Anyone else struggling to get hold of the CAA?

cranxwork

cranxwork

Member
Hi All, I have had an application to fly in a congested area in with the CAA for about three weeks now. The shoot (flight) is coming up on Sunday and despite numerous emails and calling both Lawrence and Andy I have heard nothing. After explaining the situation to the switchboard I was put in touch with Gerry Corbett who was apologetic and advised me to just keep on ringing, but so far I am just getting voicemail. I know they must be busy, but if operators are needing permission on a job by job basis its frustrating when it is so tricky to even get hold of them.
Has anyone else been experiencing similar problems? How did you go about overcoming them?

Thanks, Jack.
 



cranxwork

cranxwork

Member
Thanks Ben, I am keeping an eye on that yes!

What is your understanding of these restrictions on >7Kg in London Airspace at the moment?
This job on Sunday is outside EGR160 but inside London CTR.
 

Benjamin Kenobi

Benjamin Kenobi

Easy? You call that easy?
Good question. Is the area actually congested where you intend to fly? If it's just ATC clearance you need then it's NATS you need to contact, although they are not giving permission for >7kg flights at the moment....but they aren't denying it either. There's a little legal wrangling between them and the CAA so they will respond with something like 'you are liable' if you crash into a plane or something. No harm in trying though!
 

cranxwork

cranxwork

Member
OK thanks, Lawrence just rang me - after days and days! He has said it looks OK and I need to speak to Adrian Roberts at NATS. So I will move onto that!
 



P

PMaughan

Member
cranxwork said:
Thanks Ben, I am keeping an eye on that yes!

What is your understanding of these restrictions on >7Kg in London Airspace at the moment?
This job on Sunday is outside EGR160 but inside London CTR.
Click to expand...


Hi Jack,

Did you have any luck getting permission? Just spoke to NATS and they said that due to a "gap in procedure" they aren't allowing any >7kg flights in CTRs.

Pete
 

Benjamin Kenobi

Benjamin Kenobi

Easy? You call that easy?
PMaughan said:
Hi Jack,

Did you have any luck getting permission? Just spoke to NATS and they said that due to a "gap in procedure" they aren't allowing any >7kg flights in CTRs.

Pete
Click to expand...

Yeah, we both got through in the end. I did my shoot last weekend with a NOTAM in place, good thing too because there was a heli with a cineflex floating around the area the whole time!

Although NATS aren't giving permission, they aren't denying it either! It just means we are entirely liable if something goes wrong.

Which EGR are you hoping to fly in?
 

P

PMaughan

Member
Hi Benjamin,

Ok that's fine, I guess the buck would stop with you even if they did give you permission!

It's Edinburgh and Glasgow, a very nice job too so will be quite peeved if I can't do it. Really need to get a sub 7 machine sorted out. How's the S900 looking in that respect?

Pete
 

htotheunit

htotheunit

Member
I did a shoot the other day within Gatwick's control zone.

Spoke to the CAA who passed me to NATS who passed me back to the CAA, then back to NATS. Seemed like nobody really knew what to do.

Eventually I spoke to the Gatwick tower, got it all sorted with them and was able to proceed with the Job.

Who exactly do you need to speak to to arrange this sort of thing properly through NATS?
 

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