sbw29 said :
This is a non-story. The reporter is the brother of a disgruntled bitter ex-employee. Cambridge is as safe as any other small airport. No one has whistle-blown to the CAA because they have no grounds to. Simple as that.
This is from the latest CAA OCCURRENCE LISTING :
Aircraft Below 5700kg
OCCURRENCES RECORDED BETWEEN 01 May 2014 and 31 May 2014
PIPER PA30 LYCOMING 320 FAMILY
Approach EGSC (CBG): Cambridge 26/04/2014 201405444
Overload on band boxed position at Cambridge due to complexity of traffic. Traffic info and avoiding action given.
We have to band-box (combine Procedural Approach/Tower/Ground Movements) to allow colleagues to take breaks, which I did on arrival for the start of my shift. There was little traffic to start off with, but my colleague was willing to curtail his break if the workload increased. The traffic levels were expected to increase as there was a planned IR Fly of 30 plus a/c in to Cambridge.
As traffic started to call I requested that my colleague return and in the short time it took him to return, the amount and complexity of the traffic did not allow easy separation of the frequencies.
One pilot in particular added significantly to the workload (PA30)) and a contributory factor in my “overload”. On his first call I requested him to standby, which increased his impatience. He was asked to call 5nm from Cambridge, he called about 3nm. He was requested to call downwind he failed to do so, and called left base, which put him in direct conflict with Beech 90 on the ILS that had been cleared to land.
The ATM showed some lateral separation so I sent PA30 around passed the appropriate traffic information and landed other aircraft.
I thought this was the better option as it slowed the erosion of the lateral separation being made by the faster Beech 90. Other factors; it was planned that the visitors would make visual approaches but due to the worsening cloud some requested the ILS, so the Approach workload increased and for those flying beneath the cloud made circuit integration more challenging and so increased the workload for the ADI aspect; lack of manning reduced the availability of radar and forced me to band-box.
METAR EGSC 260820z
15012kt 110v190 9999 SCT018 11/09 Q1005= 260850z 15013kt 110v190 9999 BKN012 11/09 Q1005=
I'm sure you can draw your own conclusions .......