Instructors-be Wary Of Sleap

[Starwing]

All PPL instructors should be aware of a potential problem for students at Sleap, especially those on their Qualifying Cross Country. The joining procedure is a centre line join because of Shawbury helicopter traffic in the vicinity. However, this procedure is not published in the AIP (or anywhere else I can find). A student recently had a situation where the airfield administrator refused to sign the certificate because the student did a standard overhead join. He also said that the student had not obtained PPR. He had in fact called the airfield by phone before setting off and obtained runway and QNH information, but had not spoken to the airfield administrator himself. So in short, if you want your students to complete the QXC satisfactorily, don't send them to Sleap!

[HON]

Instructors - Please don't 'abandon' Sleap. It is a great airfield. Yes the centreline join is 'non-standard' but if this is taught to the student beforehand they should have no problems. I flew in and out of sleap many times whilst at my old school positioning aircraft and never had any problems.

[Starwing]

For God's sake make sure that Sleap;s arrival procedure is notified in the AIP, Pooleys, AFE Flight Guide and elsewhere!

This particular procedure cost a student a great deal of money and dented confidence, which all of us instructors wish to avoid.


If Sleap wish to be difficult about this, then they will get fewer and fewer student visitors. I personally, will not send students there, particularly for their QXC because of their high-handed attitude.

By the way, if you call on 122,45 at a weekend, you may be misled into thinking that they have full ATC.... it's actually A/G!!!!!!!!! You actually get CLEARANCES?????!!!!!!

[Rote 8]

Would anyone here like to explain what a centre line join is?

I have no idea personally (and I have been to Sleap).

[Wee Weasley Welshman]

Quite true about the AG being strikingly like ATC at some times. Which is a bit naughty.

WWW

[Whirlybird]

Way back when I used to fly from Sleap as a PPL, I started to train as an A/G operator. I gave up after the chap supposedly teaching me demanded that I give clearances, tell aircraft when to taxi, and similar. I told him (fairly tactfully) that he shouldn't be doing that; he told me I had to do it his way as he'd been doing it for 16 years!!!!!!!! 16 years of being illegal! :eek: Anyway, I complained to one of the other A/G operators, who kind of shrugged it off...and I said I was packing it in as I wasn't going to do anything that was illegal and likely to confuse people.

All that was a few years back. And then, as now, no-one knew about their non-standard circuit joins if they hadn't been there before. Lovely friendly airfield...but when oh when are they going to get their act together?

[jarjam]

These people who think they are working tower at Heathrow instead of passing the limited airfield info they are LEGALY permitted to transmit need telling. I have witnessed several unsavoury happenings during my time as an FI caused by over zelous and arrogant radio operators.

Maybe the make shift tower controller was on his lunch when I witnessed two C152's nearly land on top of each other at Sleap last year!

A couple of months earlier at Sywell I was "CLEARED" to line up and hold behind the Tiger Moth and I had no hesitation in refusing the ilegal clearence and then undoing the confused mess left behind for my student who would have obediently followed if he was on jis own.

If you know people are doing this do something its bloody dangerous. They ain't trained ATCO's, who would accept responsibility if an accident occured?? it won't be them.

Cheers.