M R Cross

[WorkingHard]

To all GA fraternity.
I have never met Mike Cross and indeed know nothing about him except what I see on these forums. It seems to me that the WHOLE of the GA community AND AIS AND CAA owe a very substantial debt of gratitude to Mike and his colleagues. I have no idea what to suggest, others will have good suggestions I am sure. I do feel very strongly that some recognition should be made. Just look at the thread about Southend frequency change and you will see the continuing efforts made , really on behalf of all of us.
Please comment one and all.

[cblinton@blueyonder.]

I have it from a good source (the folk he is staying with) that he will be at the PFA on saturday about 2ish so lets get him P****d

See you there mike!!!:ok:

[BlueRobin]

He's had a gong from FLYER this year. :p

[Three Mile Final]

And he deserves another from each of us ............

:ok: :D

[flower]

I absolutely agree ,
the amount of work the likes of Mike and Russel and in the last few weeks Andy are putting in to make the NOTAMs easily accessible to all in a simple format is amazing.

Mike first encountered me as what would appear to be a disagreeable ATCO but since I realised exactly what he was trying to do he has had my unfettered support.

This work is done on behalf of the GA community but the benefits to all the flying community are extensive. A well briefed Pilot is much safer so makes my job that little bit easier.

They truly do need to be congratulated , I know full well from the Visit to AIS which Mike arranged with Phil Bate the head Of AIS that AIS also greatly value the work he and the team have been putting in.

So a PPRuNe award for services to Avaition should be winging its way to them .

Thankyou Guys for a job which I know still continues but is a job well done.

:ok: :ok: :ok:

[Andrew Sinclair]

Take a look at this NOTAM Info (http://www.telecall.uk.com/ais/index.htm) website which has also been an output of the work the Mike, Russell (Rustle) and Rod Bailes-Brown and others have completed so far. It is well worth a read. It explains the NOTAM process from originator to PIB, the history of the issues, current work and also talks a bit about future work planned in pursuit of greater understanding and access to Pre-Flight Information Bulletins for all GA.

[Mike Cross]

You're too kind chaps and chapessess:O

However as with all of these things it has been a team effort.

First from everyone who created a fuss when things went wrong.:ok:
Some people filed MOR's some wrote to their MP's, one had a letter printed in The Times (you know who you are) and many more aired their views publicly.

As a result there were questions from MP's, mostly from Anne McIntosh MP, whose husband is a director of Delta Airlines.

Secondly the people at AIS.:ok:
They realised very quickly that they had a major problem :{ and invited me and Russell in. Those who attended the visit last month know that AIS is not a large faceless bureaucracy. There are only 30 of them and they are good people. They listened to what we had to say and arranged meetings which also included other representatives from the user community.

Third, the CAA, in the person of John Gentleman,:ok:
the regulator for AIS.

As a result of efforts by all of these people the system is now greatly improved and we expect it to continue improving. The task now is to get those people who wrote it off and stopped using it to start again.

You may note that I haven't included Thales IS, the French software company who sold AIS what was supposed to be a commercial off-the shelf product which was delivered in an unstable inadequate condition.:yuk: :mad:

I am also grateful to Andrew Sinclair, who has recently been spending time on research and answering posters' questions.

The sharp-sighted among you may have noticed that I am no longer mrcross. My user name has just been changed to Mike Cross as some people equated mrcross with Mr Angry!

Mike

PS In case anyone missed it
If you are thinking of going to France and don't have an airfield chart for your destination you can call AIS during working hours on 020 8745 3471 and they will fax it to you. Please don't all decide to do so at 4pm on Friday!

PPS If you see a shifty old git getting out of Luscombe G-BTCHhttp://www.airliners.net/open.file/142284/M/ at Kemble on Saturday afternoon I shall be delighted to share a pint with you. Please do not however buy pints for any other shifty old gits earlier than this as they will be my partners in the syndicate, who are entirely teetotal. (why's my nose just got longer?)

[Keef]

Nice one, Mike, and well done indeed. Maybe we should club together and buy you a suitable monicker...

I'll be at the PFA Rally on Friday (working this weekend) so once again won't meet you. My loss, your gain. :O

[greatorex]

You're too kind chaps and chapessess
However as with all of these things it has been a team effort

And you, Sir, are far too modest. The whole of the GA community owe you an enormous debt of gratitude.

Cheers,

G