North Coates - 15/04/12

This is an airfield I had never been to before, but I’d heard good reports about the place and was hopeful of making a few ‘pots’ and taking a few ‘phots’.

What I hadn’t realised, though, was that there was a fly-in over the weekend. It turned out, however, that the poor weather on Saturday and Sunday meant that most booked visiting aircraft had failed to make it to the event, though a few from fields close by did manage to land.

The initial disappointment soon disappeared though, as there was a great café and a superb little museum detailing the history of the airfield, on site. An absolute bonus was that the flying club had organised tours of the flight-line and hangar (free, but donations were welcome!) and there were some very interesting aircraft to be found there.

A couple more fly-ins are scheduled for later in the year – details can be found at http://www.northcoatesflyingclub.co.uk/

My log for the airfield may be of interest:-

BGA1482 Slingsby T.21B
G-AKHP Miles M651A
G-AKUW Chrislea CH.3Srs.2
G-ARCF Piper PA-22150
G-ASUB Mooney M.20E
G-AVZR Piper PA-28180
G-AXTC Piper PA-28140
G-AXVK Campbell Cricket
G-BEVW Socata MS.892E
G-BPOM Piper PA-28181
G-BROR Piper L-4H
G-BUVX CFM Streak ShadowSA
G-BXDE Rotary Air Force RAF-2000GTX-SE
G-BXIX Magni M-16
G-CDDI Thruster T600N 450
G-DOTW I.C.P. MXP-740
G-GKEV Alpi Aviation Pioneer 300
G-IANN Kolb Twinstar Mk.III
G-INNY Replica Plans SE.5A
G-LEGY Flight Design CTLS
G-LENF Mainair Blade
G-MAAM CFM ShadowC
G-MYIX Quad-City ChallengerII UK
G-MZEY Micro Aviation BantamB22
G-NPKJ Van's RV-6
G-ONFL Murphy Maverick430
G-RAJA Raj Hamsa X Air
N259SA Reims-Cessna F.172G - unmarked/under rebuild
N26RT Beech F33A Bonanza

North Coates resident, G-GKEV Alpi Aviation Pioneer 300 in the circuit.

Beech E33 Bonanza N26RT during a fly past.

Beech E33 Bonanza N26RT during a fly past.

Flight Design CTLS G-LEGY made it in from Warrington.

Yours for £15,000…Chrislea CH3 Super Ace G-AKUW, one of only two of the type left in the UK, is up for sale.

Miles M65 Gemini G-AKHP receiving some TLC.

Kolb TwinStar G-IANN.

One of three gyroplanes in the hangar, Magni M16 G-BXIX.

Mainair Blade G-LENF.

Sturgate resident Piper PA28 Cherokee G-AVZR, braves the gusty wind on take-off.

Quad City Challenger G-MYIX.

Van’s RV6 G-NPKJ.

Socata MS892E Rallye 150ST G-BEVW departs back to Fenland.

Replica Planes SE5A G-INNY is painted as Royal Flying Corps F5459/Y.

One of several microlights based at North Coates is Thruster T600N G-CDDI.

G-RAJA Raj Hamsa X Air.