Thruxton

Reasonable prices, a good restaurant and a choice of runways, but do call Boscombe Down, and remember the airfield’s closed on race days.

- Nick Bloom

Maybe Pilot Editor, Philip Whiteman, suggested that I profile Thruxton because he enjoys fast cars as well as aeroplanes − and he drives a classic Jaguar. Like Goodwood, it’s a racetrack which also has an airfield (or vice versa depending on your outlook).

Today, heading south-west to Popham, Thruxton is nearby−a bit further on−with the racing circuit and one grass, and one hard runway, both over 750 metres long. (For safety reasons, the airfield is closed on race days−check on the internet.)

When I was flight planning, however, I realised that you are supposed to contact Boscombe Down, a military radar service, well before reaching the airfield, to request penetration of the Boscombe MATZ, only switching to Thruxton when you are near to request landing information. As I fly an open-cockpit biplane with a hand-held radio−which can give rise to difficulties both in hearing and being heard on the radio, as well as the communication range−I telephoned Boscombe Down the day before my visit (01930 663246, ATIS on extension 3101) and asked the chap who answered if I needed to call Boscombe on 126.7 for a MATZ penetration if I were approaching Thruxton from the north-east. I told him who I was, about Pilot, the open cockpit and hand-held radio and, after a bit of waiting, he said, “No need to call Boscombe if you’re coming to Thruxton from the north-east,” although the unspoken implication was that they would prefer visiting pilots to call. So if you want to fly to Thruxton and would rather not speak to Boscombe on the radio, you might try telephoning as I did.