Sandown Airport, Isle of Wight

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Member for

14 years 9 months

Posts: 239

Hi. Anyone know what it happening at Sandown Airport, Isle of Wight. Seems to be plenty of rumours. What is this about the runway? :confused:

Original post

Member for

24 years 2 months

Posts: 16,832

Apparently this is the gist of a phone conversation with the airport operator and some musings.

A licensed a/d has surfaces that must not be pierced. These extend beyond the runway ends and out on either side. The fact that they were OK when the last survey was done does not necessarily mean they are OK now. Trees have a habit of growing and buildings go up. A site like Sandown is particularly vulnerable becasue it has rising ground at both ends of the runway.

The recent fatal crash on take-off where the aircraft failed to climb faster than the ground was rising will not have helped.

Full length is available on 05 so the NOTAM for 23 is a mystery to me. If the problem is on the approach then moving the threshold in to alleviate it would reduce LDA but not TORA. Similarly if it's the far end that's the problem moving the start of the clearway (i.e. the far end) in would reduce TORA but leave the LDA unaffected.

Perhaps someone with more local knowledge can confirm whether the owners are committed to continuing aviation or are still trying to get planning consent for redevelopment.

There's apparantly no fire cover, hence the unlicensed status, but if it's going to be unlicensed the surfaces don't come into it.

Moggy

Member for

24 years 2 months

Posts: 658

All that I can say for sure is that the porta-cabin cafe at Sandown has reopened...They do a very good bacon buttie!!

So no excuse for not visiting..come on down.

Chumpy.