Civil or Military LARS

[pulse1]

Probably a stupid question but, if you are flying VFR equidistant between active military and civil CTR's, is there a preference for which one you should use for a FIS or RIS?

An example could be tracking north between Bristol and Lyneham.

[FlyingForFun]

If it's an area you fly in regularly, try both of them, and use whichever one consistently gives you the best service.

If it's not an area you fly in regularly, try talking to some local pilots and see who they'd recommend.

I don't think there's much doubt that some LARS providers are better than others, and I suspect this is due to the workload of the controllers, which will vary from one location to another (and possibly at different times of the week, too???) But I doubt that whether it's civil or military makes much difference.

Might be interesting to post a similar question on the ATC forum - although the question might need re-wording so as not to offend anyone by suggesting that someone else is better at their job than they are!

FFF
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[tomcs]

Well I can safely say that Bristol would be the best option there. But yeah good point ask your CFI or QFI or whatever and see what they say. I did when i flew into Biggin Hill for the first time going through Tin Pan alley between LHR and LGW.

Tom

[Chilli Monster]

In your example defnitely Bristol, as Lyneham aren't even a LARS unit. They tend not to be that interested in you unless you are transitting the zone so you would be better off traffic wise talking to the LARS provider in the area.

If you were to look at the map available of LARS units in the AIP, Pooleys, Bottlang etc you'd realise that the overlap tends to be not much more than 10 miles between some adjoining LARS units, so more often than not it's pretty self evident who the best unit to talk to is.

Another thing to take account when you're planning is whether the service is available when you are flying. Filton for example is a LARS service 08-1800 Mon-Fri. Don't even bother trying to call for a radar service during the weekend however - the radar isn't even switched on.

It all boils down to planning - look at the books - see whose area of coverage you'll be in.

CM

[Whipping Boy's SATCO]

Expanding on CM's comments, Brize are always worth a try as they are manned H24 (mostly).

Civvi vs mil - my vote goes for any unit that will actually give you a radar service!!

[The Greaser]

I would tend to think a civil unit is preferable. Military controllers use slightly different terminology and are frequently on the UHF band and miss calls sometimes (in my experience anyway) plus obviously at weekends/holidays then they are normally closed anyway.

Having said that the military units in my area (Boscombe Down/Yeovilton) are fantastic and I enjoy talking to them.

[pulse1]

Thanks for some very helpful answers. Greaser, I certainly agree with you on Yeovilton, when I did my solo qualifying XC some years ago, they gave me an excellent RIS and handovers all the way round. I was very lucky that I happened to have the only club machine at that time with a transponder.