Between Baisingstoke and Alton, south of J6 of the M3

Any arieal pics of the “New Airport”

My pic on a.net from a few months ago:

http://www.airliners.net/open.file/737923/L/

We’re going ooop north in the PA-28 this Sunday (wx permitting) so I might try to shoot it again now its operational.

Andy

the problem is Military and civil ATC are two sperate entities. Military jets are literally free to do what ever they fancy…. this leads to a lot of near missed with commuter planes. Military aviation should be controlled by national ATC. then the near misses would be stopped, or at the very least reduced

Thats something of an over-simplification…

1. Almost all of the UK including “uncontrolled airspace” down to low level, is covered by radar. In England, for example, the only area where radar cover is patchy is in and around Sheffield where coverage is shielded by the Peaks

2. Under normal circumstances, military aircraft cannot enter or cross civilian airways or enter control zones/areas without at the least coordination with civil air traffic services, and more often not without actually communicating with civil air traffic services

3. Outside of controlled airspace (and by this I mean off airways and outside of air traffic control zones/areas around airports), ANYONE is free to “do what ever they fancy” be they civil, military or general aviation – in these areas there is no mandatory requirement to participate in an air traffic service even if radar coverage and a service is available

The biggest problems as far as near misses is concerned comes when airline services are operated off airways. Such services operate in uncontrolled airspace – whether a service is available or not, there is no mandatory requirements to participate. It therefore follows that in such airspace, whilst a radar service can provide separation and avoidance information, it may be to neither party, one party or both parties depending on whether they decide to participate or not.

When I worked for a large UK airline, one of our services sometimes went out over East Anglia off airways, using when it was available the services of Eastern Radar which is a military service. Firstly, the service wasn’t always available, and secondly even when it was there was no obligation for all traffic in the area to use it. But it was cheaper to go that way than to go down to Clacton and across the channel. Fortunately, the airline didn’t tend to use the route when Eastern Radar was off air, but not everyone is like that.

When airlines stop flight planning services through uncontrolled airspace (not always an easy choice – they don’t always want to use airways because that can involve longer routings), that’s when the number of air misses will reduce.

Andy

Are there any regional or short-sector flights operated by the Airbus A330?

Actually, come to think of it, you should know – Aer Lingus have in the past not sure if they do now) operated A330s regularly on DUB-SNN!

Andy

Yep, plenty, particularly in Asia / Far East – examples:

* Cathay Pacific: Hong Kong – Taipei which is only an hour and a half or so
* Qantas: Sydney – Melbourne

At one time, Air Inter used to operate the A330 domestic in France too.

Andy

Yes, there is a WWE show this week at the NEC Arena, so this could be carrying the wrestlers and other people.

Indeed there is, and that’s why the 757 is at BHX. Last time the wrestlers were over they used a 727 and it visited EMA in connection with a show at the Sheffield Arena.

Andy