Pilot reviews of Enstone Airfield
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| “ | Flew in after a 13 minute flight from Finmere. Three parallel runways in use and a very friendly welcome from Oxfordshire Sport Flying Club, with a free tea and iced bun thrown in! The clubhouse was lovely and charming and reminded me of Beverley in the homeliness of the place.
What a lovely place to fly from for those based there. I think that there are quite a few local walks, so I must take the greyhounds next time and see what we can find.
Another great destination with good runways, parking and clubhouse, plus friendly locals. Well worth a visit to soak up the atmosphere of a proper flying club in a beautiful location. ” |
| “ | Flew in mid week "Blind" radio calls. No other traffic. Rwy very clearly marked, chap came out to plane to marshal to park, a typically under used airfield the facilities basic but ok, landing fee about right and we were told if you want to practice touch and go's all day!!!! (well I suppose you could do several then land have a break change pilots?) you pay £30 Single engine £60 for a Twin (includes the £10 initial Landing fee) rwy is 1100 metres long!!!! Never busy. Would recommend a flight to this Ex RAF airfield. ” |
| “ | I flew in 21 Jun 15 on a windy day with the wind from the north, this made the last 100' of the approach to 26 a little interesting due to really tall trees. Next time I will probably land a tad long as I was told this is normally just an issue near the threshold. The club house is not modern but the guys were all friendly and had a decent enough cafe for a cup of tea and a bite to eat. Dont expect gourmet food, its more roadside cafe that posh nosh, but hey thats exactly what I need when I land ?? For a small airfield its unusual that they can accept cards to pay for landing fees, this saved me embarrassment as I forgot cash. One thing thats worth noting, the A/G service doesnt always operate or is manned as I couldnt raise anyone other than another aircraft so its standard overhead joins. All in all worth a visit ” |
| “ | Rang for PPR and whilst doing so asked for a number for a taxi company as the one in my flight guide wasn't working. The response was not to give me a number but to actually organise the taxi for me including negotiating the price down. Was told the radio would be manned, it was, good traffic info given to me Shame that the 'lovely day' mentioned on the phone had turned into a nasty shower by the time we got there but can't hold that against the airfield. Friendly welcome on arrival, well marked out runway and the usable section was in good condition. Landing fee £10, can't say fairer than that. Thanks, will be back. ” |
| “ |  Bit surprised not to get any response from their radio frequency as a phone call for PPR suggested there would be someone in the control tower. Communication with other pilot landing ahead of me was very useful. Things were quiet for an airfield this large with asphalt and grass runways. Landing fee of £10 felt bit steep, as there was not much in the way of service there. Self-service tea and coffee, soft drinks in the fridge and good cakes with a pot to put in money for these. ” |
| “ |  Enstone was a diversion due to our inability to penetrate cloud at Old Warden. True to word Enstone did not want to take a landing fee from us as we diverted due to weather. We spent the money on lots of food and tea from the cafe instead. I was very surprised at the good quality of the runway and grass strip here, it seemed to me like a mini Kemble but with only a £5 usual landing fee, much cheaper. The atmosphere was very friendly and I must recommend this airfield for people who want to pop in on a cross country for a stop. Computers and maps available for planning. ” |
| “ |  First trip to Enstone, just up the road for me. Easy to find, friendly phone call for PPR, nobody manning A/G radio so just blind traffic calls. Was able to do 10 circuits (with a break in between) for £25 fixed fee. The circuit wasn't busy and I had it to myself for at least half the time. Choice of long hard runway (inset into the former larger/longer size, with both the official runway surface and external sealed taxi areas in good condition) and grass 800m on the south side (which was a bit more bumpy). There is another grass runway on the north side, which was also in use, but beware of the fence that sections it off. Friendly clubhouse with self service teas/coffees and home made cakes. Plenty of parking. Worth a visit, just ensure to avoid the villages in the area for noise abatement which is easy to do. Since this airfield is under threat of closure by the landowner, showing some support would be a good thing. ” |
| “ | A group of us flew over to Enstone recently. a very friendly airfield with long hard runway in good condition and a smooth grass runway, albeit with rather long grass when I visited.
The catering is limited to snacks but is good value and uses an "honesty box" system - the home made cake was very good!
There was no a/g in use at the time of my visit but we received an immediate response from a local pilot in the circuit, the arfield was pretty busy with a variety of aircraft in the circuit ranging from Jodel to flexwing to Yak.
Enstone was easy to spot form the air and has nice open approaches. ” |
| “ | Have recently visited Enstone for a quick jolly flight and was more than happy with the facilities on offer. We used the grass runway which was reasonable and a great place for practicing circuits, although a little busy by the time we left. The staff at the airfield were very welcoming and there was a good choice of snacks available ie crisps, drinks etc but didn't come across any hot food so can't comment on that. Not alot to do there compared to some airfields but I am sure the local area would be worth a visit if you had transport and would be a great place to meet up with friends if you had the surface transport available. The weather was very hot when we went so was a great place to sit outside and watch the world go by and very peaceful as well.Will probably go back sometime but so many other places to try. ” |
| “ | I've flown into and out of Enstone a number of times. The welcome is always friendly with a generally efficient (although sometimes too much so!) A/G service.
