Questions for UK Flyers (Or Anyone Else!)

[tommchowat]

Hi chaps,

I just wanted to get a few things straightened out!

I got my PPL in Australia a couple of years ago. I'm now at university in the UK and there is a chance that when I finish, I can convert my licence to a UK one and potentially do a CPL and ATPL (maybe in the UK, maybe not). I was just wondering about a couple of things. I went flying at Bournemouth a couple of times and there are so many differences in Australian and UK flying. Just wonder if people can answer some questions for me

1) I did my PPL at Jandakot, YPJT. You have to ask ground for start clearance for circuits, and you don't need clearance for taxi. Fair enough. I only know this because my instructor told me. But what about someone who has never flown from Jandakot before? How do they know that you don't need to talk to ground, where the runup areas are etc? Is there some information on that particular airport? I had LOADS of books, one with all the airfields in Australia, but never read YPJT because I already "knew" it.

2) Jandakot has several entry corridors (I'm not sure if they're called VRP's out there). But anyway, I know what altitude to be at abeam certain points, I know to tune YPTJ tower and tell them where I am when I'm there. But again, how would anyone else who'd never flown to YPJT know this?! It was the same at Bournemouth, the guy I was flying with knew who to talk to and when to talk to them, and where to enter from and at what altitude. But I just can't grasp how someone who's never flown their in their lives would know. Is there a certain rule that at each stage of the VRP you contact someone?

3) What on earth is flight following?! I've never had to use it. Australia is a pretty barren place to fly... after takeoff from YPJT if I was going to the training area, I would tune off tower when I reached a certain lake, then tune to Perth Radar (Perth international airport was not far away) but I would NOT talk to them, just tune them. Does this sound right? It seemed that in the UK I/my instructor was always talking to someone, but in Australia I could do whole navigation flights without talking to anyone at all!

4) Carrying on from the theme of question 3, I would be doing a navigation flight, not having spoken to anyone, just tuning the appropriate stations according to my charts (Only really Perth Radar and Melbourne Centre if I was going far). Then when I wanted to enter the Perth YPPH International Airport's control zone, I'd contact Perth Clearance Delivery and ask for "squawk code and clearance". Is this the same in the UK? Also, when you were on the ground at YPJT and you wanted to depart via Fremantle, then enter YPPH control zone immediately, you would contact Perth Clearance Delivery whilst on the ground at YPJT and ask for clearance there. Is this familiar to anyone?!

I guess my main issue is the differences in flying between the two countries. Just feels like I've been "denied" a certain amount of information. I looked at the map of Bournemouth airport and there's so many control zones, altitude constraints, basically lines everywhere. My map of YPJT had a small control zone, surrounded by YPPH's slightly bigger one, and then practically nothing else!

Say I wanted to fly from Bristol to Bournemouth VFR, never having been to either airports. How would I know how to properly depart Bristol? Would it all be on the chart of VRP's? And when I enter Bournemouth, how do I know who to speak to when I'm coming close? Approach? Tower? If I chose flight following, would they tell me?

Thanks to anyone who has taken the time to read this

[RatRace]

The UK Directorate of Airspace Policy (DAP) has a guide for pilots not familiar with UK airspace procedures.

Everything you always wanted to know about VFR flying in the UK but were afraid to ask
http://www.caa.co.uk/docs/64/VFR_Guide_03_09.pdf

this and much more available at http://www.caa.co.uk (click "publications" - lots of free pdf downloads).

[mgh]

The following site gives all en-route (ENR) and aerodrome information for the UK. Drill down from the UK AIP. For example, it will give you details of procedures to be followed at all licenced aerodromes.

http://www.nats-uk.ead-it.com/public/index.php.html

Section 2-20 of the Textual Data gives the Local Traffic Regulations, Section 2-21 Noise Abatement Procedures, and Section 2-22 Flight Procedures.

For Bournemouth 2-20 1 b reads:

All visiting General Aviation aircraft, less than 3000 kg MTOW are strictly subject to PPR (Prior Permission Required) and compulsory handling. Pilots must obtain a PPR reference number prior to arrival...and indicate the purpose of visit and parking requirements. They are also required to leave the pilot's name and address and a contact relephone number. Aircraft without a PPR number will not be allowed to land.

Compulsory handling means you must use one of the airport's approved handling agents.

2-22 gives the procedures for inbound aircraft (2) and designates the VRPs (5)

You must understand the relevant parts of the AIP before flying around the Uk

[Tim_A]

Get yourself a copy of the AFE Flight Guide http://www.flightstore.co.uk/prod/AF...T-FGUID/FGVFR/ That (or the Pooley's equivalent) is what 99.9% of UK pilots will have in their flight bag. It has a big advantage over the airport listings in the AIP in that it's not restricted to the comparatively small number of licensed airports. For example, my local airfield, Enstone (EGTN), is not listed in the AIP, but has two pages in AFE, including a circuit procedures chard, details of what not to overfly and so on.

There are not many places that have entry/exit corridors as such, and those that do are generally either big airports (Manchester, Liverpool), or close to or inside some serious airspace (Elstree, Denham, Fairoaks). But these corridors are very well defined and described in the guides (they can get rather upset if you stray into Heathrow's Class A by mistake...)

There is one clear rule that should be easy to follow: If in doubt, ask.

We don't have Flight Following in the UK, so I'm not 100% sure on it. However we have four levels of ATC service outside controlled airspace (ATSOCAS): Basic, Traffic, Deconfliction and procedural. You can read about them in the link RatRace provided. Outside controlled airspace there is no legal requirement to carry a radio or have it switched on, so you don't HAVE to be talking to anyone. Of course, to enter controlled airspace you have to get a clearance.

Onto your Q4, you cannot enter controlled airspace (CTR, or ATZ etc) without clearance, and you would typically call the appropriate frequency at about 5-10 minutes (or about 15 miles) out. "Brize Zone, G_ABCD request transit". They will ask you for appropriate details, and assign you a squawk code as required.

You'll find a lot of airports are listed as PPR (Prior Permission Required)> What this means is that you are required to telephone them before departure. Partly this is for traffic management, so they know how many anw what aircraft they're expecting, but also it is to make sure you know and understand the arrival procedures - they will talk you through it and answer any questions you have. Similarly, at the airport, when you book out, they will talk you through the departure procedures. At controlled airports (ie in Class D) such as Bristol and Bournemouth you will also be given a specific departure clearance by the tower to follow.

Yes, the airspace can be complicated - it's a small country, trying to cram a lot in, but if we can manage to fly in it, I'm sure you can. You can also add 'student' to your callsign, and ATC will be even more friendly and helpful.

[tommchowat]

Thanks very much for the links chaps, I'll have a sift through them when I have time, so next time I'm flying and ask a question my flight instructor doesn't look at me with the expression, "what, you didn't know that?!"