NATS controller, but not in your area. For us it only triggers when the radar thinks you're inside. If you're unknown, this can quickly be a very bad day at the office scattering airliners every which way to avoid the large buffer zone we need to have around infringers. For known aircraft, pilot reports should supersede Mode C readouts, but this makes many controllers uncomfortable. Nothing wrong with it, but I imagine that especially in as densely packed airspace as the LTMA they're not keen on shouting/phoning every sector involved to clarify it and would rather it stopped being annoying, especially if you can safely do something to help it out without being impeded. You can of course tell us no and let us know intentions/requirements instead. As for why you triggered it, could be your transponder, could be our radar processing, could be a weird pressure day, could be a mix of that or something else. I've had it myself flying in my area, was 150ft below but it still made a colleague query it.
I think this is exactly it, if you’re even slightly busy and it’s the choice between 6 phone calls to other busy people vs asking someone to be mildly inconvenienced I know which one I’m choosing
When you really wanted a decent reply, and then you get one! Thanks @maggus999 - my son is at Whitely and Swanwick on the simulation side so was no help at all ha ha.
I did a bit of hobby study of the LTMA on VATSIM. One of my favourte trolling flights (designed to exercise controllers to give them fun), I would do VFR flights around the LTMA while remaining, for the most part, below their airspace, along the vfr corridors. As a pilot it is very challenging remaining outside of controlled airspace around London. When I got bored of that I would progress to requesting awkward transits across their zone :D Evil, but all good fun for both virtual pilots and virtual ATC gamers. If you think that was "trolling". On the night they held the "London overload" event. Bigham hill invited 50 general aviation VFR sorts to all flying, around the airspace. This caused chaos as the gamers playing in the big IFR airports were not that familiar with VFR and GA aircraft buzzing around and trying to cross their airspace while they have a line of minimum separation booked for approach and a tailback of departures. When I swapped hats to controller... "Will be a while on the transit due to conflicting traffic. Orbit at your present location, altutide under 1500ft, QNH 1023. " ... and basically leave them there for 5 minutes.
Hi it is Jan from Redhill: You need one day your full IR. And equip your aircraft with an AP. Yes a lot of work and costs. But the frequency of trips that you do warrants it. You fly well and very disciplined and are not a risk taker. So I think it is time!
5:38 I think the controller mentions “I don’t want to get a TCAS against the one ahead of you”. We’ve had this happen with GA planes on downwind being too close to the runway. It gives a TCAS alarm to airliners on final, causing them to alter or consider altering their approach.
Definitely a possibility, but also a separate issue from the infringement alarm which is a nuisance for known aircraft and a pain for unknown aircraft. Known in class A would at least require standard separation (what we apply between all IFRs). Unknown requires 3nm/3000ft or 5nm/5000ft, and any such aircraft is almost a guarantee of having to issue avoiding actions and worse (I joke); file paperwork on loss(es) of separation.
Nicely handled regarding the various Airspaces, and IMC/VMC issues. I like that your 'hand flying' skills are sharp and you are comfortable in the clouds. I look forward to the Diamond review - but as nice as it is to have all the 'bells and whistles" and auto-flight-systems - I encourage you to ALWAYS stay proficient with manual flight. Automation will 'let you down or confuse you' or just Glitch at the worst possible moments. Manual control is always the final recourse and it is a highly perishable skill-set. (says the old Airbus pilot ;-) )
Helicopter pilot speaking - current a/c has an autopilot...which I don't trust as far as I can throw it. A good trip is one where I don't switch it on at all.
I was on my qualifying cross country passing through Glasgow control zone on way home to Prestwick when then controller queried my altitude as greater than the 2000ft limit....i apologised and told then i wasn't above 2000ft and offered to descend so went to indicate 1900 and check again....atc still told me i was indicating above 2000ft....so i went lower....no use still indicate above 2000ft...i offered to switch off Mode C on my transponder to which they agreed.....i should point about i repatedly checked the QNH.
