Keith Lomax

Here is the perspective from those who run the camp gate …. We opened the gate at noon. This is the earliest that the RAF allow us to do, and also as the gate staff will be working until around 10pm it would be unfair to ask them to do it sooner. This year we only had to turn away about five who arrived in the morning wanting to get in, which is a big improvement. We knew that we would not get the airfield until late afternoon, so we had about a dozen volunteers primed to marshal the holding area (under Andy Symon's organisation). The initial flow was a trickle which is good, but it grew steadily as the afternoon wore on. By about 4pm the queue to be parked in the holding area had reached back to the gate operation, and by 5pm it was queued all the way back to the junction with High Dyke / Ermine Street and for some distance in both directions. It even made the traffic report on local radio. Airfield clearance was given around 5:30, allowing us to release the marquee company to set up the remaining trade marquees (they can't all be done in advance as they would restrict the view of the main runway from the Air Traffic Tower), and traders soon after. Less than an hour later the campsite crew were ready to marshal the campers into their plots (this can't be done in advance as some of the infrastructure can't be setup with full size aircraft still using the taxiways). The holding area was then allowed to disperse - but in a safe way and not a mad rush, and arrivals at this time could drive directly onto the campsite. Within an hour the queues had been cleared, but arrivals continued at a steady rate until after dark. As an aside, early afternoon, one idiot drove in the gate, went to the right of the "Keep Left" sign, crossed the line of traffic heading into the holding area, up onto the perimeter track, round to the CL Team Race area and turned left onto the secondary runway. I alerted air traffic and the SATCO (Senior Air Traffic Controller) went out to escort him back and give him a few harsh words. He claimed not to know that it was an active airfield and he tough it was only a campsite! Actions like this could cost us the use of this site. My thanks go out to all of those who made this the smoothest Nats Friday for many years - including camp gate staff, holding area marshals, campsite crew and all other helpers, and especially the person who booked the weather!   Keith Lomax Honorary Treasurer, Nats Treasurer, and general dogsbody. Edited By Keith Lomax on 01/09/2019 10:16:03

Posted by Steve J on 03/05/2019 14:52:29: Posted by MattyB on 03/05/2019 14:27:08: "Unlocking the UK's High Tech Economy: Consultation on the Safe Use of Drones in the UK" aka "The consultation that only 213 modellers bothered to respond to". Steve Also the document that says "The Government will work with model aircraft flying clubs to examine ways in which it may be possible to exempt members of model aircraft flying clubs with adequate safety cultures and practices from certain elements of registration and other educational requirements, or where their club will be permitted to undertake regulatory requirements on their behalf."

Posted by Steve J on 30/04/2019 19:33:00: Posted by Martin Dilly 1 on 30/04/2019 19:17:07: Contract for the registration scheme awarded in November, despite the fact that discussions were continuing with the BMFA. A case of left hand/right hand, a cock up or political skulduggery. You choose. I am struggling to see why you think that there is an issue here. The CAA letting a contract in Q4 last year seems reasonable to me. The decision to have a registration system was made years ago. The ANO was changed last summer. The CAA are required by law to have the system in place by the 1st October. Steve The issue is that the CAA issued a contract for a bespoke development, which is always going to be at the top end of pricing for any IT system. The BMFA had offered a solution based on the membership system which could have been easily adapted for minimal costs without the need for extensive ongoing support and a helpdesk being manned at the CAA.

Posted by will -0 on 29/04/2019 08:55:42: Posted by Keith Lomax on 29/04/2019 08:48:58: £1 million of it is to the outsourced (private) company who developed and will run the system. I can assure you that the BMFA will not be spending even 5% of this amount on the new membership system that has much more functionality. Maybe the BMFA should bid to run the system then. It was offered.

Posted by Steve J on 28/04/2019 19:26:11: Posted by Gary Manuel on 28/04/2019 19:23:25: what the hell is the £2.8 million being spent on? See CAP 1775 section 3.9. Steve £1 million of it is to the outsourced (private) company who developed and will run the system. I can assure you that the BMFA will not be spending even 5% of this amount on the new membership system that has much more functionality.

One point that I made in my response was "Thirdly, it will only penalise the law abiding model fliers and drone operators. In the same way that people who use firearms to commit crime are unlikely to have a gun license, anybody planning to use a drone to disrupt airport operations or drop contraband into prisons will not register under this scheme."

Scotland topping the table - a rare sight so enjoy it for a week!

Posted by Ray Dunn on 02/02/2019 07:43:10: I'm currently plagued with automated calls says BT will cut off my Internet today. The voice was initially of the computer generate sort, but the last was an elderly British accented man. Where applicable, isn't BT the base cause of this, allowing ridiculous phone call rates? What sort of legit. business needs this? This one is not about call rates. What they want you to do is to access their website and hand control over to their "tech support" department under the premise of checking out the problem, but will install a virus or trojan that watches your keystrokes and captures your passwords. Some of the more sophisticated ones also trap the cookies that store remembered passwords. Several years ago, somebody who I know initially fell for this, and once she saw that he was trying to install something she tried to shut the PC down but every time the mouse got close to the menu button the remote user moved it away. She had the foresight to disconnect her broadband connection (pre- wi-fi) before any damage was done. My answer to these is to ask which computer is causing the problem, and when they say "the Windows one", I say that we only have Apple products, or vice-versa. (Similar to the above poster changing his ISP).

