but he was very, very slow and when you have a few of those on frequency it can make things almost unworkable.
I had a very embarrassing moment the other day leaving Deauville IFR.
We had been instructed to climb straight ahead to FL80, call passing 2000’. Just as we took off, there appeared on frequency, in French, a VFR pilot with a severe stammer. Clearly (as is common with people who stammer) the worse it got, the worse he felt, the more he apologised and the worse it got, in a vicious circle.
We were climbing at about 800fpm, and we were through 4000’ before we could get a word in. I could have jumped in, but I thought that it would make it even worse for him if I made it clear that he was “in the way of real people”.
As so often when sharing facilities with disabled people, there was that terrible doublethink of 99% total sympathy and wanting to be as helpful as possible with 1% of discreditable “he shouldn’t be here, it makes it unsafe for everyone”.
That must have been excruciating to hear.
I have only ‘jumped in’ once. Arriving at Gloucester and was asked to report final. Someone with very poor RT arrived and the controller started dealing with his arrival instructions obviously and rightly thinking it’d be well taken care of before I got anywhere near final.
Anyway it became very protracted indeed, so as I was approaching the threshold I jumped into the tinest gap:
“Golfindiatangofinal”
“Golfindiatangorunwayzeronineclearedland”
“Clearedlandgolfindiatango”
And then back to the arrival instructions for this poor chap, which was still going on by the time I was parking up.
Sure, and I do that every time with a numpty; but this guy was disabled.
UK „Traffic Service“ should be called „Historic Intention Great But Sorry We Have No Radar Anymore Cause Our ATC is Privatized and Broke“.
All I heard the last few days was „reduced service“ or „radar inop“ or „controller workload“ or „xyz atc unit has gone home“.
And I’d like to add that the UK is a great place to fly and traffic density is higher than anywhere else I’ve experienced in Europe.
Radar → should work
ADS-B → should be mandated
What system does the French use? It’s service is so simple and flying long distances seem very easy.
France has an integrated ATC system, with a more or less seamless radar coverage, flight plan distribution, and State-provided ATCOs of whom all are radar-qualified.
Their ATC is also much more relaxed about transits, which are normally granted without even using the “cleared to” phraseology (a bit like the US, on a radio contact, except the US has formalised the procedure).
Everyone gets radar everywhere, essentially. You generally don’t need to pass lengthy messages to more than one unit, and radar service is assumed
Timothy wrote:
Sure, and I do that every time with a numpty; but this guy was disabled.
Did you mean to say that as it came across?
Question,
I depart my base northeasterly and turn for biggin overhead enroute somewhere possibly Dunkeswell.
I’m very pleased with the strong tailwind and have 160kts plus groundspeed.
Call biggin for an overhead-enroute at about Aveley.
Told to call at 5 Miles.
At the Dartford crossing someone begins on the radio.
I decide I may not get a call in, and will avoid the ATZ if I cant.
At 5 miles they are still talking
At 160 plus kts I don’t fancy an orbit and pulling the power isn’t going to produce a significant enough result.
I get the call in at 2.5 miles DME and the controller gives me a lecture.
What would you have done?
Tell him you’ll phone him later and get on with the flight. Don’t take lectures from anyone while you’re flying a plane.
When you phone him, explain that any agreement to call him back at any time/position in the future is obviously subject to being able to get a word in edgeways on his frequency. He knows how much time is elapsing and how close you’re getting, so he can always shut someone else down with a “break break” and call you.
Now I may be totally wrong here, but also you actually require a specific clearance to transit an ATZ? Is being in two-way comms not sufficient? I’ve never heard a controller say ‘cleared to enter the ATZ’.
On a similar note, Farnborough have a tendency to ‘clear’ transits of their overhead at a level where you’re not entering the ATZ and nothing at all is required – you could do it non-radio if you wanted.
