Irv
4th Nov 2011, 12:48
With a very large proportion of GA pilots now meeting either an instructor or examiner every 2 years, it strikes me that this is a wonderful opportunity to communicate with the ones that do not follow a forum, do not read magazines, do not belong to a club, do not this or that, or whatever it is that many of us think they do.
Wouldn't it be 'a good thing' if everyone who came to an instructor (examiner, etc) for anything (flight, paperwork, training, etc) starting right now, up to September 2012, were given a mention about the airspace restrictions for the Olympics and Paralympics? - both the restrictions there for security purposes where there is a prohibited zone tight-in to London, and a restricted zone (needing a flight plan, radio, and a transponding aircraft) further out, plus the zone around Weymouth and the ones around football stadia as far away as Newcastle, and also, the the other aspect that has been pushed a little into the background with all the focus on the restricted zone, that is that a number of airfields/airports will have Class D airspace (CTRs and CTAs) around them where it doesn't normally exist?
It seems piggybacking on the instructor/examiner route to just check any pilot turning up for anything knows what is ahead is a communication route we shouldn't ignore - a particular target would be the pilot who only turns up every two years for an hour with an instructor or perhaps a rating sign off, and is never seen again for another 2 years. The basic webaddress is of course on AirspaceSafety (http://olympics.airspacesafety.com/)
We don't want some pilot who remains a very 'private' pilot in a different sense of the word getting into trouble next Summer just because we ignored a great way of communicating with him/her.
Wouldn't it be 'a good thing' if everyone who came to an instructor (examiner, etc) for anything (flight, paperwork, training, etc) starting right now, up to September 2012, were given a mention about the airspace restrictions for the Olympics and Paralympics? - both the restrictions there for security purposes where there is a prohibited zone tight-in to London, and a restricted zone (needing a flight plan, radio, and a transponding aircraft) further out, plus the zone around Weymouth and the ones around football stadia as far away as Newcastle, and also, the the other aspect that has been pushed a little into the background with all the focus on the restricted zone, that is that a number of airfields/airports will have Class D airspace (CTRs and CTAs) around them where it doesn't normally exist?
It seems piggybacking on the instructor/examiner route to just check any pilot turning up for anything knows what is ahead is a communication route we shouldn't ignore - a particular target would be the pilot who only turns up every two years for an hour with an instructor or perhaps a rating sign off, and is never seen again for another 2 years. The basic webaddress is of course on AirspaceSafety (http://olympics.airspacesafety.com/)
We don't want some pilot who remains a very 'private' pilot in a different sense of the word getting into trouble next Summer just because we ignored a great way of communicating with him/her.