I thought about making this a subject for a thread when I was planning a route from Gloucester to Oban for next Monday, for the start of our flying holiday. Gloucester - Carlisle, refuel; then straight to Oban. Ah, but Glasgow's in the way. Will they let us through their zone? I've no idea; never been anywhere near there. We can ask of course. But then we'll have to plan a route around them as well, or do it in the air. None of those are a big deal, but this is a holiday, not an RT test or nav ex, and it's a lot less hassle to plan one route, going round their zone, that's marginally longer. So, I thought...
Wouldn't it be useful to have a thread where people could post from their own knowledge and experience, about particular areas, airfields, zones etc.
OK, I'll start. I've always flown from airfields in Wales and the West Midlands, where we're lucky enough to have loads of uncontrolled airspace. So my experience is somewhat limited. But I've found that
Birmingham will almost always let you through their zone. However, they may keep you waiting around first, so it's sometimes quicker to route around anyway. I've heard that
Liverpool will usually let you through, though I've only once been that way myself.
Manchester ATCOs, on the other hand, don't seem to know how to say anything except: "Remain clear of controlled airspace". A few years ago on a trip up North,
Newcastle cleared us through before we even asked, and I've heard that this is not unusual. Actually, since we didn't know the area we'd planned to route around, but it seemed churlish to refuse their kind offer, so we rapidly re-planned that one, ie turned it into a straight line rather than a series of short legs.
That's about all I can think of. So...for a start...does anyone know about Glasgow?