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Wingly - UK travel by small plane

It has a bloody enormous runway. It always looks rather peculiar to see some titchy little Cessna bimbling down a bit of tarmac that looks like it's waiting for B52s.

It's the width not the length you have to worry about in the B-52. It needs 300' wide runways for the outriggers.
 
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Bee
Sounds like Haverfordwest is the black hole of aviation. I wouldn't fly my plane there if I had one.

Been there once, it's great for scenic flights round the Pembrokeshire coast. You can also fly back over the LNG tanker port at Milford Haven with no restrictions. Which carries no risk....
 
It's clearly pretty dangerous and will probably be banned soon. That's why I'm going to do as much as possible, quickly. I'm eyeing up a trip over the white cliffs of Dover, and a return from Elstree to IWM Duxford at the moment.

Top find joustmaster :thumbs:
I saw that one to white cliffs of Dover. Is that Onakeno? Slightly concerning that he advertises that he'll be doing night flights with a very experienced instructor!

100 hours logged doesn't sound like much to me.
 
You don't hear of to many small planes crashing. Probably more of a risk getting into an Uber.
I used to analyse an aviation book for an insurer. Believe me, you do hear of a lot of small planes crashing if you insure them. The frequency of crashes is depressingly high. Not anywhere near as bad as helicopters though, which are just plain death machines as far as I can tell.
 
I saw that one to white cliffs of Dover. Is that Onakeno? Slightly concerning that he advertises that he'll be doing night flights with a very experienced instructor!

100 hours logged doesn't sound like much to me.
I think Onakeno's night flight over London with an instructor is him working towards his instrument rating. I'd rather fly with Onakeno's instructor on board at night, than with Onakeno alone during the day.
 
I think Onakeno's night flight over London with an instructor is him working towards his instrument rating. I think I'd rather fly with Onakeno's instructor on board at night, than with Onakeno alone in the day.
Night flying in a single engine light aircraft. I have my night rating but forced landings at night are a bit of a lottery. During the day if the engine quits you can pick a field and, as long as you don't stall you will probably walk away. At night you just have to trust to luck. As the joke goes: 200 ft above the ground turn the landing light on; if you don't like what you see turn it off...
 
Night flying in a single engine light aircraft. I have my night rating but forced landings at night are a bit of a lottery. During the day if the engine quits you can pick a field and, as long as you don't stall you will probably walk away. At night you just have to trust to luck. As the joke goes: 200 ft above the ground turn the landing light on; if you don't like what you see turn it off...

Are you even allowed over London in a single engine plane?
 
It's clearly pretty dangerous and will probably be banned soon. That's why I'm going to do as much as possible, quickly. I'm eyeing up a trip over the white cliffs of Dover, and a return from Elstree to IWM Duxford at the moment.

Top find joustmaster :thumbs:

If you do go to IWM Duxford have a look at this: Classic Wings

I volunteer for them some weekends and spent all day Saturday putting big smiles on peoples faces with the one on the right, (Harvard T6, I'm ground crew not pilot).
upload_2017-9-25_10-16-27.png
 
What kind of volunteering can one do there? Is experience or a trade required or is there something for everyone?

Classic Wings are a concession so separate to the museum. No experience necessary they train you up to look after the planes on a basic level (oil, fuel etc.), starting engines on the Tiger Moths, briefing the passengers. It's good fun once you get into it.

IWM volunteering I think is a bit more involved and most people seem to act as guides/stewards but I'd imagine if you have any relevant experience they'd put you in a role suited to that.
 
If does tell you how many hours the piglet have had. And how many in that aircraft.

Well pigs might fly...

I think this is a terrifying but amazing idea. There aren't really any pilots near me at the moment though. Trying to convince work to allow it as a business expense for me to get to a conference.
 
Are you even allowed over London in a single engine plane?
Not really. Most of it is under Heathrow airspace so you won't get in anyway. You also have the land clear rule which means if you fly over a built up area and the engine fails you must be able to glide to a non congested area. A bit hard over London Bridge.

Single Engine helicopters can fly over central London; if they stick to the London Heli lanes. Basically in the centre of the city you follow the Thames (Under air traffic control) if the donkey quits you are expected to put down in the river as a gentleman. If you get the chance - with someone who knows what they're doing, it's amazing.

