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Trip around Great Britain

Me and my wife are planning to go with our WT9-Microlight to Great Britain for two weeks in July.

The plan is to go from Austria straight to the south of England (probably Lasham, I have to check with gliding friends there if this is possible), park the aircarft and take a rental car for a couple of days and then hop to Scotland with the plane and do the same up north.
If possible and time allowes we would like to visit Ireland as well and fly home from there.

For comfort-reasons I like to make one stop in France to stretch our legs (flighttime to Lasham is almost 5 hours) and maybe refuel to have greater reserves when crossing the channel before arriving in Lasham.

Are there any special UK-things I have to check or be aware of when entering the UK or hoping from England to Scotland to Ireland?
Do I need to fill a flight plan for every flight in UK or is it like going from Austria to Germany (only for controlled airports neccessary) due to aggreements of those nations?
Any suggestions for good (read uncomplicated) Airports with rental car services to do the round-trips by car and let the Aircraft tied down for a couple of days (4-6)?
How about MoGas-Availability on little airports in UK? It is not strictly neccessary, but prefered to AvGas.
Any and all recomendations are appreciated regarding this kind of trip. Except for 2 days in London we would like to stay outside of cities most of the time and enjoy the scenery.

If weather doesn’t seem to be cooperating we will change our plans and either fly to Norway or Spain or Greece. Somewhere in europe there surly must be good weather at that time :)

Austria

You will need to file a GAR for arrival, but can arrive anywhere. There are various ways to file a GAR, but a search of the forum will, I feel sure, tell which is best for single use. https://www.onlinegar.com/splash.olg?FromDefault Is easiest for ongoing use, and free for SkyDemon users, but may be a pain to set up for two uses (in from France, in from Ireland.). There is a free Government website but I have never used it.

No flightplans are required within the UK, but some airfields require PPR, usually by phone, occasionally by online form. I would invest in Pooleys Flight Guide, available as a paid add-on to SkyDemon or separately. It had everything you need to know about airfields of all sizes. Most small UK airfields are very relaxed indeed.

Last Edited by Timothy at 16 Jun 08:06
EGKB Biggin Hill

ASW22 wrote:

the UK or hoping from England to Scotland t

Soon my friend, very soon……..

ASW22 wrote:

If weather doesn’t seem to be cooperating we will change our plans and either fly to Norway or Spain or Greece. Somewhere in europe there surly must be good weather at that time :)

It’s been very unsettled in Scotland, again, with interesting wind directions and strengths. Great places to fly microlight are Isle of Bute, Mull (Glenforsa), Oban, Plockton, Broadford (Skye), the islands, Tiree, Barra, Stornoway, all West Coast, where of course the weather is at its most unpredictable. Enjoy…No flight plans but I would always call ahead for a weather update and PPR.

Last Edited by BeechBaby at 16 Jun 09:49
Fly safe. I want this thing to land l...
EGPF Glasgow

Make sure you take a high vis jacket with you…

Kent, UK

Sad, but true. No yellow jacket has the potential to create delays longer than lunch hour in France

If weather doesn’t seem to be cooperating we will change our plans and either fly to Norway or Spain or Greece. Somewhere in europe there surly must be good weather at that time :)

If that is your reasoning, you will likely never make it to the UK. You can‘t expect the weather to be good on a pre-planned trip. You just have to pull it through (unless the outlook is totally atrocious, of course) but remain a bit flexible with the detail planning.

And who wants to go to Greece or Spain in July anyway?

For the rest: yes, there are tons of things/differences to consider when flying to the UK. Suggest you read this.

Last Edited by boscomantico at 16 Jun 17:00
Mainz (EDFZ) & Egelsbach (EDFE), Germany

I have a very good knowledge of the UK and, to a lesser extent, Ireland and am happy to have a phone call, by arrangement.

EGKB Biggin Hill

I keep a yellow jacket in my Maule, but I struggle to think of a UK airfield worth visiting with a microlight which tolerates, let alone requires, such lurid attire.

Not many UK airfields have unleaded fuel. Shobdon has UL91. So do we, but we can’t sell it. You could probably get a list from Total and CYMA. Here’s a list from the LAA:

Barton
Rochester
Compton Abbas
Sherburn
Crowfield
Shobdon
Dunkeswell
Sleap
Gloucester
Turweston
Henstridge
Wellesbourne
North Weald
Wycombe/Booker
Oaksey Park
Popham

Glenswinton, SW Scotland, United Kingdom

boscomantico wrote:

If that is your reasoning, you will likely never make it to the UK. You can‘t expect the weather to be good on a pre-planned trip. You just have to pull it through (unless the outlook is totally atrocious, of course) but remain a bit flexible with the detail planning.

And who wants to go to Greece or Spain in July anyway?

For the rest: yes, there are tons of things/differences to consider when flying to the UK. Suggest you read this.

Thanks for the link to the website. I will investigate it.

Regarding weather it is more about nice weather to be there not specifically perfect weather to get there. If it rains for two weeks we have no business staying in UK if it is nice and sunny in Norway or anywhere else.
Spain and Greece are of course only options if it is not to hot. In Spain I was thinking about the golf of biscay for surfing. There it usually has moderate temperatures even in summertime.
My personal weather-minimums flying VFR through europe are up to 60° deviations and light rain with at least 500ft cloudbase. If it goes below that I’d like to allready be on the ground. And even with those minima I need at least one very clear escape. Everything else is to hot for my taste..

As an example I went from Austria to Nürnberg to Frankfurt and back last wednesday in the afternoon. On the leg from Nürnberg to Frankfurt I had to go south to Stuttgart to finally cross the frontal system. I allways had a way out back to the east and it was not absolutely neccessary to get there at a very specific time, otherwise I would have driven due to weather.
In my mind VFR is no option to travel in europe if you have to be at a certain place at a certain time. It is more about “it would be nice to do the trip with the plane, but if it doesn’t work I can stay at home or drive or fly another day”.

Austria

Jacko wrote:

I keep a yellow jacket in my Maule, but I struggle to think of a UK airfield worth visiting with a microlight which tolerates, let alone requires, such lurid attire.

Not many UK airfields have unleaded fuel. Shobdon has UL91. So do we, but we can’t sell it. You could probably get a list from Total and CYMA. Here’s a list from the LAA:

Barton
Rochester
Compton Abbas
Sherburn
Crowfield
Shobdon
Dunkeswell
Sleap
Gloucester
Turweston
Henstridge
Wellesbourne
North Weald
Wycombe/Booker
Oaksey Park
Popham

Thanks for those places. I will do some research on routes and how to fit one or two of those airports for refuelling (I can tanker up to 6,5h of endurance doing 130kn IAS so I can cover quite of lot of ground with full tanks).

Austria
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