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Up until now the provision of ATSOCA waas provided by a variety of air traffic units and used by all airspace users - from General Aviation to commercial and military aircraft. On 12th March 2009 these services will change when a complete revision comes into effect. It is therefore vital that all controllers and pilots have a detailed knowledge of the change.
All the information about these changes is available at the airspace safety web site, but I wanted to give you a summary of the changes here.
Previously when contacting a LARS service (such as Farnborough) you could receive services such as FIS (Flight Information Service), RIS (radar information service) or RAS (Radar Advisory Service). Each of these was a different level of service providing different information and coverage. As a general aviation pilot flying in VMC you generally needed nothing more than a flight information service.
Under the new rules and regulations the services which can be provided are as follows:
Basic Service: A Basic Service is intended to offer the pilot maximum autonomy and the avoidance of other traffic solely relies on using the 'see and avoid' principle, to avoid other traffic.
Traffic Service: A Traffic Service provides the pilot with traffic information on conflicting aircraft. No deconfliction advice is passed and the pilot is responsible for collision avoidance.
Deconfliction service: A Deconfliction Service provides the pilot with traffic information and deconfliction advice on conflicting aircraft.
Priority Service: A Procedural Service is a non-radar service, where instructions are provided aimed at achieving deconfliction minima from other aircraft to which the controller is also providing a Procedural Service.
Each of these differs quite substantially from the current service provided by controllers.
The Civil Aviation Authority has produced multimedia CD's which explain and illustrate the different services. All registered UK pilots will receive this CD over the next couple of days. If you haven't received this CD (or if you are not a registered UK pilot) you can access the contents online at the Airspace Safety Website.
Learn about the new servies, take the Selftest and stay safe!
