If the Cornwall/Scillies councillors & operators were serious about improving the ‘weather resiliance’ the first step would be to find funding to make the whole corridor between Lands End and St Mary’s Class D and provide radar separation. As it stands the system doesn’t allow a stream of IFR traffic, a single IFR movement blocks off the whole corridor, and therefore renders an IFR flight unworkable around the other traffic.
Penzance Heliport will only operate in VFR conditions as their PinS approach is a ‘Proceed VFR’ approach with an OCA of 523ft, so in reality it requires a 600ft cloud ceiling. ‘Weather resilience’ against
fog and low cloud (250ft) through IFR flight using modern technologies were nothing more than
PR speak to gain public support for the planning process, the realities of which were predictably dropped once planning was granted. In fact - Penzance offers no added resilience. At least IFR flight is possible to Lands End in visibility well below VFR minima.
It all becomes academic when you have a public who think £230 for a return helicopter ticket is ‘more expensive than a flight to Malaga!’, and those who can afford it charter a 109 from Liskeard. Unfortunately the numbers don’t add up these days for a helicopter airline.