Deenethorpe weekend

Added: 2026-05-09

[00:00:03][music] Welcome to the video. This is a video of my flight in April of 2026 from Old Park Farm here in South Wales across the country right across the Midlands out of South Wales. As you can see, the track goes north of Gloucester, stopping at Croft Farm, just over the M5, passing south of Welssborne Mountford, and then turning passing north of Daventry and finally ending up near Corby at Deansp, which is just there, just south of RAF Witting. Great. So, let's get going. Here we are starting off at Old Park Farm. had a camera in a new position which didn't work really well. I had it attached to the front of my cap but unfortunately got a with a head movement it gets a lot of jumping around. So waving goodbye to die at Old Park Farm. As you can see a beautiful sunny day lining up on the south runway runway 18 for departure and full power going in.

[00:01:36]My rolling start.

[00:01:41]Lifting off.

[00:01:44]Speed builds very quickly.

[00:01:50]I'll get rid of the flaps and climbing out towards the south. See the Bristol channel [music] there to the south.

[00:01:59]And there's a view of old park farm as I was leaving. And just zoom in a bit. You see the runways looking fantastic. all been cut and that's the view as we head out. Now this is almost coming to the end of the valleys and the lower land is further ahead. They're doing cruising about 70.

[00:02:18]Keeping a good eye out for traffic.

[00:02:21]Very clear. Fantastic visibility.

[00:02:24]Over to the left there is a paragliding competition near Abuveni. To the south there's Newport and the river 7 and the US running down. There's Abuveni town.

[00:02:37]The paragliders were on the left, but there wasn't really anything doing.

[00:02:42]That's looking up the valley towards Abigavveni Town. And just below the word airfield is the airfield next to that dual carriageway.

[00:02:51]So we carried on past. There's the river 7 coming now towards Gloucester. And there was another paragliding competition at Great Mulvin or just south of Great Mulvin. There's the Great Mulvin Hills stretching up north south, but there didn't seem to be much activity. There's hardly any wind all day. So, that's uh the route we're taking here towards Croft Farm, crossing over the river 7.

[00:03:16]And then we're going to be passing the uh services at uh of the M5 next. It's just coming up.

[00:03:26]You can see amazing visibility on this day. Again, with this camera attached to my hat, didn't really work. There's motorway services on the northbound lane and just looking for the airfield which is in about 10:00 position there. Middle of the screen more or less now. So approaching from the south, one aircraft just landed uh on the um easterly runway. There's no wind, so I decided to follow suit and uh came round. So let's just speed this up a little bit over the river joining a downwind here.

[00:04:06]So the airfield is on the right there just past that village trying to avoid all the villages coming around descending and there's depth disused in a moment it's all calm down a bit. Come round.

[00:04:21]There's Depford disused runway ahead on the left there. We're coming round and the runway is now coming into our 1:00 position.

[00:04:32]So it is a grass runway. Beautiful air strip in the to the right there. You can see Breeden Hill slowing it right down.

[00:04:46]In go the flaps to help it slow down even more.

[00:04:50]Steely pilot there concentrating.

[00:04:58]Just coming over the hedge off the power and touchdown.

[00:05:07]See the grass runway. Lovely and smooth.

[00:05:11]Beautiful.

[00:05:14]There's a big Piper on huge Alaska tires.

[00:05:22]Just roll past the parking space. I have to do a turn round.

[00:05:28]So the Mvin Hill still in the distance there that came I know this is a taxi way just stopped here to get out and then um manhandled the aircraft to park it just the other side of that fence.

[00:05:50]So that was about 80 85 miles and uh taking just about the hour.

[00:06:02]But the marvelous thing with Croft is it's almost exactly halfway between Deanthorp and Old Park Farm. So it's a lovely place to have a break.

[00:06:12]This was about 1:00 in the afternoon which was lunchtime which was really handy.

[00:06:18]see the tint in the thing. So, there it is. There I've parked up nice and safe out of everybody's way. Lashings and lashings of ginger beer looking out on Breeden Hill and a nice uh tuna salad sandwich.

[00:06:31]And I made a bit of a mess on the takeoff. Got to switch the camera on back over the motorway services. [music] Turned left. Sorry about the shaky camera work. then over EAM and then further on that's Honey Honeyborn airfield and bit further on passing over this restricted zone. Now it's only for helicopters. Uh so obviously it doesn't apply to me and that is because there is long Latin high security prison there.

