Airspace & Safety Initiative

File a Flight Plan Day

 

Notes to Editors

  1. The Airspace & Safety Initiative (ASI) is a joint CAA, NATS, AOA, GA and MoD effort to investigate and tackle the major safety risks in UK airspace.
  2. The CAA is the UK's specialist aviation regulator. Its activities include: making sure that the aviation industry meets the highest technical and operational safety standards; preventing holidaymakers from being stranded abroad or losing money because of tour operator insolvency; planning and regulating all UK airspace; and regulating airports, air traffic services and airlines and providing advice on aviation policy from an economic standpoint.

23 September 2011

A unique, one-day event in November, will aim to get as many GA pilots as possible thinking about flight planning, ahead of next year's London 2012 Olympics. Any pilots wishing to fly though the Restricted Zone, being put in place over the capital and surrounding areas during the Games, will need to file an accepted flight plan with air traffic controllers before they can take to the skies.

File a Flight Plan Day, being organised by the Airspace & Safety Initiative (ASI), will take place between 10:00 and 15:00 on Saturday 12 November 2011. GA pilots are encouraged to file a test flight plan to familiarise themselves with the process and learn what they need to do next year to continue flying during the Olympics with the minimum of disruption.

Pilots who already have an AFPEx account should log on through a specially created website www.olympicflightplantrial.co.uk, alternatively, pilots can use AFTN. Pilots who are not yet registered on AFPEx are advised to sign up as soon as possible.

The plan should be similar to one that a pilot intends to fly during the Olympics, but as this is only a test, they do not actually have to fly the route on File a Flight Plan Day!

To avoid disruption to the 'live' flight planning system, and therefore the safety of real operations, participants are required to carefully follow several steps to clearly indicate their plan is actually a test. These can be found in the guidance at: olympics.airspacesafety.com/downloads

Dawn Lindsey, Head of Olympics Airspace Planning at the UK Civil Aviation Authority, said:"It is very important that GA pilots who want to fly inthe Restricted Zone during London 2012 are fully aware of how to file a flight plan. Without a flightplan and subsequent acceptance code they can't fly so, File a Flight Plan Day provides a great opportunity to learn the ropes without any pressure."

More information on File a Flight Plan Day can be found at olympics.airspacesafety.com/downloads

For general information about the airspace restrictions in place during London 2012, including detailed charts, go to olympics.airspacesafety.com

Comprehensive guidance on filing a flight plan can be found at www.caa.co.uk/cap694 For further media information contact the CAA Press Office on: 0207 453 6030 or press.office@caa.co.uk

Follow the Airspace & Safety Initiative on www.twitter.com/airspacesafety