Who pays the greater navigation charge; the A319 or the helicopter?
This has nothing to do with enroute charges, the A319 was going to pay whatever and the heli was not. Different aircraft, different missions.
Who has a slot to meet? The helicopter or the A319?
The A319 driver had no idea why he was waiting, that became obvious later, he just didnt want to wait for anyone. For all he knew it could have been a medi copter which just might have had an even more important slot to meet.
What's the definition of "we" in this scenario?
I paid £130 for an aircraft with three people in it to land. Factor that up for a A319 and I reckon we were both paying a commercial rate.
I suppose the point that I was making is if you start to base it on commercial versus private etc where does it end. Does a triple 7 have priority over a 319because it is paying more, or burning more at ground idle? GA is either paying a "commercial" rate for an equal priority service, or with the rate table it should be published that you can expect a second class, second priority service, in case you want to pay for the remium service!
The controller was superb, and I increasingly find the quality of our controllers is of the very highest standard - in my view it was clear he was really unhappy with the attitude of the 319 driver, in the end he just gave in, and I dont blame him for that.
If I had been the heli driver I would have refused the orbit and thought of some good reason to do so, particularly having been cleared to cross and then told to orbit just short of the active because some Easyjet driver could not wait a few minutes!
