Successful flight through R112 - its easy

[Ph1l]

Hi All,

This is really aimed at any newbies or those weary of flying in the south east during Olympic restrictions - as I was.

I flew out of the zone yesterday, after doing the flight plans through skydemon the previous day and it was pretty painless.

Took a few minutes to get 2 way comms on the way out, but once talking to them all was ok, they were very professional, patient and helpful and listening to some of the chatter they really tried to accommodate any requests.

So, if your aircraft is in the zone and you are choosing not to fly because it is a bit daunting, might be worth reconsidering. It really isn't that bad and would be a shame to miss out on the weather :)

[I Love Flying]

Good advice, and I'm hearing much the same from others too. These sunny days are too good to miss out on!

[toptobottom]

I've been flying extensively in and out of R112 every day since day one and I've noticed the steady increase in traffic as the days have clicked by and the weather has improved. Even when it's quiet, I've noticed it takes much longer for authorisation numbers to be confirmed as correct and receive approval to fly in R112.

However, it hasn't been nearly as onerous as most had forecast, although the inability to just 'jump in and fly' is still very frustrating!

Anyone heard news of any infringements, or worse, interceptions yet?

[Ph1l]

I heard of someone not getting a response from Atlas, giving up and flying anyway as his flight plan was already authorised.

He got to the destination and was contacted there as they tracked him and he had quite a b******ing, but he flew back ok.

Don't know if anything further will be done, but it didn't kick off an interception. If he was heading toward London and not away then it may have been a different story.

[The500man]

It's been good this week. I've flown everyday except yesterday, and each time it's been in clear blue skies with very little traffic. The Atlas controllers have been very helpful. I'm surprised more people aren't flying. Summer will likely be over next week! ;)

[Kolossi]

Yup, have to agree it's pretty straighforward. Finally got my PPL a week ago and did two short flights from Headcorn - one circuits, one local but heading out of R112 through the Headcorn corridor.

I figured you need to keep pushing yourself with this "licence to learn", so for my 3rd flight on my own licence I filed a flight plan last night using Sky Demon. Then cancelled it and filed another one taking account of the fact that it's in Zulu not local time :O

I filed at about 22:35 (local!) and the Atlas acceptance code email was sent at 22:40, and I got the text to my phone at 00:40.

A pilot friend passenger and I took off at 18:30 as per the plan, and once I contacted the Atlas South ICF with the auth code in the initial request for basic service (plus I added "... and clearance to enter the restricted zone" for my own comfort even though that wasn't as per the guide) I got immediate response as I lifted PTT that my code was correct and I was cleared to enter the zone. About 15 secs later I then got a call with the RTF frequency to transfer to but as I was still climbing in the old C150, I was having trouble hearing the freq but the controller patiently repeated it - on the third time digit by digit - until I got it.

It was just an hour local bimble to Bewl, Maidstone, Ashford and back and I think we heard 4 other aircraft total in contact on our frequency during the entire flight.

As the thread title says, easy - if I can do it on my third PPL flight, I'm sure you can :ok:

[D120A]

Before we all get carried away with how wonderful and how easy this all is, please spare a thought for those of us who fly aircraft that have neither the space nor the available power for a transponder. One reason why southern skies are so empty.

I took advantage of the sunshine today and washed my aircraft. I rather regret doing it with a bucket outside the clubhouse (where there are cold drinks), rather than over the far side of the airfield on the wash pan. Because in doing so, I missed out on the radio call of the century: "Golf X-X, negative transponder, taxying to the wash pan. Please don't shoot me down". :uhoh:

[taxistaxing]

Well, I've been really impressed with it so far. My field is within the restricted zone and I've now made a couple flights. Filed through rocketroute both times in a matter of about 3 mouse clicks. Having seen how easy it is I'm amazed more people haven't taken the plunge - surely they can't all be squawkless!? A lot of people I've spoken to just moan about how ridiculous it all is and say they don't want to go to the bother of filing flightplans - well each to their own.

Atlas themselves seem very professional - and (probably due to how quiet it is) provide a more comprehensive basic service than the usual LARS I speak to.

IMHO there's been quite a bit of unjustified negativity. They've made the best of a bad situation for everyone and allowed us to keep flying, albeit with a bit of additional paperwork. The alternative would have been simply shutting the entire London airspace down to non commercial traffic for the entire olympics which would have been far worse.

I'm quite enjoying the empty skies at the moment :D

[pudoc]

Personally, I think anybody who can't handle the restrictions shouldn't have a pilots license. It's very easy to do. I can understand if the person who flies only once a month doesn't want to fly, but regular weekly pilots have no excuse for not doing it. Really easy. I've done around 10 flights in the zone and when I request it, they allow me to deviate from my flight plan.

Never had a flight plan rejected either, and all of which were approved hours before departure. Sometimes they are approved 20 minutes after flightplan submission.

Although I prefer it when everyone is on the ground. Aircraft availability has been amazing. I usually keep the keys to my club's aircraft for days to fly when I want.