[rikur_]

That was purely based on some airfields that have decided to shut the shop to about mid April. I have two sailing trips planned for end of May & Sep the group I am with and me are not confident boat yards will be working even by Sep 20'.

Difficult to know who is informed or not, but a lot of public sector seems to be planning for 12 - 18 months, with possibility of it being 'as early as September'.

[seanxair]

Flying instructor and his wife near me are recovering from Covid-19

"...went down with suspected Covid19 a couple of weekends ago. We immediately started to self-isolate. It's been a scary time. I don't mind admitting that I became rather emotional this time last week. We're still experiencing tight and painful chests, made worse by hacking coughs.You really don't want to expose yourself to this virus."

[Miscellaneous]

I may give my aircraft a much needed blow-out tomorrow. I'll probably maintain at least a thousand metres from the nearest Earthbound soul. That's if nobody comes up with a valid reason not to.

Troll.

[GonzoEGLL]

Flying instructor and his wife near me are recovering from Covid-19

"...went down with suspected Covid19 a couple of weekends ago. We immediately started to self-isolate. It's been a scary time. I don't mind admitting that I became rather emotional this time last week. We're still experiencing tight and painful chests, made worse by hacking coughs.You really don't want to expose yourself to this virus."

Quite.

And one wonders how many he infected before any symptoms manifested themselves.

Data coming out of Iceland (they are attempting to test everyone) shows that around 50% of those tested positive never develop any symptoms.

Think about what that means.

Then stay at home.

Not difficult.

[skydriller]

Aberdeen still handling a lot of helicopter traffic to and from the rigs. Now I might have expected them to be in lockdown bearing in mind how closely they live on a rig...

There is a phrase "if anyone gets a cold, we all get a cold" often repeated on rigs. As a result rigs are actually pretty clean and hand washing and use of sanitiser is second nature all the time anyway.

The oil industry was ahead on this I think; Several months ago there were restrictions on those who has been to Asia, then Italy, needing to self isolate before being allowed offshore.

FTAOD, its not really possible to suddenly "turn off" oil rigs...all the support stuff still needs to be in place, and if you extend hitches of those aboard, risk of accidents increases. There are for sure big discussions going on as to what to do, but remember, oil & gas is what makes our modern world go around.

Regards, SD..

[cotterpot]

SD

but remember, oil & gas is what makes our modern world go around.

And storage of oil is nearing 75% capacity with more coming on stream from Russia. Also tankers for storage are in very short supply

LONDON (Reuters) - The oil market could see a record supply surplus in April as coronavirus wipes out demand and big producers pump more, creating a global glut that threatens to overwhelm storage capacity within months

[skydriller]

None of that changes the fact that you cant just flick a switch and turn out the lights on any Oil Rig (drilling or production) currently in the North Sea.

Needless to say, after the last 5 years in the toilet, just as the industry was getting on its feet and stabilising this last year, the Saudi/Russian shinanigins would probably have been a temporary blip, but now with this Coronavirus shutdown almost certainly causing another economic crisis, Im under no illusions, that whatever the government says about 80% pay now, I will again be out of a job by the end of the year.

Regards, SD..

[chevvron]

I would imagine that Police and medical transfers can come and go as required; they don’t need FISOs or fire cover to do this.

Do any of us need it?

Ask me again next time your aircraft noses over on landing and you're trapped in it with fuel dripping down on you.

[kanga]

E-mail to members from AOPA just received. Gist:

"however you may justify your light GA flying to yourself, including from an isolated private strip, it looks bad to the general public who may see and hear you. Oh, and you may have a mishap if you do. Please don't"

In full:

Pandemic Update – AOPA Pilot Members

With new information about Corvid-19 arriving every few hours, we need to consider how this will impact our private flying and how we keep you regularly informed with factual news.

Up until recently we have been able to fly but we are now being asked to, “stay at home” and “social distance” and unfortunately, sitting in a small aircraft cockpit is not going to count as daily exercise. Hence, until further notice our passion to be up in the air needs to be contained.

We are seeing many airfields closing and clearly this effectively grounds many pilots and aircraft. However, if you operate out of a private strips or airfield you may be tempted to continue to fly. We consider this would be contrary to the current “stay at home” advice and ask that you consider how this will affect public opinion of private flyers and GA. Also consider what drain you would have on emergency services should you have an incident.

This raises important questions regarding currency and expiry of licences, medicals and aircraft documentation for flight. AOPA is pressing the CAA to make some sensible decisions on extensions for these. At present they are focusing on measures for commercial pilots* but they have indicated that GA issues are also in their sight. As soon as we have further information on this, we will let you know.

[Dave W]

I would imagine that Police and medical transfers can come and go as required; they don’t need FISOs or fire cover to do this.

Do any of us need it?

Ask me again next time your aircraft noses over on landing and you're trapped in it with fuel dripping down on you.

The rolling eyes are superfluous. Hundreds of farm strip operators accept this risk all* the time, for thousands of hours a year. Accidents of that type are very rare.

*Apart from now, obvs.

[PaulB]

Kemble will effectively close at 1500 today (25/3/20)

This is what they just posted on FB

Following government guidelines, Cotswold Airport will close to all traffic today (25 Mar) at 1500 hrs local until further notice

Essential business jet traffic and emergency services/military may be accommodated with a minimum of 12hrs PPR notice to the Airport Manager, christian@cotswoldairport.com or ops@cotswoldairport.com

Please monitor NOTAMs for any changes.

[flybymike]

Do any of us need it?

Ask me again next time your aircraft noses over on landing and you're trapped in it with fuel dripping down on you.

The rolling eyes are superfluous. Hundreds of farm strip operators accept this risk all* the time, for thousands of hours a year. Accidents of that type are very rare.

*Apart from now, obvs.

Thanks Dave, you saved me the bother.....

[Cessna571]

I would imagine that Police and medical transfers can come and go as required; they don’t need FISOs or fire cover to do this.

Do any of us need it?

Ask me again next time your aircraft noses over on landing and you're trapped in it with fuel dripping down on you.

I fly from DX where they keep fire cover into the evening if I fly out of hours.

Once I said that I’m really not bothered, I used to fly from Rougham or Bourn, they have no fire cover, they pointed at what else was around and said “even if you’re the only aircraft active, the fire cover isn’t necessarily for you” !

[Hawkwind]

Lydd closed (apart from indemnity operations/ drones):

Q) EGTT/QFALC/IV/NBO/A/000/999/5057N00056E005
B) FROM: 20/03/25 08:30C) TO: 20/04/13 18:00
E) COVID-19 INFORMATION
AD CLSD DUE CORONAVIRUS SHUTDOWN. BASED OPERATORS WITH OUT OF HOURS
INDEMNITY ARRANGEMENTS MAY CONTINUE OPERATIONS IN ACCORDANCE WITH
AGREED PROCEDURES. FOR INFO CTC DUTY MANAGER 07944 809868

[PaulB]

... and Halfpenny Green (except for emergency services and military flights)