LARS / Radar Questions
 

ANyone able to help?

What would be the requirements for an airport to have radar installed?

Is it dependent purely of traffic levels? types of traffic? scheduled services? size of aircraft? or is there more to it that than?

Does anyone know what the requirements are to provide a LARS, is this just a radar service for an area as opposed to an airport itself? Do the CAA pay towards such as service?

There are large gaps in the north england and lots of scotland that a LARS service is not available, I think the warton and newcastle are the furthest north, so that misses out the lake district and cumbria and then only Leuchars and Lossie for Scotland, that leaves the whole western side without it.

I take it this is not as required up there as it is in the central/southern parts of the UK.

Do people think there is a need for the service up there?
and who could be pushed to provide a service in these gaps?

Help Please

AW

There is no set trigger for an airport to install radar - it's up to the airport to decide if it wants it. It's normally when there's so much traffic about that aircraft using the airport will suffer delays. By co-incidence this is about the traffic level that people begin to think it's too busy to be safe without radar.

LARS is part paid for by CAA - although I think the whole business of LARS is under review at the moment - but it nowhere near covers the cost to an airport of providing the service.

Sadly, in the commmercial world that we live in, airports see ATC as the way to get their traffic in and out efficiently. If providing a LARS costs money and doesn't help the number one task then it's going to take a lot to persuade them to provide the service. (I would just point out that in my experience many controllers do not see things in that way and still think they're there to provide services to aircraft in their area - when they're allowed to that is).

You ask whether people think there's a need for LARS 'up there'? Well, it's not so busy up there so traffic avoidance is less of a concern and if you have an emergency you can always call Scottish FIS ....... or did I hear somewhere that the FIS was often withdrawn due to staff shortages?

As stated LARS is something you do to deconflict your intrests with ac transiting the area. Mil airfields provide it because they dont have CAS around them and therefore it suits their purposes to know who you are and what your doing. Lossie and Leuchars are the only official LARS units in Scotland but Aberdeen have been known to work purely LARS traffic if it suits. With the removal of West Freugh from the LARS chain there is a gap in coverage in SW Scotland but as for the west coast, beyond the central belt, there is not an overwhelming demand. Scot Mil or Civil may be able to provide you with a sevice depending on your level but most of the low level enviroment is taken up by the HRA. Again no one sets themselves up in buisness to provide LARS and unless an airport magiced its way on to the West coast and bought itself a radar and then considered itself a charity, I don't imagine LARS will ever be available up there.

Spitoon:
I would hope Scottish Centre on 121.5 / 243.0 would be any pilots first choice if not already in contact with an ATS unit.