Isle of Wight, Sandown Airport welcomes many light aircraft throught the
summer months. Runway 23/05 is grass and although not the smoothest of
surfaces, is long enough to give a more than adequate safety margin for
visiting pilots. A five minute flight over water from the mainland is
necessary.
The landing charge is 8. However, for an extra 3.50 it's possible to
stay overnight, and visitors are permitted to pitch a tent for free,
adjacent to their aircraft.
One of the problems with recreational flying is that airfields are often
situated some distance from the local attractions. From this airfield
however, for those with reasonable fitness, it's possible to walk into
Sandown or to Shanklin, then onwards past the model village to the town
of Ventnor and beyond on the south coast.
The coastal cliff and bays walk to Ventnor from the airfield is about
6-7 miles in all and is a delight, once clear of bustling Shanklin.
Requiring moderate effort in places, it affords fantastic views to the
nearby chalk cliffs and across the Solent to the mainland. It snakes
back and forth and up and down along the varied coastine. Large, well
appointed dwellings can be viewed on the way. Many with these have
access to their own private jetties in the secluded coves.
The taxi ride from Ventnor back to the airfield is about a tenner,
though we favoured the local bus service (20 minutes journey time) which
dropped us near Sandown (The Lakes) for the last mile walk to the apron.
On our return to Essex we shadowed the island's south coast, from St
Catherine's Point to The Needles, retracing our steps and admiring the
unusual aspect of the fine chalk cliffs. From this most westerly point
we turned homeward over the Solent. Below, little ferries scuttled back
and forth from the mainland. With excellent visibility, the entire
coastline of the island could now be seen to the south as we passed
abeam Bournemouth, Southampton, Portsmouth and the naval dockyard,
complete with a floating landing strip, for emergency use I presume !.
Tracking down the south coast as far as Shoreham, the near perfect
conditions finally gave way to a more familiar summer haze. Mist and fog
clung to the south-eastern coastline. We turned north toward Dartford
and home.
Flying time to the Isle of Wight is an hour or less from most parts of
Southern England. It's a fine destination for a summer afternoon's
flight and the island has much to offer. Aviation is not without its
frustrations, though an equivalent car journey would have required
coordination with ferry services and may have involved heavy traffic,
and perhaps snarl-ups.
Doubtless, it would have taken about three times as long, and would have
cost roughly the same, around 32. (Fuel and landing fee).
Alan
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