I also had a query of altitude from a LARS unit on my Skill Test! For a moment I wondered if I'd set incorrect QNH. Gulp. All I could think to do, after "Standby", was to alter the setting a couple of hPa either way then back to correct. I advised QNH was correct, alt reading 2600'. Controller said something like "Altitude correct" and that was that!
ATCO based at Farnborough. At 2400ft the alarms shouldn't go off. At 2500ft we may advise you to descend to protect the TMA against a LOS with Gatwick inbound traffic if you bubble up
There's a danger of specification-creep here. You were definitely outside CAS. If there's a "buffer zone" required by ATC, then it should be "their" side of the line. If we accept that we have to stay OCAS + (a bit), who decides how big "a bit" should be? ATC? Why not add 500 feet to make sure? 1000 might be safer.... I know you were being obliging, but this pushed you lower than you wanted to be. On another day, in another place, that 100 feet could be very important.
It could be that the aircraft’s transponder is slightly off, or the radar processing of the data isn’t quite perfect or a number of other factors. It’s not a question of whose airspace should a buffer be in, it’s just simply that by making a slight adjustment to the altitude, if possible, can save everyone a lot of hassle when the technology isn’t quite working as it should. It was well handled here. The issue is if it’s the transponder that’s at fault, there’s a risk of a TCAS RA on the airliner above. An RA, even an incorrectly triggered one, is a serious safety issue and best avoided by some mutual arrangement between the pilot and controller.
Your altitude encoder for your transponder is probably not exactly in tune with your altimeter. The difference will be such that at 2400’ altitude the encoder is reading FL24, but at 2440’ it’s reading FL25, which then makes ATC tricky. It’s something that’s easy to check next time you fly. Remember the required accuracy is something like 130’ or possibly more, so the specification/accuracy requirements are not sympathetic to flying within as tight margins as your situation demanded.
I always understood your transponder sends out altitude based on 1013.2, i also understand that Class A will also be in the standard setting. So, to that end, when outside CAS I always have my standby altimeter set to 1013, primary to QNH. If i'm flying above 3000' or above the transition alt (outside of CAS) or, of course, in flight levels then primary set to 1013 and the standby set to the local QNH.
The data in the ATC systems should in theory mirror the airspace model exactly. When intrusion warnings were originally set up for the then New En-Route Centre it was found that there were small scale differences due to different radar sources actual view of each tracked aircraft. The ATC requirement was that the alarm always went off before the aircraft had intruded inside controlled airspace. This ended up with the practical operational model being 100ft below the legal horizontal floor of the controlled airspace block. A similar effect was seen horizontally and the minimum trigger distance in practice was a quarter of a mile. This may have changed now because display systems have improved but I suspect this is why you had triggered the warning on your flight. I was the unfortunate ATCO tasked with resolving this issue at the time!
Hey man i work there, if you have RVSM enabled your allowed up to 1000ft of seperation normally with controlled predictably flight route. But if your VFR its 2000ft
Take 200? I try to avoid flying that close to controlled airspace as I personally never trust the accuracy of aircraft altimeters after walking round the hangar and seeing the discrepancies in readings when they were all set to the same QNH. Wouldn’t want the hassle of trying to prove you were outside CAS and paying for a certified instrument calibration check as part of a defence that you didn’t infringe. Better to keep a safety buffer. A good demonstration of the privileges of an instrument rating for being able to make those long crossings, but equally, trapped above clouds is stressful. Well handled Jon
@@TheFlyingReporter Appreciate you had limited choices and where you were flying was totally legal, but that’s only if your altimeter was that accurate. I’m just saying that take two (whilst only a guidance not a rule) would have increased the gap from the CAS, give you a safety margin if your altimeter has a bit of inaccuracy, and avoid spooking NATS for you getting too close. NATS have alarms that go off if they think you are infringing and will send you on an infringement course etc whereas nobody has alarms for being 100’ below MSA - and MSA was set by a tower that’s some way away and at the time was actually behind you so IMHO is the lesser issue. Nice flight though
MSA is an issue at every stage of IFR flight and determined by pilot not tower. 1000ft above obstacle and terrain within 5 miles of the aircraft. If that’s breached. It’s illegal.
