MadDog:
I know its not controlled airspace. What I ment by that was that Dundee will tell aircraft were not "active" and inform pilots that they route direct to XYZ or no need to avoid etc.
"But its very hard to find out if jumping is going to be occuring until you get close"
Have you ever heard of "planning" its something that is taught by your instructor during training. Heres a radical idea. Pick up a phone and ask. Failing that, try calling someone in flight ie Scottish, Dundee, Perth or leuchars.
"Then there is the debate about how much room round the place you need to go. I have heard aircraft on the otherside of the Tay going to fife get a mouthful from the jump plane pilot. If you stuck to the 1.5 mile radius nobody would have a problem but if anyone comes with 5 miles of the place all hell lets loose."
Give us as much room as you consider safe. When did you hear the jump pilot give anyone a "mouthful" and i,ll get it sorted. As for all hell breaking loose if you come within 5 miles, is a bit of an exaggeration.
"So was the aircraft right overhead or was it 2 miles away and outside the 1.5 miles as stipulated. If the wind is such that you require more room quite frankly tough if its not safe don't drop you don't drop"
The aircraft dropped the jumpers 1/2 mile north of the centre on the DZ and well within the 1.5 radius as stipulated. If the wind was such that we needed more room that would suggest the wind limits were outside the max safe limits for jumping and they wouldnt have taken off.
10W: The 1.5 promulgated area is for the protection of the jumpers. We could confine the flying to the same area but we have to consider the local population and the noise polution it would generate.
DB6: If you prefer we could look at NOTAMing the area 365 days a year if thats what you want. But surely its better for everone if we activate it only when were planning on jumping on a day to day basis and free it up when were not using it. Again its not hard to get the information. Im sure the CAA/NATS etc have looked at this in the past. All DZs are the same. Dont know about gliding sites etc
Floppy
PS Were always on the look out for new jump pilots.