Microlighters

So who still charges landing fees, and why ?

Africa just got skopped onder sy gat on the Hoedspruit fly-in thread.

We at Brits waived the idea long, long ago. It is an absolute administrative schlepp to collect R 20.00 in cash from a tired pilot who made the effort to visit us.

So who still charges, and why ? (Behalwe Hoedspruit )

Again I will stick my neck out... ( We had this debate last year...) I don't mind paying a reasonable landing fee if the owner keeps the rwy in good condition....

(Staaldak op. Oom Blue Max gaan my uithaal!! )

What is a "reasonable" landing fee ?

I also do not mind paying a reasonable fee (which I put at R50 maximum for a trike!) IF as James says, the runway is well kept and the reception is warm...IE a nice cup of coffee! That said.... when you get harrassed 2 minutes after shutting your engine down by someone demanding money it's a bit of a "F%$# you" to the pilot if you ask me , and I can fully see where the anger comes in.

In the bigger picture.... I agree with you Kloot....Airfield owners should find other ways of offsetting their runway maintenance expenses.

Fly in's
Events
Club's

It can be done!...with a bit of effort and has many benefits (not just financial) as I have personally seen.

I will pay R20 landing fee at almost anywhere if there is a good reception etc, If the place is a shit farm then well do not expect to see me any time soon.

Rather say brekkie is R50 and R20 of that is landing fee's

Also wouldn't mind paying R20 if the runway is maintained & hope they give bulk discount for doing circuits

For me, the crucial 2 things would be:
Is the runway in a good condition?
Was I made to feel welcome at the airfield?

I would then gladly part with R20 to R50 landing fees.

I should also think that if you are going to visit an airfield, you need to contact them first to get permission, and establish if there are landing fees beforehand.
Just rocking up at someone's field unannounced might not get you that warm reception, and they may indeed ask for a landing fee just because you p$#%ed them off.

Hoedspruit has a very rocky Runway that requires a huge amount of maintenance. We how ever on planned flyin and Breakfast run waive this fee. Its R50 for a trike and aircraft up to 1000kg. There is no one owner so we have to maintain the runway between club members. Its not a municple runway either its in a trust. I am pretty new in Hoedspruit since my return from the states and am on the flying club comittee. We are trying to get more fly ins here but we are a nice friendly no politics bunch so to all negitive whinrs I urge you to rather stay home. We all want to support flyins at other places too. So if a flyin is organized you are all welcome but after this recent attack about our landing fees before even asking if they apply with a flyin and or rally then I just dunno.

At our airfield the council wants their pound of flesh without providing any services so you accept and contribute for your collective benefit but when there's only 20 odd paying members carrying a coupla grand to cut the grass each time compared to Springs with over 150 contributors it becomes expensive.

Numerous flight schools from the rand come practice touch 'n go's and night flying for free because they get charged at Grand Central and Rand and most of the heavy plane members are accostomed to pay over R50.00 wherever they have to land then the sympathy falls thin on recreational visitors.

Employing someone to collect fees or relying on an honesty box is just as much a hassle so for now we don't charge fees but no, I wont mind paying landing fees if the place is kept nicely.

Your argumens wants to make me cry.
Clearly, some of you guys have not landed as many times as I have on numerous landing strips all over the country..because, if you have you will not be so keen to pay a landing fee.
My runway was born when a keen pilot decided to build himself a runway for his entertainment..
If I improve the runway it will be in the first instance for myself..
That applies for every runway in the country,..The runway you land on was build for you okes who enjoy it and who pays member fees..
Now, you decide; 'let me charge the other okes who want to land here some money, then they can also pay for MY entertainment '....Kak storie my maat...!!!
Julle laat my dink aan die ou wat by die viswinkel verby gestap het en vir die eienaar gese het " jislaaik maar jou vis ruik lekker"
Die eienaar se toe vir hom; "Die reuk kos jou een silwerstuk".
Sefde beginsel..Dis julle runway betaal en onderhou dit self..Dit doen ek met my runway op die plaas..en menigde ander ouens wie verstaan dat dit in die eerste instansie daar is vir hulle...
Hoe de hel wil jy n ou laat betaal wat sy wiele daar vir n paar meters oor die runway laat rol..
OM JOU TE BESOEK EN JOU TE ONDERSTEUN.
Vra jy jou ma geld omdat sy jou gebaar het.????????

Blue Max, a microlight runway of a few hundred meters is ok to keep up alone. FAHT is 1.2km of stones, that there are 3-4 PC12 per day, 2 B200 king airs and many other big planes that when they open to full power does alot of damage to the surface. Too much trafic to plant grass because we also have 2 schools on the runway and we are in the process of getting it tarred over the next few years. So we cannot just charge the fed air planes or the Sezane planes we have to be fair. Its not like the visitors get charged, its commercial opperations. We waive fees for flyins, comps etc. I too hate landing fees as I fly all over the country and even southern africa so it pisses me off too, but I have to say that I understand it in most places

Ag oom Paul jy strui so kwaai ek drink liewers brandewyn saam met jou.

To tumbleweed!!

As a Gyro Owner/Pilot it is maybe not my place to comment here as it seems most of the posts here comes from Trike Pilots, but what really gets my BP sky-high are Aviators like Blue Max that always moans, but never contributes towards a solution. Your anomaly with "jou Ma baar jou verniet" really does not even come close to the thread's core. "Dit is vergelyking" for those of you that are now going to complain. You guys, including Blue Max are very active members that keep this site active and that is great, but you need to actually understand more than just starting up your little trike and flying anywhere, and if that is what you want then do it and keep your comments to yourself. My trying to maintain some objectivity on these posts, it seems that Africa is trying to arrange a Fly-inn, you guys are pelting him him landing fee chirps, he is trying to explain that their runway costs serious, some oke says that Springs is run by some rich oke's (I am resident there and our fees are peanuts), etc etc. Surely if you want to go to Hoedspruit, and Africa says please come, and you ask respectfully "landing fees" and he says X x R100, you say thank you for the invite, but no thank you. You dont start a whole explaination on how wonderful your own landing strip is, and your mothet bared you for free etc, because then why dont you just stay at your own free strip? Jeez Guys, I am new to this bashing of fellow Aviators...we all have planes/trikes/gyros that cost serious money to keep in the air so landing fees are probably waaaayyyy down on our list, but if an aerodrome that needs the cash to maintain does not get it, it disappears off your GPS and then where do you land. And if your view is "I will land somewhere else", well then they also become a dry river bed and so on and so on, and eventually we will all go and land at Blue Max's place and soon he will realise that his trike and strip costs too much and he will start charging fees and we will all be back here shouting at him!

So there was my 10 min on the soapbox! Today I was at FAPY for a beautiful tasty Fish&Chips lunch, fresh, friendly. Beacause of the lunch Fanie waives the landing fee, but you know what it was R 20, so I added it to the meal. Will it help fill the potholes and grass growing in the runway? Well I hope so, or else I will not be able to land there safely and enjoy lunch. If we dont pay, the RW will definately be a NO-NO soon and that will be a shame. And that goes for Hoedspruit and others and for Blue Max's strip. As a fraternity we need to support all fields...AP's, ARO's, airfields, private airfields, etc etc, without bashing their fees. The choice is and will always be yours, if you feel that the fees/food/company is not value for money, dont go there/use the field/eat the food, but dont bash please.