Pilot reviews of Northampton Sywell Airfield

“Visited Sywell on Saturday 30 August as part of Westair's fly-out from Blackpool. I'd almost forgotten what a lovely airfield it is. The Pilot's Mess, the hotel/bar, the Art Deco buildings, the great mix of non-flyers enjoying a beautiful airfield, bar, cafe, etc, is just how I dream GA airfields should be. Top marks to all the team at Sywell for being a great place to visit and friendly with it. The work on the new hard runway can only add to the usability of the airfield (although the grass runways were always in top condition).”

“Headed to Sywell today for my first ever grass landing!

FISO was very efficient, and the runways were in excellent condition. For some reason the airfield was very quiet today, but we had a nice late lunch in the Pilots Mess. Definitely worth a visit!

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“Lovely airfield with the grass runways so well kept they are like putting greens. Friendly clear AFIS and a truly wonderful "clubhouse". Quite a lot of microlights whose speeds, take-off runs are a bit of a surprise but there's room for everyone.”

“I'm a regular visitor and used to keep an aeroplane here, so maybe I'm biased, but the recent investments have transformed Sywell into one of the best GA airfields in the UK.

The Pilot's Mess has been an inspired addition, making the airfield itself a location one can fly a passenger to in the knowledge that they'll enjoy recovering from my landing(s)!

The self-service fuel facility also offers a great 'out-of-hours' resource for those who have limited fuel capacity. Plus the art-deco ambience of the place means that sometimes you can enter a real timewarp if old aeroplanes are about!

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“From recent experiances I would go high for the food and drink service, runway was fairly lumpy but is long, landing charges were perfectly reasonable and the welcome was ok from those I came into contact with, didn't use the briefing service”

“My home airfield, but a hopefully unbiased review. Looking at the other reviews pilots seem to generally enjoy the pilots mess and new decor.”

“This is the third time I have been to Sywell, what a fantastic place, friendly guys in the tower offering a good FIS, friendly guys in the fuel kiosk. Plenty to see and do at Sywell, and always lots of interesting aircraft, fixed wing, and rotary. Excellent runways, the main one plenty long enough for most GA aircraft, and really easy to find. There is both a Cafe, with balcony to look at the aircraft, and a licenced bar and restaurant AND a Hotel, AND a small museum, theres a nice 'buzz' about the place. It was quite busy today, when departing I was 5th in a queue at the hold for the runway, and there were others behind me and landing aircraft. It was all dealt with extremely efficiently and politely by the controller on duty. I will go again, and this is somewhere I would defintely take first time passengers too.”

“I met a few other UKGA-ers her earlier in the summer,very nice airfield with investment going on! Like the self service fuel”

“Visited for the first time today - what a great place! Very friendly and helpful staff. The guy who mans the fuel pumps is excellent! The pilots mess is well worth a visit had two wonderful mugs of good strong tea and a bacon buttie. Sywell to me is everything an airfield should be and I shall definitely be back.”

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Sywell just gets better and better. Visited again recently on the free landing weekend fly-in to show off their new cafe and hangars. They've done a superb job on the new buildings and they complement the Art Deco feel of the whole field very nicely. The "Pilot's Mess" offers a more traditional "airfield cafe" alternative to the Aviator Hotel menu and their balcony is a great place to sit and watch the comings and goings. If you haven't been yet, go now!

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“This is a great airfield, and it's being developed all the time. The facilities are excellent, and all the staff friendly and helpful. It's well worth a visit..”

“went to sywell today seamed like a nice place good facilities fuel self serve with credit card. all grass three runways with FISO. lots of planes etc there. and things to see”

“Excellent all-grass aerodrome. Great art deco buildings, good runway surface, professional but relaxed tower. One of the few airfields to have MOGAS on site. Good mix of traffic, from King Airs and executive helicopters to microlights and most things in between. Restaurant and bar. A recommended destination.”

“I visited Sywell in August and think it must be the best kept airfiled i have visited, it was neat, tidy, superb grass runways, friendly helpful controllers and an amazing cafe, i'll be back before long for a much longer visit, keep up the good work.”

“Hello everyone,

I have very fond memories of this delightful airfield, i visited it every week for around 10 years in my cessna 182Q.(My daughter lived in Rushden.I even learned to fly choppers at Sloanes. The staff were friendly,no they were brilliant,helpful,and very approachable.there was/is a very good motel right on the field, the bar is/was open every night,when i was learning to fly the helicopters the airfield staff used to join me every night at the local pub, where we would drink until stop. Sywell must be the very best run efficient airfield in the country,well done everyone!!! and thank you for making me so welcome.

Royston, from Swansea

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“Three grass runways mean little cross wind work unless you want it. Tower is FIS, helpful and informal and well used to low hours pilots - can be busy at times esp. weekends. When desending from the overhead look out for Rotary traffic which is on the deadside. Northampton School of Flying (next hanger but one to the tower) offer coffee,snacks etc. and a welcome. Good school with 2 examiners in residence.

Runways a little rough in places with noted up slope on R03/21. Planning permission for hard strip turned down on technical grounds because of local NIMBY's - a few noisy locals concerned that 747's would be landing on the 1000m runway that was proposed!”