I'm cautiously stepping into the lion's den with what I hope are words of wisdom.
I've flown for over 30 years in the skies of East Anglia and the East Midlands and have shared the same airspace with most types of military aircraft from Phantoms through to the Typhoon and it's always been a case of "see and be seen".
This method served me well and despite the increasing pressures on airspace, I hope it will continue to work for me and the other pilots who share that airspace with me.
I'll admit that much of what I've learned about flying since gaining my PPL back in the early 70's, has often been by making mistakes and learning from those mistakes as a consequence.
Call it a charmed life or what but I'm sure there's many who made the same mistakes and are now probably playing a harp!
On the point of other pilots making mistakes and as a consequence putting others in danger and or disrupting a display by the Reds or the BBMF, those of them that realise what they've done (whether they get away with it or not) will in all probability, not do it again.
Those that don't realise and are identified, need their competences checking and any shortfalls made good by additional training.
Stiff fines and loss of licence will do nothing to prevent others doing the same in the future (since when have the drink driving laws been an effective deterent?).
Yes, a few may get a wake up call because they hear through the grapevine of someone they know getting clobbered by a big fine but most will not hear anything about it and sublimly carry on flying in a manner that leaves the rest of us exasperated and them in complete ignorance of what is going on around them.
What's the answer? More specific training on what a Notam means in reality and how to interpret the info contained in them. I'd even go as far as suggesting that the air law written paper includes a requirement to access a selection of notams and interpret them successfully if a pass in that paper is to be gained.
OK, so that takes care of the the "new" pilots but what about the old 'uns!
Quite simply, make it a part of any licence revalidation, skills test, bi-annual competency test that the pilot must show how he/she can access notams and successfully interpret them and show how they would use that info during a flight.
In the meantime, I shall keep on reminding those pilots that I come into contact with, of how an airspace bust could result in more than just a hefty fine or loss of licence. Some of them may not thank me for it and many will continue oblivious of what they are doing but if we all did it (military and civvy), at least we will have tried our damndest.
Thanks for allowing me to intrude into your forum but I just wanted you to know that some of us care about how we "unruly" civvy pilots are perceived and are trying to do something about it, in our own way.
I shall now spend the rest of the day sitting out by my strip waiting for the first Tucano of the day to tear through the overhead at ?ft.
