Blackpool to Tatenhill IFR

[Romeo Romeo]

The other day I travelled from Blackpool to Tatenhill. The weather was just good enough for a VFR flight and I went to the west of Liverpool's zone.

My question - to any of you experienced IFRers - is how would I do that trip if I had wanted to do it IFR with an IMC rating? Round to the east is problematic because of high ground with big masts and low class A airspace. Round to the west is also not ideal because of low Alpha airspace and not many nav-aids? Also, I'm not that keen on setting off with the only plan being an IFR transit through some quite busy airspace which might not be granted.

So, any advice?

[GulfStreamV]

RR,

A quandary similar to yours was discussed a while back by our own fff.

http://www.pprune.com/forums/showthread.php?threadid=148559

Hope it helps.

GV

[Romeo Romeo]

Thanks for that GS - a very interesting read.

I think my preferred routing would be the Liverpool route - via WAL (perferably with a Liverpool IFR zone transit, but 1500 ft over WAL would work) then climbing up to about 2900 on reaching Flint. Sounds like it works for Whipping Boy's SATCO.

On a slightly different note, does anyone know where details of the various Transistion Altitudes for this country are published? When do I have to be at the correct quadrantial Flight Level and when am I legal to fly at an altitude? That bit of airspace between Birmingham and East Mids at FL45 - if I'm going North West under that, do I have to be below 3000ft - or would I be OK at FL45 - or perhaps FL44.5 just to keep myself out of the class Alpha?

[Chilli Monster]

Transition altitudes:

Most of the UK's class 'G' is 3000ft

The only exceptions are the area under under the London TMA - 6000ft (noticeable by the fact that the base of various portions is marked as an altitude).

Scottish TMA Class 'E' - 6000ft

Individual Class 'D' CTR's around airports - as notified in the UK AIP ENR section giving all the details of Class 'A' / Class 'D' CTR's and CTA's in the UK. These vary between 3000 & 6000ft, base levels whether given as an altitude or FL of parts of the airspace are a pretty good clue before looking it up.

For the example you give (Daventry CTA base FL45) then you can't be at the base level, it's not an airway. Your only option really is 3000ft with a radar service or be VFR and stay below it.

[Romeo Romeo]

You're a genius, Chilli,

Sure enough ENR 1.7 — ALTIMETER SETTING PROCEDURES says it all.

I'm going to have to read the UK AIP sometime. I'm sure there's loads of things in it that I really should know!

[Droopystop]

But how do you get down at Tatenhill? No approach aids unless it has changed since I was last there.

[fireflybob]

>But how do you get down at Tatenhill? No approach aids unless it has changed since I was last there.<

The same way that you would at any airfield that does not have an IFR approach - carry out a letdown at a nearby airfield with such a facility and then continue VFR to chosen destination if possible.

Perhaps you could do a letdown at nearby EMA in this case but it would be prudent to inform their ATC by phone prior to take off and maybe you might incur some sort of nav service charge!

[Romeo Romeo]

My plan to get down at Tatenhill would be to decend to the minimum IFR height - 1000ft above any obsticle within 5nm of track, then if I wasn't visual then it's a trip to Coventry for an ILS there.

The Coventry plan is definately plan B. I wouldn't take-off if I wasn't pretty sure of being able to get down back at Tatenhill. It's easy to get the current weather at East Mids before departure and monitor it en-route either via volmet (which probably wouldn't be as up-to-date as the information on departure), E.Mids ATIS when I was close enough or London Information if I really wanted to know en-route.

I wouldn't be tempted with the East Mids letdown - they're a bit expensive (something like £30 for an ILS approach, I believe). I'd prefer to be at Coventry, drinking coffee and waiting for the weather to get a bit better rather than scud-running from East Mids to Tatenhill with less than 1000ft ceiling.

[Skypartners]

I do CVT BPL regularly. The one and only time I filed IFR DCT WAL Brum rejected the plan for 'unspecified' reasons. In the event it was irrelevent and I usually route CVT LIC WAL LPL. Liverpool are 'the best' in my opinion. They will almost always give you an IFR transit at 2,500 and arrange handover to Warton for onward to Blackpool. You can get a useful RIS from Livepool around Stoke on Trent, alternatively Brum (if they answer) or Manchester Approach. I would hate to speculate as to a reason but as soon as you say the word 'Coventry' to some of the Brum contollers co-operation seems to ebb away ....

[Evil J]

I stand to be corrected and admit that I havent checked, but I dont think an ILS at EMA is as much at £30, I think its more like £15 for a light single/twin if no landing is carried out.

[S-Works]

EMA are £17.50 inc VAT. I regularily use them for letdowns when returning to Leics. EMA are a very helpfull bunch and often will give me a radar service all the way to the LE beacon.

Coventry seem to have recently gotten "we are a big airfield b$%$%r off itus" and now are not very welcoming.