Most airfields tolerate you. Sandown wants you to have a nice day, and it has rules to make sure you do. No hi-vis. No miserable people. There's a skeleton running the complaints department and a space rocket parked where you'd expect a windsock. I've flown in five times now, first as a nervous student, most recently with one of the share group taking turns at the controls. It's the place I'd send anyone who reckons British GA has lost its sense of fun.
It calls itself an airport as opposed to an airfield but I'm not about to argue with Danny. It is officially the Isle of Wight Airport Sandown. Honestly, it earns the word too. There's a Tower, a Bistro, a proper welcome, the lot. The only thing missing is the airbridges. And on a busy day you'll even get marshalled in by a chap in hi-vis, which at the one airfield in Britain with a published no-hi-vis rule is a joke I hope they know they're telling.
SkyDemon ranks Sandown 5th in the UK for unique visits in 2026. For a grass strip on an island, that's no accident. People go out of their way to land here. So have I, five times over.
The facts, frozen to the visit
- Visit dates: first in June 2021 as a student, then four times PIC in KK (May and August 2022, May 2023, March 2025)
- WAP score: 5 out of 5
- ICAO: EGHN. Isle of Wight, 1nm west of Sandown town
- Runway: 05/23, 884m x 40m, grass, with a 430m AstroTurf strip alongside. Elevation 55ft. Circuits 1,000ft, left hand for 05, right hand for 23
- Frequency: Sandown Radio 119.280. Volunteer manned, so if nobody answers you make blind calls to Sandown Traffic on the same frequency.
- PPR: not required in the dry summer months, but call ahead October to March, and any time after rain to check the ground
- Landing fee: £23 inc VAT for the C172 (2026)
Getting there, and the run home round the Needles
The island crossing is the bit that makes it feel like a proper trip rather than a hop. Down past the Needles, the chalk and the coloured sand, the Solent laid out underneath you. We always factor in a loop round the Needles and a run up the Solent on the way out. It's the perfect end to the day, and on the March 2025 trip I had it from the other seat for once, because Ed flew us down and I flew us home.
One word of caution, though. The Solent airspace sits right there waiting for the unwary. Bust the CTA and you'll spoil your day in a hurry, so plan your route and your heights before you go and keep half an eye on where the steps are. Lovely scenery is no excuse for a careless infringement.
Ed's one of the share owners, so we have been known to take turns in flying. David came along too. David's an ex share owner, an ex glider pilot who'd racked up 200-plus hours before he ever sat a PPL, then went on to fly commercially, which makes him just about the most over-qualified back-seat heckler in the country.
Mind you, he's exactly who you want next to you if the engine ever goes quiet. I'll forgive him the gliding. Just about. Glider pilots in my humble opinion are the lycra-clad cyclists of the skies. Everyone hates them, and you never see one until you're right on top of it. Maybe they should wear the bright lycra too.
We have the Power - or not
Here's the thing about the approach. It bites. On my first trip in KK back in 2022, I got friendly with the trees on short final and earned a sharp "power Power POWER" from David in the right seat. I filed that under my own rustiness and moved on. Then Ed flew the same approach a couple of years later and got caught the same way. So either those trees are closer than they look, or it's just something David shouts at people. Whichever it is, respect the approach. It's a teaching point dressed up as a punchline.
The radio, and why I always carry a backup
Sandown Radio is volunteer manned, which is part of the charm and occasionally part of the challenge. On one trip Danny, who runs the place, had lost his voice almost completely. Laryngitis. So I cut my calls right down, gave him only what he actually needed and nothing he'd have to croak a reply to. That's the volunteer airfield in a nutshell. You meet it halfway.
My very first visit, as a student in one of the school PA28s, the aircraft's radio packed up entirely. We finished the trip on a handheld backup. I've carried a cheap Icom since my student days for exactly that reason, and that was the day it earned its keep. I'd even remembered to charge it, which frankly deserves its own certificate.
Danny, Sid, and the no-misery policy
Danny is the character of Sandown. He runs the place, and the published house rules are genuinely "No High ViZ, No PPR, No Miserable People." He means all three. Turn up grumpy and you'll hear about it. After Southend, where the hi-vis is mandatory and the marshalling is serious business, Sandown sits at the exact opposite end of the spectrum, and I love it for that.
Who is Sid? Sid is the one who deals with the complaints department. He is very effective, and a very good listener.
The rocket nobody warns you about
Then there's the rocket. A full size Black Arrow stands outside, owned by the Wight Aviation Museum on the field. You don't expect to taxi past Britain's space programme at a grass strip on the Isle of Wight, and yet there it is. The museum's a proper destination in its own right: a charity, free entry, open Friday to Tuesday, run by volunteers in the same spirit as the tower. There's a VR flight over the island, a 1960s Cushioncraft, a 1950s Skeeter helicopter and the story of The Princess flying boat. Fly in for lunch and skip the museum and you've missed half the reason for coming.
The food
The wood fired pizza oven is the headline, and rightly so. It's good enough that pilots fly here just to eat, which is a fly-in destination doing exactly what it should. The food's shifted across our visits, a buffet one time, burgers another. I'll be honest, I've never had the bacon roll here. I always seem to arrive closer to lunch and the burgers or pizza win every time. One day I'll get there early enough to test it properly.
One black mark, and it's a serious one in this house. On the August 2022 trip, they'd run out of cake. Caz was not happy.
The unexpected detail
Most airfields give you one thing to remember. Sandown hands you Sid, a space rocket and a man who'll might turn you away for being miserable. That's why people keep coming back, and why SkyDemon's numbers aren't a fluke. Five out of five. A proper destination, and the easiest score I've given yet.
Caz's Loo Review
Right, the loos. Small. There's a men's and a ladies', but the men's fills up so fast that the chaps just ignore the sign and pile into the ladies' whenever it's free. So picture it: me, at an airfield, actually queuing for the ladies' behind a line of blokes. That never happens anywhere. At Sandown it's a Tuesday. And on the day I'm scoring, they'd run out of loo paper too, which doesn't help anyone.
Caz's score: 🧻🧻🧻 (three out of five)
WAP airfield reviews are about the visit, not the flight planning. For the current plates, frequencies and fees, check SkyDemon, Pooleys and the AIP. Other sources of information are available.
