FLY ON TRACK

Your Help Needed: "File a Flight Plan" & "Squawk a Circuit" Weekend 5/6 May

07-05-2012
Thanks to everyone who helped with File a Flight Plan weekend, and Squawk a Circuit too. The application form for airfields to register for circuits squawks for 'the real thing' is here

Outlook on Airspace News, Changes and Temporary Restrictions

06-04-2012
Airspace Change and Temporary Restrictions: The news-sheet giving news, changes and future planned restrictions is here: Restrictions Outlook as of April 2012 It's rather a large file this time due to the number of diagrams (approx 8 meg). There's all sorts there - GPS jamming trials, Queen's Jubilee Fly-Past and practices, Birthday Flypast, Red Arrows, Old Warden, Cosford, Farnborough Air Show, Southend, Eastbourne, Airspace changes for the Olympics, and many, many more - well worth a browse through. Other restrictions can and will spring up, (any listed are only the ones fully signed off 'legally' at the time this list came out), so check NOTAMs and just before flight, & don't forget, the temporary restrictions are updated daily on freephone 0500-354802 (+44 20 8750 3939 from abroad or mobiles with 'free minutes'.) To go directly to the AIS Index of all "Mauve" AICs (which cover Restrictions of Flying) click here - note that if there is an AIC in the list specifically for 'Fast Jet' and/or 'Red Arrows' displays, it's always worth reading.

Jubilee FlyPast Restriction of Flying 19/5/2012

03-04-2012
A large corridor from mid Channel passing east of Farnborough to Windsor and then towards the north and north west and Brize will be subject to a restriction of flying on Saturday May 19th 2012 for the Jubilee Flypast - the RA(T) extends down to ground level at all points - full details, actual route, times (UTC):Click Here (Note this is an unusual restriction even for flypasts, both in direction taken and the restriction being down to the ground at all times - worth studying if flying anywhere between Oxford latitudes and the south coast on that date)

"Listening Squawks" (NEW in 2012)

05-05-2012

Latest: There is now a pdf of a graphic to print, cut and keep on your kneeboard -Listening Squawk Graphic. This graphic does not contain the new ones shown for 2012. The current list of listening squawks around the UK is:

0010 Birmingham 118.050 MHz
0011 Solent / Bournemouth 120.225 MHz / 119.475 MHz respectively
0012 Thames Radar/Gatwick 132.7 MHz / 126.825 MHz respectively
0013 Luton / Stansted 129.550 MHz / 120.625 MHz respectively
6170 Doncaster Approach 126.225 MHz
7045 Aldergrove Approach 128.5 MHz
7366 Manchester 118.575 MHz

Remember usual rules apply, you are not in receipt of a service and you must stay in Class G airspace, you cannot enter the CTA or CTR. Go back to another suitable squawk (eg: 7000-C) when you move away from the area or stop monitoring.
NEW and Coming Shortly, but DO NOT USE UNTIL THE DATES SHOWN:

31st May 2012 onwards: 2677 Leeds Radar, 133.125 MHz
28th June 2012 onwards: 4572 East Midlands Approach 134.175 MHz
2nd July 2012 to 15th August Only: 5047 Farnborough West 125.250 MHz
14th July 2012 to 15th August Only: 1500 ATLAS NORTH, 1600 ATLAS SOUTH

TOP NAV Competitions May 2012

16-03-2012
Improve your Nav, have some fun and/or get serious, either or both: The Royal Institution of Navigation is holding two separate Top Nav competitions in May, one at Retford/Gamston on the 12th and another at White Waltham a week later on the 19th. See RIN Top Nav 2012

VFR Info/Advice from East Midlands (EMA) restored

08-03-2012
The VFR pilots' guide to operating in, across, or around East Midlands airspace is now restored (in a new form) after previous hacking problems. See various subpages starting here

Transition Altitude Changes in S.E. England

08-02-2012
Two items here - On March 8th 2012, the Transition Altitude beneath the Worthing and Clacton Control Areas (CTAs) to the east and south of London became 6,000ft for both Worthing and Clacton CTAs. The change does not include the creation of any new controlled airspace or changes to airspace classification. It will mainly affect airspace over the English Channel. For more 'news' details click here or for the actual AIC look at the index of yellow AICs and chose Y 027/2012 (direct links to a particular AIC change monthly, hence access via the index). ALSO - a consultation on raising the transition altitude to 18000' over the UK has been held and comments are under review.

Norwich and Manchester Airspace Changes 8/03/2012

05-01-2012
The Manchester Low Level Route for VFR transits in between Manchester and Liverpool CTRs will have a slightly raised ceiling (1300' QNH), and the Manchester CTR will reduce in size, both of these changes will come into effect on 8th March 2012. On the same date, Norwich gets its new class D CTR and CTA - all mentioned with diagrams in Known Future Restrictions as of mid January 2012

Olympics Airspace Restrictions: Potted Summary of Links/News

02-03-2012
The main Olympics briefing site is www.airspacesafety.com/olympics - here is a potted digest, but it is important to go to the official site as there is much more information there:
New: Like a TMZ, the minimum spec for a transponder will be the use of both Mode A and Mode C.
Charts: For charts depicting the areas with restrictions and prohibtions, see here and of course if you buy a Half-Mil Southern England chart now, you get an extra one depicting the Olympics airspace.
Leaflets: The early 'blue' Olympics leaflet dated July 2011 has now been updated and extended to show not only the prohibited and restricted zones, but also the extension and new controlled airspace at various provincial airports around London - see this new pink leaflet

Checking your flight plan: If you want to trial some standard Olympics flight plans that you know you will be using, to see if the format and coding you use will be valid, you can format them using AFPEx and email them for checking anytime (don't submit them live on AFPEx). See News on the Olympics safety site. That page is also useful if you took part in 'File a Flight Plan Day' and had some flight plans rejected, as some of the main reasons this would be can be found on there.

