Restricted Airspace for Drones - Oban, Sound of Mull, Coll
 

https://airspacechange.caa.co.uk/PublicProposalArea?pID=330
Note the route. Near Glenforsa. Deadline for comments.is 24 January.

I'm surprised there's been no response. No height stated in published documents that I could find. No service for non-commercial traffic. 4 weeks mentioned, but multi month trial also mentioned.
Coll had a population of 198 in 2011 Census. The GP Surgery is open one hour per day, Monday to Friday.
https://cimg3.ibsrv.net/gimg/pprune....29bf59f575.png

According to Flyer website:

"Skyports is seeking a Temporary Danger Area (TDA) complex to be established during notified periods to enable the safe testing and demonstration of unmanned aircraft operations during a trial for up to 5 weeks starting on 8 April 2021. The TDAs will operate from the surface to various heights up to 950ft amsl."

Looks a bit too close to the Glenforsa circuit to me especially if it is up to that height near there. And starting just when the weather usually starts to improve for GA!

Will probably know more once I have watched the Flyer livestream featuring Brendan Walsh.

400' AGL they say, which I find acceptable. 24 HR notice, airspace open at other times, which I also find acceptable.
But if I was the patient on Coll, I'd willingly pay for the option of having the painkillers, etc.sent on the next ferry rather than wait 24 hours. Or by plane to Tiree and short ferry to Coll.
As a trial, unconnected with current epidemic, I hope they succeed, with different uses developing soon.

Or indeed on the **scheduled service** to Coll ffs!

With a stop off at Glenforsa if needed (although I think the frequency of scheduled services would need to be increased)!

I thought that was the whole point of all the money that was spent on Oban Airport, and laying hard runways at Coll (and Colonsay).

Updated proposal - 22 January.
 

Copied from Skyports email 22/11:
Glenforsa Airfield:
o We have rerouted and redesigned the TDA away from Glenforsa so as not to undermine access to the airfield. We propose only operating on the route past Glenforsa during the first two weeks.

2. Activations:

o We have tried to provide better visibility of what TDAs will be activated together and which will as a consequence will be deactivated.
o We have also provided details of likely length of activations and tried to provide reassurance of deactivation of TDAs outside of notified hours.
o We have removed the Oban-Easdale route which has a TDA Upper Limit that was a little high.
o We can commit to not operating on Saturdays, Sundays or any Bank Holidays that take place during the proposed period of operations.
o We have reduced the duration of operations to 3 weeks and 1 day (8 April - 30 April 2021).
o We are exploring a means of sharing our indicative schedule of operations with stakeholders to provide as much advance notice of what is expected to be happening and when.

3. TDA Upper Limits:
o All Upper Limits are expressed in AMSL, which is why they look high, but the unmanned aircraft willn not be operating in excess of 400ft AGL – and will be operating lower than that.
o We have reduced the Upper Limits on the TDAs that were higher because of the terrain.

4. Communicating with Skyports:

o We will provide a phone number of the flight team on the NOTAM, which will be continually staffed, and can be used for requesting entry into an active TDA.
o We will explore with Oban Information and Scottish Information the provision of a DAAIS so that messages and requests submitted to the FISO can be relayed by phone to Skyports.
o We can confirm that the unmanned aircraft is fitted with ADS-B IN and OUT.

5. Procedures to cooperate with air traffic services:

o Further to the point above, we will explore with Oban Information and Scottish Information about sharing our up and down times so that the FISO can communicate with nearby aircraft whether our unmanned aircraft are airborne or not.

6. Aircraft Avoidance:o
oWe can provide confirmation that the unmanned aircraft is fitted with an automatic collision avoidance system in case aircraft were to enter the TDA by accident or emergency.

If the Drones are equipped with ADS-B in/out for this coming April trial I wonder on what frequency the ADS-B is they are using?
The Drones in the Goodwood trial are going to be using 978Mhz and that seems illogical to me when most EC conspiquity devices like Pilotaware etc. are using ADSB on 1090Mhz. In other words unless you also have ADS-B that can receive 978Mhz you won't be able to see them!

