had a nice little well maintained clubhouse with a small cafe where drinks and food could be purchased along with a nice seating area with comfortable chairs, outside were a number of picnic tables that had a good view of the airfield.

Landing fees were a most reasonable £5 which were paid with a short welcoming chat with airfield management in the corner of the clubhouse.


Having spent a short time at Beverley I would recommend it as either a destination in itself or a stopping point on a larger adventure.

Flight details:
Distance: 109nm
Duration: 1h 05m
Landing Fee (Beverley: £5
Sights: Humber and the Humber Bridge