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Old 8th Aug 2003, 17:19
  #104 (permalink)  
LostThePicture
 
Join Date: May 2003
Location: Sarf England
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c_t, with the best will in the world, you cannot compare the procedures in Norway with how we do it here in the UK. We have some of the busiest controlled airspace in Europe and it pays to keep civilian and military air traffic apart. Although my knowledge of Norwegian geography is not complete, if Setermoen is anywhere near Bardufoss, I doubt that the military have many civilian flights to interfere with their jaunts in controlled airspace! It would be a little different here.

And anyway, we're not talking about class D here, we're talking about a class A airway. No VFR.

I'm delighted that your air force pilots are quite content to maintain listening watches on two frequencies, while on live-firing missions in Class D airspace! For a start we have areas for doing things like that. They're called DANGER areas, for obvious reasons. Secondly, the RAF pilots would be utterly distraught at having to maintain a listening watch on a civil frequency, AND talk to each other, AND conduct an exercise. And so they should be. It would be unnecessary.

It makes a whole lot more sense to let our fast jets operate in their own airspace, completely autonomously, so that they can concentrate solely on what they're supposed to be doing (training for conflict). And when they're finished they can call up a military frequency to get vectors home through class G airspace, keeping them outside busy CAS, and off the often even busier civilian frequencies. It's the best way of doing it.

LTP
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