CAA Mode S Transponder Consultation
Tom Hardie, the BHPA's Airspace Officer, has asked us to pass on the following message from Pete Stratten, the BGA's Chief Executive.
"The recent mode S meeting with CAA at Turweston was attended by 35 air sport pilots. Although the questions from the floor made some impact, the low attendance will not have gone unnoticed by CAA. It is very clear that feedback to CAA on the current mode S proposals is extremely important – even the DAP team agree with that point.
With this in mind, please can I ask you to circulate the following text to your members? The meetings described below are open to all, and those from air sport who attended a meeting at Lasham in 2006 will recall the significant and effective impact that can be made with the regulator when people are willing to stand up and be counted.
Mode S Meetings - 2008
BGA clubs are hosting a number of open meetings with the CAA to hear about the current Mode S consultation process. ALL ARE WELCOME. The meetings (all 7pm) will be at:
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Lasham Friday 4th April
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Pocklington (Wolds GC) Friday 11th April
Directions to all clubs is available on the BGA web site at: www.gliding.co.uk/findaclub/clubdirectory.htm
These meetings are a great opportunity for members to engage with the rulemakers and further clarify our airspace needs. We will shortly be providing guidance on how to respond to the consultation, but these meetings will help you to develop your own personal view on how to respond. We are calling on all glider pilots to make a response as was done to such great effect during the first round of consultation and, as such, the BGA urges ALL pilots to try to attend one of the meetings.
More information on the consultation process is on the BGA web site at: www.gliding.co.uk/bgainfo/airspace/modes2008.htm
Thanks
Pete Stratten
Chief Executive
British Gliding Association"
Whilst the current proposals are less draconian than those made last year, the BHPA believes they still represent a significant threat to our sport. It is therefore vital that individual hang glider and paraglider pilots make their views known. If they don't, officialdom will simply assume that there is little resistance and push these changes through. We would therefore like to encourage any Club members living in the Hampshire area to make every effort to attend the Lasham meeting on Friday 4th April to make sure the CAA hears our voice and takes account of our concerns.
Further background to the Mode S Transponder Consultation is available on the BHPA web site. The most recent information is listed first:
Updated SE Wales Coach List
As a result of the introduction of a new BHPA coach revalidation scheme (see below), all coach rated Club members will in future need a statement of support from the Club's Safety and Coaching Officer when they renew their BHPA membership.
To ensure that we have the necessary information to comply with this requirement we recently wrote to all coach rated Club members and asked them to indicate whether they are willing and able to provide coaching on SE Wales sites.
The availability of good quality coaching on SE Wales sites is essential for the long term health of our sport and our Club, and we are extemely grateful to those who have replied to say that they are happy to help in this way.
Our coaching scheme will of course only be effective if we can put those seeking coaching in touch with those willing to provide it.
An updated Club coach list has therefore been published in the members area of this web site:
www.sewhgpgc.co.uk/members/private/coaches.php
To assist members to choose the most appropriate coach for their particular needs, this list includes the ratings, email address, and partial postcode (eg CF64) of each participating coach.
We hope that you make full use of the coaching opportunities available within the Club, but do ask that you remember that our coaches are all unpaid volunteers who simply want to put something back into the sport they love.
The Big Ask
Friends of the Earth, Abergavenny, are part of an awareness day "The Big Ask" . This has been organized to put pressure on the government to include aviation and shipping in the climate change bill. Local MPs and politicians have been invited, and FOE have asked for support from the Club, Particularly any members who can either show up in Castle meadows, at around 10 am on the 5th April or better still fly down (if the weather allows).
"Monmouth MP David Davies will be there, together with FoE group members with placards, and a specially designed mask of Gordon Brown. The key message for this event is to highlight the need to include aviation emissions in the Climate Change Bill. This is currently a glaring omission and only sustained pressure will make the Government capitulate. Sustained pressure has been spectacularly successful - there would be no Climate Change Bill at all without FoE pressure over several years and FoE briefing papers are now circulating among MPs and are being discussed seriously.
We are working with the Abergavenny Ladies' Walking group and the Abergavenny Cycle Group who will be there wearing tabards with appropriate messages. Weather and wind permitting, member Steve Millson will be para-gliding in from the Blorenge at 10.30am
After the photo opportunity, at around 10.45am walkers and cyclists will set off walking and cycling respectively and everyone else will move to Red Square in the town Centre where we will have a stall for members of the public to sign postcards.
The local papers have been briefed and will be there to record and photograph the events and we hope for a good write-up. Both Monmouth and Chepstow FoE are actively involved and are supporting us."
Paul Dancey