Over Bovingdon yesterday, I called up Farnborough North a few times and was surprised to get no response, so called up Farnborough West who told me that Farnborough North had gone home. At 16:30 on a Sunday – is this a new thing? Seems odd to leave a major section of airspace around North London radar-less. No great drama perhaps on a VFR day, but what would one do in IMC?
jgmusic wrote:
but what would one do in IMC?
Um…fly?
Very droll :) What if you needed radar for a specific reason – eg. traffic service etc?
Invest in a £200 Pilotaware thingy? Arguably the non-electric, non transponding puddle jumpers are not in IMC.
I’ve got a Sky Echo which, like everything else, is only good for a partial picture. The bigger issue, I would have thought (although call me old-fashioned!), is – why are Farnborough are sending controllers home on a Sunday afternoon? What’s the point of LARS if it’s not available at weekends?
For a very very partial picture…
Having been flying with a TAS/TCAS1 box since 2013 and even allowing for the majority of UK Class G traffic flying with transponders off, faulty, or removed, it looks like the traffic density in UK Class G IMC is very very low.
A traffic service is not an obligation on the controller to give you traffic. It is wholly discretionary.
The LARS system was originally set up for the RAF (which, in pre-GPS days, was routinely getting lost, and their fuel reserves are always really thin) and later continued getting funded because it was perceived to be useful to keep a lid on CAS busts. The RAF doesn’t fly much (or at all) on weekends, and it was probably discovered that there is almost no GA after 1630 either.
I usually find Luton quite helpful in that area. It seems in the gift of the individual controller, and of course how busy they are.
jgmusic wrote:
What if you needed radar for a specific reason – eg. traffic service etc?
But I am questioning why you “need” a traffic service?
A civilian aircraft has never (as far as anyone can discover) ever had a collision in IMC outside controlled airspace. Aren’t there more important things to worry about? I mean things that do happen, like CFIT, loss of control, infringement, engine failure etc.
Peter wrote:
there is almost no GA after 1630 either.
So it’s a new thing? I’ve regularly returned after 1630 and never known FB North to be OOO, as it were. Why is FB West still active? Is there more GA traffic in the West/South?
Timothy wrote:
infringement
A very good reason for FB North to be active? Especially as Luton and Stansted are usually too busy to handle GA?
jgmusic wrote:
A very good reason for FB North to be active? Especially as Luton and Stansted are usually too busy to handle GA?
Just use the FMC/Listening Squawk. It’s what it’s for and is effective.
Luton 129.550 0013
Stansted 120.625 7013