Flying with those tight margins, 95’ below and you’re illegal and 100’ above your bust… and doing video… in IMC with steam driven gauges? With your CRI you knew you should Take2. And a 6hp gap between standard pressure, invited a reaction from ATC as your transponder can easily have up to 125’ system error. You’ve previously visited an ATC unit (London Info I think) and understand what reaction ATC will have, so I hope you’re not flying like this for creative content purposes. I don’t think so, but many inexperienced pilots watching this should never fly themselves into such tight spaces, in my humble opinion and one could argue that airmanship, that includes thinking about other airspace users, perhaps was a little less thoughtful than your normal high SOP.
@@dovad1996 I disagree. I'm an IRR PPL who flies around London below the TMA regularly, and in my opinion he's showing excellent manual flight and airmanship. He got that good through practice in the these kinds of conditions, which makes him a safer pilot. And by publishing this video he's making the rest of us safer too. By your logic he should have turned back or just stayed home, as there was no way to depart Redhill in these conditions without flying this band. A bit harsh to suggest he's being "less thoughtful" when he's agreed to descend to help out ATC and a jet 600ft above despite no obligation to do so. He's fully entitled to be out flying on this day and has been considerate and cooperative. Hat's off to him.
Your altitude encoder for your transponder is likely set to standard, 1013 but the certification limit is +/-125ft so you can easily be displaying a higher altitude via mode C. For this reason you ideally want to stay 200’ below the base of controlled airspace to avoid setting off any alarms.
As an ex NATS engineer. That’s one of the reasons for the “take two” initiative that the CAA started to have at least 200’ between you and airspace. The encoder can be +/- 125 feet from the calibrated Altimeter so you are flying the altimeter but the encoder is showing different on the display. The resolution of Mode C is 100 feet so you could be displayed up to 200 feet higher than your altimeter shows.
When the clouds are lower than reported near an airfield, is it polite to notify the controller of that? Would that only be for serious things like wind sheer or convective?
Is there any reason why your son is in the back of the aircraft? Even if he's not a qualified pilot, if something happens to you, he can help more from the front sheet than the back.
There are some private reasons which I won’t share here. But also he’s a teenager and doesn’t like being on camera all the time. In the back I can pick and choose when I show him and can check with him first he’s happy with that.
And they round up and down a little to display altitude to the nearest 100 feet. But if my transponder is over reading - or my altimeters under reading (one of which turns out to be the case) then the avionics engineer can and should take a look.
This is the second video I’ve seen of yours where Wx has been a factor. You consistently refer to METAR and TAF which are only valid for the airfield control zone. You make no mention of any of the area forecasts, 214/215 and the European equivalent 414/415 which would have provided you with the project cloud type, base and tops as well as freezing level which would have helped in you descent planning for Deauville in my view.
I do many times. Just not every video. In a 20 minute inspirational video (not intended as a source of flight training) it is. It not poasible to include everything from tens of hours of flight prep. Here is a reply I recently sent to the very same point raised with AOPA perhaps by yourself? Thank you for your comment on my flight to Deauville. Please be assured that many sources of weather information, including the F215 (the form screen-shotted from the day is attached), ECMWF, GFS models, Skew Ts, TAFs and METARs, rainfall radar, satellite imagery and the met office forecast chart were consulted in the days and hours leading up to this flight. Just because something isn’t strictly mentioned in these videos, doesn’t mean it wasn’t done/isn’t relevant. It is impossible to distil the many hours of flight preparation and entire flight into a 15-20 minute video - I hope that viewers understand this. The F215 provides a very broad picture, which is extremely useful for understanding trends and worst cases, but I find it is of limited value for estimating cloud bases/tops. This is why a knowledge of Skew Ts and other weather modelling comes in so handy, but even these sources of information are only Forecasts. The TAFs and METARS give valuable information too, but do have their limitations as you correctly identify. I am suitably qualified and current to fly in the conditions shown in the video, and keep in good practice. With respect the altitude flown as the video made very clear, it is not possible to ’take 2’ in the flight area concerned when in IMC because of Wrotham Mast. It meant that I flew at 2400ft, just above my MSA. As a matter of fact, this is the altitude that NATS controllers vector instrument traffic outside of controlled airspace in that area and it is common practice. The Instrument Flight Rules established in law, take priority over a recommendation intended to help pilots avoid airspace infringements. There are several other places in the UK where take-2 cannot be maintained, whether IFR or VFR. As an added note, a viewer who works for NATS has watched the radar replay of the flight in question and has established that my transponder was over-reading by 83 feet - within tolerance, but the reason why when flying at 2400, I was indicating A025 on their display. At the aircraft annual I shall ask the avionics engineer if they can adjust the transponder accordingly. I hope this reply is of assistance.
