Holding for 40 mins at Bournemouth!

[pulse1]

I popped into Bournemouth Flying Club for a coffee today and noticed Cessna 172 "WI" joining the November hold for 26. 40 minutes later she was still holding with about eight aircraft lined up behind.

During that time, there were 2x737 movements and one RAF C130. Apart from that all the traffic was made up of light aircraft, a significant proportion of which were probably doing practice ILS approaches. I saw no evidence of anything unusual such as an emergency.

When I flew there some years ago, 20 minute holds were not uncommon and sometimes seemed to be unnecessary. It seems that Bournemouth ATC have not improved over the years.

When he was cleared, all WI did was a few circuits so, if they were waiting for clearance, they could easily have shunted her into the BFC parking area to allow others to depart.

Glad I don't fly there any more.

[Sir George Cayley]

One word - Oshkosh.

More light a/c on one field in a week than there is in the UK.

Nuff said.

Sir George Cayley

[Diddley Dee]

Hmmm.... I had a 20 min hold at N on RW26 the other week and from where I was sat it was unecessary. It was predominately for GA inbounds & training flights and there were several opportunities where a "line up after" combined with a "continue" would have meant everyone getting what they wanted a lot sooner.

DD

[AdamFrisch]

And once you finally get to land at B, don't they also then charge you the highest landing fee in Western Europe?

[frangatang]

Bournemouth INTERNATIONAL! Avoid like the bloody plague mate.

[IO540]

don't they also then charge you the highest landing fee in Western Europe?

Not by a factor of 10. Gatwick, Luton, Stansted are ~ £500, as are others e.g. Frankfurt, Munich... OK, I am counting mandatory handling at ~ £400 there.

Maybe this holding issue was a particular ATCO, because I have never had a problem there. Well, their "mandatory handling" seems a complete waste of space, as is the need to get a "PPR number" from them before flying there, and I always tend to get lost in the myriad of complicated taxiways :) but apart from that it is a good airport because it stays open fairly late into the evening and has an ILS, which is very rare in the south east.

[Fuji Abound]

and I always tend to get lost in the myriad of complicated taxiw

What you need is electronic plates on a nice large mfd ;)

[IO540]

Actually I have that, using MM :) I just rarely bother to load the airfield chart.

Jeppview owners have had this for years, using the FliteDeck add-on which now comes standard with JV3 (as of 2006). Sadly, FD is a piece of buggy crap which keeps crashing and has an impenetrable interface.

[Yankee]

I also watched the long waits unfold between 12:15 and 12:45 yesterday, but without RT had to give ATC benefit of doubt. However the scan from WebTrak: Bournemouth (http://webtrak.bksv.com/boh) for that period makes interesting watching. Also think at least two if not three of the aircraft held up in that queue only wanted to get back into the flying club’s parking area.

[18greens]

Not recently experienced Bournemouth but it beggars belief how much time a poor atco can add to tboh.

White waltham has never had any control yet manages 8 circuit aircraft with no issues. I've never hard of an incident that a good atco would have improved. There are plenty of other smaller fields where control just takes up more time.

[HEATHROW DIRECTOR]

Just curious..... how many of you who complain about ATC have spent time in the tower?

[The Grim EPR]

I was flying at Bournemouth on Friday around that time and as ever Bournemouth ATC were handling the traffic expeditiously. Along with the commercial airline traffic and adhoc private jet flights, there is a huge amount of training going on, with this training spanning first solos to CAA IR tests. To compare it to White Waltham is unfair.

I'm based there and I have NEVER found ATC to be unhelpful or slow to move aircraft. They also will keep you updated as to the reason for any delay, either on the ground or in the air, so you are always in the loop.

Go and see the nice people at ATC. And take them cakes and biscuits.