DEADLINE 19TH JUNE 2008
Let us now look at the airspace changes that results from this plan. The LAA and BGA met with NATS and the CAA on 4 April and went through each hold and route, looking at the airspace that NATS said was needed. All Commercial aircraft are now required to follow a continuous descent approach (CDA) that follows a 3 degree descent path to reduce noise nuisance and to save fuel. That is about 310 ft per NM which we can plot that back from the runways along the green lines to the holds which are at a minimum of FL 70. This yielded interesting results:
* Not all the airspace around the holds is needed for protection.
* Because of current complexity, routes cross over and quite a lot of vertical airspace is needed for separation but under the new plan, this is not always necessary.
* Some of the lower level CAS is not now needed and the boundaries can be pulled back.
It quickly became clear that whilst NATS had identified all the increases in airspace that the plan needs, they did not appear to have applied a rigorous test to the airspace as a whole with a view to releasing what is not essential. Now NATS is a commercial business which has to maximise its return on capital to shareholders so we can understand their policy on retaining important resources. We have now challenged them on this and want NATS to release all non-essential airspace. However, they have not responded to our emails since the 4 April meeting perhaps suggesting that they are vulnerable on this.
We recommend that although you may support the proposal, you do not support the airspace change until these matters are dealt with.
Main London Controlled Airspace Expansion Page
The Airspace Change
Please tell all your friends about this