Crossing one of the busiest sections of UK airspace in a light aircraft can appear a daunting prospect, but in practice it’s not as difficult as it might seem. On this trip through London Gatwick’s Class D controlled airspace I had an expert in the cockpit with me – an air traffic controller who works in the tower at the airport.
In this flight, I join banner pilot Simon Moores, as he tows his aerial message over Brighton Pride.
In this video, I tackle a recent dip in my pilot confidence and run through the procedures for flying from an aerodrome with full ATC, such as Biggin Hill.
When flying light aircraft, in uncontrolled airspace, mid-air collisions are primarily not avoided by instructions from radar controllers, or by using sophisticated cockpit equipment. Instead, pilots avoid collisions by using their eyes..a concept called ‘see and avoid’.
Jon Hunt takes his friends Michael and Andrew for a short trip along the coast from Goodwood Aerodrome, capturing great aerial views of Bognor, Shoreham Airport, Beachy Head and Brighton.
I took a long flight around Kent, Sussex and Essex this week, to help our flying group out after the new engine was fitted to the aircraft we use.