Hiya Ron,
I was on my way to Crossfell before diverting to the lakes after it was clagged in at high cap. If I'd have rung the hotline at that point then information would have taken 4 hours to get through to all military crews and the day would have been over. As it turns out there were about 40 gliders up during the day.
I'm not disputing the NOTAM system Ron I know you feel it's very important but once you're away from the hill (as lots did do) standard site Notams are of little use.
You are also relying on pilots flying from private /grass strips to do the right thing aswell which I guess doesn't happen as often as we might think.
One of the choppers was the air ambulance who would disregard the Notams when they would prevent them saving lives I presume.
Notams are like an insurance policy...... We just hope we never have to make a claim.........
Civil Aircraft Notification Procedure (CANP)
Avoiding close encounters with military aviation!
There are two linked systems for letting the military know where we will be flying on any given midweek (non English bank holiday) day.
Five hundred of the busiest flying sites have allocated Site Codes. (The codes for your club’s sites will be in your club site guide.) On these sites it is possible to activate a temporary avoidance zone around the notified site (1nm diameter/1000ft agl) by contacting the Low Flying Booking Cell by 20:00 the day before (16:00 on Sun). (Later submissions will still be passed on to military pilots, but as a warning rather than creating a temporary avoidance zone.)
For all other sites the standard CANP (Civil Aircraft Notification Procedure) should be used if five or more gliders are likely to be operating. This does not establish an avoidance area but it does ensure that military pilots will be alerted to your presence. Because it can take up to four hours to get the information out to all the military pilots before they take off, the notification procedure should be started as soon as possible - ideally the evening before.
In both cases take the following steps: Use Freephone 0800 515544 (or Fax 0800 3892225 or E-mail
witlfos-lbfc@wittering.raf.mod.uk). Provide the following details:
a.Activity. Hang/paragliding (If the site is one of those with a site code then state "Hang/paragliding Avoidance Area" here.)
b.Location: Site grid reference (2 letter 6 figure) and name. (If the site is one of those with a site code then state that first.)
c.Area of operation. (With the notification system this is a maximum of 2NM radius. With the avoidance area system it is always 1nm diameter.)
d.Date and time flying will start/finish.
e.Expected number of gliders.
f.Contact telephone number (ideally a mobile that will work on the site).
g.Normal contact details (if different to (f)).
You will be given a unique Reference Number to note. The Low Flying Booking Cell is manned Monday to Thursday 07:00 - 23:00 and Fri to Sun 07:00 -17:00. If you use the fax or E-mail contact out-of-hours you will be called back by phone with the Reference Number when the office is next manned and the associated notification has been passed to military pilots. You can only assume that you have avoidance/notification status once you have received this. If at any stage it becomes clear that the site won‘t be used after all you should cancel by calling 0800 515544, quoting the Reference Number and amending the details.
The personnel manning the Low Flying Booking Cell are a helpful bunch whose sole aim is keeping us all safe. If your flying situation doesn‘t exactly match the criteria above it is still worth giving them a call for advice - they might still be able to do something to help.
2Nm and 1Nm radius and only an avoidance area or alerted to our presence.
The RAF then decide whether or not to issue a UKLB NOTAM. There have been, and probably will be again, occasions when a UKLB NOTAM is not issued
So on occasion the RAF may decide our presence is unimportant to their operations.
Interestingly for us the BGA have a web page showing how to Notam a whole route and possible turn points. If you saw a stonking forecast and knew where you would be flying from and a general route based on the wind you could , in theory according to the BGA, NOTAM a route.
Would that be more useful?
http://www.gliding.co.uk/bgainfo/airspa ... tipsv3.pdf
for the Nats site login with bhpauser and password
You are only as good as your last flight........
) whilst I was still tethered to the hill on a bungie. Enjoyed my spirals down the landing field to pay my £1 fine.
