Primarily for general aviation discussion, but other aviation topics are also welcome.
#1537346
Mike Charlie wrote:Forecast promises (shoosh) wall to wall sunshine both days.


And so it came to pass! (at least on Saturday). However we had to wait until mid morning for the thunderstorms to clear to the east and it was then a very pleasant flight up from Kent. A very gentle wind for landing on 09.

Departing a little later was more challenging with a boisterous cross wind but blue sky with endless visibility made for an excellent flight back.

We were made very welcome and the Control Tower Museum being open was a bonus. The cake in the cafe was delightful.

Hope all goes well tomorrow with many more visitors.
#1537368
Seconded !.

The Coffee and Walnut Cake was delicious, baked by Andrew apparently and the marshalling team were doing a good job. Its a shame some were thwarted by the weather and I hope you have more attendees Sunday.

Departure was fun from the 18/36 runway, those street lamps come at you quite fast !

A return trip is in order I think.
#1537487
I really enjoyed my time at Rougham on Sunday. The airfield is looking really good and the grass runway is in great condition. There was a really good atmosphere at the fly-in with people milling around the aircraft showing a genuine interest and plenty of people taking photographs.

Too often I find that at fly-in's people tend to stick to speaking to people in their own little clique but it wasn't like that today and I had some very enjoyable chats with people I hadn't met before. The man who built my aeroplane and also sold it to me was there as well, which was an extra bonus for me!

I hadn't visited the control tower museum since the last airshow at Rougham in 2011. I'd forgotten how good it is. It's well worth a visit.
#1537535
Indeed, it was a very pleasant & sociable afternoon, with the usual high standard of marshalling from our favourite gang. It wasn't as busy as it could have been, but sufficiently well attended by a good mix of aeroplanes to promote happiness all round. Many thanks to all who put the hard work in before, during and after.

One suggestion: much as I love safetycom, I suspect that a pop-up frequency would be useful to allow input from the ground, if not too difficult or expensive. With more and more fields using safetycom now, it gets very crowded, especially when the top'n'tailing of location gets forgotten in the circuit. Either that, or pare down fly-ins to rally-style basics. :) Just my opinion.
mick w, neilmurg liked this
#1537537
It was a tough one I had an appointment in France so didn't make Rougham this time.
The comment about unicom is a valid one. On any busy weekend there are quite a few students using unicom for Rougham which is predominantly a training field. They often hog the frequency ( due to lack of experience experience ) which makes it ny on impossible for locals to get sword in edgeways at other strips.
#1537541
SafetyCom has a very wide reach. From down 'ere, I can hear Audley End and beyond. I hear the training flights at Rougham often and they are usually very good.

What I have noticed is that there are more than a few pilots everywhere who are evidently unused to the m.o. of 135.475.

Calling 'G-WHO? inbound for 20' narrows it down to - err - not a lot, and a subsequent call of just 'G-WHO? final', particularly, shows a distinct need for further training.

That apart, IMO SafetyCom is the best thing from the CAA in the last twenty years.
#1537542
It is but it is getting a bit swamped. We get very good reception from your strip ! The point that I was trying to make albeit lightly is that it is bad enough without flying schools using it as their frequency.
This post has been checked for auto spell input unlike my previous one. :oops:
#1537559
ChampChump wrote:
One suggestion: much as I love safetycom, I suspect that a pop-up frequency would be useful to allow input from the ground, if not too difficult or expensive. With more and more fields using safetycom now, it gets very crowded, especially when the top'n'tailing of location gets forgotten in the circuit. .


We got a pop-up frequency for a fly in at LKI many moons ago long before Safetycom existed.
It cost less than £100 IIRC but of course you do need someone licensed/certified to operate it,(thanks vATCO) with a decent radio:I don't think a simple hand held cuts it.

The perennial problem with Safetycom is not 'topping and tailing' with airfield name, leaving one to have to guess the airfield when initial name is truncated, or missed completely , by the orientation of the runway mentioned: I have come to learn runway orientations of most of the strips in our 'reception area', though I occasionally get surprise transmissions from south of the Thames.

Peter
Last edited by PeteSpencer on Mon May 29, 2017 1:27 pm, edited 1 time in total.