Tonyhalsall said: "I would be a bit concerned about your level of training if you learned at Barton and were apprehensive about the LLR", and I agree. I used to instruct at Blackpool, and all of my students transitted the corridor several times dual, and at least twice solo.
My hints:
1) If you're at all unsure, get a (good) instructor to show you the route, and make sure he points out to you on the chart all the useful features in the corridor, and then points the same features out in the air.
2) Don't be afraid of feature-crawling in the LLR - it's the best way of staying inside the route.
3) Get a good instructor to fly the route with you.
4) Speak to Manchester Approach for a FIS inside the corridor. They might or might not be quiet enough to give you traffic information, but you can at least listen out to hear anyone else coming the other way, and anyone else listening out will know you're there.
5) Find a good instructor, and fly the route with him.
6) Keep your eyes open, and outside the cockpit. Knowing the features you'll use, so you spend as little time looking at your chart as possible, will help this.
It is daunting the first time you do it (I know I was daunted the first time I did it, and I was an instructor at the time), but once you've seen it, it really isn't a big deal at all.
Alternatively, if it's Caernarfon you're trying to get to, I don't have a chart to hand, but I think you can stay north of Liverpool just as easily?
Airbus was asking about low-flying rules. My understanding is that the LLR is exempt from the 1000' rule, but not from the glide clear rule. (Ref, I think, is the AIP, EGCC AD 2.22 para 7, which states:
The Special Low Level Route is notified for the purposes of Rule 5(2)(a)(i) of the Rules of the Air Regulations 1996. The Special Low Level Route is also notified for the purposes of Schedule 8 PPL (Aeroplanes) sub-paragraph 2(c)(ii) and BCPL (Aeroplanes) sub-paragraph 3(g)(ii) of the Air Navigation Order 2005 when there is a flight visibility of at least 4 km (see ENR-1-4-7 paragraph 2.4.1.1 Note 4).
I don't have the relevant docs to hand to confirm that the rules being quoted include the 1000' rule, but maybe someone can confirm?)
I agree that Warrington is the most difficult part - the eastern side of the corridor offers more chance of gliding clear, although a lot of the area is wooded so it might not be the prettiest forced landing ever.
Also worth noting that corridor is actually Class D airspace, and is part of the Manchester CTR. It operates under special rules which allow you to fly in it without specifically getting permission, but with certain conditions (clear of cloud, in sight of surface, max altitude 1250' on Manchester QNH, min viz 4km (strange viz to pick, I know, but 4km it is), and transitting either through the corridor or to/from an airfield inside the zone - by which I guess they mean you're not allowed to go half way down the corridor, turn around and leave without getting permission). The reference for all of this, again, is the AIP, EGCC AD 2.22 para 7.
FFF
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