Jon, this is not a criticism in any way, but is there a reason why you don't get a full IR to fly in europe andvthe UK? I am not a pilot so I don't know how these things work.
The time and cost of doing so, and life/business responsibilities John. I'm looking into trying to do it this year, but still trying to make everything work.
For some reason I assume that NAT has notification blah plane number in blah space for some reason they didn't have a copy of yours saw it know it was a plane but didn't know if it was a big plane or little plane and after 9/11 there nervous I don't know I'm not even a car driver never mind plane and never flown in my life only just last two year into aviation so just a wild guess
17 now - teenager - doesn't like being in the limelight on camera. Being in the back, I can pick and choose what I want to use and then check with him before publication.
John good video, climbing up in IMC alway seem to take ages and higher than you think🤣🤣🤣maybe just me, anyway son always seems happy and relaxed which is a real plus
Yes, we certainly do things a little differently than some countries, but the aeroplane flies just the same as everywhere else. Our unique weather here means that we have some different ratings for flying in IMC as it's IMC quite a lot of the time!
You clearly have no idea how busy controlled airspace is in the south east 😂 you can't just pop up into it in the name of 'fReEdOm' because you're nipping over to France on holiday.
NATS controller, but not in your area. For us it only triggers when the radar thinks you're inside. If you're unknown, this can quickly be a very bad day at the office scattering airliners every which way to avoid the large buffer zone we need to have around infringers.
For known aircraft, pilot reports should supersede Mode C readouts, but this makes many controllers uncomfortable. Nothing wrong with it, but I imagine that especially in as densely packed airspace as the LTMA they're not keen on shouting/phoning every sector involved to clarify it and would rather it stopped being annoying, especially if you can safely do something to help it out without being impeded. You can of course tell us no and let us know intentions/requirements instead.
As for why you triggered it, could be your transponder, could be our radar processing, could be a weird pressure day, could be a mix of that or something else. I've had it myself flying in my area, was 150ft below but it still made a colleague query it.
I think this is exactly it, if you’re even slightly busy and it’s the choice between 6 phone calls to other busy people vs asking someone to be mildly inconvenienced I know which one I’m choosing
When you really wanted a decent reply, and then you get one! Thanks @maggus999 - my son is at Whitely and Swanwick on the simulation side so was no help at all ha ha.
I did a bit of hobby study of the LTMA on VATSIM. One of my favourte trolling flights (designed to exercise controllers to give them fun), I would do VFR flights around the LTMA while remaining, for the most part, below their airspace, along the vfr corridors. As a pilot it is very challenging remaining outside of controlled airspace around London.
When I got bored of that I would progress to requesting awkward transits across their zone :D
Evil, but all good fun for both virtual pilots and virtual ATC gamers.
If you think that was "trolling". On the night they held the "London overload" event. Bigham hill invited 50 general aviation VFR sorts to all flying, around the airspace. This caused chaos as the gamers playing in the big IFR airports were not that familiar with VFR and GA aircraft buzzing around and trying to cross their airspace while they have a line of minimum separation booked for approach and a tailback of departures.
When I swapped hats to controller... "Will be a while on the transit due to conflicting traffic. Orbit at your present location, altutide under 1500ft, QNH 1023. " ... and basically leave them there for 5 minutes.
Hi it is Jan from Redhill: You need one day your full IR. And equip your aircraft with an AP. Yes a lot of work and costs. But the frequency of trips that you do warrants it. You fly well and very disciplined and are not a risk taker. So I think it is time!
