[kanga]

@kanga

It hasn’t made any difference whether I have have one or two radios.

The transit request is made to Radar where during the quieter periods ..

...

thanks for clarification. My only (possibly irrelevant or trivial point) is that it seems to me to be easier to do such 'frequency monitoring for awareness, including of CAT traffic density' if there's a 'spare' radio (or channel of a radio, eg the Standby frequency) if you're flying in an area where being simultaneously tuned for 2-way communication on some other frequency might be prudent. Oh, and also if there's another pilot (eg the handling one) to share the comms (and nav, and handling) mode. But for a FI, Errant or not, such extra workload may also seem trivial. In Class G near Bristol this may be less demanding than, say, in or near Class D or RMZ areas near Farnborough ..

[Andrew Sinclair]

Yes, it does add some extra workload wherever in the country you do it. Crossing controlled airspace itself adds some extra workload and the suggestion was written with the assumption that a pilot who wanted to cross controlled airspace would have assessed they have either sufficient personal capacity or a second pair of cockpit hands and thus may want to listen to another frequency to build a picture of what else was going on. If, however, they don’t have sufficient personal capacity or an extra pair of cockpit hands they may not want to and simply make the call or route around.

[Smaragd Flyer]

I last flew on 11th March. I was flying under Bristol's CTA on the listening squawk below 1500' when I encountered some unpleasant turbulence in the lee of the Mendip Hills. Asked for a climb into their CTA which I was given promptly. Much smoother! Always worth filing a FCS1521 if refused. It is not a criticism, just informative. I have it on my home screen and it only takes a minute.

[Andrew Sinclair]

The times they are a changing, I heard a negative transponder glider out of Nympsfields transiting today

[Iceman]

Gatwick, Luton, Stansted and even Heathrow have been extremely amenable of late with many people publishing transits down runways and zone crossings, but they must be bored if a non-transponding glider is allowed. Last Saturday week. I was monitoring Bristol during flight when the female controller was heard to say to a ground vehicle “You can tell that I’m bored, can’t you ?” .

Iceman

[G-JWTP]

Thursday last week I was transiting Luton when a inbound asked if he could slow up a bit as they wanted to shoot a CAT 2 approach and didn't want to cause the next landing an issue.

"Sure "replied the ATCO, " the next arrival is in 2 hours".

It must be rather dull at Swanwick!

G-JWTP

[clarkeysntfc]

Last week I got a low approach & go around in a PA28 at LGW 26R. Only restriction was "not below 600ft AGL".

Once in a lifetime / generation opportunity.

[Paul_Sengupta]

Once in a lifetime / generation opportunity.

I did it during the volcanic ash episode, so twice in my flying lifetime so far.

[tomshep]

I have yet to see a Luton Transit land at Bristol.

[marioair]

Even if you don’t bring a man and a van they’d probably still charge handling

[ls8pilot]

The times they are a changing, I heard a negative transponder glider out of Nympsfields transiting today

The high cloud bases over the weekend (7000ft+ on Sunday) made the 4,500 "triangle" east of Colerne more of a barrier than usual (glider pilots prefer to operate in a band between cloud base and 50% of the surface to base as thermals are more organised nearer 'base).

Several Nympsfield pilots got very easy clearances through from Bristol on the way to/from turn points in Devon and the south coast, only one I heard of had to hold for a couple of minutes (he was climbing in a thermal anyway).

I was too dumb to consider asking, so took the long way round to the east of Chippenham

So many thanks to Bristol ATC

[Andrew Sinclair]

@ls8pilot

glider pilots prefer to operate in a band between cloud base and 50% of the surface to base as thermals are more organised nearer 'base

That's interesting, I didn't know that. Just as a matter of interest, I heard one of the pilots talk about "The Bath gap" what is this?

edited for typo

[ls8pilot]

@ls8pilot

glider pilots prefer to operate in a band between cloud base and 50% of the surface to base as thermals are more organised nearer 'base

That's interesting, I didn't now that. Just as a matter of interest, I heard one of the pilots talk about "The Bath gap" what is this?

The "Bath Gap" is an area of airspace on the eastern side of the Bristol CTA where local gliding clubs have special arrangements for crossing. By prior arrangement the base of the CTA above Bath can be raised from 3500 to 4500 to allow crossing without clearance. Details Here. It only applies to pre-briefed pilots from as specified in the letter of agreement. It can include the 4500-FL105 "triangle" and raises that airspace by 500ft.

The reasons for the operating band are complex, "real" thermals are not much like the simple columns of air you see in the textbook - more like streams of bubbles coming up from the ground (actually streams of rotating toroids!). With big high cumulus then you will get multiple sources merging together as you go up, so the nearer the ground more streams, smaller "bubbles". As the thermal matures there may be nothing coming up from the surface at all, even though it is active higher up. This means it's more difficult to get a good climb low down. Complex, but I guess this sort of stuff makes it challenging and fun!

[Pilot H]

Yay!

It's Stansted Goddammit!!!

Rob P

Basking in nostalgia.

Oh that gave me flashback of Angelika's Chocolate Cake

[Pete L]

Bizarrely, there is a photo still in existence:

http://www.steggalls.co.uk/flyer/bourn-03.html

Some young looking forumites who I hadn't quite met, I think.