Fitter2 London Military usually give a very good service at and above FL100 in the open FIR. They are as good as airways controllers and will give a service to civilians as well as Military.
Both LondonDerry and Inverness which handle heavies have Glider sites close to as usual its Military for a RAS or RIS and both are someway off from airways.
Londonderry does not have radar and I have been in the hold there with a 737holding below and another IFR aircraft above. We are all reliant on eachother to change levels and report our positions in the holds or approaches.
Atc verbally co ordinate everything but it is all verbal between us and them and eachother. There has to be a lot of trust between us that we are all flying accurately but at least the 737 can see me on his TCAS and I can see him.
The approaches are procedural
While I know many ATPLs who love gliding and am sure many many others are very experienced it still worries me that a low time, inexperienced glider pilot in cloud unnanounced and not knowing where he was could cause a disaster especially in situations as above. If he is also not transponding which I appreciate is difficult for you then we dont see him either on our extravigant TCAS.
Maybe the gliding fraternity should limit IMC flight to very experienced Glider pilots and introduce a good basis of IR training or IR awareness specific to gliders?
Its Ok I dont get ruffled easely :-) take care
Pace
Last edited by Pace; 4th Sep 2008 at 19:40.