Rod/Simride etc: Interesting comments on the possibility of the Airbus FMS dumping the flight plan if we route you towards/via the BRI. That was a new one for me, and slightly worrying too.
Is it Airbus-family FMS specific or equally applicable to Boeings and Embraers etc? If we had a radar failure and instructed you to route to the BRI for a procedural let-down, does it raise the spectre of you frantically reprogramming of the FMS and the approach plate (which approach plate? Paper copy or in the FMS?) at very short notice indeed?
As for straight-in approaches, I always watch the C unwind on the radar (caution, time-lag on it for us) and try to work out if your displayed alt., apparent ROD and track miles to go makes you look reasonably placed for the ILS LLZ intercept, offering the option for some more track miles unless you get in first with the request. That said, would you actually prefer a "proper" base leg radar circuit, even if it meant you were losing a minute or two and maybe were cursing me for NOT offering a straight-in? A case of rock-and-a hard place for us, maybe, but I'm there to try to make it all safe and easy for you guys (and everyone else...), so far as I can. I can't second-guess what you've briefed, what the wind is doing aloft and how you're going to manage the aeroplane's energy and descent profile.
Thanks Rich for the AHGPGA comments. Nice evening I spent with you guys recently.
Brain Fade - comments not taken too seriously but I'm really not your "babber" (whatever that is) nor ever will be.
Incidentally, for those that are interested, why did we fix on 4500 feet as the base for the CTA over Colerne? It was the lowest level we could all agree with the UAS at Colerne for their ops and QGHs; the lowest level we could all agree with the BGA and BHPGA for soaring on the Cotswold Escarpment and cross-country flying through-the Bath Gap. Everything in life is a compromise and I think this one was a real triumph, given the huge (and I mean huge) number of interested parties with whom we consulted over Class G airspace in the Bath Gap, possibly the most difficult of all the many parts of the airspace change process.