Self serve coffee / tea making at OSF on the North side of the field always providing a good welcome. Nice long runway with a slightly confusing displaced threshold, and a couple of grass runways (the North side grass is owned by a maintenance outfit on the field).
Limited briefing facilities that I saw, but I was always pre-briefed so never really looked into what was there.
Well worth a visit. ” |
| “ | We flew into Enstone from Leicester on the second leg of our day out, 5 aircraft and 10 people decended on Enstone on a peacefull Sunday afternoon. We made our tea and coffee and sat outside in the sun. A very pleasent airfield, the displaced threshold could use a lick of paint as it's a little difficult to see on approach but the runway is in very good shape.
Vey warm welcome, nice airfield. ” |
| “ | Lovely lady ATC nice scones and (as usual in UK) terrible coffee! Have tried to get used to tea ! wonderful pub lunch near to the field where a v. friendly local took us to free of charge, hopefully airfield it stays forever ...one of my favourites malevolenza coffee!! ” |
| “ | Visited Enstone for the Flyer fly-in on Saturday 1st July (Enstone Flying Club). A great airfield that I will definately use it again. Very helpful staff on the day, all appeared to be volunteers. It was a bit too hot to fly, so maybe next time they could sort out the weather!! ” |
| “ |  Flew in 5th April. Radio service seemed to be one way only and despite making frequent calls to give our position we had to go around twice as aircraft either cut us up in the circuit or entered the runway on our final approach! Backtracking, we just prayed that our calls were being monitored - they were, fortunately. Other than that, friendly and welcoming, but nowhere to sit outside in the sunshine - the picnic tables were still in storage. Good cinnamon cakes! ” |
| “ | Visited Enstone yesterday, 5th April 2006. Large runway, but only part of it used for 'the strip'! Very friendly reception at the Enstone Flying Club, who even offered to run us to the local hostelry for lunch, but had to decline as we needed to get back.
Looking forward to the Flyer Fly-In there in July 2006. ” |
| “ | Enstone ... visited from Elstree14/08/05, avoiding danger area "Weston on the Green" make sure you do too.. had loads of runway despite the longest displaced threshold known to man (well me anyway) very very friendly people, parked up, walked to village (cab next time!) excellent pub grub and minerals - walked back which was sad because we should have asked the guy with the horse and trap for a ride- olde world type village and well worth a visit... back to the airfield for tea and homemade cakes with honesty cup so impressed left a tip! Then watched the Red Arrows perform at Blenheim and they flew low overhead Enstone..brilliant!! recommended? definitely!!! ” |
| “ | A biased review from a based pilot!
PPR required. Enstone is home to two clubs, Oxfordshire Sport Flying (north side) which is mainly motor gliders and home to the tower, and Enstone Flying Club/Pegasus Microlights (south side) which is home to the fuel pump (AVGAS)! Both club houses offer DIY hot and cold drinks, snacks, cakes, etc. In my highly biased opinion I'd suggest heading south for better coffee and authentic WWII Nissen hut charm! You can book in/out and pay landing fees at either club and internet flight planning facilities are available at Enstone Flying Club.
The main runway is over 1nm long, in good usable condition along the full length with a marked runway section in the centre of 1100m. Everything from flexwing microlights to the odd Citation jet operates here. The 800m southside grass strip is in fair condition and regularly used by visiting taildraggers if there's a crosswind. On busy circuit days both hard and grass runways can be used in parallel to avoid go-arounds, call final for "southside grass" or "hard" as appropriate. The northside grass strip is privately owned. If there's a northerly component to the wind I'd suggest landing short in either direction on the hard runway to minimise the rotor from the trees to the north, the effect is less noticeable on the grass runway.
All circuits are to the north, with a tight inner microlight/motor glider circuit at 600' QFE, light aircraft circuit 800' QFE. Overhead joins preferred, but avoid overflying all villages when joining/leaving and everyone will be happy. Last take-off at 1930 local or sunset, whichever is earlier.
At weekends there can be a displaced threshold due to motorsport activity on part of the runway (watch for cones), and beware of fence posts on the northern edge of the hard runway when taxiing. Enstone Radio is almost always manned at weekends, less often during the week. Brize Radar (124.275) is the nearest LARS unit and I suggest using them as Enstone is within the Oxford AIAA.
Look forward to seeing you there. ” |
| “ | Dropped in to Enstone today (Saturday) and it was quite busy with a mixture of fixed-wing and microlights. Catering was a "DIY" coffee and a chocolate bar. The A/G was very helpful and there are some interesting PFA type aircraft in the hangar along with some bits from the Bristol Freighter that crashed there some years ago. Easy to spot and worth a visit. ” |
| “ | went to enston today thsanks to the free landing ticket in the pilot mag but wortht the trip nice friendly place easy going ga friendly big runway and self services cafe, normal landing £7.00 i believe. would definatly go there again. Chears ” |
| “ | Visited the Northside private airstrip. Found the Enstone controllers to be good. Also able to get a quick snack to eat, which we found good value. ” |
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