Primarily for general aviation discussion, but other aviation topics are also welcome.
#1572077
Thx for all the advice folks. Had a lovely jaunt to Cherbourg with a fuel stop in Jersey en route home. Picked up two bottles of the incredible Champagne that the coffee shop / off licence at Cherbourg sells to sub €20/bottle. Beautiful blue sky day and did all my IFR flight plans, GenDec etc on the ipad shortly before the take offs. Hasn't technology improved our world!
Footnote - down to 1 bottle of champagne now... :D
AlanM, Iceman liked this
#1572081
brentford77 wrote:lovely jaunt to Cherbourg with a fuel stop in Jersey en route home
So that's a GenDec/GAR with 12 hours notice? Because if 4 hours is enough that's useful to know.
Europaul383 wrote:they are often (sometimes?) looking for SRA practice as they rarely get to do that with the jets ... you might* be pleasantly surprised... :)
Yup, regularly (2 out of 3 requests) get those while IR(R) training, usually ask at the start of a sortie so they can fit me in at some point.
Last edited by neilmurg on Sat Nov 18, 2017 9:26 am, edited 1 time in total.
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By Iceman
FLYER Club Member  FLYER Club Member
#1572110
I believe that Gloucester is one of the few units still offering 0.5 mile SRAs.

brentford77 wrote:Picked up two bottles of the incredible Champagne that the coffee shop / off licence at Cherbourg sells to sub €20/bottle.


That will be Luc and Edith's place. They do their famous fly-in BBQs and curries in the summer months which are always worth attending (and so that you can stock up again). As I recommended, the Channel Islands and northern France have a very diverse set of approaches (NDBs through to LPVs) and all at little / no cost (£12 to land at Jersey). Fill up with cheap fuel (£1 a litre at the AOPA rate in Jersey), and claim fuel drawback into the bargain - a no brainer.

Iceman 8)
Last edited by Iceman on Sat Nov 18, 2017 11:16 am, edited 1 time in total.
AlanM, Pilot Pete liked this
#1572120
Have to say that having had a quick random look at the UKAIP I am surprised to see so many units with SRAs still published. Generally, it would appear that those with RNAV/GNSS approaches have dropped SRAs. Shame.

(I guess Gloucestershire keeps then as they are a busy training airfield?)
By matspart3
FLYER Club Member  FLYER Club Member
#1572128
AlanM wrote:Have to say that having had a quick random look at the UKAIP I am surprised to see so many units with SRAs still published. Generally, it would appear that those with RNAV/GNSS approaches have dropped SRAs. Shame.

(I guess Gloucestershire keeps then as they are a busy training airfield?)


The likelihood is that the half miler will go, (largely due to demand and ATCO currency) when our RNAV approaches are upgraded to LPV next year. At the moment though, notwithstanding the current technical issue, SRA is the only approach available if the NDB falls over because all MAPs require the GST.
AlanM liked this
#1572312
Europaul383 wrote:
AlanM wrote:
Europaul383 wrote:FWIW, they are often (sometimes?) looking for SRA practice....

Does any unit still offer SRAs?
Yep:
FARNBOROUGH SRA RTR 2NM RWY 24
From NATS AIS - Aerodrome Index - Specific Farnborough - EGLF :)

During the air show, the ILS is withdrawn from use as obstructions connected with the airshow infringe the ILS protected area so SRAs are the only iap available as they terminate at 2nm.
I did my last one the day I retired (30 Nov 2008). Does Farnborough ATC still use the table of advisory altitudes I worked out I wonder?
My last PAR was in Mar 2001 just before the runway re-configuration started thus moving the thresholds and thereby making the PAR unuseable. On the same date, we lost the ability to do half mile SRAs for the same reason, the Watchman radar (replaced by an ASR10 in Nov 2002) having fixed threshold markers which showed through the Adaptive MTI.
#1572353
matspart3 wrote:
AlanM wrote:
(I guess Gloucestershire keeps then as they are a busy training airfield?)


The likelihood is that the half miler will go, (largely due to demand and ATCO currency) when our RNAV approaches are upgraded to LPV next year. At the moment though, notwithstanding the current technical issue, SRA is the only approach available if the NDB falls over because all MAPs require the GST.


Keep the gonio. People can always fall back on QDMs .. :)
#1572397
Re Matspart3 RNAV Glos.
It really is ludicrous that the UK still has mandatory Third World NDBs as part of an RNAV approach at several airfields.
In reality of course most people use the NDB in the GPS database.
Likewise good to see the RNAV LPV being introduced at Glos.
Again why the mass of bureaucracy/cost required to upgrade to LPV, when the present LNAV/V advisory G/S on my G430W takes you safely down to the runway numbers already! As there is presumably no airfield or aircraft hardware upgrade required, only a simple Flight Check , one would naively think, would be sufficient.
More fees for someone though I suppose.
Pity the CAA doesn't get the FAA over here to show them the ropes, quite safely with thousands of LPV approaches in USA, at a fraction of the UK cost.
By matspart3
FLYER Club Member  FLYER Club Member
#1572439
Oldfart wrote:Re Matspart3 RNAV Glos.
It really is ludicrous that the UK still has mandatory Third World NDBs as part of an RNAV approach at several airfields.
In reality of course most people use the NDB in the GPS database.
Likewise good to see the RNAV LPV being introduced at Glos.
Again why the mass of bureaucracy/cost required to upgrade to LPV, when the present LNAV/V advisory G/S on my G430W takes you safely down to the runway numbers already! As there is presumably no airfield or aircraft hardware upgrade required, only a simple Flight Check , one would naively think, would be sufficient.
More fees for someone though I suppose.
Pity the CAA doesn't get the FAA over here to show them the ropes, quite safely with thousands of LPV approaches in USA, at a fraction of the UK cost.


Ours date from the 2006 initial trials when the viewpoint was that you needed a terrestrial navaid as a crosscheck. Our LPV upgrade will replace this with an RNAV MAP and hold, negating the requirement for NDB. In their defence, the CAA are very much onboard with this but somewhat constrained by the ACP process. Introducing a new flyover or flyby waypoint ‘forces’ aircraft over a bit of ground they might previously have missed and, therefore, triggers consultation. We’re making progress though.
GonzoEGLL, kanga liked this
#1572525
neilmurg wrote:
brentford77 wrote:lovely jaunt to Cherbourg with a fuel stop in Jersey en route home
So that's a GenDec/GAR with 12 hours notice? Because if 4 hours is enough that's useful to know.

Local arrangement for home based aircraft. I think where airfields have immigration based on site they are generally more tolerant of shorter notice Gendecs
neilmurg liked this