North Coates - 12/05/13

The weekend of May 11th/12th saw the annual Spring fly-in at North Coates airfield but as with last year's event (covered in an earlier post), the weather was less-than-cooperative. Reports from a couple of friends about their Saturday trips spoke of strong winds, rain, and the lack of aircraft visiting, I was hoping an improvement in the weather would be on the cards for my trip on the Sunday.

The wind had indeed lessened and the rain held off during the morning, and there were certainly more visitors than Saturday, however, one of the NCFC staff did tell me that they’d received several cancellations because of poor weather elsewhere in the country.

That said, the welcome at North Coates was as good as ever, with free hangar tours available and the canteen serving a mean sausage sandwich and a fine selection of sticky buns.

Log for the day:-

G-AKHP Miles M651A
G-AKUW Chrislea CH.3Srs.2
G-ARCF Piper PA-22150
G-ASUB Mooney M.20E
G-AXTC Piper PA-28140
G-AXVK Campbell Cricket
G-BCYR Reims-Cessna F.172M
G-BDTX Reims-Cessna F.150M
G-BIOC Reims-Cessna F.150L
G-BRAA Pitts S-1C Special
G-BUTD Van's RV-6
G-BVPS Jodel D.11
G-BXDE Rotary Air Force RAF-2000GTX-SE
G-CDDI Thruster T600N 450
G-CSDJ Jabiru UL
G-DOTW I.C.P. MXP-740
G-EHMJ Beech S35
G-GKEV Alpi Aviation Pioneer 300
G-HABT Supermarine Aircraft SpitfireMk.26
G-IANN Kolb TwinstarMk.III
G-INNY Replica Plans SE.5A
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
N259SA Reims-Cessna F.172G

New resident since I last visited is Super Marine Spitfire Mk 26 G-HABT, painted as BL735/AB-T.

Another resident, Alpi Pioneer 300 G-GKEV.

A type I’ve not seen for a long time, V-tailed Beech 35 Bonanza G-EHMJ.

Immaculate Van's RV6 G-BUTD.

Another RV6, G-NPKJ is a regular visitor to North Coates.

An early example of the Mooney M20 marque is M20E G-ASUB, shown here commencing its take-off run.

About to return to its Shropshire base, Jodel D11 G-BVPS.

Visiting from Beverley Linley Hill is G-BIOC a Reims-Cessna F150L.

A couple of shots taken inside the hangar. Jabiru UK G-DCSJ and Murphy Maverick G-ONFL.