Would this be a problem at EGCC?

[Aerofoil]

Hi all,

I have recently finished my PPL (yesterday!) and when i get my license issued i want to take my best friend on a flight over our houses. Now we both live in Chadderton in Oldham which is just inside Manchesters controlled airspace. Now i have been told in the past that because Manchesters' airspace is so busy that the ATCOs would prefer light aircraft keep clear of the airspace. However i was wondering if someone could tell me (maybe an ATCO at Manchester?) whether me doing a local flight over Oldham (joining from the north near Rochdale) would be a problem?

If it Makes any difference i will be coming from Liverpool John Lennon airport.

Also if this shouldn't be a problem then how can i make it easier for you guys? i.e best time to fly over and from where should i make the initial call?

Thanks in Advance

Dave

[Squadgy]

Hi,

From experience the guys at EGCC are very accomodating, and I've actually done pretty much what you mentioned yourself (looking at the City of Manchester Stadium to the E of the City centre).

Top tip is to call Barton Information when leaving the EGGP Zone for FIS, tell them your intentions and ask them if you can get a clearance ready for you off Manchester - they will then probably give you a squawk and hand you across to Manchester Appr somewhere about Swinton Interchange who will hopefully clear you in to Oldham without a problem.

Don't forget the 1500 and alight clear rules though - Oldham as you'll know is very built up and a clearance 'not above 1500ft' may not suffice:uhoh:

[Spiney Norman]

Aerofoil.
Oldham, provided We're NOT on Easterlies isn't really a problem. If the site you want to overfly is further South and anywhere near the 24R approach then that would be much more difficult. Try and time your request for a quieter period of traffic i.e. Weekends or, roughly 1000-1200 and 1400-1530 local during the week. Personally I'd prefer you didn't do the 'get Barton to ring' method but some of the guys might prefer that. It's the old story, if you ask 50 ATCO's for their opinion you'll get 50 different answers. Give us a call on 119.525 in good time and we'll see what we can do. I've had a couple of guy's want to overfly Oldham in the last few days, one was a Robinson and the other fixed wing but I can't remember the type, perhaps that was you squadgy?

Enjoy the trip
Spiney :ok:

[Squadgy]

No it wasnt Spiney - it was a before the Commonwealth Games I did that one, but I did go to Sale Water Park frm the EGCB overhead then out to Carrington on Friday evening ( Thanks Mike :ok: ).

Just out of interest why don't you prefer the Barton prenote?

[Spiney Norman]

Squadgy.
Well, think of it like this... The guy you're ringing is the APP(S) radar controller and he's in the busiest seat on approach fielding all R/T calls, (unless APP N is manned which is very rare due staffing), also co-ordination from the ACC co-ordinators, (there are 3 of them and they do like to go on a bit) etc etc!! The two methods of getting into the zone to, say, Oldham would go like this..... Barton ring and try and talk to me about it, my R/T is going breaking and extending the phone call plus the Area boys phones are ringing but I'm dealing with the Barton co-ordination. The aeroplane going to Oldham then calls me and tells me what he'd like to do, (repeating the conversation we'd just had on the phone).....On the other hand.....Aeroplane calls in good time requesting transit to Oldham...I squawk him and 99.9% certainly then clear him in. Robert's your mothers brother!!!! It just saves me time. Squadgy,I guess you must be one of the Barton FISO's, I bet you had laryngitis if you were working Friday cos your circuit looked like bee's round a flower early afternoon. I might well fly in during May to enjoy a top fry-up session!! Keep up the good work!

Spiney

[Squadgy]

Cheers Spiney. Good points - We always try to make it clear to aircraft that we phone across that they have had their details passed, that way we'd expect them to call you with just 'Manchester Approach, G-AA, squawking 7360' and you issue the clearance from there.
We get a lot of helis in EGCB looking to go S towards EGCC, as we're right on the edge of the zone to launch traffic off into the gap between our active and the zone boundary effectively means we have someone holding on our deadside waiting for a clearance in, so from our viewpoint it's more 'tidy' to get the aircraft to hold on the deck whilst we get a clearance over the phone and then just to get him South without delay.:ok:

Wasn't FISOing on Friday, but was in yesterday and it was very busy !!:ooh:

Fly in and BBQ next weekend I believe if you want to pay us a visit:ok:

[Spiney Norman]

Squadgy.
I'm on a M on approach on Saturday so I'd better bring my tin hat in then!!! Re the helicopter transits. You might know this but putting aircraft through the airfield overhead is quite complex as it actually affects the approach spacing, the departure rate, and requires the issue of non standard approach instructions to each affected aircraft! Not to mention a co-ordination burden between APP(S), AIR1 & AIR2. Because of this you'll find that as the summer comes on we'll find it more and more difficult to accomodate. Quite regularly they end up holding N of the field for a gap in traffic or we push them out to the E or W and under the approach. You can see that what they think they'll gain from using the Low-level route isn't alot! Currently our traffic levels are 13.3% up on last year, (well they were last week and we've been looking at good week on week increases since Christmas). On to more important matters...Is there still a free cup of tea voucher for visiting pilots???? I think I'll put the kettle on!

Spiney.