With the demise of EU Jet the place was very quiet. Just a few charter flights to holiday destinations on Saturdays - don't know who with because nothing in sight.
It's a great shame the place is so far off the beaten track isn't it. A big old place but just a little too far out to make it viable. BAA would rather demolish a few villages and expand LHR/LGW instead :roll:
I have an invite to visit Manston (when I get back to the Uk with spare time) an old school and RAF chum (we joined the RAF from the same ATC Sqn at the same time) is OC the joint services fire school (all that is lefy of RAF Manston), Wrecks and Relics have quite a list of fire dump aircraft still on charge there.
Does anyone know if they still handle freight traffic too ? According to my neighbour who works at LHR organising freight flights - it was the last place in the country you could get a scheduled 707/DC-8 freighter into - although I doubt the population of Ramsgate are too thrilled about that ! There's a lot of tarmac to keep usable at Manston, it's hard to see how the occasional charter flight, the landing fees from T & Gs 152s and periodic instrument approach fees would sustain it long term - here's hoping there are more irons in the fire
I may be wrong but Manston used to be a standby / diversionary airfield due to the length of the runway and the fact that the approach is not over built up areas? If so is it still used for such eventualities?
Nigel.
I used to be an optimist but with age I am now a grumpy old pessimist.
I think they were an offical diversion airfield for the RAF as well and there were facilities for wheels up landings like foam beds.
It was out of the way......emergencies had less impact due to few movement and the runway was long and very wide with I think only a reduced width maintained now.
There was an RAF fire school there but I don't know if that still is the case.
Garry
Garry
"In the world of virtual reality things are not always what they seem."
.... and it's still a whoping 61m wide :o (which did enable me to get an Archer out of there many years ago - by taking off diagonally across the runway the crosswind component was within the Archers limits )
Mind you, Filton is 91m wide - you can practically land/take-off across that runway
I suffer from paranoid amnesia. I can't remember who I don't trust.
