Standard Noise

Fancy an opinion from the 'dark side'?
I will only speak of my own unit, as I don't know what happens elsewhere. When we got our 'new' airspace a couple of years ago, it came with a proviso from DAP that we have to give all airspace users access to our CAS.
As it is, we have an area which can be activated for balloons within our control zone ie inside 5nm from the field, an area to the south for gliders from Halesland which can be activated up to 5000' (which conflicts with our down wind leg), another bit to the east, over Bath up to 4500' for the BGA to use when they want and a chunk to the ENE up to FL75 for Grobs from Colerne. Any of these can be activated at any time, within the terms of the various Letters of Agreement. The Bath Gliding Block for example, once opened cannot be closed until dusk, so one glider going up for 20 mins can effectively make that piece of airspace unusable for IFR traffic all day.

Then we get onto transits, we cannot refuse without good reason and we roster enough staff so that we have two radar ATCOs available to man the RAD1 (IFR arrs & IFR deps) and RAD2/LARS (everything else) positions. If we can't man up properly (sickness, equipment failure etc), we NOTAM it and pilots can expect problems with transits at busy times, but we will still do our best. Transits at or below 2000' VFR are no problem to us at all. From 2000' upwards for VFRs, we just have to keep an eye on you to keep IFR arrs & deps aware of your transit. Recently I had an inbound 757 captain complain about a TCAS event he was having to file on, even though the VFR transit was above him, he had been given traffic info and could see it, and the other pilot, who also had been given traffic info, could see him. I ended up doing 45 mins paperwork for something which will have no outcome, believe me, it's a pain in the ass!

As for IFR transits (should you ask for one) you will be given a level which may not be your current level, but it is to seperate you from other known IFR aircraft (after all, that's what we get paid to do). You may also get a heading to de-conflict you from other traffic, but only if absolutely necessary. Most of the time, it's easier to let transits (either VFR or IFR) to continue on their own navigation, but it's just not always possible.

We are also required by DAP, to keep a record of any refusals (I don't think we've hit double figures in either of the last two years) and we also keep a record of amended clearances ie when a pilot asks for a clearance and gets one which deviates from what they asked. That is a function of busy airspace I'm afraid, and won't change because first and foremost, we are contracted to provide ATS by the airport for it's flights and they must therefore take priority (and that's not me being Mr Nasty, it's just a fact of life in my industry).

I only have one problem with the GA community, and other operators who fly point to point (medical services, reconnaissance flights, air taxi, helos for hire etc), calling us too close to the airspace boundary. We need you to call us in good time, 10 miles or so to the airspace boundary, so that we can co-ordinate with our colleague beside us (who has overall control of our controlled airspace and may be busy and unable to talk to us straight away). Then it is more likely that we can give you a transit clearance before you start to deviate from your route. If you are talking to another unit within 10 miles of us, then ask them to co-ordinate onwards with us so that you don't come as a complete surprise to us (around these here parts, if they already know your route, they will do anyway). Look at the half mil map, there's us (Bristol if you hadn't alreeady guessed), Cardiff, Filton, Lyneham and Yeovilton, all within a block of airspace no more than 50 miles x 30 miles. We all work well together and if I had a pound for every transit co-ordination phone call we make between us in just one week, I'd be a happy man.

Help us to help you and it'll all run nice and smoothly. Happy flying.