SO tell us, what have NATS done to upset you???
GA in much of the London area practically operates in a 1,400 foot corridor with many choke points caused by CAS. I suspect the amount of traffic has increased, as has the speed, whilst the service has diminished.
NATS principally provides a service to aircraft operating within CAS. Understandably, given their remit, historically they have done little to provide a service to traffic OCAS. Perhaps cynically some would say “one reason for the provision of a London LARS now is to reduce the number of CAS infringements” or “to aid threading their Bizjets through the busy Class G airspace”.
Our Government on the other hand is charged with providing common access to our airspace and for ensuring users can expect to use our airspace as safely and efficiently as possible. At least for that reason our Government retains a significant shareholding in NATS.
Our Government therefore has a difficult balance to achieve between the profit motivated aspirations of a commercial national air traffic service provider and the needs of GA.
Radar heads operated by NATS already provide significant cover for the London area. The data “exists” and could be provided at marginal cost to other LARS units who are competent to provide a service OCAS. NATS has historically been reluctant to provide such data feeds at marginal cost.
NATS has done b%44er all to upset me, they do precisely what I would expect them to do within the terms of their remit.
However, I am very concerned about the terms of their remit.
Put simply, and IMHO, if you create a system that constricts traffic in the way that has occurred around London without an eye to the increase in speed and volume of that traffic and the service it needs to conduct itself safely you are negligent.
For these reasons if you think it is NATS that has upset me you are seriously misguided.
Realistically NATS are not altruism providers, and so for their failings you had better look elsewhere.
Sorry if I took MikeJ’s comments literally, and even with my usual cynicism I don’t suppose NATS are really providing this service to aid the controllers threading the odd bizjet through those nuisance light aviators!
Finally, if you think that was derogatory you are also misguided. In fact quite the opposite, I cant imagine the average controller at Farnborough wants GA to log in with them purely to enable the efficient flow of their Bizjet traffic, and if they do, I doubt they would want to give this impression. In so far I was intending to put the record straight.