FlarePath wrote:Wait till the next proper recession arrives and the first thing to go will be the company jets, then when the the annoying little GA people are seen as a cash cow again, they will be bribed to return with all sorts of deals, but they will probably be too late as most will have bitten the dust by then or be happy with their new locations/arrangements
I was there during the last recession and the first thing to go was the "annoying little GA people", the business aviation reduced, but nothing to the same extent as the light GA.
Even when the economy started to pick up it never really came back to precrash levels whilst I worked there .
With regard to ATZ size, I'm not 100% sure but I thought one reason for its 2.5 mile atz was sthat it was non standard and allocated to try and keep the standard departure routes (SIDS but ocas) within a slightly controlled environment. It's been 6 years though so I can't remember the details.
Either way the document quoted is for new establishment of ATZs it doesn't make allowance for downgrading existing ones.
I can sympathize with the issues Biggin are facing, one of the most challenging aspects working there was integrating cct training with a constant stream of inbounds.
Light aircraft Training circuits and wake turbulence generators don't mix easily, factor in the requirement to visual maneuver for runway 03 and the 3 min requirement for wake turbulence on an T&G versus 2 mins for a departure and it quickly became unmanageable.
I remember Normal general aviation could be easily accommodated, it was in and out relatively quickly, but circuits increased the complexity significantly.
The views and opinions expressed by coolbeans are his own and are in no way to be taken as a reflection of the views and opinions of his unit.