A unique, one-day event in November, will aim to get as many GA pilots as possible thinking about flight planning, ahead of next year’s London 2012 Olympics. Any pilots wishing to fly though the Restricted Zone, being put in place over the capital and surrounding areas during the Games, will need to file an accepted flight plan with air traffic controllers before they can take to the skies.
File a Flight Plan Day, being organised by the Airspace & Safety Initiative (ASI), will take place between 10:00 and 15:00 on Saturday 12 November 2011. GA pilots are encouraged to file a test flight plan to familiarise themselves with the process and learn what they need to do next year to continue flying during the Olympics with the minimum of disruption.
Pilots who already have an AFPEx account should log on through a specially created website
www.olympicflightplantrial.co.uk, alternatively, pilots can use AFTN. Pilots who are not yet registered on AFPEx are advised to sign up as soon as possible.
The plan should be similar to one that a pilot intends to fly during the Olympics, but as this is only a test, they do not actually have to fly the route on File a Flight Plan Day!
To avoid disruption to the ‘live’ flight planning system, and therefore the safety of real operations, participants are required to carefully follow several steps to clearly indicate their plan is actually a test. These can be found in the comprehensive online guidance
Dawn Lindsey, Head of Olympics Airspace Planning at the UK Civil Aviation Authority, said:”It is very important that GA pilots who want to fly in the Restricted Zone during London 2012 are fully aware of how to file a flight plan. Without a flight plan and subsequent acceptance code they can’t fly so, File a Flight Plan Day provides a great opportunity to learn the ropes without any pressure.”