New Pictorial Bristol Airspace Guide (post Lyneham)

08-10-2011
The excellent airspace guide to the Bristol area, complete with pictures for easy identification of important features, has been revised now that Lyneham no longer has any controlled airspace. The diagrams in it take account of changes of airspace 'current' in early October 2011, ie: after Lyneham CTR/CTA airspace has gone, but whilst Lyneham could still have an ATZ activated by NOTAM. See Bristol Airspace post Lyneham, or when it is dropped from this Hot News, it will still be on the 'Links' page (airspace guide section), where you can find many others too.

Farnborough and RA(T)s - changes

26-12-2011
Farnborough occasionally has short period (usually one hour duration) temporary restrictions of flying (RA(t)s) announced by NOTAM and on the RA(t) freephone number 0500-354802. In the past, these have consisted of a circular CTR radius 10nm and a 10nm wide airway, base 3500' but these CTR dimensions, shape, and the airway route and base levels have changed fairly dramatically - see AIC Yellow 99 of 2011 - here's a link to the AIC 'home page', choose yellow AICs, then number 99 of 2011.

NEW TMZs off Kent Coast NE of Manston

06-10-2011
New TMZ for Kent coast will be active from Nov 17th 2011. Here is Kent Offshore TMZ Chart as a PDF - both TMZ areas are off the coast generally in the NE quadrant from Manston. The AIC has now been released, including the chart but explaining more - see AIC Yellow 82 of 2011 from the index of yellow AICs. (Individual AICs tend to change address every month, so the link needs to be to the index)

New Stansted TMZ 'info sheet' plus Farnborough LARS Map

19-07-2011
Since 2009, Stansted has had a TMZ (Transponder Mandatory Zone) in the Class G airspace under the stubs of the CTA. A new info sheet has been produced for flying in the Stansted Transponder Mandatory Zone - see Transponder Mandatory Zone for Stansted
A map of Farnborough LARS coverage is now available here as a pdf: Map of Farmborough LARS area
These will remain available on the LINKS page after the news item is removed.

Airfields/ATC LOCAL Initiatives

14-05-2011
There is a small but growing trend for airfields and nearby Airspace controllers to start extra initiatives to cut down infringements locally - by highlighting local "elephant traps". For example, I hear Wellesbourne and Birmingham have a lot of things going together (eg: radar room visits are well established) but if you fly into Wellesbourne, the new idea is to staple a 'local airspace brief' to the landing fee receipt for visitors to make sure they realise how close and low (1500') the base of the Birmingham CTA is not far to the North after departure. (Birmingham Brief to appear here shortly). Prestwick CC have produced the following poster too, highlighting a local airway to pilot departing Sleap, and the latter have it on their noticeboard for visitors and as a reminder to locals about the somewhat higher airway nearby. See: Sleap Poster - whilst no-one is inferring either the locals or visitors to these two airfields are any worse than any other airfield in the infringements stakes, there's the possibility through these local initiatives, very relevant to specific problems nearby, that these two will be better than others in the future at avoiding infringements on flights out of their airfields.
If you airfield has a similar local initiative, it can be advertised here too - both the Birmingham 'reminder' and the Sleap poster will be on the links page here even after this news item has gone.

New Radar Replay Available

28-04-2011
A new radar replay showing 15 minutes of disruption in Stansted CTR is available on the Radar Replay tag, all due to misindentification of ground features, and made more difficult for controllers by the transponder remaining 'off'. (The replay is speeded up to play through in less than 5 minutes, with annotations of where mistakes were made). See 'number 10' in the series on the Radar Replay page.

Video Clip Help for Flying near London / Luton / Stansted

24-03-2010
Video Clip help from NATS for visual flying around London, plus the pictorial airspace guides around the UK. There's a new resource from NATS for anyone flying visually in the London area (link recently changed):- http://vfr.airspacesafety.com/content/

Just pick the leg or legs encircling London and up between Stansted and Luton which interest you, and you get a short video brief and see the flight itself and specific landmarks on the way. So if you were thinking of flying (say) Oxfordshire to Kent, you could link legs from Thame through to Sevenoaks via Henley and Guildford. Also, you can click on specific airspace areas around the UK and view picture pdf guides written by local controllers who are usually pilots themselves. And don't forget the NATS endorsement of an airspace warning device - moving map CAA chart, free airspace data downloads, warnings of airspace, and 'locator' information, all for around £150. See http://www.airspaceaware.com/

Now Get FlyOnTrack HOTNEWS Alerts via Twitter

27-05-09 onwards
Hot News Alerts - flyontrack on twitter

Faxing Flight Plans? New Contact Details

24-01-2009
Faxing flightplans? The Swanwick Air Traffic Control Centre manage flightplans now. AFPEx gives your own online filing system (registration required). Pilots who do not have an AFPEx account should fax FPL and associated messages to 01489 61 2793 ensuring that they are correctly addressed - and they must contain a fax number too which SWanwick can use to reply to you by fax.There is a 24 hour Helpdesk for all enquiries 0845 601 0483 or 01489 612792. The Helpdesk AFTN address is EGGGYFAJ. Useful links: www.flightplanningonline.co.uk for AFPEx registration and use