[00:07:04]Having a good view of everybody's uh little villages. A nice swimming pool there. Then Gayen in the 1950s Vicar's Valiian first operated from here. It's now home of the British Motor Museum. There's Bronston and the Grand Union Canal past some fantastic stately homes and of course then the Scar which is highspeed two rail track being built looking south and north. Uh there's Welshbor Mountford just to passing south of that. disused just before we get towards Corby. And here we are approaching Dean Thorp.

[00:07:44]So we can see there that uh got a few miles to run, about 5 miles left to run. And here's the view that we have from the cockpit.

[00:07:54]This now is about 5:00 in the afternoon.

[00:07:56]That's the reason I'm going there.

[00:07:58]Microlite open season uh series, sorry.

[00:08:01]Just to watch it, not take part.

[00:08:05]So, keeping well to the um on track to avoid the glider site which is off the right wing tip there. At the end of the day, the gliders tend not to be flying.

[00:08:18]The heat has gone out of the day. So, looking ahead and see the wooded area there. Just speed this up a little bit.

[00:08:28]And we're looking for the runway.

[00:08:31]Deanth runway is massive.

[00:08:36]It was uh used by the United States Army Airore and uh where is it? It's coming up here somewhere. I'm sure of it.

[00:09:00]Right there we are. There's a massive great long runway and just on the the dead side, there's a right hand circuit on that runway. That runway is 04.

[00:09:12]So just looking down by the just I don't know if you make it out on the film, there is a wind sock there. There's the buildings and what have you that remain at Dean Thorp. So came in over 2,000 ft.

[00:09:28]Nobody was on the radio. Nobody else was flying at that moment in time, but I descended deadside. So, here we go.

[00:09:37]Coming back on the power, descending down to get to circuit height, which is 1,000 ft above the runway. And then, as I say, a right hand circuit.

[00:09:48]So, here we go. Come back on the power, let the nose drop, and down we go.

[00:10:03]Come round looking back towards Corby where we've just uh overflowing.

[00:10:13]Keep it coming. You can see the rate of descent is about 500 600 ft a minute down.

[00:10:23]coming back.

[00:10:29]Still wanted to remain on what they call the dead side. The other side is the active with the circuit.

[00:10:36]Not just because there's nobody on the radio didn't mean there wasn't anybody around.

[00:10:41]There we are.

[00:10:44]Another 500 ft to go.

[00:10:47]Level out. See towards like the end of the runway. Still descending.

[00:10:54]And then I can turn right over the numbers at the far end of 04.

[00:11:02]Just looking see the numbers on the runway about halfway down here. Not all in use. So here we are. Wing going down, turning round and joining on the crosswind leg of the circuit.

[00:11:17]The rape fields there. Fantastic yellow.

[00:11:26]looking right down the runway.

[00:11:30]Let's go around this farmhouse here or whatever it is in the middle. So, now we're in the downwind leg.

[00:11:40]Reporting the positions on the radio just in case there's anybody listening and what have you or any other aircraft. thumb going there. Just trimming the nose up to slow the aircraft down.

[00:12:03]Keeping a good look out. Make sure nobody is joining onto the base leg.

[00:12:12]over the perimeter track over the local road and turning right onto base leg for runway 04. Around we come.

[00:12:31]Just keeping this until I get the center line.

[00:12:37]Still slowly descending all the time.

[00:12:44]And there we are more or less onto the center line. Shadow racing across the field there.

[00:12:51]It's quite late in the day. I think it's about 5:00 lined up with the runway.

[00:12:58]Just see the wind sock on the right just by those hangers. Hardly any wind at all.

[00:13:12]And touchdown and arrival at Deanthorp.

[00:13:19]There's the start of the runway. Was a little bit early. [laughter] Oh dear. What a pity. Never mind.

[00:13:28]So, swing round and backtrack.

[00:13:32]one of the things I didn't really uh want to go too far.

[00:13:38]So, the steering is on the brakes. There isn't any nose wheel steering. So, you just have to use the brakes on the main wheels to make the castering nose wheel turn round. So, you do have to be moving to steer.

