Kings Ripton
KINGS RIPTON: Private airstrip, later airfield
Note: It is just a thing I have about how to describe various sites. If a private site has two or more runways I describe it as an 'airfield'.
Note: All six of these pictures were obtained from Google Earth ©
Location: N of the B1090, just SE of Kings Ripton village, E of the ex-military air base at ALCONBURY
Period of operation: Circa 2016(?) to -
Runways: 2016: 18/36 530 grass
2019: 18/36 530 grass 04/22 600 grass
NOTES:
The initial information for this site came from the AAIB report AAIB-26753, which stated that: "The pilot flew from a private farm strip east of Alconbury Airfield...." Which certainly didn't ring any bells. However, a wee bit of investigation revealed that the owner Pioneer 300, G-CDSD, had acquired the aircraft in September 2018, and the address was Kings Ripton. Also, the address of the previous owner was Somersham, Huntingdon, which is not so far away.
Needless to say, given the Kings Ripton address this site was then very easy to find. Looking at Google Earth there is no sign of the original N/S airsrip in 2014, and indeed, even in the 2016 picture above the strip is not well defined. However, given the generally bad news prevailng for GA in recent years it is always encouraging to find new airstrips being laid out.
The damage to G-CDSD, which occurred at WALLIS INTERNATIONAL in June 2020, appears to be very serious. Presumably it could take some time to repair? Let's hope the owner is not deterred from flying as a result and that this fine site continues in operation.
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