mary meagher: I’m genuinely sorry you feel like that, but I was responding in kind to Jan’s reply to my previous post, which he – graciously – admits at post 45 was a little OTT. Jan has a long history of commenting on UK Airspace matters and ATS provision on various forums and his, always welcome, input was predictable. I was therefore trying to ‘lighten the mood’ with the initial (admittedly, oblique) reference to the famous ‘line’ from the James Bond film; unfortunately, there isn’t a JB/Blofeld emoticon available to complete the reference effectively!
Jan Olieslagers: I’ll readily admit that the UK system is not perfect by any means (MATZs being a specific that is well past its sell-by date – they offer no effective protection to mil aircraft conducting IFR approaches and their main function appears to be as a symbol on a chart to notify the presence of a aerodrome that may be worth calling!) and I do sympathise with overseas crews that have to contend with ‘our way of doing things’; however, that doesn’t mean they are ‘wrong’ or otherwise unfit for purpose.
The UK has been providing ATSOCAS in various forms all my adult life (and that’s a long time now!) and the system is mature, flexible and seems to provide what the customer wants – most of the time - without the establishment of swathes of regulated airspace, as tried in Germany as you point out. You will be aware of the likely reaction of the UK GA fraternity to any moves along those lines!