Having flown in on Friday and Saturday I feel that the procedures as laid down worked well; it just needed people to have read and understood them. I suspect some of the problems on Friday were due to the initial lack of the grass runway and its subsequent restricted use by sub 550Kg aircraft. Having the grass runway available on Saturday there was some separation of faster and slower traffic.
The system is to a certain extent self-regulating, in that people who are not comfortable in operating the system go by road. I know of experienced pilots who refused to go, although I’m sure it was well within their capabilities. Perhaps one aspect of the perceived danger is that people are more alert. We all have a personal risk level. If we feel the situation is ‘risky’ we will take more care, or avoid additional risk.
Full ATC has been tried at the PFA Rally in earlier years and was swamped. The arrivals were eventually told that ATC was closing and to ‘sort yourselves out’, that worked. You would end up needing multiple frequencies, so people would be ‘head down’ changing channels when they should be flying / looking out for traffic. Everyone needs to remember that the aircraft flies by Bernoulli not Marconi.
The system at Sywell has run in this form for a couple of years now, including Aero Expo and the LAA Rally. The LAA Rally has two or more times the participating aircraft than does Aero Expo. I’m not sure how many arrivals could be accommodated if a rigid ATC / Slot system was enforced. Certainly less than can operate with the present system. While this might be ok for Aero Expo, it would not work for the LAA Rally. In the dim and distant past I remember reading that ‘Every airfield has an ATIS’. Basically you listen out to what is happening on the radio and form your own view of the airfield conditions. Ok, it won’t tell you how many are in the Pitsford Hold, but it does show the arrival rate at the field.
Interesting to see the
Oshkosh VFR Arrival Procedure, where there are an order of magnitude more participants, although an admittedly greater ATC element.