Mach Loop Cad West

T1 Hawk Special Tail Corris Corner.

Seek & Destroy Special Tail Typhoon.
Bwlch Middle Shelf.

I definitely want to go now!! Where would be the best place for a 70-300, any tips, and best places to stay for a week(end)?

Anywhere from half way up Cad West to the top of Cad West, depending on what you want to show, mine were from half way up, Robs from the top.

I stayed here

Good Food, the owner very helpful, rooms comfortable and about 1.5 miles from the cad West LayBy

Do you guys know in what weather they fly? MoD website says there are flying exercises this week but at what point do they stop flying? I mean cloud coverage - will they fly on overcast days? It's couple hours drive from me and I don't want to go just to miss everything due to some cloud coverage.

They will fly on overcast days, it was overcast on the Wednesday I was there, we had a Typhoon, 3 Hawks and a C130, on the Tue, it was misty and there was mo flying till the mist cleared around midday, we had a Tornado and a pair of F15's in the afternoon, it is pot luck and there is a chance of not seeing anything, but you only need one !!!

On the Tue, I waited, along with many others for 7 hours and had no more than 15 seconds worth of action, but those 15 seconds were superb

MoD website say they're flying between 11-12 on Monday. Is it just a guideline or actual flying time?

Weather permitting I'll go either Monday, Tuesday or Wednesday. Probably Cad West as I only have Tamron 70-200 and it looks like best place for this focal lenght. If anyone wants to join let me know so we could meet there.

Greg

IMO take that as a No Fly time, over the two days I was there, nothing happened in the allocated times, you need to be on your toes all the time as they just come at you so fast.

HI Greg,

Take no notice of the MOD Timetable. Go expecting nothing and anything else is a bonus.
Having good weather doesn't necessarily mean lots of flying It all depends what sorites are planned at Base. No specific day a good day either.
What I will say is if it's a bright sunny day you'd be better off heading to Cad East or Bwlch middle shelf as in the morning you are shooting into the sun. Light generally good on Cad west from 1-2pm onwards.
If you are planning on visiting and stopping over, here are a couple of suggestions of accommodation:

The bunkhouse nr Dolgellau. Approx £12PP
Red Lion in Dinas Mawddwy (good food) not sure of room rate sorry but I'm guessing around £50

Or the more expensive Cross Foxes at around £120 a night.

Plenty of others around within the loop pending your budget of course.

Should you be heading down and wish to meet up then Pm me and I'll forward my number.
Won't be up Monday but certainly a good chance Tuesday/Wednesday weather permitting.
😊

Just had a look and there's a NOTAM in place for part of the loop Monday so will have an impact on traffic. 😕

Where is this location?!

Like the last image Chris the best, with the F-15 flying like it's about to fly towards you and unleash hell!

There seems to be plenty of information here: http://machloop.co.uk/
and here: http://www.mjaviation.co.uk/MachLoop.htm

Thanks for the link

Hi Gareth

Cad West lay by is on the A487, pm me a phone number and I'll roughly talk you there. Although im away from home until the weekend if that's OK.