There is a dog at Earls Colne. His name is Zak. Do not feed Zak. There are signs. There is staff guidance. There is, I suspect, a long and grumpy history. More on him below. The other thing worth knowing before you fly in is that the tarmac strip is only 10 metres wide, which plays a properly nasty trick on your eyes the first time you fly an approach to it. More on that below too. Earls Colne in May 2023, with Jack in the right-hand seat. Lovely day out.
Visit: 11 May 2023, in KK (G-DCKK), Wayne PIC with Jack as passenger. Around 0.9 hours out of Elstree, 0.8 back. Landing fee £15. Current rates may have changed, Always check before flying.
So where is it?
Earls Colne sits 3nm southeast of Halstead, in Essex, 227ft above sea level. From Elstree the usable outbound route is to drop south of the M25, run east under the Stansted CTA, then turn north past Chelmsford and Coggeshall into the airfield. The direct line on the chart would put you straight through Stansted, which is not an option without a clearance. Just under an hour out, just over half an hour back. Easy weather, easy lunch.
I went with Jack. Again.
If you' have been folloing the channel, you will know Jack is a recurring character in these pieces. He's a recurring character because I don't like eating alone, and Caz, bless her, has reached the point where another small-airfield burger no longer counts as a treat. Or a meal. Jack just loves flying. And doing the radio. So Jack is therefore the answer.
The Wayne and Jack show has been a thing on the channel and in the logbook for long enough that it has its own minor following. Earls Colne is one of the trips that didn't make it to YouTube, but if you've watched a Wayne and Jack video, you already know the vibe. Two pilots, one C172 called KK, and a lot of opinions per minute, not all of them publishable. Not every flight earns a video, and this one was just for the flying.
The 10-metre tarmac strip
The runway at Earls Colne is an interesting hybrid. Half tarmac, half grass, side by side. The tarmac section is 778m long, which is fine, but it's only 10 metres wide. That's narrower than a lot of taxiways. So unless you are Harrison Ford who seems to like landing on taxiways, you might find it a little different.
From a normal Cessna 172 approach height, that thin strip plays tricks. You look at it and your brain says "you are way too high." So you push the nose down. You aren't too high. You're exactly where you should be. The runway is just narrow.
If you don't know it's coming, you can find yourself fighting your own instincts the whole way down final. If you do know it's coming, you still find yourself fighting your instings, but you will hopefully trust the numbers, ignore the picture, and fly the approach you planned. Useful little eye-trainer for anyone working on their visual approaches.
I landed on 24 on the day. I might have even managed the centerline.
PPR and the neighbours
PPR is required. The radio is Earls Colne Radio on 122.430. Phone for PPR on the day.
Noise abatement. Earls Colne has very demanding neighbours, and the airfield itself is admirably honest about it on their own PPR page:
"Non-pilots please note: It is pointed out that noise abatement procedures cannot legally be made mandatory, it is a voluntary procedure which Earls Colne strongly advises all pilots to adhere to."
The airfield is saying, in writing, "we are aware that some of our neighbours think we have to fly where they want us to fly. " They are also possibly telling the moaniny neighbours to stop complaining. Pilots must fly safely. If the safe option happens to put you a bit closer to someone's duck pond than they would prefer, the airfield cannot, in law, make you do otherwise. They strongly advise. In other words fly as you should, safely, and the NIMBYs can go and write their letters to the guardian.
I've had a proper go at the wider hospital-helicopter-noise-complaints culture in Let's Ban Hospitals Next, so I won't repeat the rant here. The short version: fly the noise abatement when you can, but always fly safely. Call for PPR, read the website, fly the recommended circuit, take it seriously. The airfield is working hard to keep itself viable for the rest of us.
Narrow taxiways and a tight fuel-pump dance
Once you're down, the taxiways are narrow, especially around the fuel pumps. If anyone is parked at the pumps when you arrive, the squeeze past is properly tight in a 172. Take it slowly, and don't be the pilot who clips a wing.
The cafe, the burger, and Zak (properly, this time)
The cafe is deffo a proper destination cafe. Truck-stop vibes. Outdoor seating, busy with a good mix of pilots, bikers and locals who have worked out it's a nice spot for a fry-up. The staff were friendly to a fault, in the cafe and on the radio.
I had the burger. It was, and I quote my notes from the day, a "fab meaty burger." I do remember it three years on, which says something, because most airfield lunches blur into one. The bacon roll, which is meant to be the format-locked thing in every WAP airfield review, I confess I did not order. I won't pretend otherwise. The burger was the right call on the day and it would be the right call again. I owe Earls Colne a return visit just to checkout the missing bacon roll....I hope theu do do one??
Which brings us back to the dog. His name is Zak. Do not feed Zak. There are signs, there is staff guidance, there is, I suspect, a long and grumpy history. Whatever Zak's medical situation, your slice of bacon is not the answer. He will assure you it is, but it isn't,
The Stansted shuffle on the way home
The return was a different flight to the outbound. On the way out we'd gone around Stansted to the south, which is the safe default. On the way back, with the weather still kind and the radios working properly, we asked for the crossing.
The Stansted CTR sits squarely between Earls Colne and Elstree, and if you can be bothered to talk to them, they will generally let you through. You call up, you get a squawk, you get a level, you keep your eyes outside, and you fly the plan you briefed.
It's worth doing. Class D crossings are one of those things that look bigger from the outside than they do from inside the cockpit. If you've been avoiding zone transits because they feel intimidating, find a quiet weekday, plan one properly, brief it on the ground, and go and ask. The worst they can say is "remain outside controlled airspace" and you go round. I would possibly not choose Stanstead as it is one of the busiest I have encountered - try something easier like say Luton. or Heathrow (Joke!!)
The return track has us out via Coggeshall, west past Chelmsford and Harlow, then a hook north up the M11 corridor through Sawbridgeworth before swinging back southwest into Elstree. Properly different shape from the outbound, and a more interesting bit of flying.
What I can't tell you yet
Caz wasn't with me on this one, so I can't tell you what she would have made of the loos, (I thought the loos were find), the tea, or the cake. If you've been more recently and any of them are worth flagging, drop me a line and I'll happily add a reader update.
Would I go back
Easily. It's a nice run east from Elstree. The runway is a proper little training-aid in disguise. The cafe is good. The staff are good. The only reason I haven't been back since 2023 is that there are too many airfields and not enough Saturdays.
I owe it the second visit. And I owe it a bacon roll.
Before you fly in
These reviews are my own personal experiences. I don't get paid or sponsored. Always read the operator's own brief before turning up. This is one pilot's impression of one day in May 2023, not a planning document. Current rates, frequencies, surfaces and procedures may have changed. Do NOT feed the dog.
Anglian Flight Centres airfield page
If I get back to Earls Colne with footage rolling, this review will get a video companion. Until then, it lives where it belongs, in the Logbook.
