Posted by I hadn’t ever flown with my TB20 co-owner Chris, so after much delay and availability we finally nailed a date. We thought a simple bimble landaway – the proverbial $100 burger run -would be fine, and I suggested Thruxton which I hadn’t been to before.
It’s very close to RAF airfields around the Boscombe Down area and has specific routes to be flown in and out. A quick call to the tower for PPR provided some clarification.
This was in very much VFR conditions and it was a short 30 minute flight (if that) via Andover. There was no other traffic around and in retrospect I probably could have flown a more direct straight-in approach. It’s an air/ground service, so at the pilot’s discretion.
I wanted to practice my short landing technique and was pretty pleased at the length of the landing roll on the grass – sticking to the numbers with a good glideslope was more than enough. The parking area was very clearly marked and the airfield seems to have quite a good range of home based planes. The hard runway is long enough for a twin.
Jackaroo Restaurant is highly recommended
Unusually, the runways are enclosed by a car racing track circuit. Although there is a tunnel, we walked across to the main building to pay our landing fees. The Jackaroo restaurant was a very pleasant surprise and had great service, good menu choice and modern spacious tables. Definitely recommended. Named after a locally built 4-seat aircraft called the Rollason Jackaroo, built by enthusiasts who converted war surplus Tiger Moths.
Chris and I had an enjoyable lunchbreak getting to know each other better and understanding our different aviation backgrounds. He’s had a lot of previous gliding and remotely controlled model aircraft experience prior gaining his PPL. He flew back and flew the RNAV approach on autopilot which Brize had helpfully called ahead to schedule on his behalf. It was seamlessly approved on handover.
A very enjoyable bimble which I hope we can repeat again sometime.
PIC today: 0:30
Total PIC: 461:20
Total Time: 599:40