Restrictions on flying

[Martin Harris - Moderator]

I subscribe to the CAA SkyWise service and I’m getting the impression that airspace closures are becoming more common. 
 

It seems that in this day and age, any club or individual flyer is becoming more at risk of inadvertent transgressions - do most of us subscribe?

[MattyB]

There certainly seem to be an increasing number of closures in recent months, but perhaps that is always the case in spring/summer? Without historical data it's impossible to tell. My suspicion is that it's a mix - there probably are more closures as the world becomes more risk averse, but we were probably more likley to be in accidental transgression in the past than we may have thought (before notification services were available).

 

At the end of the day though, who is enforcing this stuff? I somehow doubt the average bobby is gettingthese notifications, and even if they are, are they spending their time worrying about how to enforce it, visiitng local model clubs/flying spots on the off chance of nicking someone? 

[leccyflyer]

I do subscribe to the service, but being up here in Scotland the number of events which require action -or more appropriately non-action - is relatively small. There was a military exercise a few weeks ago, which would have seen helicopters with underslung loads operating in the area of my club field, which I was able to let club members know about on WhatsApp and our email list. I wasn't planning on making the trip that day anyway, but the daily email listing all the local NOTAMS is very welcome. It's a free service so rally everyone should subscribe.

[leccyflyer]

It's also good to see that a few of the local-ish clubs have notifications that large model aircraft will be operating, sometimes for periods of several weeks. For me that's what our Article 16 dispensation should incorporate - a bit of reciprocal co-operation to inform full size aircraft to give the flying field a wide berth.

[Zflyer]

Given we now have to have registration seems we should ask our associations to notify the CAA of our locations. The rules we have to follow and thereby let local airfields know of our presence. And to ensure THEIR min height is adhered to.