Responding to my objection to these proposals to [email protected] (also copied to [email protected] and [email protected]), the CAA has today confirmed to me that:

"Due to feedback received in the initial part of the engagement window, Skyports Ltd have extended the length of the engagement. The targeted stakeholder engagement activity period for this airspace proposal which commenced on Monday 11th January and will now end on Sunday 31th January 2021. All responses should be sent to Skyports by midnight on Sunday 31st January 2021, when the stakeholder engagement period will close."

Trig Mode S is 1090. Is the other frequency, 978, not US? The Skyport document mentions "aircraft broadcasting electronic conspicuity with SIL=0" . Would this include Mode S without ADS-B?
"TDAs will not be activated for 24-hour periods or 24-hour periods for several days at a time.
Skyports intends to use the TDAs only when required and will deactivate TDAs outside of notified hours."
The surgeries on Coll and Iona operate for only one hour, Monday to Friday. I suspect there is no permanent doctor on either island, and that they travel from Tiree and Mull respectively for the surgeries.
They likely also may visit, out of hours, for emergencies.

BBC today. Nothing like the consultation proposal, but makes more sense.
BBC News - Covid in Scotland: Drones to carry Covid samples
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotla...-west-56154503

I have struggled. I really have. But I fail to see any use for this service. I can think of no drugs that are so urgent that there is a need. The idea that Covid 19 tests are an emergency is a joke but in any case if nobody can get off the island what is the risk?? and anyone who thinks you can deliver PPE should come and see the vanloads arriving daily at even a surgery.

I suppose there could be a use for transporting blood although the number of times that is needed for such a population is infinitesimally small and the patient would need transfer to an A and E department anyway. Scottish Ambulance carry blood in their aircraft so far faster than waiting until the approved hour per day. The problem with medical emergencies in isolated areas is that you normally need to transfer the patient to a doctor or nurse who has specific skills. If you just need a drug you can store it in advance.

Whether drones will be safe in crowded airspace remains in doubt. In the Amazon a British company called UAV Aid run 'out of sight' drones which are doing a fantastic job bringing in supplies to nurses who travel for days between isolated communities and only know what they need when they get there. What really browns me off here is the use of 'medical need' as an excuse or ploy to get approval. Why cant companies come clean and admit it is a pure commercial trial? Or otherwise include a couple of paragraphs from the GPs on the island proving me wrong?

Last March, when the restrictions really started to bite, we had a call to help with a cancer treatment. Apparently this treatment has a 4-hour life once created and the supply and the patient were 250 miles apart; treatment made in Birmingham and the patient in the far SW of England. A PA28 collected the treatment delivered by bike to an airfield in the Midlands, landed at our airfield and was collected by our local Blood Bike. Manufacture to patient less than 3 hours.
We stand ready to do this at any time. A PA28 can easily fly in conditions that would ground the present generation of drones to far greater distances and with orders of magnitude greater payload. You could double that payload in our PA32.
I accept that these UAVs need to be worked up to a standard where they can mix with piloted aircraft for future development and no doubt the time will come when they are actually useful but it irritates me to see the trials 'dressed up' as if they can actually be doing anything useful at the moment.

TOO

This is said to be already operating. It is NOT where the consultation documents said, but in a more sensibly useful area.
There are similar developments in Norway, but through valleys rather than mainly over the sea. I don't know if UK rules are the same. Norway table below.https://cimg3.ibsrv.net/gimg/pprune....7a13641451.png

I understand that the CAA has decided to decline the request for a Temporary Danger Area complex in relation to ACP-2020-099.

Screenshot today from EasyVFR, CAA supported app.
https://cimg1.ibsrv.net/gimg/pprune....bfb7ef82be.png
Area 4/3/2021

Restriction active 06/3 and 07/3 according to the NOTAMs.