Airfield closed by weather for six weeks

[Phil Perry]

We seem to be suffering a hydrological problem here in the UK at the moment,. . .our airfield ( all grass ) has been shut down since mid December 2013 due to waterlogging,. . .this is highly unusual for our site, as it is on a grassy knob ( or small hilltop ) and has always been well drained with specially laid land drainage pipes since being constructed by the RAF in 1942.

 

The water table is very high and cannot take any more water, so as we have been having continuous heavy rain for nearly two months, it just isn't draining away. Some of our neighbouring club sites are in the same situation, but until December 2013 our field had Never been closed due to waterlogging, since it opened in 1992. . . . weird weather patterns we're having. . . . the greeny loonies and tree huggers are blaming coal fires, car emissions, my uncle Ernies pipe smoke, and cows farting in South America

 

No really,. . . our daft goverment has paid a couple of million quid out to some foreign cow farmers to feed their cows differently so that they fart less methane gas. . . this will, they tell us, slow down man made climate change ( they've dropped the "Global Warming" bowlocks now since most people don;t believe the krap any more. . .) you couldn't make it up. . . . Bit like the couple of million quid's worth of cashpoint cards they gave to thousands of poor peasant people in Africa, some of whom had no idea what they were for, and tried to scrape off the magnetic strip to see if it had won a prize. . . .

 

Anyway, apart from bushfires and extremely hot temperatures, are any of you suffering from lack of flight due to nowhere to take off from and land back at I wonder ? ? ? ? ? we have a fifth of the country under flood water at present, as you may have seen on your media ? . . .maybe not. . . I'm getting quite worried about this lately, as some of our Club pilots are a bit on the . . .er,. . . . how can I say this diplomatically, . . .well, . . .some of them shouldn't get an hour for lunch, otherwise they would probably forget what it was they were supposed to be doing . .if you get my drift. I know that's a terrible thing to say, but I know a couple of blokes I wouldn't trust with the TV remote controller let alone a flying machine. . . but that's another story. . . ( and a subjective opinion ! )

 

Phil

 

 

[fly_tornado]

England sounds like paradise.

 

 

[Phil Perry]

England sounds like paradise.

Well,. . . . I'm sure that some people actually DO like to walk to the local bus stop up to their goolies in river water,. . . me, I'm not so sure. . .paradise. . . hmmmm that's one point of view, I could understand it if you lived near Mersa Matruh ( near Egypt ) where my Uncle Jim did his flight training in Pre-ww2,. . . . bit dry for me though . . .

 

 

[fly_tornado]

Apparently the greenies are wrong, the weather isn't changing.

 

 

[Phil Perry]

Apparently the greenies are wrong, the weather isn't changing.

As the Great Billy Connolly once said . . . theres no such thing as BAD weather,. . . there IS such a thing as the WRONG sort of clothes. . . . .

 

 

[fly_tornado]

For as long as I can remember there have been massive flooding in England, you guys should have worked that out by now

 

 

[facthunter]

Billy Connelly must have difficulty making decisions I've seen him motoring with NO clothes.

 

Around here we have no trouble with waterlogging . We just make sure the grassfire has gone right through before we land and keep away from 8 octas waterbombing helicopters BLW 050. That's if your GPS is working so you can see through the smoke and have a rough idea where you are. Nev

 

 

[pmccarthy]

Abandoned a flight today due to bushfire smoke haze. Can't see the hilltops a couple of km away at present. But I'm worried about my daughter who lives on a narrow boat in London - I guess she will just float upward if the Thames floods.

 

 

[facthunter]

They reckon a bridge is falling down there . Keep away from it. She will float upward if the Thames floods? Grief. Wouldn't she be better to stay in the boat? . Nev

 

 

[old man emu]

It's hard to imagine that today, 12 months ago, the wife and I were at Heathrow waiting to board QF2 to come home from two months in England. The country was waterlogged then. What a miserable couple of years you poor Poms have had. I wonder what ill effects the wet will have on summer grain and fodder crops.

