Where have you been? What have you seen?
#1596770
After much planning on the previous venture and having failed to reach my destination due to snow showers, a quick re-plan and a fairly decent day of weather I took a friend flying to Shoreham to see what the fuss of a £35 landing fee was all about.

Click here to see previous trip.

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After putting in enough fuel to make it to Southern Spain, but just enough for us to fly to Shoreham and no need to refuel on landing back in London. We had a quick warm up in the cafe.

I fly down to Shoreham IFR routing east of the London City Zone, taking in some stunning views on this rather clear day. We route initially east of Gatwick before making tracks to our initial fix. (Unfortunately due to some problems with the Audio, there isn't any on some phases of the flight)

It also misses out some very important aspects of the RNAV approach and how I undertake it from a IMCr holders point of view. I will likely cover this in a future video.



It really was a fine day, apart from a weak trough passing shortly after I took this picture. We then paid the £35 landing fee.

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A quick check of the cakes provides for an interesting chat, which one do we choose?

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A quick bite to eat, with a coca-cola in a beer glass. This burger is delicious.

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Having re-done the weight calculations for burnt fuel, which we probably put back on in weight through eating till our hearts content. We decided to discuss why we think Shoreham's price is valid despite some maybe thinking it's not. It's a valuable point though, but what's your thoughts on the value for money?

Here's the video departing Shoreham

#1604224
Value for money.

For a VFR pilot, we don't even need A/G, we just need a length of grass or asphalt. If we can get this for less than £35 this may be our choice. However, we also need fuel, so if we need AVGAS then we may have to land at a £35 airfield to get it.

Some argue that because Shoreham provides instrument approaches and needs 'full ATC' (see other thread) then £35 is value for money.

So, to ensure customers get value for money, how about a VFR landing fee of say £10; Shoreham gets increased movements and sells more fuel, and an IFR/ Instrument training landing fee of £????. I'm guessing this would actually be quite a large number assuming that far and away the majority of movements are VFR. Or is it right that VFR flyers should subsidise their IFR bretheren?
ConcordeBA liked this
#1604491
Good points. But when I spoke to someone at Shoreham a few years ago they made some upgrades and said that they would have to charge more and more to cover these costs. New management apparently...