Originally Posted by
NorthSouth
CAS at Inverness has been under discussion for YEARS. What have they been doing?
NS
AFAIK last time they applied they put forward a number of airproxes as justification. Most would have been outside the proposed CAS, many were non-risk bearing and the rest were contributed to by the Inverness controllers.
Although Inverness is getting busier I don't believe that there is the density of other traffic in the area to justify CAS. Most of the military will be low level unless on approach to Kinloss or Lossie and they should be under a service from Lossie anyway. The fact that most inbounds to Inverness now fly stonking great instrument patterns in VMC when previously they carried out visuals suggests that the evidence is hoped to be gathered by increasing the exposure time over the Moray Firth to fast jets operating into and out of the Tain ranges.
Wouldn't be surprised if some of the recent moves to close Tain were also being prompted by those with Inverness interests at heart.
As it stands, radar at Inverness and a LARS service in the area should in itself, if properly applied and implemented, go a long way to maintaining safety in the area without the restrictions that CAS would inevitably bring.
