I am sorry Easy Life you simply cannot get the full picture from listening to one frequency as I thought I had already explained to you, we also have to plan against traffic coming out of 5 other airfields other than Bristol.
The situation is quite simple, Cardiff has the airspace delegated to it. We are in an area where there are sector overlaps and the airspace above us can get quite complicated regarding transfer of control , climb throughs etc. You require one controlling authority else wise the situation lends itself to utter confusion.
Would you suggest in the London TMA for example that simply because one unit can see beyond a certain point and as at times there is no traffic on that frequency that you should simply forget that frequency and let someone else do the job ?
I can see Birmingham and Southampton and Bournemouth on the radar does that mean i should keep traffic all the way there although other units may have responsibility for a section of airspace between myself and them.
For whatever reason Cardiff has the airspace, that isn't going to change within the foreseeable future. The procedures have been developed to accommodate the increase in traffic flow through the area. They are a vast improvement although you may not see it, sector flow restrictions have all but disappeared because of the procedures we have in place.
The watch I work opposite are excellent, if on RWY 27 and they have no conflictions you as a pilot will generally be transferred ex Tower to us and you get in the majority of the cases Continuous climb and direct routings. Some watches however hold on to the traffic particularly off RWY 09 and only give you to us passing FL130 without any conflicting traffic.
Avalon may think its all political and they are entitled to that view, I would object to anyone saying that you do not get good customer service. We particularly with the new procedures in place now offer a much safer procedure, again something not necessarily that you were previously aware of.
I would suggest you come along to Cardiff Easy Life and come and see what happens, we would make you very welcome.
I would think should the few at Bristol who have a negative view of things will change their mind when they work the airspace eventually should we combine.
Thank you for your kind words 055166K.
Yes when we took on the additional airspace it was a massively steep learning curve for us all, we did it if i remember correctly without all the simulations and trials one would hope to get.
The job we do now is I think possibly one of the most enjoyable and interesting within the UK. With the addition of Bristol and making it a combined approach can only make it better not only for us at Cardiff but also for our Bristol colleagues.
The ability to use 3 miles can really help sort out the myriad of conflictions which from Easy Life\'s post may not be immediately apparent to Air Crew. We work very closely with our London colleagues and i think our relationship with them has improved greatly.
The 40 mile limit is no longer in there but working traffic beyond 40 miles has to be approved by SRG and that can be a hard process, however should we combine then that 40mile limit will have to change but all of that of course has already been thought of.