As promised, a quick report on my experience with Gatwick and a zone transit. I was flying from Goodwood to Redhill witha planned route via Guildford when I thought I'd give it a try. My first call was to Gatwick Director as I passed 1000' on climbout from Goodwood requesting a direct routing to Redhill. At the time Gatwick appeared relatively quiet (mid afternoon on a Friday) and were using runway 26.
The controller was very helpful and patient with my adequate-but-not-quite-perfect R/T (I forgot the aircraft type!), giving me a squawk (FIS only though) and radar vectors to clear the climbout track from Gatwick. Once north of the centreline, I was given own navigation through the zone to Redhill. I estimate the transit saved me five minutes compared to my planned route via Guildford, which is the equivalent of about ten quid on the aircraft I was flying.
All in all an excellent service. Thank you, if you happen to be reading this.
MD.
(edited to correct typo)
Last edited by ModernDinosaur; 14th Jul 2003 at 17:55.