Having failed to get to the Channel Islands at last attempt during the May Day bank holiday last year due wx, we are going to give it another go on the same weekend this year (what are the chances of being weathered off two years in a row!?... don't answer that!).
The plan would be to visit Guernsey via Alderney and day 1, and then visit Jersey on day 2. So I have updated myself with a fresh read of the current French
AIP SUP 119/04 , which was issued quite recently, in November 2004. I find some of the wording a little bit ambiguous, so I wondering if anyone who has actually flown the route to Alderney recently can confirm my understanding? The
current AIP supplement shows a VFR route from Cherbourg point "N" to "LHN" to Alderney. The relevant text reads:
3.8.3 Provisions for VFR aircraft (ref. chart)
- The VFR route between Alderney and Cap de la Hague:
* is prohibited below 5000 ft ASFC except for aircraft carrying out the activities 1, 2, 3.
* is available for all VFR flights only above 5000 ft ASFC.
- The additional VFR route; Alderney - Heauville, associated with the ZIT at Flamanville, is suspended, and a recommended VFR route: Alderney - LHN (298deg/21 Nm from MP or 49deg47'00"N/001deg52'00"W) - Point N Cherbourg Maupertus, is created.
- A route, in the ZRT, between Pointe du Rozel and SW Cherbourg point, is created.
My questions are:
1) whether the VFR route via LHN can be flown at any level, not just above 5,000'? I take it that it can, as long as you have flight planned appropriately (copied to addresses specified in the AIP SUP) and contacted the "mobile radar station" referred to in the NOTAM?
2) The
current AIP supplement also refers to the need to "contact the managing authority" which is defined as:
Managing Authority
Mobile radar station (MCT): call sign, frequency and telephone number (published by a launching Notam).
Where then is the NOTAM which gives me these details? When I put the route "... DCT SAM DCT MP DCT ALD ..." into the UK AIS NOTAM system I do not get anything which gives these details.... maybe that's because it is only sometimes active so it is not always necessary to contact the "mobile radar station"?
3) Lastly, the same route when put into the UK AIS NOTAM system throws up some NOTAM which appear to contradict the
current AIP supplement... for example:
NAVW: FROM 04/12/01 09:43 TO 05/01/31 23:59 EST B2242/04
E)FLIGHTS FROM/TO CHANNEL ISLANDS:
PROHIBITED AREA 494100N 0015300W RAD 5KM 3900FT AMSL/SFC.
SVFR ROUTE ALDERNEY - CAP DE LA HAGUE SUSPENDED UNDER 3900FT.
CREATION OF A COMPLEMENTARY SVFR ROUTE
ALDERNEY - HEAUVILLE (493459N 0014807W)
DANGER AREA LF D575 SUSPENDED.
directly contradicts the current French AIP SUP 119/04 which no longer allows the route via Heauville, and:
NAVW: FROM 04/11/16 11:43 TO 05/06/30 23:59 B6291/04
E)TEMPO PROHIBITED AREAS (FLAMANVILLE, LA HAGUE AND SAINT
NAZAIRE MONTOIR) WITHIN BREST FIR:
AIP SUP NR 102/04 REFERS.
F)SFC G)3900FT AMSL
... appears to refer to an now superseded French AIP SUP prior to the current 119/04.
Is it bureaucracy gone mad, or have I failed to read this properly? I am keen for practical advice from those who have had to deal with this in practice since Nov 2004. It seems worth getting right as the AIP SUP indicates draconian penalties for getting it wrong!
Vive le AIP!
Andy