A fantastic informative article John. I've always been uncomfortable in IMC but you properly nailed it with the switch from UK to France FIR.
5:38 I think the controller mentions “I don’t want to get a TCAS against the one ahead of you”. We’ve had this happen with GA planes on downwind being too close to the runway. It gives a TCAS alarm to airliners on final, causing them to alter or consider altering their approach.
Definitely a possibility, but also a separate issue from the infringement alarm which is a nuisance for known aircraft and a pain for unknown aircraft. Known in class A would at least require standard separation (what we apply between all IFRs). Unknown requires 3nm/3000ft or 5nm/5000ft, and any such aircraft is almost a guarantee of having to issue avoiding actions and worse (I joke); file paperwork on loss(es) of separation.
@@maggus999 There's also an aircraft proximity flag - the descending jet was going through 2400 headed for Gatslow
Boring
Nicely handled regarding the various Airspaces, and IMC/VMC issues. I like that your 'hand flying' skills are sharp and you are comfortable in the clouds. I look forward to the Diamond review - but as nice as it is to have all the 'bells and whistles" and auto-flight-systems - I encourage you to ALWAYS stay proficient with manual flight. Automation will 'let you down or confuse you' or just Glitch at the worst possible moments. Manual control is always the final recourse and it is a highly perishable skill-set. (says the old Airbus pilot ;-) )
Helicopter pilot speaking - current a/c has an autopilot...which I don't trust as far as I can throw it. A good trip is one where I don't switch it on at all.
"If possible can you drop 100ft because you're setting the alarms off"
UNABLE.
Haha well played Bertie, you should always have a snack lined up
Ah love the videos fantastic footage and audio as well.
THanks Scot.
Dad: We have a gap here look...
Son: *without looking* yeah *back to gaming* :) 😁
Pretty sure ICAO regulation requires a mandatory vending machine purchase for passengers on international flights 😎😀 great video as always 👍
Another great informative vid John.
You use Skew-T! Brilliant!
I was on my qualifying cross country passing through Glasgow control zone on way home to Prestwick when then controller queried my altitude as greater than the 2000ft limit....i apologised and told then i wasn't above 2000ft and offered to descend so went to indicate 1900 and check again....atc still told me i was indicating above 2000ft....so i went lower....no use still indicate above 2000ft...i offered to switch off Mode C on my transponder to which they agreed.....i should point about i repatedly checked the QNH.
I also had a query of altitude from a LARS unit on my Skill Test! For a moment I wondered if I'd set incorrect QNH. Gulp. All I could think to do, after "Standby", was to alter the setting a couple of hPa either way then back to correct. I advised QNH was correct, alt reading 2600'. Controller said something like "Altitude correct" and that was that!
Great video, keep them coming.👍 Your son was happy seeing the vending machine.😁
ATCO based at Farnborough. At 2400ft the alarms shouldn't go off. At 2500ft we may advise you to descend to protect the TMA against a LOS with Gatwick inbound traffic if you bubble up
Thanks Martin. I think I've established that my transponder is over-reading by 80ft.
There's a danger of specification-creep here. You were definitely outside CAS. If there's a "buffer zone" required by ATC, then it should be "their" side of the line. If we accept that we have to stay OCAS + (a bit), who decides how big "a bit" should be? ATC? Why not add 500 feet to make sure? 1000 might be safer.... I know you were being obliging, but this pushed you lower than you wanted to be. On another day, in another place, that 100 feet could be very important.
It could be that the aircraft’s transponder is slightly off, or the radar processing of the data isn’t quite perfect or a number of other factors. It’s not a question of whose airspace should a buffer be in, it’s just simply that by making a slight adjustment to the altitude, if possible, can save everyone a lot of hassle when the technology isn’t quite working as it should. It was well handled here. The issue is if it’s the transponder that’s at fault, there’s a risk of a TCAS RA on the airliner above. An RA, even an incorrectly triggered one, is a serious safety issue and best avoided by some mutual arrangement between the pilot and controller.
@11:39 "a little bit annoying" but then if it weren't, it wouldn't be France!
