I have also now received a note from John Brady who has gone through the TAG document and comes up with the following advice:
Farnborough Airspace – Action Required by 2 May 2014
The March issue of the LAA magazine ‘Light Aviation’ contained an article setting out the Class D controlled airspace proposed for Farnborough. This covers a very wide area, which is currently busy with all forms of GA, but Farnborough’s own traffic forms but a small proportion of this. In particular, the proposed CTR, from ground up to the Class A TMA, sits across the two very busy transit routes, N-S west of Heathrow and E-W between Heathrow and Gatwick, and a radio mandatory zone completely prevents use of the E-W route by non-radio aircraft.
The LAA will submit (and publish) a comprehensive technical objection but individual responses are needed f we are to succeed.
It is very important that you object to the proposal by TAG Farnborough (if indeed you do)
Serious reasons for objection include:
• TAG says the CAS is needed for a forecast doubling of Farnborough traffic levels but no justification given – this is entirely made up to suit their argument.
• Their traffic is entirely bizjet, with only an average of 2.5 passengers per flight. Far more people use the area in light aircraft and gliders and it is unreasonable to move them aside and give the whole area over to a small minority to use.
• No proper facts have been given of the total current volume and pattern of use of the airspace, nor the forecast effect of the proposed CAS on both safety and restriction of use.
• Crossing clearances will be limited by both the new SERA rules for VFR flight in Class D airspace and increase in Farnborough’s own traffic for which this CAS is sought.
• The new rules coming into force later this year require VFR traffic to be 1000ft and 1500m clear of cloud in Class D, which effectively precludes crossing when cloud base is below 2500ft - very common.
• All practicable avoidance routes give serious safety concerns, particularly that Lasham gliding site, one of the busiest in the world is just to the West of the CTR and there is only a very narrow gap between the Farnborough and Gatwick zones through which much traffic will be funnelled.
• Outside the CTR, a large area of CAS is proposed which substantially lowers the current base of CAS, again reducing the available Class G airspace thus increasing traffic density.
• The proposal would isolate the south-east of England and Europe from access by VFR GA in the rest of England.
Even if you live far away from this area, you should lodge your objection as this proposal could set a precedent for airspace grab by other airports.
The full consultation is at
www.consultation.tagfarnbroughairport.com but detail on how to respond is not clear. We recommend you follow this procedure:
1. Go to the TAG website and click on view consultation and leave feedback
2. Scroll down to Part E which is the technical aviation section and either download the VFR chart or see the copy on Page 16 of the LAA magazine.
3. Write your views on this either in a document or email.
4. Click on Leave feedback for Part E and scroll down to Additional Comments near the end.
5. Cut and paste your comments into the Additional Comments box or you can upload a whole document using the browse button.
6. You may then like to go through the 17 questions in this section and give your view before inserting your details and the verification code and submitting.
That is the main aviation section but you may like to comment on the others:
Part B - Proposed changes below 4,000ft in the vicinity of Farnborough Airport.
Part C - Proposed changes between 4,000ft and 7,000ft further away from Farnborough Airport.
Part D - Proposed changes between 2,500ft and 7,000ft in the vicinity of Southampton and Bournemouth.
Note that your objection is not limited to the format given; they will accept any form of written objection.
This is really important so please ACT NOW and respond before 2 May!