[00:13:54]There we go.

[00:13:56]I mean, you can stand on one brake on tarmac and lock it up and almost turn on one wheel, but you're scrubbing the tire, so you attempt to avoid doing that. And that's where I was parked up for the night.

[00:14:09]And this is the competition. This was a spot landing competition. They had to come overhead at 1,000 ft just like I had done on the circuit there, put the engine to throttle, and then try and land within this box. And he's done very well there on that.

[00:14:27]This next one bit lighter and you can see from the gentleman's t-shirt there flapping lighter ones the wind just got out of nowhere and he couldn't force away into it. Couldn't penetrate into it. So he landed short. No points for him.

[00:14:45]A bit heavier aircraft, bit more speed and lovely job.

[00:14:52]He had actually dead sticking stopped his engine totally and this one those with two on board and a little bit of extra WEIGHT FOR THEIR WAY INTO the wind but a shame >> this one he's turning again and when they're taking off there's hardly wind. So they're kind of coming back to this quite strong wind that just sprung up, caught a few people out. So again, this gentleman very light aircraft and he just couldn't force his way into the wind and he touched down before.

[00:15:44]You see it's a very light single man aircraft dump.

[00:15:50]Uh that is where I was camping for the night under my wing. In the morning everything was covered in dew and there was some low cloud which delayed the start. But uh 11:00 it's you can see it burnt off and I was ready to set off except I taxied up to these cones and realized there was a bit of rough ground between them which I couldn't taxi over.

[00:16:10]I couldn't steer because I have to be moving and that slopes down. So I thought, right, I'll get out and move the nose round with the engine running.

[00:16:21]So that's what I did. But inadvertently there, I managed to kick one of the fuses on the uh the dash.

[00:16:30]And [clears throat] so I moved round.

[00:16:33]You see, I just decide to uh move the the whole aircraft round. The engine's still running, but I've got hold of it and uh had to resolve the problem. I didn't realize I'd knocked the fuse and had to reset it. So, it's a second attempt. And off we go on this one. So, canopy closed again.

[00:17:00]gentleman over there was heading back to Northern Ireland in the uh the yellow trike.

[00:17:08]And so it somebody else here was having a late night late in so finally got moving.

[00:17:21]Now it's uh 160 odd miles home and I decided to do it in a wner. I was able to get some fuel here at Deansort very kindly. Somebody had a jerry can of fuel which I was able to buy off them which is very kind of them. So heading down the perimeter track. Speed this up a little bit just so we don't get too bored. Lining up. Going to take off on runway 04.

[00:17:48]So, and once we're lined up, full power.

[00:18:02]There we go.

[00:18:05]And the weight off the nose wheel. Nose wheel just skipping along now. Just on the mains. Waiting to lift off. There we go. Lifting off. Flying off the ground at angle.

[00:18:18]and their shadow staying on the ground.

[00:18:23]So, as we climb away, you see the massive length of the runway.

[00:18:30]Shadow tracking right down it. So, just wait until we get past the houses and turn right into the circuit because I literally want to be going the opposite direction to what I'm traveling at the moment.

[00:18:44]With this very wide angled lens, it does make it seem a bit uh bit strange.

[00:18:51]There's the other end of the runway 22.

[00:18:54]Past the farm and around we go. And we start heading back.

[00:19:01]Following exactly the same route as we came.

[00:19:06]And although it was sunny here, it uh there was some high cloud a bit further on.

[00:19:15]round we came. Keep it nice and tight because we don't want to go towards the glider site which is just to the south there. Corby town just above the uh canopy there.

[00:19:32]There we are climbing up out of the circuit that direction.

[00:19:39]Little bit of housekeeping going on in the cockpit.

[00:19:47]I say it's surprisingly bright here, but it did cloud over.

[00:19:52]And uh first first thing went over is the HS sorry, the M1 motorway first, then HS2. And uh this is where they've dug it out. And you can see they're now filling in that uh tunnel.

[00:20:10]Funny how most people want the same bit of sky. That was the warning I got. And that's what it looked like out the cockpit. So flying along, it was absolutely smooth as silk. As you can see, I didn't have my hand on the stick. Just emphasize there. Just a touch, finger touch. Literally nothing nothing to do.

