The circuit height at Redhill is 1000ft QFE. If the cloud base is 1500ft, does the new ruling mean that the circuit must be flown at 500ft QFE in order to comply with the 1000ft vertical clearance rule?
Will the airfield permit this? Will the local residents permit this?
Or will the airfield only permit circuits when the cloud base is 2000ft QFE, so that the normal circuit height gives 1000ft vertical clearance? This would seriously reduce the number of VFR flights taking place!
I'm pretty sure it's the latter !
Actually I think I've been a little unfair titling this thread Eurolunacy. The UK CAA was so absorbed with the PART-OPS changes that it entirely missed the SERA thing. They rushed out a bunch of exemptions and permissions to deal with the worst problems, and published a dogs breakfast of a document that consolidated it into one.
I'm not sure whether what is happening now is Cologne pressuring the CAA to get rid of some of the exemptions, or bureaucratic incompetence in not renewing them. One thing is clear though and that is that Redhill have been blindsided by these latest changes.
It's obvious that the solution to this is to have Redhill issue SVFR clearances. Let's hope that the meeting on 10 May is productive and common sense prevails.