I've flown over central London once in a twin helicopter. Absolutely fantastic.
 
Not really. Most of it is under Heathrow airspace so you won't get in anyway. You also have the land clear rule which means if you fly over a built up area and the engine fails you must be able to glide to a non congested area. A bit hard over London Bridge.

Single Engine helicopters can fly over central London; if they stick to the London Heli lanes. Basically in the centre of the city you follow the Thames (Under air traffic control) if the donkey quits you are expected to put down in the river as a gentleman. If you get the chance - with someone who knows what they're doing, it's amazing.

I've flown over central London once in a twin helicopter. Absolutely fantastic.

That's along the lines of what I thought, thanks for the clarification.

Didn't know that single engined helicopters were allowed though. I did wonder when I saw a Robinson over Tower Bridge a few weeks ago, makes sense if they stick to the Thames Heli Lane.
 
On a slightly related note, a safer option is to take up space on empty legs of private jets, the savings can be pretty impressive. Each week I get sent a list of what's coming up, not sure if anyone took them up on this one though...

JET.JPG
 
That's along the lines of what I thought, thanks for the clarification.

Didn't know that single engined helicopters were allowed though. I did wonder when I saw a Robinson over Tower Bridge a few weeks ago, makes sense if they stick to the Thames Heli Lane.
Here is a map of the Heli lanes

London%20Heli%20Lanes%202.png
 
Just seen this site
Wingly, the flight sharing platform

It lets you book a seat in a small 2 or 4 seater plane directly with the pilot. Flying from those smaller airport/airfields.

The prices are comparable to train tickets. But I guess you'd only want to use it if you lived near a small airfield, as traveling to them would be a pain in the arse.

London to Bournemouth for £57 return.

What do you think?


(Apologise if there was already a thread on this, but when searching for "wingly" the search function gives results "wing" too. And on U75 the word "wing" is in every 5th post.)
I can't shake off the feeling of being a but unsettled when reading those reviews of pilots written like AirBnB reports.
I know nothing of these things, but one young looking pilot is offering night flights over London but he only has 110 hours flying time under his belt. Is that very much in the world of aviation?
 
I can't shake off the feeling of being a but unsettled when reading those reviews of pilots written like AirBnB reports.
I know nothing of these things, but one young looking pilot is offering night flights over London but he only has 110 hours flying time under his belt. Is that very much in the world of aviation?
no. apparently its hardly any time at all!
is this the guy talked about up thread who is offering a the night flight with his trainer in the plane too?

exciting stuff!
 
It's clearly pretty dangerous and will probably be banned soon. That's why I'm going to do as much as possible, quickly. I'm eyeing up a trip over the white cliffs of Dover, and a return from Elstree to IWM Duxford at the moment.

Top find joustmaster :thumbs:
Ha!

Me too. I think I'm going to get a couple of seats booked in November for a trip weekend.
 
Only 50 quid for the night flight mind :D
On a slightly related note, a safer option is to take up space on empty legs of private jets, the savings can be pretty impressive. Each week I get sent a list of what's coming up, not sure if anyone took them up on this one though...

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I've never been in a private jet, but if it's like a plush smaller version of a big plane I'm not bothered tbh. In fact I wouldn't go out of my way to do it. The exciting bit would be the light aircraft aspect for me. Feeling the engine beneath your legs, the noise, that sort of thing.

I think this is a highly irresponsible venture, and it sounds like it may result in a change of the law so it will fuck things up for everyone else if that happens. Quite tempted.
 
I can't shake off the feeling of being a but unsettled when reading those reviews of pilots written like AirBnB reports.
I know nothing of these things, but one young looking pilot is offering night flights over London but he only has 110 hours flying time under his belt. Is that very much in the world of aviation?

No it's not. Mind if he's doing it with an instructor it's the instructor's hours and experience that count.
 
Only 50 quid for the night flight mind :D

I've never been in a private jet, but if it's like a plush smaller version of a big plane I'm not bothered tbh. In fact I wouldn't go out of my way to do it. The exciting bit would be the light aircraft aspect for me. Feeling the engine beneath your legs, the noise, that sort of thing.

I think this is a highly irresponsible venture, and it sounds like it may result in a change of the law so it will fuck things up for everyone else if that happens. Quite tempted.
If the engine's between your legs in a light aircraft something's gone excitingly wrong...
 
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