American-drones-at-raf-base-to-cause-chaos-for-holidaymakers

[zero_gravity]

American-drones-at-raf-base-to-cause-chaos-for-holidaymakers

https://www.msn.com/en-gb/travel/news/a ... a8c3&ei=21

Isn't this why the German GH ended up as a static display?
Thought the issue had been corrected by an upgrade.

ZG

[zero_gravity]

Botched project...
https://www.dw.com/en/defense-ministry- ... a-16830076

[minotaur]

https://airspacechange.caa.co.uk/Public ... ea?pID=410

The letters they are referring to are here, as is the current state of the airspace.

[STN RAMP RAT]

It’s a clickbait headline, there is no chaos, there does appear to be some additional costs from an approach path into Birmingham being unavailable during the launch and recovery of the drones.

[zero_gravity]

It’s a clickbait headline, there is no chaos, there does appear to be some additional costs from an approach path into Birmingham being unavailable during the launch and recovery of the drones.

I agree about it being clickbait...what isn't these days? However it does raise two important issues which should have been addressed a long time ago.

Detect and avoid has been successfully tested for years by BAe flying a Jetstream as a drone [albeit with crew in the back ] .

ASTRAEA 2012

The aircraft will fly using Instrument Flight Rules under air traffic control. In preparation, trials taking place this month include the world’s first use of autonomous, vision-based weather-avoidance routing and the first UK surrogate flight of a fully functional visual sense-and-avoid system which includes collision avoidance tests using a second aircraft. This trial will begin to demonstrate to regulators such as the Civil Air Authority and air traffic control service providers, the progress made towards achieving the safe use of UAVs in UK airspace.


https://www.baesystems.com/en/article/s ... k-airspace

D&A may make the drone visible to all around and vice versa , but it could be switched off once airspace had been crossed and 53K attained.
U2s often climb out over the Birmingham TA without any issues as far [as I know ] .

A spiral climb out of EGVA would eliminate the need to disrupt any flights and conversely a spiral descent.
The location of the restricted area always puzzled me , it could have been accommodated to the west of Fairford without too much of an issue.

Of course the question is , have the operators not taken note of the problems the German GH encountered?
Is it an airframe weight issue ?

ZG

[luxto]

It’s a clickbait headline, there is no chaos, there does appear to be some additional costs from an approach path into Birmingham being unavailable during the launch and recovery of the drones.

I agree about it being clickbait...what isn't these days? However it does raise two important issues which should have been addressed a long time ago.

Detect and avoid has been successfully tested for years by BAe flying a Jetstream as a drone [albeit with crew in the back ] .

ASTRAEA 2012

The aircraft will fly using Instrument Flight Rules under air traffic control. In preparation, trials taking place this month include the world’s first use of autonomous, vision-based weather-avoidance routing and the first UK surrogate flight of a fully functional visual sense-and-avoid system which includes collision avoidance tests using a second aircraft. This trial will begin to demonstrate to regulators such as the Civil Air Authority and air traffic control service providers, the progress made towards achieving the safe use of UAVs in UK airspace.


https://www.baesystems.com/en/article/s ... k-airspace

D&A may make the drone visible to all around and vice versa , but it could be switched off once airspace had been crossed and 53K attained.
U2s often climb out over the Birmingham TA without any issues as far [as I know ] .

A spiral climb out of EGVA would eliminate the need to disrupt any flights and conversely a spiral descent.
The location of the restricted area always puzzled me , it could have been accommodated to the west of Fairford without too much of an issue.

Of course the question is , have the operators not taken note of the problems the German GH encountered?
Is it an airframe weight issue ?

ZG

An unrestricted spiral climb/descent over Fairford is out of the question as it's below the controlled airspace airways system. That's the reason why departing U-2's are initially stopped off at lower Flight Levels so they don't enter the airways.

[zero_gravity]

An unrestricted spiral climb/descent over Fairford is out of the question as it's below the controlled airspace airways system. That's the reason why departing U-2's are initially stopped off at lower Flight Levels so they don't enter the airways.

Yes I should have qualified that by suggesting the spiral climb out to the west



Either way , the D&A technology would probably resolve things.

ZG

[UKdragon]

What a screw-up!
The CAA started a consultation about UAV ops from Fairford in November 2012, but BHX only hears about it by accident in March 2024.
Re sense(detect)-and-avoid, as far as I am aware, the USAF Global Hawks still don't have it. I discussed this issue in my book DRAGON LADY TODAY back in 2015, when evaluating the merits of the Global Chicken versus the U-2.
Northrop Grumman did provide sense-and-avoid for the MQ-4C, because it might have to descend and ascend multiple times during a mission. I guess that the USAF didn't implement it (I think) because the GH was threatened with retirement. Indeed, all the Block 30s are gone, leaving only nine Block 40s that the USAF wants to retire in FY 2027.