Primarily for general aviation discussion, but other aviation topics are also welcome.
By LiftingWorld
#1862818
Hi all
I have set up a website for the lifting industry, http://www.liftingworld.net, and we have all the notifiable airports in the UK listed at the moment. For the next phase of the site I want to add all the aerodromes, farm airstrips, glider fields, parachute clubs, helipads etc. but I am struggling to find up-to-date info on all the active, or potentially active fields in the UK. Even though these fields are not notifiable when lifting near them it would be good practice to warn a farmer if you were sticking a boom 60m in the air at the end of their strip!
At the moment I am trawling through drone websites/apps as they seem to list everything, but it is a time consuming process and I don't want to miss any!

Can anyone tell me where to find a comprehensive list of all active/usable strips/pads/bases etc.?

Also any feedback on the site, from a pilot's perspective, is welcome.

Cheers, Seamus
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By PeteSpencer
FLYER Club Member  FLYER Club Member
#1862886
I’m not sure I agree that such a massive database of small strips should be freely published and publicly available against the vanishingly small likelihood of a crane being erected in the middle of the countywide .

Sounds like a Rotax-thieves charter to me

Surely in the rare occasions you want to erect a crane near a farmers strip it’s highly likely to be for a project he’s involved with and will know about already.

If not a simple knock on the farmers door would suffice.

You don’t need a national register for this stuff and I think you’ll find many strip operators, while happy to have their details on dedicated pilot orientated sites, having their details on a public site for anybody to access is a different matter

IMHO
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By CloudHound
FLYER Club Member  FLYER Club Member
#1862899
A friend and former CAA luminary used to stick a yellow pin on Google Earth every time he found a new strip. Even in 2015 he had over 750 pins!

There isn't a single database for such strips but these sources may help
http://www.skydemon.aero mapping tool
https://ffa.org.uk/ Flying Farmers Association

and both Get Mapping and Open Street Map seem to have a surprising number on their charts
https://www.openstreetmap.org/#map=6/54.910/-3.432

Lastly, I'm sure you will have seen this from the CAA
https://publicapps.caa.co.uk/docs/33/CAP1096%20E2.2%20April%202021%20CLEAN.pdf
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By lobstaboy
#1862908
It's a laudable idea, but one doomed to failure I'm afraid. I mean that there is no comprehensive list and it would in any case be never complete because small farm strips pop up and disappear all the time.
I think you'd be better off making sure your list of notifiable sites is 100% accurate and up to date, and add a comment to the effect that small private sites won't be listed and users should enquire locally.
You could however contact the British Gliding Association and the British Microlight Aircraft Association - they will have lists of most of the sites used for gliding and microlight training. I guess there must be a national parachute association too.
But small, unlicensed farm strips and airfields won't be on a central register anywhere. As Pete says, their owners often try to keep a low profile. There will be many hundreds of these in the UK incidentally.
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By TheFarmer
FLYER Club Member  FLYER Club Member
#1862965
Seamus

To be sure, I agree with the above.

If a crane is going to be erected, surely a local Google Earth search will find a local strip?
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By Human Factor
FLYER Club Member  FLYER Club Member
#1862975
I suspect most people who have a strip which they have no concerns about will be in the public domain in some form already.

Those who want to be more discreet, for example those which are solely for the owner’s use now and again, will probably wish to stay off the radar as much as possible.
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By LiftingWorld
#1863070
CloudHound wrote:A friend and former CAA luminary used to stick a yellow pin on Google Earth every time he found a new strip. Even in 2015 he had over 750 pins!

There isn't a single database for such strips but these sources may help
http://www.skydemon.aero mapping tool
https://ffa.org.uk/ Flying Farmers Association

and both Get Mapping and Open Street Map seem to have a surprising number on their charts
https://www.openstreetmap.org/#map=6/54.910/-3.432

Lastly, I'm sure you will have seen this from the CAA
https://publicapps.caa.co.uk/docs/33/CAP1096%20E2.2%20April%202021%20CLEAN.pdf


Thank you, I will check them out.
By LiftingWorld
#1863071
lobstaboy wrote:It's a laudable idea, but one doomed to failure I'm afraid. I mean that there is no comprehensive list and it would in any case be never complete because small farm strips pop up and disappear all the time.
I think you'd be better off making sure your list of notifiable sites is 100% accurate and up to date, and add a comment to the effect that small private sites won't be listed and users should enquire locally.
You could however contact the British Gliding Association and the British Microlight Aircraft Association - they will have lists of most of the sites used for gliding and microlight training. I guess there must be a national parachute association too.
But small, unlicensed farm strips and airfields won't be on a central register anywhere. As Pete says, their owners often try to keep a low profile. There will be many hundreds of these in the UK incidentally.


Thank you, I will check them out. I have only searched the southern half of the UK so far and have about 800 sites!
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By lobstaboy
#1863089
The thing is, Peter, that if Seamus can find the data in public sources then so can our 'friends' with bolt cutters. He's making the job easier for his customers that's all.
I wouldn't keep a Rotax engined aircraft that was trackable on FR24 et al at a remote farm strip that's for sure - that's much more easy for the thieves than lists of strips with no aircraft type mentioned.
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By lobstaboy
#1863132
PeteSpencer wrote:I'm out: I have a Lycoming. :wink:


;) Well I'm taking the belts, braces and string approach - not a Rotax, no transponder or adsb out, and not at a farm strip.
And nothing else in the hangar worth nicking either.
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