Microlight and ultra-light flying in the UK - Little Gransden Airfield and Cambridge

A friend from walk mentioned a little while back that he picked up his pilots license in May and offered me a ride in his microlight some time. That opportunity happened yesterday evening after work, a beautiful clear still warm day, maybe the last good day of the summer!




The plane is an Ikarus C42 microlight (or 'ultra-light' in the US), similar in size to the Cessna 152 I've flown but much lighter with wings covered in a kevlar composite material. The instruments and engine controls are simpler, no carb heat or mixture, no attitude or heading indicators, it's designed for daytime VFR flight only. The aileron and elevator is controlled by what's best described as a joystick in the center between pilot and passenger, no dual controls on this one though both seats do have their own rudder pedals and throttle.

The ride and performance were great for a little plane, cruising around 80 knots and climbing without too much effort. Once David opened the throttle we were off the ground in not time. The cabin has great visibility too with a wide windscreen and big windows on the doors too.

Wimpole Hall (National Trust)

We flew out of Little Gransden airfield which is in the countryside to the west of Cambridge. It's a small grass field with a mixture of planes including Yaks, stunt planes and microlights.We headed east to Cambridge with views of Wimphole Hall, Duxford, Addenbrooks, My office and Fulbourn along the way. We couldn't fly right over Cambridge as it's controlled air space for Cambridge airport. That would require a UK radio license which neither of us have.

 I knew the Addenbrooks hospital was big but wow, when you see it from the air it's huge!

The picture above shows the east side of Cambridge with the ARM office in the foreground middle backing on to fields, Cambridge airport to the right middle and Cambridge city center to the left middle. Cambridge really isn't a very big city at all when you see it from 2000ft!

Next we headed south past Granta Park, towards Saffron Waldon coming close to Stansted airspace. David uses an Android Tablet loaded with Skydemon software to give him a moving GPS map with visualization for air space and live NOTAM (notice to airmen). It also allows you to plot follow a flight plan. Looks like a really useful application!

We then headed west over a scenic village called Barkway (where David lives).

Then Royston and Bassingbourn Barracks. Here you can see clear evidence of the remains of an old world war two airfield. Looking down on shapes like this is a kind of airborne archaeology; it's often much easier to see interesting patterns from the air that you would never see on the ground.

Of course the flight was over far too soon and we headed back to the air field. The pattern was straight forward, a left base entry announcing yourself on the radio at on the way in, the again when on the ground and taxiing back.

The cost? It's probably no surprise this little microlight is about a 1/3 the cost of renting a plane from Cambridge airport. The airfield costs and running costs are much less. In fact it's really made me think about taking up flying again, this might actually be affordable :)

Thank you again to David for the flight, it was great to see Cambridgeshire from 2000ft!

All the photos from the flight are geolocated with gpsed: and on Flickr.