Gloucester to Halfpenny Green Airfield (EGBO) and back to Glos (EGBJ)
9I visited Halfpenny Green with my mate Ian on Saturday. Wolverhampton, Halfpenny Green Airport (EGBO) is a fantastic airfield located 38 nautical miles to the north of Gloucester (EGBJ) on a track of 355°. It takes around 25 minutes to fly there from Gloucester and it has a very warm feel and the food and welcome is nothing short of fantastic.
It was a VERY busy day at Gloucester and there were a number of NOTAMS within a few miles of the airfield for Glider Competitions and Model Aircraft events. There were a number of Gliders a few miles outside of the ATZ at Gloucester and most but not all were FLARM enabled. We think we encountered a drone just south of Worcester about 300 feet below me so at around 2000 feet so I mentioned this to ATC at Gloucester. There was a I was a danger area for a tethered balloon just short of Worcester which was near where we were, so could I have mistaken a tethered balloon up to 500 feet with a drone at 2000 feet? I was so engrained in explaining this to Gloucester that I didn't see a Glider a couple of miles to my left that was either avoiding me or circling and climbing. It didn't show up on my Sky Demon so I can only think it wasn't FLARM enabled. SHOULD ALL GLIDERS HAVE TO support Electronic Conspicuity (EC)?? I think it's common sense, they should!
#ThePhobicFlyer #HalfpennyGreen #PPL