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Incident at Calais

I read elsewhere that a UK based instructor was arrested last Sunday at Calais after making 2 ILS approaches (with students)on 24 over the nuclear power station but without talking to Lille. Seems Mirages were scrambled. Anybody know more?

EHLE / Lelystad, Netherlands, Netherlands

Sad to hear but they can't be clearer about it on the plates....

EGTK Oxford

Don't know about his particular case, but I do know they are pecky about that particular power plant (and likely about all others, too). Friend of mine busted the forbidden zone with the club Piper Cub, landed merrily at Calais and had scarcely stopped the engine when a blue van stopped next to the plane... I never dared asked him how expensive it was.

EBZH Kiewit, Belgium

I was a passenger in a PA28 that inadvertently bust a zone around a nuclear power station in France. It was the month they increased the exclusion zone from 3 to 5 kms. About a week after our return to Holland I had the Dutch Aviation Police feeling my collar at the request of the French. In the end the pilot confessed, apologised profusely and evntually we were given to understand that on this occasion, bearing in mind that the zone changes were not charted, we would escape the guillotine.

We were left in no doubt of the consequences if it were to happen again. Standard penalty is a max €40,000 fine and/or 2 years imprisonment.

EHLE / Lelystad, Netherlands, Netherlands

In 2002 or so I bust the Les Blayais nuclear power station TRA. It was a strange flight; I had been under a radar service, with a specific squawk, and ATC said nothing. Then they asked me for my name, etc. I thought it was odd... anyway I was flying Biarritz to Shoreham nonstop.

5 months later I got a letter from the UK CAA, going after me on behalf of the DGAC.

I pointed out that

  • the TRA was not on the 2003 VFR charts
  • the TRA was not in the notams
  • ATC said nothing at the time (I requested the radar track; I was maybe 200m into it)

I got a stiff written reprimand from the CAA (for crap airmainship, etc) which they copied to the DGAC and that was as far as it went. I gathered that the French did a lot of that at the time. I suppose the TRAs were in the AIP but in my PPL (2000/2001) neither the AIP nor Notams were ever mentioned.

Standard penalty is a max €40,000 fine and/or 2 years imprisonment.

I heard of €10,000 fine and/or aircraft confiscation. Does anybody have a reference to the French law on this?

Has anybody actually been done for anything like these amounts? I recall asking this question in various places over the years and nobody had turned up any data.

Administrator
Shoreham EGKA, United Kingdom

But this is one where the restriction is shown the ILS approach plate he must have been using.

EGTK Oxford

But this is one where the restriction is shown the ILS approach plate he must have been using.

Which one was he using, and have you seen it?

Come to think of it, have you seen the current Jepp one for ILS24?

Administrator
Shoreham EGKA, United Kingdom

Yes I have seen the Jepp plate and used it a couple of weeks ago. The restriction appears.

The AIP plate is even clearer.

My point is more that in VFR I see how easily one can inadvertently trip over this sort of thing. An instructor shooting instrument approaches should have picked it up however.

EGTK Oxford

Can anybody see the current Jepp plate for ILS24?

Administrator
Shoreham EGKA, United Kingdom

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