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English airfields with interesting things to do by foot

You may want to check how you read notams or find a different delivery system :-)

It’s only closed between 1800 and 21:30Z over that period

RocketRoute is clearer than the above – https://www.rocketroute.com/airports/europe-eu/unitedkingdom-gb/notam-oxfordkidlington-egtk.html

Last Edited by Charlie at 17 May 21:44
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Oxford EGTK

The Isle of Wight are seriously opposed to ‘outsiders’ visiting their territory by any means at all during lockdown. This is why the management at Sandown aren’t letting you leave the site (or you can, but you won’t be welcome again – I would have worded it as a plea rather than a threat). The locals would probably lynch the airfield managed if tourists were spotted leaving the airfield.

I see plenty of stuff on social media from Cornwall, Wales, Scotland etc saying “don’t come here” but the attitude on the Isle of Wight is just on another level. Everyone knows everyone and they’ll spot an outsider a mile off.

At work my girlfriend has a young lady in her team who is originally from the IoW. Normally she lives in Oxford for work but her mother recently died and she inherited the family home on the IoW. When lockdown started she elected to go back to the island and stay at the house for the duration, and was pretty much met at her front door by villagers with flaming torches. Told not welcome in the local shop, get back to the mainland, etc etc.

The IoW really is another world.

EGLM & EGTN

Told not welcome in the local shop

A local shop for local people?

LFMD, France

Pretty much. Precious things of the shop, etc.

EGLM & EGTN

Village shop owners know everybody around. I used to employ one after the village shop closed

But the IOW has hundreds, if not thousands, of people commuting there every day on the ferry, because they work in businesses based there. Perhaps they don’t venture out of the immediate area.

Islands do get a bit weird like this…

Interesting Q re notams. I started a new thread on it. The issue seems to be that some sites rewrite the notam so you no longer see its raw form.

Administrator
Shoreham EGKA, United Kingdom

Peter wrote:

Islands do get a bit weird like this…

Are you referring to the UK? ;-)

EGTF, EGLK, United Kingdom

All land mass on the earth is surrounded by water

Administrator
Shoreham EGKA, United Kingdom

wbardorf wrote:

Are you referring to the UK? ;-)

A nowadays seldom used derogatory term for the English in Germany is Inselaffen (“island apes”), which makes specific reference to the weirdness of island populations. The term is about as nice as “the hun” is the other way around. Since many Germans are anglophile nowadays, the term has fallen into disuse.

Sorry for the thread drift. I do understand the wariness of islands with little medical infrastructure to receive “foreigners” due to the Covid-19 situation, but on the other hand, most of the islands in question do depend on the outside world for trade, business and even their basic supplies, so they cannot just keep everything shut.

Low-hours pilot
EDVM Hildesheim, Germany

I don’t think “the hun” has been used since around 1945 I certainly have not heard it in conversation since coming to England in 1969.

I think when islands reach a certain size they don’t behave like small islands. For example Crete is pretty much a complete country.

Small islands attract specific demographics. You need more money to live on them (you need more money to live in the countryside generally, or actually anywhere where the population density is lower) and you must not be easily bored, and this selects older people. They, in turn, are much more likely to be curtain-twitchers.

What makes this specific issue a problem right now is the tendency for GA pilots (all countries) to just fly to an airfield, eat some greasy garbage there (greasy food is highly popular with GA pilots, except in France of course) and never go off-airfield. The virus situation shut down cafes by law, and that has made it uneconomical for most GA airfields to re-open, especially as they are getting 80% of their salaries (capped at 24k) paid by the taxpayer.

I can’t wait for Alderney to re-open. It’s a wonderful destination. And the Scilly Islands, but there is no answer on the phone.

Administrator
Shoreham EGKA, United Kingdom

Well, a couple of weeks later, not a lot has changed. Places which closed are still mostly closed.

Administrator
Shoreham EGKA, United Kingdom
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