Olympics - Atlas Control
The CAA hosted a workshop a couple of days ago at the Belgrano to discuss the Olympics restrictions and how they will be managed.
I will put out the slides of the presentations and charts through PPL/IR and AOPA website when I get them (they said by this weekend) but in the meantime I'd like to thank the CAA. NATS and the RAF for the massive effort they are putting on to mitigate impact on GA.
There will be impact, of course, just like there will be on all aspects of our lives during next Summer, but I really don't see what more the three organisations could be doing.
Our biggest concern, that Atlas Control will not be able to cope, appears to have been dealt with. There will be 48 controllers in four watches, meaning 12 ATCOs at any one time, each able to manage 10 aircraft, so 120 aircraft in the air at any one time; the controllers will be RAF LARS/ATSOCAS ATCOs, drafted in from the North and West (so as not to take anyone from the SE, where they will still be needed.) They will be thoroughly trained in our funny SEern ways, our waypoints, geography and topography. Aircraft in trouble will be transferred to D & D.
The controllers will be backed up by a team of experienced assistants, who will deal with FPLs and permissions. Permissions will be texted as well as sent back via the AFTN route they arrived from. If a short delay would allow you to make a flight which would otherwise be denied, then you will be allocated a later EOBT and clearance, which you will be assumed to accept.
The CAA are doing a mass of modelling on choke points and were also asking for our help on that. They will be asking other nearby agencies to assist where appropriate.
The big message is that the system will work if people are co-operative and helpful. That is the carrot. There was an implied stick if people mess the system around by putting in FPLs that they don't intend to fly.
There will be massive publicity. Our job is to help get that information to people who are not normally plugged into the information network, the biggest worries being grass strip flyers, foreign PPLs and foreign bizjet pilots.
I posted the above on Flyer and PPL/IR and a couple of people raised very specific issues. CAA/NATS have been very quick to answer them.
I think many on here would be surprised how much effort is being put into supporting GA for that month.