[TVHGC Members] Airspace and Learning

Dear Luis,

Thankyou very much for your recent mail to the Club. We try and promote an Open and Just Culture in our flying so it's always best to openly discuss these things. It aids everyone's understanding and we can all benefit from it. It is also worth noting that at no point did you do anything to break the UK Air Navigation Order and that you were aware of your position and situation at all times. There are a few lessons to be learned from this, which for the benefit of all our pilots I'll briefly mention now.

Although drop zones are listed as danger areas and are, by the letter of the law, advisory we as paraglider and hang glider pilots steer clear of them. This is both for safety and to maintain the good name of our sport with other air users. It's worth knowing that any flight passing through a DZ will not be accepted in any UK League. For the safety of their own pilots and jumpers DZs will cease jumping if they see their airspace being infringed.

Please could I ask all our pilots to be aware that flying over extended pieces of airspace is a risky business. Infringing airspace isn't just a slap on the wrist, it's against the law. Worse than this it gives those making airspace decisions more reasons to extend controlled airspace to give a buffer against our 'free spirit' attitude to flying. Brize happens to be a particularly sensitive bit of airspace at present. It's also worth noting that where there is lift there is also sink and you should always leave yourself an escape route. If flying over an ATZ or airspace ensure you remain close enough to the edge to run away and only do so if you're absolutely sure of the airspace situation. A lot of lower airspace is connected to the upper airways and that is only set to increase in the future.

Luis, while I agree we should all look at an up to date airspace chart and read the NOTAMS in their original form, the CAA is now content with the use of electronic charting and we all know how complicated the NOTAM system is. Using notaminfo is one of the best ways of generating a picture of the day's activities. I can only ask that all pilots use the right mix of resources to ensure that they are aware of airspace and NOTAMs and to know your equipment so you can be aware if you've disabled particular airspace (above a certain height for example).

Once again, thankyou for your open attitude Luis! We are all here to learn and we all make mistakes; hopefully we can learn the lessons from others rather than be forced to learn them all as individuals. I trust that you enjoyed flying from one of the finest XC sites in the country and I sincerely look forward to flying with you in the near future when you're next with us.

Kind regards,

Nick Smith

Airspace and Safety Officer TVHGC

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From: Luis Martinez Iturbe <lmiturbe@hotmail.com>
Sent: 07 August 2018 10:41
To: chairman@tvhgc.co.uk; secretary@tvhgc.co.uk; treasurer@tvhgc.co.uk; membership@tvhgc.co.uk; sites@tvhgc.co.uk; safety@tvhgc.co.uk; coaching@tvhgc.co.uk; webmaster@tvhgc.co.uk
Subject: Airspace

 

Dear TVHGC committee members,

 

My name is Luis Martinez Iturbe, I took off last Sunday 5/8/2018 from Golden Ball with my Ozone Zeno and I allegedly committed 4 airspace infringements in one single flight.

 

I have been flying actively since 2011 and living and flying in the UK since 2015. From 2015 till 2017 I lived in the NE of England and I was a member of the Northumbria Hang-gliding and Paragliding Club where I obtained my pilot rating and my BHPA coach course. Since 2017 we've moved down to Kent and I'm now a member of the Dover and Folkestone Hang Gliding Club.

 

Let me start firstly by expressing my most sincere apologies to all of you, to all the TVHGC members and to the paragliding community in general for any disruptions caused.

 

Also, a big thank you for your time on helping us become better and safer pilots.

 

Without intending to excuse my actions I would like to explain what happened:

 

I had been looking at RASP for the last few days and saw that the conditions from Milk Hill were good for an XC flight. The forecast showed a constant SW wind and using xcplanner.appspot.com I set up a 200km task to Downham Market which meant flying in a NE'ly direction. I studied carefully the airspaces in that direction using xcplanner and FlySkyHy and also checked for any NOTAMs in notaminfo.com. I am aware these are not official sources and my lesson learned from it is that I should be using official airspace charts.

 

We ended up going to Golden Ball rather than to Milk Hill and the wind was S'ly throughout the flight rather than the forecasted SW'ly which made me drift more to the North than what I had originally planned. At this point I was navigating with the information showed on my instruments.

 

I flew across Redlands parachute drop zone at a height of 3500-4500 ft. My instrument showed Danger area SFC-FL65. I now know it is actively used for commercial skydiving. As I approached it I didn't see any airplanes in the area and I thought it was safe to fly through it. I know it may sound silly and trust me I will not do it again.

 

I then flew above Brize Norton (Class D SFC-3500). My idea was to fly parallel to it bound for Oxford but as I entered a thermal the drift put me over it. I climbed to 5300ft and at that point I thought the best option was to follow the cloud street in order to stay above 3500ft. Although I stayed above airspace all the time I'm aware of the possibility of a sudden loss of altitude. I will not attempt something similar again.

 

Immediately adjacent to Brize Norton we have Oxford airport (Class D SFC-2270). I also reached 5300ft over it and did not infringe airspace.

 

Lastly, I flew through Weston-on-the-Green (D129 SFC-FL150). I now know it is a combined parachute drop zone both for the military and commercial use. I am now aware of the risks of flying through it and it will not happen again. As I approached it I didn't see any activity and I thought it was safe flying through it.

 

Please note that this was my first flight from Golden Ball and at the time I was not a member of the club. I have now paid the yearly subscription fee hoping to join the club and looking forward to meeting you all on the hill.

 

Once again, sorry for any trouble caused and thank you for your time.

 

Kind regards,

Luis Martinez Iturbe