PS,
Seppe has also gone through the roof. The other day they made me pay € 43,- because they incorrectly put me in cat 1. They refuse to Correct this. Cat 2 would have been € 34,-. Still a lot of money for a very small ga field. Untill the apparent price change at Lelystad this was the most expensive GA field.
Personally I do not like Lelystad. On a nice day it can be extremely busy and dangerous. Accidents have happened.
Rotterdam is a nice friendly airfield, controlled, a friendly tower .. professional but not minding a joke, ifr approaches and you are much closer to civilization.
Personally I do not like Lelystad. On a nice day it can be extremely busy and dangerous.
Try some UK airfields then 
I recall going into Stapleford some time ago, on a sunny weekend. This has to be the worst possible combination of all three factors
I got cut up on downwind, base, final, everywhere. On final, I got cut up (overtaken) from the left and from the right. People were flying their own circuits. And some of these people had instructors on board. And I don't fly big circuits... I don't know if this is a "UK PPL training" thing, or just a sign of everybody being desperate to fly after some bad weather.
I don't know if this is a "UK PPL training" thing
It's the "overhead join and descend on the dead side" mantra....which seems to mean different things to different people...especially when there are noise sensitive no-go areas....civilized places have a mid downwind 45deg join....no need to overfly if A/G and/or other traffic to get airfield info from
EDIT and make calls at turn to base and turn to final...
all three factors
Yes, especially the third!
A reason more not to go to Lelystad. In 2011 I had to work in Amsterdam and I few there about 10 times. I probably spend 120 Euro for landing fee and another 100 for handling, but it was still cheaper if you consider the taxi ride from Lelystad to Amsterdam west port. There is a friendly staff at KLM jet center.
Seppe has also gone through the roof.
I remember when flying solo during PPL training in 2011, I made a go-around at Seppe EHSE when I came in too high. When paying the landing fee, I found it quite unsympathetic that they charged me for two landings. I was an unexperienced student pilot on one of my first X-country flights, and the decision to go around rather than to push on a bad approach should be rewarded, not penalized. I had to pay like 60EUR for the landing on a 800m RWY :-(
the decision to go around rather than to push on a bad approach should be rewarded
this ! a million times. It should be illegal to tax a go around.
It should be illegal to tax a go around.
Agreed, but then the flying schools will take the piss - especially ones from other airfields. In the UK anyway, this is a major issue.
So there has to be a charging structure whereby a G/A is charged unless done for a "good reason".
You will still get the grey areas where somebody was going in too fast and had to go around due to that, but you can throw those away. What you have to find a way to bill is say five go-arounds for no apparent reason i.e. training.
I was at Lydd EGMD the other day and the man said they don't charge for the ILS if the cloudbase is below something like 1000ft. I forgot to get more details, unfortunately.
I recall going into Stapleford some time ago, on a sunny weekend. This has to be the worst possible combination of all three factors I got cut up on downwind, base, final, everywhere. On final, I got cut up (overtaken) from the left and from the right. People were flying their own circuits.
Stapleford does have a big circuit. I did my night qualification there and they give you a paper image with a specific circuit pattern to follow, which is wide. However there are some big twins there, and you get the feeling the commercial traffic will 'cut' people up to reduce their costs, and perhaps because of their speed. I remember once doing some solo night circuits and I had to go around 3 times due to other aircraft somehow getting in front of me or lining up too late. On the 4th time I was a bit naughty and landed while the previous aircraft was just turning off the end of the runway, but the plane was rattling, the dials were barely readable and I was not feeling comfortable and wasn't going to go around once more. I got my telling off, and accepted it. But not just for that reason, I wont rush to go there again. You either like the reception staff, or you don't. Instructors are very nice though.
I have a share in a Piper Archer III parked at Lelystad and apart from the weekends, the landing charges are quite ok. Then, you can arrive after daylight IFR at Lelystad, but you need to get a slot for it. I find the airport staff in general to be very helpful. In the weekends on busy days it can be very busy indeed as it is after Schiphol the busiest airport in the Netherlands.
I now fly most of the time from Rotterdam. I can really recommend it as being very GA friendly, but indeed not cheap for a controlled airport. However, it is open from 7 in the morning LT until 23.00 hours LT every day, so great for me to get back home a little later at night.
Apart from Texel, there are a few airfields which are cheap and friendly fields such as Hilversum (EHHV grass), Ameland (EHAL, grass), Drachten (paved and cheap, EHDR) and Teuge (paved). OK, I stopped comparing them to some great and cheap field in Belgium, France, Germany, etc. but I don't conceive them as being bad or unfriendly from my experience.
Anyone flown into Hilversham recently? It looks rather like a Dutch White Waltham...