[00:20:30]Just sit there and enjoy the view. This is where we're coming over to Cotswwell in the area of L Martin again just about 2 and a half thousand ft 26 27 and the view to the south over the Cotswwells a little bit hazy. The glider was being towed up and obviously going to be no lift because there's no disturbance in the air at all this time. rape fields really standing out. And [music] uh here's one happy chappie saying there we are. Look at this. Can fly hands off.

[00:21:10]So continue on back over the um river 7 was the next feature. And after the river seven and having such a smooth flight for the hour up to that point, you can see the forest of Dean there and the wind coming over the hills and the sun was getting a bit uh more active on the hills there. It suddenly became quite rough uh which kind of woke you up a bit like as you can see there the wing uh dipping up and down. There's uh the river Y winding its way down coming around towards Monmouth. We're just passing just north of Mombas at this point and looking forward you can see nearly all the way home just to the very left of the screen you can see the seven esturie but uh see there's that bend in the river town of Monmouth on the right and we're feeling that we're almost getting back onto home ground Now here's the clone town of Mombas. You can see in the very distance the seven estury just panning out a bit.

[00:22:29]So up to this was always been a very pleasant flight. It did take 2 hours 5 minutes to get all the way home. started to come over the higher ground of the uh Welsh valleys.

[00:22:45]Again, this turbulence did continue, but it uh gave me something to do anyway.

[00:22:57]And in the distance you can start to see the uh seven estry over one of the last uh valleys before a pass over the windmills and then down to the coastal plane where old park is.

[00:23:17]Valley is looking very different now with all the coal mining gone.

[00:23:22]A lot of greenery in amongst the whole town.

[00:23:27]Coming round. Looking up uh down the course here. You can see the windmills and old mine workings down there on the right.

[00:23:47]In the distance you can see Swansea Bay just coming into view which is home ground.

[00:23:58]Speed this up a bit. Winds haven't suddenly got uh energized.

[00:24:04]Passing over them.

[00:24:13]Something sort of mesmerizing by watching them slowly turning round. Of course, they're also a good wind indicator just telling me they're more or less on the beam. And here we are coming up to old park farm joining overhead at 2,000 ft. Just under the nose wheel is the uh is the farm.

[00:24:30]And just looking down here we are from the cockpit just trying to see the wind sock looking at the windmills. We're going to land on runway one two. So we're going to go around the reservoir in a right hand circuit and then land on runway one two. So now it's my intentions and there's nobody else flying at that time. So, let's speed this up. Round we go. Over the M4 motorway, past that windmill. Yeah, definitely blowing from the east.

[00:25:01]Round the reservoir. Coming in over the sailing club crerematorium on the left and coming back to cross back over the M4 and back to normal speed now. So coming here about 900 ft above uh sea level, 700 ft over the the ground.

[00:25:24]And what we have to do, you'll see uh to the left there, Margam Park up on the hillside.

[00:25:31]Margam uh Yep. Margam Park. That's the estate. We avoid overflying. So we kind of do a dog leg on the final. So that's why we're going over the fields. Right on the nose is the actual farm of Old Park Farm. And we're looking to go down the middle of that field which is just right on the nose at the moment.

[00:25:52]Around we come.

[00:25:56]Losing height steadily.

[00:25:59]Just seeing how much turbulence there is. Keeping up a good speed so I can deal with any turbulence.

[00:26:07]And here we are lined up now. Getting straight with runway one two.

[00:26:24]Not putting any flaps in just so I can control the plane a bit more. This is an uphill runway so it's nice to land on.

[00:26:32]Take soon as you're down all your speed is taken out of you. So no need for brakes or anything. And because it's quite narrow, they've now kindly cut a turning circle up at the end here. So, we come up to the end of the runway and can go to the left. And it just does mean that they're easier to turn cuz nothing's more embarrassing than not making the turn and coming off the side and having to stop and move the nose again. Right, fast forward back to the hanger. Almost at the end. Thank you so much for watching all the way to the end. really do appreciate it. If uh if you found it interesting, please give a like or a comment. Love to hear those.

[00:27:15]And uh there's some other videos that'll come back up on the screen that you might be interested in watching if you've enjoyed this. Uh thanks again for watching.

[00:27:46]There we go. Goodbye. Thanks again.