 

Here on the outskirts of Sydney we have not had any rain worth commenting on for a couple of months. We are not on town water, and although our tank is 100,000 litres, I'm wondering if I am going to have to buy in some water before too long. The only thing the grass is doing is keeping the dust in place.

 

Old Man Emu

 

 

[Phil Perry]

For as long as I can remember there have been massive flooding in England, you guys should have worked that out by now

True FT,. . . . But our airfield is not only at 340 feet above mean sea level, it's also the highest piece of ground locally. . . this WAS the reason that we never had to close it before. . . it's just that the ground is so saturated . . . . . got to repair a few hangars too, after those 80 - 90 mph gusts we had overnight. .

 

Your Daughter should be OK in a narrowboat on the Thames PM,. . .as long as she leaves a bit of slack in the mooring line so it doesn't tighten up if the water rises any more !! Quite a bit of the Thames valley around Chertsey is already under around a metre of river water. . . walking to and from the shops and the pub is a bit of a pain I guess.

 

 

[fly_tornado]

sounds like the ocean level is rising or England is sinking.

 

 

[spacesailor]

OR! the world's rotation is slowing enough to cook one side, and freeze the other.

 

The same as happened on Mars. Just my thoughts on the problem.

 

spacesailor

 

 

[farri]

it's just that the ground is so saturated .

Phill, you`re not the only one. After months of near perfect weather the rain has come. A few days ago we received 10.5 inches or 266.7 millitres over a 24 hour period and for this February a total to date of 35 inches, 889 mills. My main strip is slop at the moment and will be for a while yet! I can go flying though as I have two more that are ok.

 

Don`t know about England but here in the Cairns area, the high tides have been increasing. Here at Deeral, 45k south of Cairns, for January 30/ 31 the high tide was 3.5 mts, record height.

 

Ross Road at the boat ramp in the Mulgrave river.

 

 

Frank.

 

 

[planedriver]

Quite a bit of the Thames valley around Chertsey is already under around a metre of river water.

Hey Phil,

 

If you come across the bastard who though it was so funny to run off with my clothes along the riverbank near Chertsey Bridge while I was entertaing a certain young lady about 50 yrs ago and throw them in the river, please give me his phone number, as I owe him a real gobfull of abuse:angry:.

 

 

[Old Koreelah]

Phil the clear weather here has allowed me to spend a couple of weeks grovelling around under my wings building spats for my wheels. Forty degrees in the shade (except there isn't any) and the grass is so dry and brittle it crumbles into the dust. Nature sure distributes her goodies unevenly.

 

Records will always be broken, they say. The climate is changing, and anyone who thinks we are not contributing to this is in denial. There will always be fluctuations and reversals, but the warming trend is clear.

 

Who knows what the future holds.

 

A few large volcanic eruptions like Mt. Pinatubo could put enough dust and ash into the upper atmosphere to cause a few years of global cooling. The Atlantic Conveyor is slowing down; if it stops, Blighty will quickly become like Labrador, and Europe will plunge into an Ice Age.

 

Meanwhile, let's listen to the best scientific advice we have, and do something about the mess we are making of the place.

 

 

[Peter008]

Frank - I drove past Deeral yesterday and was looking for where your strip could be positioned. Where is it in relation to the road, further east or tucked up on the western side near the range? Have you any aerial shots that can be posted ?

 

 

[Phil Perry]

Hey Phil,If you come across the bastard who though it was so funny to run off with my clothes along the riverbank near Chertsey Bridge while I was entertaing a certain young lady about 50 yrs ago and throw them in the river, please give me his phone number, as I owe him a real gobfull of abuse:angry:.

You wouldn't find the river at Chertsey at the moment Planey. . . . . it's just a bunch of rooftops in a rather large lake ! ! ! but next time I'm in the area and I see your Gold larme suit floating around, I'll try and grab it. . . .