Your altitude encoder for your transponder is probably not exactly in tune with your altimeter. The difference will be such that at 2400’ altitude the encoder is reading FL24, but at 2440’ it’s reading FL25, which then makes ATC tricky. It’s something that’s easy to check next time you fly. Remember the required accuracy is something like 130’ or possibly more, so the specification/accuracy requirements are not sympathetic to flying within as tight margins as your situation demanded.
He stated that they were in agreement.
I always understood your transponder sends out altitude based on 1013.2, i also understand that Class A will also be in the standard setting. So, to that end, when outside CAS I always have my standby altimeter set to 1013, primary to QNH. If i'm flying above 3000' or above the transition alt (outside of CAS) or, of course, in flight levels then primary set to 1013 and the standby set to the local QNH.
Class A is not always above the transition altitude. Around London the transition altitude is 6000ft. The LTMA drops to an altitude as low as 2500ft
The interaction with your son at the vending machines put a smile on my face.
bon voyage... cracking film.
Thanks Simon.
Nothing wrong with an occasional Mars Bar :D
It’s his very unsubtle way of asking for something!!!
Bertie's being completely honest - he didn't see the vending machine. He sensed it using the special sixth sense that teenagers have!
The data in the ATC systems should in theory mirror the airspace model exactly. When intrusion warnings were originally set up for the then New En-Route Centre it was found that there were small scale differences due to different radar sources actual view of each tracked aircraft. The ATC requirement was that the alarm always went off before the aircraft had intruded inside controlled airspace. This ended up with the practical operational model being 100ft below the legal horizontal floor of the controlled airspace block. A similar effect was seen horizontally and the minimum trigger distance in practice was a quarter of a mile. This may have changed now because display systems have improved but I suspect this is why you had triggered the warning on your flight. I was the unfortunate ATCO tasked with resolving this issue at the time!
Hey man i work there, if you have RVSM enabled your allowed up to 1000ft of seperation normally with controlled predictably flight route. But if your VFR its 2000ft
However RVSM airspace is only from FL290-FL410, he’ll never fly that high in a PA-28 (without a rocket strapped to it)
5:33 - You didn’t trigger NATS, you probably either triggered or were about to trigger a TCAS or RIMCAS alert.
You should do voice overs for videos!
Brilliant voice.
Bit too close for comfort for NATS I would have thought lol
Take 200? I try to avoid flying that close to controlled airspace as I personally never trust the accuracy of aircraft altimeters after walking round the hangar and seeing the discrepancies in readings when they were all set to the same QNH. Wouldn’t want the hassle of trying to prove you were outside CAS and paying for a certified instrument calibration check as part of a defence that you didn’t infringe. Better to keep a safety buffer.
A good demonstration of the privileges of an instrument rating for being able to make those long crossings, but equally, trapped above clouds is stressful. Well handled Jon
Hiya. Take two wouldn’t work this day as I would be illegally IFR due to below MSA.
@@TheFlyingReporter Appreciate you had limited choices and where you were flying was totally legal, but that’s only if your altimeter was that accurate.
I’m just saying that take two (whilst only a guidance not a rule) would have increased the gap from the CAS, give you a safety margin if your altimeter has a bit of inaccuracy, and avoid spooking NATS for you getting too close. NATS have alarms that go off if they think you are infringing and will send you on an infringement course etc whereas nobody has alarms for being 100’ below MSA - and MSA was set by a tower that’s some way away and at the time was actually behind you so IMHO is the lesser issue.
Nice flight though
MSA is an issue at every stage of IFR flight and determined by pilot not tower. 1000ft above obstacle and terrain within 5 miles of the aircraft. If that’s breached. It’s illegal.
Flying with those tight margins, 95’ below and you’re illegal and 100’ above your bust… and doing video… in IMC with steam driven gauges? With your CRI you knew you should Take2. And a 6hp gap between standard pressure, invited a reaction from ATC as your transponder can easily have up to 125’ system error. You’ve previously visited an ATC unit (London Info I think) and understand what reaction ATC will have, so I hope you’re not flying like this for creative content purposes. I don’t think so, but many inexperienced pilots watching this should never fly themselves into such tight spaces, in my humble opinion and one could argue that airmanship, that includes thinking about other airspace users, perhaps was a little less thoughtful than your normal high SOP.
