Electric reality?
Flying with the drones Technical
As pilots that pushed back against recent Airspace Change Proposals for drone Temporary Danger areas in Scotland, Hamish Mitchell and fellow Prestwick Centre ATCO Derek Pake went in search of the drone operators to see if some co-operation might be in order…
L
et me state quite clearly from the start, I am not against the operations of Unmanned Aerial Systems (UAS, or drones as they seem to be commonly referred to), and like most of us, I can see there is the potential for great benefits, if integrated properly and respectfully with existing airspace users. What I am against is a process that short-circuited the normal consultation, that failed to properly engage or consider GA, and had minimal critical oversight from the CAA. In my view these weaknesses in the ACP process have created a climate of suspicion and deep mistrust within the GA community, of both the drone operators and efficacy of CAA oversight. This serves no one well and all parties, including the CAA, should redouble efforts to build a more co-operative and trusting environment.
38 | FLYER | July 2021
Above Close encounters of the ADS-B kind…
Throughout 2020, with Covid-dominating the headlines, few flyers realised the magnitude of drone research and Airspace Change Proposals (ACPs) about to be unleashed across the UK. Given that GA was grounded for most of 2020, the flying community was very much ‘out-of-theloop’ regarding currency and procedures. That changed on 11 January 2021 when, a random email from an LAA member, highlighted proposed Temporary Danger Areas (TDA) which would close vast areas of Class G airspace around Mull and Oban in Spring 2021, severely impacting all GA flying on the Scottish west coast. Further research and publicity followed, greatly supported by FLYER and other GA representatives, when it became apparent (much to everyone’s surprise) that there had already been previous trials and TDAs around Oban during the first 2020 lockdown, with more,
