Airspace infrigements

[C Rule]

I guess a lot of people will have seen this it was taken from the Flyer Newsletter but in case not:-


"Serious airspace infringements at six of the UK's highest-risk hot spots must be cut by at least half over the next year or the CAA will take further action such as bespoke 'surveillance mandatory zones'. General Aviation pilots are blamed for the busts.

The six air traffic zones named as the UK's hot spots are:

Birmingham
Gatwick
Heathrow
Luton
Southampton
Stansted

Teams of local pilots, airport operators, air traffic controllers and CAA representatives, in each of the ‘hotspots’, have agreed targets and committed to delivering reductions through improvements to current procedures by December 2015. The Southampton Local Airspace Infringement Team for example, will need to see high risk infringements reduce from the current annual average of 23 to 12.

It follows the failure of efforts to educate general aviation pilots on avoiding busting Controlled Airspace, Danger Areas and Temporary Restricted Airspace, said the CAA. Infringement rates have shown no significant decline over the last ten years.

Failure to achieve the target could see the future introduction of surveillance mandatory zones (SMZ) to provide a conspicuity buffer around particular hotspot, continued the CAA. The aim of the SMZ will be to provide a ‘known traffic environment’ around the hotspot’s class D airspace. This could lead to a requirement for the mandatory use of radios and/or transponders in that buffer area. Other options, such as rationalising airspace boundaries, are also a potential solution."

[John Price]

CAA/DAP & NATS at their finest.

Create an airspace structure that is so complicated so as to increase the amount of CAS infringements.

Then come up with a solution that makes airspace more complicated so as to try to reduce infringements. If you think about it, they are not going to 'rationalise CAS' by making it smaller.

It is worth noting that they are talking about adding restrictions in Class G, open or free, airspace.

Correct me if I am wrong, but I thought that the reason behind Class D was to create a ' known traffic environment'. At least that is what is stated in the ACP's.

So what they now want is a ' known traffic environment', surrounding a ' known traffic environment'.

Couldn't make it up!

John.

[C Rule]

I do agree.
If what Farnborough are shopping for and what Boscombe Down want with regard to increased Danger Areas
and with the imposition of an SMZ in Class G airspace it will almost be impossible to fly over Hampshire

[Rob Swain]

Other options, such as rationalising airspace boundaries, are also a potential solution."

So they admit that the airspace layout is irrational (if it needs to be 'rationalised'), but only as a last resort will they look into applying some common sense to it!

Daun sauf it is unsurprising that a number of the airspaces get a lot of infringements as the available space between them is so small, and the same can be said about Birmingham being cheek-by-jowl with East Mids, but a lot of the blame has to go with those that request/impose the airspace for nicking huge amounts of airspace for no good reason e.g. Southend 'needing' a huge swathe of airspace for about 4 flights a day. This has the effect of pushing GA traffic closer to the other, busier, airspace, increasing the risk of infringements

While on the subject of Southend (the fifth 'London' airport? I ask you!) they engineered their airspace in a truly Machiavellian manner: they said they wanted people to talk to them, then refused to offer any service when one did. I called them up and because they didn't have any big traffic they discontinued the service when I was directly overhead. I was less than impressed with my 3 minutes of 'service'!
I do wonder if they listed my transit as an 'infringement by unidentified aircraft' to help their cause...

On a more positive note I do wonder if some of these airports could make do with part time CAS. When I've flown on my hols from East Mids I have noted of the 50 or so departures most of them are in the morning (0600 - 1030 springs to mind) and I believe the flipside flights come back in late in the day. So how about ditching the CAS between 11:00 and 15:00, for example?
On this scheme Southend would be active about 45 minutes a day!

[Frank Parker]

I don't remember airspace violations being much of a problem when I used to live in the UK, but that was over forty years ago before the great airspace grab!

People are concerned that the cost of flying is reducing the number of recreational pilots, so why is more controlled airspace required? We managed without it back then, and few aircraft had comm and nav radios. My nasty suspicious mind thinks someone is making money out of this rather than it being a safety issue!