Extension of London LARS
 

With my AOPA UK hat on:-

London LARS has been extended full details here.

Sticky mods?

Nice to get a favourable development in GA for a change!

Am I the only person wondering why they have bothered using so many points to define the boundary around Stansted? They seem to have specified points in the polygon which move the overall shape a matter of a few hundred years.

Maybe as an experiment to make boundaries that are important to visual pilots, easily identifyable landmarks, instead of some randomly defined point or line on the map? Or maybe as an easy prompter for London Info (who is not radar equipped, as far as I know) to know when and where to let an aircraft freecall Farnborough?

If I were to plan a flight through there (not likely in the near future, but maybe coming spring/summer) I would pick one of those points that define the LARS as one of my turning points, and plan to switch to Farnborough there.

Any idea if this will make it on to the next southern half mil????

PSB

Why not suggest it? The VFR Chart Editor is a PPL and she doesn't bite (as far as I'm aware):)

http://www.caa.co.uk/default.aspx?ca...90&pageid=2149

Publication of the Southern half-mill has been delayed, so it's possible.

Backpacker has it right; the boundary was defined with places marked on 1/2 mil charts, taking into account the boundaries of adjacent LARS units (although not all of those are 7 day ones!)

New LARS Area on Southern Chart
 

Putting the boundary on the map would be very sensible.

Does anyone have an idea on how the rigid the boundary is? A lot of my flights are near the boundary area so I'll regularly be hopping in and out of the new northern LARS area.

Should I call or not, and will I be dumped as soon as I cross the boundary, even if I plan to recross 10 minutes later?

I couldn't possibly comment, but if there's no-one else to 'play' with, I'd tend to let you stay on frequency.

LARS East re-opened at 0900 this am.

Anyone listening to 132.8 today would have heard Farnborough ATIS; this was intentional for technical clearance of the new transmitter.

The northern extension of London LARS is one of the topics for the Duxford Safety Bonus Day on 12th April. NATS will be there to talk about it and answer questions.

Other topics will be Steve McKie (NATS) showing radar replays of airspace infringements; Irv Lee with weather tips; AOPA with their Wings Awards scheme to keep PPLs flying, safely; and David Cockburn of CAA on safe use of GPS. It will a very informal meet and chat day, with David giving two presentations at 12.00 and 14.30.

It's a Duxford Bonus Day, so big Bonus discounts apply to landing and admission to the museum. It's also possible to drive in.

More details here
http://www.pprune.org/forums/showthread.php?t=314306

and please phone for PPR (even if driving) 01223 833376.

Should be a good day -- hope to see you.

Alan.

Watch the NOTAMs; North Sector starting training runs on Sat 1 Mar.

Good news Chevvers!!!

guess it must be soon, having seen your boys and girls at the Sim yesterday!

To celebrate the opening of Farnborough LARS North Sector 3 we flew the perimeter of the Sector 3 from/to RAF Halton, this morning. Farnborough opened the frequency at exactly 10:00 and I called overhead Wing a second later. Despite some moderate turbulence and a ground speed of 197 knots at one point we managed to scrape our way around the north of LTMA without infringing (AFAIK).

http://www.halton.flyer.co.uk/FlyerF...roughNorth.JPG

Congratulations to everyone at Farnborough and the rest of NATS for delivering such a major enhancement to ATSOCA services around the LTMA.

I used the new service for the first time today. I was on a ferry from Biggin to Denham and was 'encouraged' to call by Thames Radar. Usual excellent professional service, but very quiet, due to the wx; only a Cougar up from Elstree opposite direction to Southend sharing the frequency. Snow showers and a little light chop probably kept others at bay.

I think it wasn't going live until April; perhaps some more publicity is required if it's now live.

132.8. Another frequency to remember!

Cheers,
TheOddOne

Opening again at 1000 today; east sector will open simultaneously to give a 'seamless' service all round the London area (west sector open anyway)

Thanks to all those who called 132.8 between 1000 and 1200 today; I'm now valid and it's open again now for a couple of hours.

Called at 1330 with no reply.

I called on Thursday (6th) at 13.50 requesting a F.I.S and got a prompt reply on 132.8

Unfortunately they couldn't see my squawk on their radar (although they said they could see it on the Heathrow radar?). Due to "staff training" they were going off frequency at 2pm so I got a rather brief F.I.S:rolleyes:

Looking forward to a full time service sometime soon and hoping that everyone in their area of coverage will use the service so we can avoid any airprox events or zone busts.