It would surprise me if EIWT is at a risk of closure…
I spoke to a guy very much in the know on that last week, I think if they want to make a case it’s no longer viable as an airport they have to try rent it and there is a logical outfit to rent it and run it as an airport. The site isn’t zoned for a higher or better use. It’s unlikely now post Covid that any development will happen there in the medium term. Weston is great but the hangarage is 4x what I would like to be paying.
Kilrush is a meticulously kept airfield. It’s got a good crowd of people, I always enjoy calling there. I’ve been in as a pax in King Air, 58P and flown in the Twin Com. The runway is good enough for most, I think you would get used to it very quickly. The airplane will thank you for being kept inside. That grass alternate runway is like a pool table, but in a X wind it can be slippy I noticed. Fuel and oil are there too and payable on account.
I drive 45-50 minutes to the airfield, same to the seaplane. I use the drive to think about the flight and turn on pilot mode. If you have a good car it’s no biggie, I drive an older 4×4 as a sacrifice to the aviation god’s. I’d pick hangared Kilrush versus grass at Weston just for the maintenance aspect alone.
If this was me, I would think the most important things are
The EIWT IAP is not worth much anyway; if there are no real obstacles, that sort of minima can be flown with a simple DIY IAP.
It would surprise me if EIWT is at a risk of closure, but who knows? @dublinpilot may know more.
How about moving house? For me it would be that, sell the plane, get a different plane that presents different basing options, or something else.
Neither of the two options presented is viable IMHO. If I had to choose one of the airports presented I’d figure out how to raise the €500 monthly to hangar the plane locally. I think almost an hour drive is too much unless you use the plane only occasionally for long flights.
zuutroy wrote:
Anchor tenant is a flight school.
That’s the aspect that would worry me. After Covid-19 (sorry, no way to avoid that right now), will the flight school still be in business? I fully expect lots of aviation related businesses to go under in the next few months. Then what? Does the airport depend on their business?
You also don’t seem to have researched your second option very well. I’d clarify the unknowns there first and then re-evaluate.
It’s a question of how much your time is worth.
If your time is worth a lot, then the closer option will be less expensive even though the fees are higher there.
Otherwise take the farther away option.
Chances to sell a share in the plane are probably better at the first option as well.
MikeWhiskey wrote:
Deciding short notice whether to go for a flight? At LSZH? I had a look at their slots as while ago and did not had the impression being able to decide spontaneously whether to go flying or when to return? But I guess I had a wrong impression then??
In my case you are right, on weekends particularly. I actually never had a flight not happen due to the slots because I mostly flew during the week and slots were almost always available if not always at the times I would have wanted.
At the time I was referring to when I had my then airplane based at Altenrhein but worked at ZRH, the latter had no slots yet. Once I moved my Cessna to ZRH, I flew a lot more. So in the OP’s question neither of the two has this problem but they have a significant distance in between. I know from my own experience that I would not drive a much further distance to go flying spontaneously but I would go fly if i could do so on a whim and with a shorter drive.
A grass runway might be useable in a crosswind which made the hard runway unusable – into a 25 kt wind will reduce groundspeed at touchdown.
It depends what your time availability is. If you feel as if the hour and a half going to the more distant field and back will put you off frequently going for flights, or be tight on time then you’re maybe better being closer and flying more and enjoying it. I would say though that being in a hangar is far far superior for the aircraft.
I operate a Malibu Mirage off a 750 m grass runway year round. The trick is always to be very light, and really careful on speed control on the approach. I pop over to a nearby ‘proper’ airport when I need fuel or to pick up passengers. I roll the runway myself with a big agricultural runway several times a year to keep it really smooth.
There is nothing like being able to decide short notice to go for a hop
Deciding short notice whether to go for a flight? At LSZH? I had a look at their slots as while ago and did not had the impression being able to decide spontaneously whether to go flying or when to return? But I guess I had a wrong impression then??