@@dovad1996 I disagree. I'm an IRR PPL who flies around London below the TMA regularly, and in my opinion he's showing excellent manual flight and airmanship. He got that good through practice in the these kinds of conditions, which makes him a safer pilot. And by publishing this video he's making the rest of us safer too. By your logic he should have turned back or just stayed home, as there was no way to depart Redhill in these conditions without flying this band. A bit harsh to suggest he's being "less thoughtful" when he's agreed to descend to help out ATC and a jet 600ft above despite no obligation to do so. He's fully entitled to be out flying on this day and has been considerate and cooperative. Hat's off to him.
Your altitude encoder for your transponder is likely set to standard, 1013 but the certification limit is +/-125ft so you can easily be displaying a higher altitude via mode C. For this reason you ideally want to stay 200’ below the base of controlled airspace to avoid setting off any alarms.
As an ex NATS engineer. That’s one of the reasons for the “take two” initiative that the CAA started to have at least 200’ between you and airspace. The encoder can be +/- 125 feet from the calibrated Altimeter so you are flying the altimeter but the encoder is showing different on the display. The resolution of Mode C is 100 feet so you could be displayed up to 200 feet higher than your altimeter shows.
Hi what do you use to spray on and clean your Perspex windows
I have also had a call 100’ below the TMA. ATC being extra cautious.
Might be time to upgrade to a full-fat IR, John 😉
11:28 it became CAVOK? Erm, there appears to be a lot of clouds there below 5,000ft.
40 miles away.
When the clouds are lower than reported near an airfield, is it polite to notify the controller of that? Would that only be for serious things like wind sheer or convective?
Another great vid John...thanks for sharing. What is the icao code for the final destination of this flight please?
LFRG
Thankyou...hope you and Bertie had a fantastic well deserved break at Centreparcs! @@TheFlyingReporter
Is there any reason why your son is in the back of the aircraft? Even if he's not a qualified pilot, if something happens to you, he can help more from the front sheet than the back.
There are some private reasons which I won’t share here. But also he’s a teenager and doesn’t like being on camera all the time. In the back I can pick and choose when I show him and can check with him first he’s happy with that.
Are the altitudes given Above Ground Level or Above Sea Level? I wonder if the two got mixed? Could you have been 2400 AGL but 2500 ASL?
QNH = AMSL
Why didn’t you have Autopilot engaged to reduce capacity while IMC?
It's (1970s tech) not terribly reliable.
ATC sees whatever altitude your transponder reports. So there’s nothing for the engineers to check on your aircraft.
And they round up and down a little to display altitude to the nearest 100 feet. But if my transponder is over reading - or my altimeters under reading (one of which turns out to be the case) then the avionics engineer can and should take a look.
This is the second video I’ve seen of yours where Wx has been a factor. You consistently refer to METAR and TAF which are only valid for the airfield control zone. You make no mention of any of the area forecasts, 214/215 and the European equivalent 414/415 which would have provided you with the project cloud type, base and tops as well as freezing level which would have helped in you descent planning for Deauville in my view.
All sources of weather information are checked before every flight. Including SkewTs for cloud forecasts.
@@TheFlyingReporter then why not bring it into the conversation. Perhaps even have a video on the subject.
I do many times. Just not every video. In a 20 minute inspirational video (not intended as a source of flight training) it is. It not poasible to include everything from tens of hours of flight prep. Here is a reply I recently sent to the very same point raised with AOPA perhaps by yourself?
Thank you for your comment on my flight to Deauville.
Please be assured that many sources of weather information, including the F215 (the form screen-shotted from the day is attached), ECMWF, GFS models, Skew Ts, TAFs and METARs, rainfall radar, satellite imagery and the met office forecast chart were consulted in the days and hours leading up to this flight. Just because something isn’t strictly mentioned in these videos, doesn’t mean it wasn’t done/isn’t relevant. It is impossible to distil the many hours of flight preparation and entire flight into a 15-20 minute video - I hope that viewers understand this.
