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Operating Locations

Club Bases, Guest Airfields, & Farm Strips

Base Locations

 

Shoreham EGKA

Shoreham tower complex

Shoreham Airport has been adopted as the Club's main training location. This is because of the absence of Controlled Airspace locally, and the availability of VATSIM ATC services several nights a week. Members can start their online flying experience here in the company of other beginners and, via the Club TeamSpeak server, obtain help from experienced members also flying from this pretty seaside location. Real World Shoreham Airport is the oldest licensed airfield in the UK, and has a beautiful Grade II listed art deco building which is not only a Control Tower but also a full scale Passenger Terminal.

Gloucestershire EGBJ

The Club hangar at EGBJ

Opened in 1931 as Staverton Aerodrome, Gloucestershire Airport has been progressively developed during the last 85 years into the UK's busiest General Aviation aerodrome. It lies just four miles from Cheltenham, home of prestigious horse-racing, literature and music festivals and only six miles from the cathedral city of Gloucester. It has a full Air Traffic Control service within its ATZ and Approach control facilities as well. On VATSIM, it caters for the needs of virtual GA pilots with procedures that closely replicate the real aerodrome. There are 3 runways in the traditional ex RAF 'A' layout, plus a short grass runway.  The main runway has instrument procedures including a CAT 1 ILS on runway 27. The Club established its base at Gloucestershire in December 2004 and adopted one of the hangars for its use. Regular Club evenings have been held on Tuesdays at the airfield ever since.

Sherburn-in-Elmet EGCJ

Club buildings at EGCJ

In April 2018, the Club decided to open this small airfield in Yorkshire as a new northern base. It is located in an area of outstanding natural beauty 11 nautical miles south west of York. During the Second World War it was used as a Royal Air Force station and Blackburn Aircraft built almost 1700 Fairey Swordfish naval torpedo aircraft at their Sherburn factory. Today it is home to a busy real-world Aero Club who have kindly rented us one of their hangars and allowed us to build our own small Clubhouse next to theirs. As an uncontrolled airfield (Air/Ground Operated), with one hard runway and three grass runways and mandatory overhead joins, members will enjoy a new experience and new challenges at this friendly airfield.

Fife EGPJ

Information for Fife Airfield is in course of preparation (January 2022)

Fife Airfield

In the summer of 2021, the Club decided to open a new base even further north than Sherburn - the far side of Edinburgh to be precise! Fife is an unlicnsed airfield on the northern side of the Firth of Forth, 2 nautical miles west of the town of Glenrothes. In 1998, it was voted the best airfield in the United Kingdom by Flyer magazine. Today it is home to several busy real-world Aero Clubs, and now CIX VFR Club. It has one hard runway 06/24 with challenging arrival and departure procedures. It is also home to an active skydiving club, so watch out for those virtual canopies! The old restaurant sported the delightful name of the Tipsy Nipper, but this was closed in late 2020 and re-opened as the Skyview café.

Roving Base Locations

In order to explore the UK's regional airports, the Club has designates one of them as a temporary "Roving" Base. This Roving Base changes every three months. Roving bases are added to the list below as they are selected. The currently active Roving Base is marked by red pointers below. Club members visiting that airport in each of the three months shown in the table below, will be awarded a star. The list below shows the Roving Bases selected in the last two complete years as well as the current year. Members are encouraged to visit them as well, however, only the marked airport will earn a star.

From To Name ICAO
January 2024 March 2024 Norwich < EGSH <
 October 2023  December 2023 Ronaldsway IOM EGNS
 July 2023  September 2023 Edinburgh EGPH
 April 2023  June 2023 London Gatwick EGKK
January 2023 March 2023 Guernsey EGJB
October 2022 December 2022 Belfast Aldergrove EGAA
 July 2022  September 2022 Bournemouth EGHH
 April 2022  June 2022 Leeds-Bradford EGNM
January 2022 March 2022 Teeside International EGNV

Guest Locations & Farm Strips

In addition to the above Base Locations, each month our Events Manager selects some other airfields for members to visit. These may be defined as Guest Airfields or Farm Strips. Briefings will not be provided by the Club, and members must choose their own route and do their own flight planning. The idea is to encourage members to explore Britain flying VFR in their flight simulator and to provide at least some challenging flights. The Club Star Awards process is used to analyse each member's Pilot Reports and to allocate Stars for recording visits to these locations.

Guest Airfields 2024

There are two designated "Guest Airfields" each month. These may be large regional airports, small general aviation aerodromes, or grass farm strips. Some will be close to a Base Airfield, allowing short simple flights to suit new members with limited experience, and others will be designed to present different challenges, be it navigation, short landing strips or complex controlled airspace. A star is awarded for flying in to these airfields on any day in the month shown in the table below.

Month Name ICAO Name ICAO
January North Weald EGSX Beverley EGNY
February Bedford EGBF Rufforth West EGYJ
March Biggin Hill EGKB Turweston EGBT

Activity

These two pie charts compare the Club's relative flying activity across our base and guest locations, for the last two months as reported by our members using the Club's PIREP facility.

Pie Chart
Pie Chart