I previously worked for a vehicle leasing company with a private customer base. We had a spate of calls from customers saying that we had disclosed personal details. On investigation, we narrowed it down to customers who had made insurance claims, so the insurance company's fraud department took over the investigation. They found that the common factor was the national chain of bodyshops that they used for most repairs - at this stage it was found that people (probably the delivery/collection drivers) in individual branches were noting details of customers' names, addresses and phone numbers and selling them on leading to calls along the line of "we are calling about your recent accident". With the going rate for this level of detail and a definite accident, apparently they were quite lucrative, especially to somebody on minimum wage. However, calls such a Geoff's wife's are usually just randomly called numbers and they don't usually actually have the name and address. My wife got one yesterday saying that they "were in the area doing soffits and facias for one of our neighbours", but then asked for our postcode! As an aside, about 25 years ago I was at a friend's home, with a few others when he took a phone call. He played along to what was an obvious salesman, and got to the point of making an appointment for one evening the following week, and gave his address. He then said, when the salesman arrives, he should take the lift to the tenth floor. When the caller queried this, he replied along the lines of "if you are going to waste my time trying to sell me a conservatory, you should check your facts before you call".   Edited By Keith Lomax on 01/02/2019 10:35:25

What about the case that cricketers use for their gear (or even a golf bag?)

Posted by Bob Cotsford on 23/01/2019 12:27:25: Completed. I wonder how many households benefit from the free license ie how much more revenue would be raised by doing away with free licenses? One of the oddities if that if anyone in the household is old enough for a free license, or the discount for being partially sighted, then the rest of the household get the benefit. So a couple in their 50's both working have to pay it but if one of their parents then moves in they get it free.

Posted by Piers Bowlan on 22/12/2018 09:35:11: Posted by kc on 22/12/2018 09:08:39: MattyB. Well it works for driving licences - people still drive without licences but if they get caught the police can prosecute. So the culprits are punished and licence holders can still drive. Thats what we want isn't it - safe flyers to be able to continue? If a drone flyer endangers an aircraft he can be prosecuted for for endangering an aircraft and get five years inside. Having (or not having) a licence/permit/registration has nothing to do with that or help bring criminals to justice. The argument that drone registration will make it easier to trace offenders is a nonsense - offenders will not register. I heard a knowledgeable lady talking on BBC Newsnight last night about drones carrying 'beacons' for identification (Transponders?). The point is that those will criminal intent will not carry them, only the law abiding who don't need them will. You can legislate until you are blue in the face but it is all for nothing without enforcement. At Gatwick the authorities have been unable to enforce, despite the drones being clearly visible. I find this very sad for the tens of thousands of people affected and bizarre that contingency measures weren't in place to bring this incident to a close in minutes rather than days. Edited By Piers Bowlan on 22/12/2018 09:47:06 Nor will an extended driving ban and a(nother) suspended sentence stop the unlicensed driver from driving. Those saying that all drones should be fitted with technology to prevent and/or detect action such as we have seen over the last few days, could equally say that driving licenses should be chip and pin, and all cars fitted with a card reader so you can't drive without being in possession of your license. It wouldn't stop people disabling the technology and there would be a lucrative black market in stolen licenses.

Posted by Dave Hess on 15/12/2018 17:02:56: It's possible to fly a drone at any range now using the 4G network and a smartphone or laptop. No need for a transmitter. It is very unlikely that this technology would allow flights at 10,000 feet up Whilst the range of 4G can be tuned to 5 miles or more, this is to cover areas such as in the US where population is sparse and roads are straight. To reach this range, the cell sites would have to be focussed into a fairly narrow conical beam. In the UK, cell sites are more closely spaced and the range is configured (usually) into a 120 degree arc (ie. 3 actual cells on each mast) with a range of 2-3 miles horizontally and a few hundred feet vertically. The mobile companies would not waste money creating cell sites to give coverage 2 miles up!

Posted by kc on 08/12/2018 16:57:48: Why didn't we get a new copy of the rulebook that is clear yet concise and focussed on the important matters only. A full reprint costs around £30,000, so we try to do this around every four years.

Posted by Tom Sharp 2 on 01/12/2018 00:19:47: Using HTML you can create your website on your computer and load it up to your server as and when you need to. Any alterations are recorded on your home site, then load them up to your server. Keep a copy of your site on a memory stick, update the copy on the stick as you update the site and bobs your uncle. Never lose your site in the future. Edited By Tom Sharp 2 on 01/12/2018 00:22:22 Edited By Tom Sharp 2 on 01/12/2018 00:26:14 Better still, make two memory stick copies, and give the second one to another committee member to store. This protects the club against both you leaving (for any reason) or something unfortunate such as a fire at your house. Buy a third memory stick so when you update you put the copy on there and swap it with the other committee member.