THE RT. HON. THERESA VILLIERS
Minister of State for Transport says:
Your constituent has raised doubts about the ability of the current air traffic control infrastructure to cope with the anticipated additional demand that will result from the proposed airspace control measures. However, significant enhancements to existing Lower Airspace Radar Service (LARS) capacity are already planned for the Games period in order to facilitate flying within the Restricted Zone in accordance with the temporary control measures.
Further, work is also underway to establish a flight plan reception process aimed at meeting the increased demand that will be placed on the current Assisted Flight Plan Exchange (AFPEx) system during the Games period.
As part of this process we are currently looking to organise a "File a flight plan" day, whereby all airspace users will be encouraged to file a flight plan on a single day in order to test the robustness of the AFPEx system to meet the anticipated increased demand.
This will have the dual benefits of encouraging leisure pilots to register for an AFPEx account in advance of the Games, and also allow us to check the quality of the flight plans submitted. This will enable us to see where further training might usefully be provided to assist users in the completion of accurate flight plans in the run up to the Games.
Our plans already include a degree of flexibility. We will consider the case for further flexibility so long as our security objectives are not compromised. DfT officials and the other agencies involved are currently collating a number of suggestions and proposals, such as that highlighted by your constituent on the issue of student cross country flights, which have been raised in face to face meetings with airports and members of the general aviation community.
We welcome their engagement in this process. Their representations will be assessed collectively as a whole, before final decisions are made on the secondary legislation needed to implement the restrictions.
I hope that this clarifies the Government's position. Thank you for taking the time to draw the concerns of your constituent to my attention.
It would seem that representatives of the GA community are failing to communicate with the rest of us.