The F215 provides a very broad picture, which is extremely useful for understanding trends and worst cases, but I find it is of limited value for estimating cloud bases/tops. This is why a knowledge of Skew Ts and other weather modelling comes in so handy, but even these sources of information are only Forecasts. The TAFs and METARS give valuable information too, but do have their limitations as you correctly identify.
I am suitably qualified and current to fly in the conditions shown in the video, and keep in good practice.
With respect the altitude flown as the video made very clear, it is not possible to ’take 2’ in the flight area concerned when in IMC because of Wrotham Mast. It meant that I flew at 2400ft, just above my MSA. As a matter of fact, this is the altitude that NATS controllers vector instrument traffic outside of controlled airspace in that area and it is common practice. The Instrument Flight Rules established in law, take priority over a recommendation intended to help pilots avoid airspace infringements. There are several other places in the UK where take-2 cannot be maintained, whether IFR or VFR.
As an added note, a viewer who works for NATS has watched the radar replay of the flight in question and has established that my transponder was over-reading by 83 feet - within tolerance, but the reason why when flying at 2400, I was indicating A025 on their display. At the aircraft annual I shall ask the avionics engineer if they can adjust the transponder accordingly.
I hope this reply is of assistance.
Out of interest, who funds ATC in the UK? Is it government operated or privatised?
It's private companies.
Jon, this is not a criticism in any way, but is there a reason why you don't get a full IR to fly in europe andvthe UK? I am not a pilot so I don't know how these things work.
The time and cost of doing so, and life/business responsibilities John. I'm looking into trying to do it this year, but still trying to make everything work.
I'm sorry but I found this video disappointing: we never found out what was picked from the vending machine :D
For some reason I assume that NAT has notification blah plane number in blah space for some reason they didn't have a copy of yours saw it know it was a plane but didn't know if it was a big plane or little plane and after 9/11 there nervous I don't know I'm not even a car driver never mind plane and never flown in my life only just last two year into aviation so just a wild guess
Are you getting a 4G signal over the channel in order to pick up the latest METARs on your iPad? Or do you have some other magic communication option?
Out of curiosity, why don't you have your son in the co-pilot seat?
He doesn't like being on camera all the time. In the back, I can select moments and check he's happy to be shown.
@@TheFlyingReporter Ohhh, ok, it's nice you're being so considerate!
Your son is 16? Why isn't he up front learning to fly? ;-)
17 now - teenager - doesn't like being in the limelight on camera. Being in the back, I can pick and choose what I want to use and then check with him before publication.
I was gonna ask the same question!
@@TheFlyingReporter Can I ask something? I am autistic with adhd and he has very similar body language to me. Can I ask if he is autistic?
@@TheFlyingReporter Oh, well that makes sense... just so long as you give him good instruction at other times 😁
Come on everyone, let's help Jon and Bertie by hitting the likes...thank you all
Hi John , dose you son ever ask to sit in front and have a go ?, talking about VMC good weather flying , understanding when was a young boy,
He prefers it in the back. He’s been a few times in the front. But definitely not if the cameras are rolling normally.
John good video, climbing up in IMC alway seem to take ages and higher than you think🤣🤣🤣maybe just me, anyway son always seems happy and relaxed which is a real plus
Lovely shot of Robin DR400 put me in mind of Delta Hotel and Kilo at Wiltshire Aero Club, Old Sarum, Wiltshire back in the day.
It must be disappointing that he’s not interested in aviation. I’d jump at being in the front.
I never got to understand anything about flying in the UK. For me you’re either IFR or VFR. All the rest sounds like mumbo jumbo to me 😅
Yes, we certainly do things a little differently than some countries, but the aeroplane flies just the same as everywhere else. Our unique weather here means that we have some different ratings for flying in IMC as it's IMC quite a lot of the time!
To have to fly like that IFR is beyond ridiculous. This is what happens if we don't fight for the freedom to fly.
You clearly have no idea how busy controlled airspace is in the south east 😂 you can't just pop up into it in the name of 'fReEdOm' because you're nipping over to France on holiday.