LONDON : the world's greatest capital city.....
 

....but not today, 19/12. See NOTAM below - this is becoming a regular problem. The new SVFR freq today contains a pre-rec announcement.

FROM 03/12/19 08:30 TO 03/12/19 13:30 A3313/03
E)DUE TO ATC STAFF SHORTAGE NO SPECIAL VFR SERVICE WILL BE PROVIDED
IN THE LONDON CTR ON 125.62MHZ.
HEL TFC INBD TO HEATHROW, NORTHOLT, LONDON(BATTERSEA)HELIPORT OR
HAYES SHOULD CONTACT THAMES RADAR ON 132.7MHZ.FIXED WING TFC WISHING
TO LAND AT HEATHROW SHOULD CONTACT HEATHROW APPROACH ON 119.72MHZ.
SERVICE WILL BE OFFERED ACCORDING TO FLIGHT PRIORITY AND CONTROLLER
WORKLOAD.
FOR ALL OTHER QUERIES, CONTACT LONDON TERMINAL CONTROL CENTRE

mmmm...0830-1330....can't be the staff party......unless it was last night. Happy Christmas to all at London ATC & Thames Radar. :O

The NOTAM kinda says it all. Staff shortages have plagued Heathrow Tower and Thames/SVFR all summer, and unfortunately it's about to get a little worse.

This morning we had two sick.

Jerricho - how is it getting worse? Now that SVFR is within the TC Heathrow Group surely things will improve!!!!!

I think SVFR has been closed every day this week. The DAP's in tray will be full after Christmas.

Hey B-L,

I would have thought the split between TC and over the road MINUS the non-availability of AVA's would be a little problem. Maybe I'm wrong (as per bloody usual!)

Surely not!

BUT - a little birdie from TC Ops tells me that 2x LHR TC ATCO's per watch were going to be used for SVFR.

(getting 2 willing to do it could be the tricky part!!!)

B-L

I'll do it!!! ;)

Cool. Only 9 mad people left to find.......

headsethair

There's your answer.

Heliport

Why is Special so unpopular for ATCers??