(Photo courtesy PhillipC)I've read a couple of reviews from folks who've flown across to Bembrdge on the Isle of Wight and, without exception, they are all extremely positive.
Obviously I had to go and check this out myself, in that case. So last Friday I took a Piper Warrior II out from Thruxton on a quick jolly over the open water.
The weather was absolutely fantastic, CAVOK ("Ceiling and visibility OK") with a nice North-Westerly wind that helped us on our way down to the coast. In fact total flying time per the plan was 28 minutes.
On the way down I connected with Boscombe Down who held on to me for the grand total of 2.5 minutes before handing me over to Farnborough. They had me squawk a different code and held on to me for another 5 minutes before telling me to 'Freecall Bembridge and squawk 7000'. All this when I was still just a little South of Lasham! I tuned to Bembridge and listened to their tower for a while. Reception floated in and out as we passed over the South Downs at 2000ft heading towards Portsmouth and the Spinnaker Tower.
Passing over the Spinnaker Tower was great. I dipped the wing for a good look as we passed and headed out over the water.
I had researched the field at Bembridge quite thoroughly and knew the layout, the frequencies and the procedures, so it held no terror for me. However, the one thing I wasn't 100% sure of was the exact location. Sure, I knew where it was in relation to Bembridge the town, and the nearby coast. I had checked out the view on Google Maps to determine where it was in relation to other parts of the island. But when approaching over the Solent at 2000ft the perspective was different and, of course, distance was compressed. Nonetheless I headed for the general area that I knew the airfield resided in.
From the vantage point I had I could see a feature on top of a small hill almost directly ahead of me. I decided to use that as a navigation focus and head towards it. I believed the airfield was beyond that and to the right. Aiming for the hill gave me something I could use as a turning point to head inland to the field.
As we left Portsmouth I called Bembridge Radio who gave me the airfield information (Runway 30 Right hand circuit in use) and the circuit traffic (One on approach). The standard approach to Bembridge is a high pass along the runway with a break at the end (either left or right depending on which runway is in use) and then a drop down to circuit height on the downwind leg. Knowing that there was only one other plane in the circuit I requested a right hand base join instead. The permission came back 'No problem. Follow the C172 on finals'
About this time I was approaching the feature on the small hill when I realised that down below me (and about 3 miles ahead) was a C172 passing left to right. I followed its track and saw the airfield to my right this side of the feature I was using for navigation! I quickly made a left turn and dropped the plane down (using copious Carb Heat, of course) to swing in behind the C172 and make the approach.
Bembridge is a single, hard, runway a couple of miles inland from the coast. The coast at that point is steep and rocky and the land behind the coast rises and falls with small wooded areas between the coast and the runway. In addition to this there is a road that crosses the airfield just short of the runway threshold. Having researched the airfield I knew that this would cause an interesting approach. I was right. The hills cause the pilot to think he's lower than he is and start to lift the plane a little (even with the Bembridge PAPI lights), and the air current over the hills will lift the plane then drop it over the other side.
With a little bit of hill induced windshear and good reliance on the PAPI approach lights I planted the PA28 down past the numbers and casually braked to a stop about 2/3rds of the way down the runway.
"Welcome to Bembridge" came the voice over the headphones. "180 degree Trackback and take the first hard left to exit the runway". I complied, following the hard taxiway down to the HUGE field that serves as parking for visiting aircraft. I was given "Row Alpha" to park on and stopped the plane just in front of terminal building.
The landing fee was £10 which I paid at the cafe checkout along with my coke and Yorkie bar. Security were very accommodating and showed me where to sign in. I spent 2 hours in Bembridge sat on their decking area sipping a cold drink. Bembridge is home to the Britten-Norman aircraft company and they have several examples parked on the grass. They also service Cirrus aircraft and the mechanics were at work on one of them when I arrived.
Two things of note:
1) In the 2 hours I was there they flew two planes out for checks after servicing (a Cirrus and a B-N). I saw the whole of the Cirrus flight and I can tell you that approach he made was so low I swear he just missed a truck on the road before the threshold!
2) Bembridge must be a lot trickier in a Cessna than the Piper I flew in. For over 40 minutes I watched 2 Cessnas (a 150 and a 172, obviously pilots under tuition) doing circuits and almost without exception they came in high and fast every time, floating down the length of the runway before landing. In fact at one point the C172 was so high on approach that he missed the airfield completely and ended up going around. Everytime they crested the hill short of the Runway 30 threshold they would balloon up causing the pilots to drop the nose radically to lose height. I was convinced at one point I was going to see a prop strike because one circuit was so steep on final I was convinced he would bury the nose in the ground. Obviously the instructor recovered that one and earned his salary!
The return journey was pretty uneventful. I routed west from Bembridge over Cowes before turning back to Portsmouth and retracing my route North around Solent airspace. I was actually tempted to route directly through Solent controlled airspace to Thruxton but I had heard from an ex-controller that Solent hates in when GA planes do that. Can anyone confirm or deny that?
Just North of Portsmouth I contacted Farnborough for an FIS (Flight Information Service) only to be told to standby. It was VERY busy on the Farnborough LARS with it being a Friday afternoon/evening and I could hear the controller handling several planes and the traffic into and out of Farnborough itself. I waited for him to get back to me but he seemed to have forgotten about me so I kept a listening brief and made my own way back to Thruxton.
Flying time: 40 mins.
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