Mon May 31, 2021 11:41 pm
#1850335
I went to Sibson today for the first time. The main runway 06/24 is, according to the plate in Sky Demon, 935m long, and indeed measuring the strip in Google Earth, so it is.
However, the overlay on the diagram on their web site bears virtually no relation to reality, and I'd highly recommend looking at it in Google Earth, and noting that the bit that actually looks like the runway (with the numbers at each end, and the corner markings), is only about 200m long.
I'd also recommend paying closer attention to the phone briefing than I did, which, on 06, was to land as soon as possible, subject to clearing the trees at the threshold.
I was thrown by the fact that the runway bore so little relation to the diagram, and also by not having had a chance to look at the strip from the overhead (there's no deadside due to the parachuting on the north side of the field).
The markings (as on Google Earth but a lot whiter) are very fresh, so it was easy to fall into the trap of assuming that they've been put there for a reason, rather than as a trap to confuse the hard of thinking such as I.
Anyway, I avoided the undershoot area and touched down good and slow, pretty much on the numbers. I used up about 300m in all, despite the fact that the strip goes quite steeply downhill after the first 150-200m.
If I'd arrived in the flare too fast, it could have been a lot more exciting - even as it was, the downhill bit which was obvious at touchdown was sufficiently attention-getting that I was on the brakes very early.
Taking off I used the whole length, and indeed the surface all the way along the undershoot is perfectly ok.
So if you go there, ignore the markings, and land well before the 06 numbers.
Other than that, it's a nice field. Sausage egg and bacon bap: approved.
However, the overlay on the diagram on their web site bears virtually no relation to reality, and I'd highly recommend looking at it in Google Earth, and noting that the bit that actually looks like the runway (with the numbers at each end, and the corner markings), is only about 200m long.
I'd also recommend paying closer attention to the phone briefing than I did, which, on 06, was to land as soon as possible, subject to clearing the trees at the threshold.
I was thrown by the fact that the runway bore so little relation to the diagram, and also by not having had a chance to look at the strip from the overhead (there's no deadside due to the parachuting on the north side of the field).
The markings (as on Google Earth but a lot whiter) are very fresh, so it was easy to fall into the trap of assuming that they've been put there for a reason, rather than as a trap to confuse the hard of thinking such as I.
Anyway, I avoided the undershoot area and touched down good and slow, pretty much on the numbers. I used up about 300m in all, despite the fact that the strip goes quite steeply downhill after the first 150-200m.
If I'd arrived in the flare too fast, it could have been a lot more exciting - even as it was, the downhill bit which was obvious at touchdown was sufficiently attention-getting that I was on the brakes very early.
Taking off I used the whole length, and indeed the surface all the way along the undershoot is perfectly ok.
So if you go there, ignore the markings, and land well before the 06 numbers.
Other than that, it's a nice field. Sausage egg and bacon bap: approved.