I need to base my MU2 near Grantham, England, for about 4 months (mid Aug to mid Dec). It is US registered and normally based in the US. An MU2 is a twin turboprop, 300 knots, FL280 ceiling, 6 seats.
Looking for feedback and advice on what airport to choose. Needs to have Jet fuel, 900m long runway minimum (prefer 1200+m), lights would be nice considering how soon it gets dark that time of year. Cost is a significant consideration for parking/hangar, fuel, and fees. An IAP would be great, nearly every airport in the US has one but I think that is rare in the UK. Hangar space would be highly desired. Available GPU for start also nice.
Just from looking at the map, these seem like they are worthy of consideration, in rough order of what I think is easiest to get to from my location (driving time in minutes via google maps) plus likeliness of being appropriate:
EGNE: Retford/Gamston (33 min)
EGBN: Notingham City (32 min)
EGNX: East Midlands (52 min)
EGSF: Peterborough/Conington (42 min)
EGBG: Leicester (48 min)
EGCN: Doncaster (57 min)
Curiously, I sent email to the top three choices a while ago and got either no reply or one that contained no specifics or useful info. I could call them, of course, but I have found it useful to have such conversations recorded in email for referral later. I am getting the impression from reading trip reports that you are often not charged what you expect at any given airport.
I presume that any airport marked “[MIL]” on the charts, for example, EGYE Barkston Heath, is not an option.
Mike C.
I would go with Gamston. Sadly it has no IAP but if and when you need one go to Doncaster.
You will find that they rarely answer emails. And the more south in Europe you will go on your trips, the greater chance of no answers due to bad English.
Brush up on your VFR skills – you can almost always get in. And in the UK, it’s not unheard of to have “homemade” approaches, although officially no such thing has ever existed.. 
Getting replies from European airports just does not work most of the time.
It will work only if the email gets picked up by somebody smart and whose job includes answering emails.
Best to phone up or email a handling agent. They have an incentive to talk to you ($$$). Airport admins are poor communicators; they are not motivated to generate traffic.
Peter wrote:
Getting replies from European airports just does not work most of the time.Best to phone up or email a handling agent. They have an incentive to talk to you ($$$). Airport admins are poor communicators; they are not motivated to generate traffic.
I find it odd that the airport ignores potential customers this way.
Mike C.
Welcome to European GA then
Seriously, I understand your surprise, but your email might just have slipped through, or just failed to get the message across. These airport email addresses get bombarded with trash, ranging from “can I book a sightseeing flight for tomorrow?” to “who the hell flew over my house today at 12.30h?” It’s not the right place to say “I intend to spend 20K$ with you next fall”. Do call and try to find out the name of the person who is responsible for these things.
My point about a handler is that he might know who to ask. A handler rarely employs stupid useless people, whereas airports employ them by the barrel-load, recruited by somebody with a Univ. of Upper Warlingham MBA in Risk Management in the Travel Industry 
The problem with contacting airport admin is that just getting through to somebody smart can be hard.
Not long ago I was looking for a hangar at Biggin Hill where I could rent space for an Annual (myself and my A&P/IA – not allowed to do this where I am based). I never found anything but it took about 30 phone calls to establish this. Emails – forget them totally. I now use a hangar elsewhere I ended up googling for all companies based at Biggin Hill Airport and phoning them all up.
