Draconian 3 day airspace restriction
It would appear that for THREE days, over 6-8 May, a large amount of airspace will have a 10nm dia RA(T). This is for a ONE-day medium sized air display at Abingdon, with seemingly no Red Arrows participation.
It comes from CAA Directorate of Airspace Policy, ‘Airspace Coordination Notice’ 2011-05-0003 dated 15/3/11
This is remarkable compared to many far larger airshows that do not have a RA(T) and certainly not for the 2 days before the event. Let’s be clear - this is not Farnborough or Fairford; this is a one day airshow much smaller than many others that would only have a RA(T) for the Red Arrows (and then only for about 50 minutes on the day).
Obviously a 3 hour airshow the size of Abingdon must have protection, but a ban on flying over a diameter of 10 nm & for 3 days and a total of 12.75 hours is disproportionate. In the last few days we have seen airspace departments that are detached from reality, have no concern for GA and need some sort of ombudsman to keep them in check.
This seems to be taking the proverbial; it follows on nicely from the attitude we have seen from the Olympic airspace restrictions. This needs to be watched as it may be the start of a new era for GA.