Vfr flight from liverpool to st helens
 

Hi all,

I am a PPL holder wanting to fly a C152 from Liverpool for a local flight to see my house from above (St Helens). St Helens is within the CTZ therefore how do i do this.. Usually i leave the zone immediately after departure either routing south or north via chester, oulton park, seaforth or kirby therefore none of these routes would allow me to overfly st helens??

Thanks for any help..!

Phone ATC and tell them what you want to do. Be a little flexible about what time exactly etc and I'm sure they'll help you.

Also don't forget that you can obtain a clearance to enter or leave the zone anywhere you can positively identify it doesn't have to be one of the VRPs on the chart.

Who taught you radio communications?

Could be quite simple:
"Liverpool Ground, G-XYZZ, Good morning"
"Go ahead"
" G-XYZZ, C152, Pos GAT, VFR local, request sightseeing my home at St Helens, request low height CTR, Information XXX aboard, request taxi"
...
"Liverpool Tower, G-XYZZ, Pos A for RWY XY, ready for departure"
"After TakeOff left/right turn approved, cleared for local sightseeing, max. 1.200ft, stay outside direct VFR routes, report when leaving CTR, have a nice flight, cleared for take off RWY XY"

It's no rocket science and this is similar to what I do in these cases. If you go for a low traffic time it should be no problem and if in doubt when - simply call tower by phone in advance to ask. It's ordinary people anywhere ;-).

Liverpool ATC require booking out over the telephone - not on the R/T.

When you're passing your details over the telephone prior to departure simply ask if you can carry out the detail - I'm sure they'll be pleased to oblige.

If they're on 27 then, to assist I suggest you route via Seaforth, skirt along the top of the Zone and 'drop in' to St Helens from the north. Route back to the field using the usual route as shown on the CAA Chart AD 2-EGGP-4-1 downloadable from the internet (NATS).

If they're on 09 you can depart to the north and instead of routing to Kirkby divert towards St Helens. Reverse of previous - skirt along the top of the Zone and enter at Seaforth.

These options would cause minimum disruption.

Just a thought.

SITW

Telephone? :confused:

What's the problem with the radio? :ugh:

Booking by telephone reduces the radio traffic particularly at a busy airport. It may surprise you guys across the pond but in Britain we do not even discuss ball game results on the air :cool:

Only in the UK you would call Liverpool "busy" :)

Dera It's all relative. Once had to divert going into there on a Royal Flight for a suitcase on the runway :eek: It got blown up, knickers and stockings all over Merseyside. Must have fallen off a Finnair flight ;)

Telephone or radio?
 

I remember when I was flying out of Plymouth - not long before it's closure - if you were landing away you had to phone up ATC and give a surprisingly long list of details (enroute time, expected time back in Plym etc etc). The aircraft next to me called up for a flight to Bodmin, the tower's response: "er you haven't booked out by phone". Keeping his engine running, you could see him get out his mobile and call up the tower to book out. Couple of minutes later he called up again and was allowed to taxi. A tad over the top for an airport with about 10 movements a day - and we were the only 2 a/c on frequency at the time. I can understand it at "larger" airports, but Plymouth took the p***!

My folks also live within the zone on the Wirral, once airborne just ask radar if they can accommodate several orbits over the area you want to orbit, they've never denied me when I've asked and mine live on the extended center line to 09.