Years ago we visited Manchester Airport’s Aviation Viewing Park. What a grandiose name for a couple of earth mounds and a Portakabin near the runway, we thought at the time.
Since then, they have acquired Concorde (I watched its very last landing) and have added several other planes. So I thought it was time for a return visit. Now I don’t suppose everybody enjoys watching aircraft taking off and landing, but I find these commonplace machines awesome, exciting and beautiful.
On the way there we called in at The Airport Hotel. This has a large beer garden which is “the closest you can get to commercial operating aircraft in the world”. For the price of a drink (and £1 car parking) you can be about 15 metres from the runway as the aeroplanes come whooshing in surprisingly fast. And those taxiing onto the runway sit waiting so close to the fence that, as they turn, the bigger ones send a gust of warm air across the entire garden.
Over at the official Viewing Park we expected at least as much spectacle. Two people in a car costs £7 to get in, after all. The viewing mounds are still there, and the Portakabin selling aviation souvenirs, but you can only peer through the window at Concorde unless you pay for a tour.
The biggest surprise for us was that it was much quieter and less involving at this end of the airport, where the planes were taking off. Yes, you can get close to a roped-off Trident and an Avro RJX but if it’s aeroplanes in action you want, my advice is to head for the pub.
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