NATS, the UK’s leading air navigation service provider, is setting up a new radar service as an extra safeguard for aircraft in the busy skies above south-east England.
The landmark decision to extend the Lower Airspace Radar Service (LARS) aims to reduce the possibility of private flights entering controlled airspace without clearance.
The new service will cover Britain’s busiest skies and provide important radar-based safety information for the pilots of aircraft equipped with transponders, warning them of other aircraft in their vicinity, or the proximity of controlled airspace. The minority of light aircraft not equipped with a transponder will continue to receive the current RT-based Flight Information Service (FIS) but will receive some additional radar information.
The service will be run from Farnborough Airport, where NATS already provides a LARS service for the surrounding airspace, and has the active support of airport operator TAG Aviation Ltd. Pilots will not be charged for using the service which will be available from 8am to 8pm daily, including weekends.
Ian Hall, NATS’ Director Operations said; “This is a great step forward for safety. Not only will it help private pilots, but it will also reduce the number of airspace infringements, which will be a significant enhancement to safety in UK skies.”
Brandon O’Reilly, Chief Executive of TAG Farnborough Airport said: “We are very pleased to be able to host this new service at Farnborough. It will provide an important safety benefit to private and commercial flights.”
The new service will be implemented in two stages. The first stage comes into operation on September 24 and will cover the lower airspace surrounding Heathrow, Gatwick and London City Airports up to 9,500ft, or the base of Controlled Airspace. The second phase, extending the service to airspace around Luton and Stansted, will be introduced in early 2008.
Six controllers and two assistants have been recruited to provide the first stage service. A full description of the service, including the radio frequencies, can be found in the Aeronautical Information Publication (AIP), page ENR 1-6-3-2, at www.ais.org.uk.
Notes to Editors:
- NATS handled 2.4m flights in 2006, covering the UK and eastern North Atlantic, and carried more than 220m passengers safely through some of the busiest and most complex airspace in the world.
- NATS provides ‘en route’ air traffic control and management from the London Area Control Centre at Swanwick, Hampshire, London Terminal Control Centre at West Drayton, Middlesex, Scottish and Oceanic Area Control Centre at Prestwick, Ayrshire and the Manchester Area Control Centre located at Manchester Airport.
- NATS also provides air traffic control services at 15 of the UK's major airports including Heathrow, Gatwick, Stansted, Birmingham, Manchester, Edinburgh, Luton and Glasgow, together with air traffic services at Gibraltar Airport.
- Transponders uniquely identify individual aircraft, responding to a radar sweep by providing the aircraft’s altitude and unique identifier to Air Traffic Control.