 

 

[Phil Perry]

Phil the clear weather here has allowed me to spend a couple of weeks grovelling around under my wings building spats for my wheels. Forty degrees in the shade (except there isn't any) and the grass is so dry and brittle it crumbles into the dust. Nature sure distributes her goodies unevenly.Records will always be broken, they say. The climate is changing, and anyone who thinks we are not contributing to this is in denial. There will always be fluctuations and reversals, but the warming trend is clear.

 

Who knows what the future holds.

 

A few large volcanic eruptions like Mt. Pinatubo could put enough dust and ash into the upper atmosphere to cause a few years of global cooling. The Atlantic Conveyor is slowing down; if it stops, Blighty will quickly become like Labrador, and Europe will plunge into an Ice Age.

 

Meanwhile, let's listen to the best scientific advice we have, and do something about the mess we are making of the place.

I agree that the climate is certainly changing. . .BUT - - - we've had far worse recorded rainfall and flooding in the UK at least, going back as far as the 1760s, then mid 1800s, and then 1953 followed that with hundreds of people killed / drowned. . . . . so by those comparisons, the climate appears to be going around in circles, I have to agree to disagree on the "Warming" philosophy though, since it is an undisputed fact that the Earth has NOT warmed at all for the past seventeen years, which is another inconvenient fact not appreciated by the globalwarminganstas. . . but it DOES appear that weather extremes here in the UK are bouncing back in cycles every few decades, but thus far, we have not suffered the same devastation as that which occurred in the 18th and 19th centuries ( thousands drowned ), and before that, there were no reliable records.

 

There is, regrettably a whole load of both media and political / vested interest hype and claptrap which clutters any sensible scientific examination of this fascinating subject, and until a load more questions are answered to a reasonable level, then I will firmly remain a sceptic. NOT "in denial" , that phrase has been hijacked by the Green lobby and other various self interested nutters in order to stifle any sensible discussion on what is a remarkably complex subject. I agree with your closing comments. . . .ie, let's see where continuous scientific research leads . . . . . . . In the meantime, I'll keep polishing me spats and dreaming of when I used to was a pilot. . . . .!

 

 

[geoffreywh]

I hope it dries out in time for my holiday in May?

 

 

[facthunter]

"UNDISPUTED FACT that the earth hasn't warmed for the past 17 years"?. You are testing my faith in.your knowledge sources. Since this is about aeroplanes mostly I will try to stick to matter relating to them, but I couldn't agree to that one. I'm a sceptic too. Mostly of what the coal gas and oil industry tell us. But of course they would not have the motives to misinform us at all. The second biggest shareholder in News Corpse is a Saudi Sheik. He wouldn't be worried about oil being worth LESS would he? Nev

 

 

[farri]

Frank - I drove past Deeral yesterday and was looking for where your strip could be positioned. Where is it in relation to the road, further east or tucked up on the western side near the range? Have you any aerial shots that can be posted

Hi Peter, Ross road is on the east side of the bruce highway, it`s 2.5 k long and runs into our property. Look east from the servo at Deeral and you will see my windsock.

 

Frank.

 

 

[fly_tornado]

The beauty of really good propaganda Phil is that you never feel like you are being led by the nose, there is no expectation on you to believe anything, just to have some doubt is victory enough.

 

 

[facthunter]

Sowing doubt is their technique. They used exactly the same method with the health effects of tobacco. Dial up KOCH Bros.& Heartland.USA. Lots of money spent to convince you it's NOT understood. IF 98% of engineers told you a certain airliner was unsafe would you still fly on it, or would you do a poll of Western Sydney voters who listen to a real expert, Alan Jones, if he had an interest in it.. (Paid to put a view)?.Nev

 

 

[fly_tornado]

Doubt is the seed of fear, once you have a solid foundation of doubt you can start working on fear. A good propagandist doesn't underestimate the power of doubt. Even the Catholics have a patron saint of doubt.