Posted by An old favourite
I’ve flown this route from Kemble to Bembridge a few times now (Oct 2012, Feb 2013) but it doesn’t lose its appeal. Today I flew with my daughter and one of her teenage friends (Tiobah) who had never been airborne before – neither commercially or privately. I gave the full safety brief of what to expect and we donned lifejackets for the short over water crossing. I was flying a rented PA28 Warrior (G-VICC) from Freedom Aviation at Kemble – it’s the aircraft I’ve flown most apart from our TB20, which is sadly still in pieces at the engineers having its engine and autopilot fixed.
The routing is southwest towards Bath (almost over Tiobah’s house), south near Compton Abbas towards Poole Harbour, then across to the Needles and up the Solent, cutting across just south of Cowes to join downwind for Bembridge.
I’d emailed Bembridge airfield for PPR the day before and received a friendly call back encouraging me to visit. It’s unmanned during weekdays, so you just post the landing fee through a letterbox or can pay in the pub.
Dave, Freedom’s CFI, confirmed that full fuel and two lightweight passengers would be no problem taking off from the shorter grass runway at Kemble. The main hard runway would be back in use for our return, having been out of action for 3 weeks due to major works to fit runway lights.
After the grass runway takeoff, the flight itself was fairly routine. After about 30 minutes, Tiobah said she wasn’t feeling too well and I offered to land at Compton Abbas nearby, warning that there wasn’t really another convenient stop until our destination. She put on a pair of wrist bands and those helped immediately, and she decided that we should continue.
Bournemouth was very busy and unable to discuss a transit with us – I remained outside and was half way down Poole harbour before being granted a clearance direct to the Needles, even apologising for the delay. Solent Radar seemed much less hassled and I heard several zone transits being granted. We left their frequency at Cowes and self announced for Bembridge, there being nobody else around (but probably traffic for Sandown nearby). Landing without drama in a 5-10 knot crosswind, we parked up alongside 3 or 4 others and paid our fee.
It’s about a 10-15 minute walk to the beach where there are a couple of cafes (including free Wi-Fi, since no 3G reception). We walked along the beach and enjoyed the good weather – some brave people were even swimming.
Shorter route home
I took a more direct route for the return leg. The views are less varied and interesting once north of Portsmouth, and you have to be careful to keep clear of the controlled airspace. To be on the safe side, I spoke with Solent and obtained a clearance even though just flying on the edge/below it, which cut a corner. I don’t really like the tight gap of uncontrolled airspace between Solent and Lasham, which is a honeypot for those who prefer to remain outside controlled airspace and may not be on frequency (or talking to someone else).
We landed on the nice newly repainted hard runway and noticed the new layout and markings. Sarah at Freedom Aviation welcomed us on our return and quickly sorted out the paperwork. We retired to the AV8 for a well deserved drink and debrief. Tiobah said she’d really enjoyed the day out which was quite an unusual experience from her point of view.
Total time today: 2:25
Total PIC: 250:40
Total Time: 379:50
Them wrist bands work well dont they, strange how they do. Ive got some and used them early on in my flying. Always great to visit Bembridge.
visiting Bembridge on a club flyout in 2 days! :DDD