To fly or not?
 

Given the general state of GA flying at the moment, I'm interested for folks take on, would taking a private aircraft to another airfield for its anual, or other work, be considered "essential", or a procedure that should be taken when we are released from the shackles?
Many thanks.

Rules change tomorrow. The word essential doesnt seem to apply. If you fly for sport then it is allowed. If you go for a jog round the destination airfield on arrival it is allowed. If you fly for any sort of work or the aircraft is used for work then you must try to fly. Indeed Boris's exhortations on sunday night suggest your maintenance organisation needs to pressurize you to fly so they can get work

It is all total confusion, and I am following Matt Lucas as he is clearer than Boris. But being serious, the new confusion means most people can take whatever interpretation they prefer. Hope the virus behaves.

Sarcasm is the lowest form of wit...

There's no confusion at all from what I can see. The Govt seem to at least understand the impact these restrictions are having and are trying to turn us back towards normality. The advice is "use your noodle", be sensible, common sense applies. People aren't stupid. There seem to be some however who need to be led around by the hand with a War And Peace-sized rule book to go by. The devolved administrations are being more cautious and don't want to lift anything just yet. That's their call. Again, no confusion, its crystal clear to me, whether I agree with it or not.

Maintenance flights are permitted as per the CAA advice, but ask yourself the questions - does it absolutely need to be done now or can it wait, in getting to/from the airfield/maint base do I put others/myself at risk, are the airfields/maint organisation open, etc. Personally I'd rather wait to be sure but that's just me.

Thanks guys, personally, I don't think this flying falls into the essential cat, especially when you add into the mix, poss accident going to from place of hobby, poss accident in carrying out hobby, to me, it's a non essential indulgence that can be carried out at a later date.

What TelsBoy said + 1

Statutory Instrument No 500 of 2020 comes into force tomorrow - it amends The Health Protection (Coronavirus, Restrictions) (England) Regulations 2020. It says you canA “public open space” is defined as:
It's as straightforward as that....

To fly or not?
 

I'm with Telsboy also. What pisses me off about this and so many other subjects, is all of those experts, who clearly have crystal balls which allow them to have all of the answers. What I saw in the Sunday statement,ie what the government AND its advisors see as the current situation, I didn't,t see any empty promises or political showboating. So if someone sees a visit to an accessible airfield as physical and possibly more importantly mental exercise bring it on. Aviators are in the main, generally responsible in their actions and so we should be left to make sensible preparations for the eventual return to some semblance of normal life.Wanting to blame Boris will not clinch the deal, so lets wait until the dust settles before we leap to judgement.

The problem is, there's too many folk with an axe to grind, so it's all Boris' fault, Labour, the Nationalists, etc... add complete and utter hysteria fanned by the media and the result is many folk have completely lost perspective. Some folk are literally terrified to go out of their front door for fear of death, whilst others seem to think this is all some sort of conspiracy to bring 1984 to life. Both of which are 180 degrees off course from reality.

Yes, this thing is nasty, and every death or related is an utter tragedy. A price can't be put on life. We've had to act and act fast to squash this thing as much as we can. However, everything is a balance. Life cannot simply "stop" and has to carry on in some form, with some very sensible precautions. Which is where the "common sense" comes in.

I can't fly anyway as 1) my club is shut UFN, 2) my local airfield is also closed UFN apart from air ambulance, mail/cargo and CAA-approved maint flights, 3) my SEP and med are both expired now. So for me I just need to be patient until some more common sense thinking prevails or the risk becomes low enough for ops to return. Can't see my AME as the practice he operates from is shut, no "distancing" practical in a SEP hence why the club's shut for now, and until the airlines start flying again here the airfield will likely remain closed to all but the aforementioned essential movements. Will be interesting to see how instruction will work, if at all.

Missing it all but there's bigger things at play here. Glad I've still got a job (still a worry considering the state the aviation industry's in) and able to pay the bills and feed the kids, especially as we're a single-income household. Most importantly, we still have our health.

ORS4 1385: Any EASA Part-MED medical with expiry on, or after, 16th March to before 31st October is extended to 22nd Novemer - PROVIDED no reduction in medical fitness.
ORS4 1378: Same for National Licences - except wording is "...expiry after 16th March..."

ORS4 1385: Any rating valid on, or after 16th March to before 31st October can be extended to 22nd November - all you need to do is:
- Receive (ground based) refresher training - which can be carried out remotely
- Get the instructor / examiner to sign your licence and fill in SRG 1100F
In a similar manner LAPL rolling validity period can be extended from 24 to 32 months.

Lots of good information / pointers in: https://www.ontrackaviation.com/Covi...28_04_2020.pdf - the slides from a webinar.

NOTE: The CAA keep updating / replacing the ORS4 - I think the ones listed are still valid

Of course it doesn't help if you have no access to an aircraft AND runway :*

OC619

P.S. Really liked your sensible, balanced post

Note sent to Aerodrome Operators and Associations today from UK Department for Transport

Dear all,
We wanted to provide a brief update on the current status of the government guidance around recreational GA flying. As you will be aware, the current guidance that we have issued precludes recreational GA flying (https://www.gov.uk/government/publicati ... l-aviation).
Following the Prime Minister’s press briefing on Sunday 10th May, and subsequent wider guidance on the new measures designed to reduce the spread of Covid-19, we recognise there is an appetite for renewed guidance on what this means for recreational GA.
The Department is currently in the process of reviewing its guidance to ensure it remains consistent with the wider government advice on restrictions around sport and leisure activities. We are doing this as quickly as possible, and hope to update the guidance on theGOV.UK website very shortly. However, until this has happened, the previously issued guidance precluding recreational flying continues to apply, and we would be grateful if you could help us ensure this message is shared throughout your associations, and across the sector.
We are grateful for your continued patience as we work through these unprecedented issues as fast as we can, and we will provide another update as soon as the guidance has been updated.

Take Care

General Aviation, Skills, Safety and CAA Division
Department For Transport
13/05/2020

Thanks for the info. Much appreciated! No point in doing it just now with club and airfield shut but good to know.

Black Sun - agree, the Govt in the link above basically admit there's negligible risk with GA but due to the blanket nature of the restrictions there's no room for manoeuvre. Common sense is still oot the windae right now.

Let us return to the original question “ can I fly my aircraft to get maintenance” .


The answer is yes !

:) thanks for the replies chaps.

Can I fly from a Welsh / Scottish Airfield?
 

If you read the English Department for Transport website it refers you to the Transport Scotland & Wales website for advice on flying.There you will find no advice at all!
Essential to keep current? I would say most definitely.
Reasonable? Absolutely.
Aircraft health? Absolutely.
Bottom line is you can fly as per the English.

Flying was never illegal. The CAA put out guidance but did not enact any legislation. However the Coronavirus Regulations - the law - made it illegal to leave your house unless you had a reasonable excuse. So you could fly to work but not for a jolly

The Regulations in England have been amended to allow you to leave home 'to visit a public open space for the purposes of open-air recreation to promote their physical or mental health or emotional wellbeing' and the guidance says this means for leisure activities and the CAA advice on the guidance on the Amendment of the Regulation says a jolly is leisure. No wonder Dominic got confused :mad:

The Amendment does not apply in Wales so you cant leave your home. That is the restriction.