GA1378 - Gliding Competition NOTAM Handling
Initial Report
I was assisting with the running of a gliding competition based at [Location] as airspace officer. I am required to submit a NOTAM request to the CAA’s Airspace Regulation Utilisation Operations (AROps) team so that a NOTAM can be issued detailing the competition task routing for the day. On [a Friday], I submitted a NOTAM request by email at 0820UTC which was then automatically acknowledged at 0822UTC. Nothing further happened and, since a NOTAM was not forthcoming, at 1345UTC I attempted to contact AROps by phone, unsuccessfully, despite leaving the phone ringing out for 15 minutes.
[During weekend operations] when I wish to submit a NOTAM request I am permitted to go direct to the NOTAM office and a NOTAM is published within 10 mins of a request being made. The NOTAM request concerned the transit of 60 gliders through a congested area of Class G airspace bounded by Brize Norton CTA, Solent CTA and London TMA. Submitting a request for the NOTAM significantly increases the ability of other airspace users to plan their flights to deconflict with the competition aircraft. I consider the poor performance of AROps significantly degraded safety.
comments
CAA’s AROps Summarised Response
Submissions made on the day cannot be guaranteed. Whilst it is appreciated that the exact route may not be known until the morning of the activity owing to weather conditions etc, a NOTAM submission on the day is subject to AROps capacity and higher priority taskings. Given the time elapsed, AROps cannot comment with certainty why a NOTAM request was unable to be processed on the day in question. For the future, a suggestion would be that rather than issue a ‘specific route NOTAM’ on the day detailing the days glider activity, it may be that a ‘generic area NOTAM’ is requested using a Lat/Long location and radius and this could be submitted no later than 2 working days in advance.
Reporter’s Further Response
After reading the response from AROps, I still feel that the main issue remains; that is, the current NOTAM notification system, whereby AROps are to be contacted during its published hours for NOTAM issuance, and not the NOTAM office directly, is not reliable enough for on-the-day requests after the actual routing for the day is determined.
CHIRP Comment
CHIRP is certainly sympathetic to the reporter’s frustrations. Especially since the reporter is working hard to promote safer collective airspace use. However, notwithstanding the reporter’s views, AROps does recommend use of a ‘generic area NOTAM’, requested no later than 2 working days in advance, to cover the planned event. Thus, in the cases when a NOTAM applied for on the day cannot be processed by AROps due to workload, other airspace users are still made aware of the event itself. Whilst this may not be ideal, especially for events such as gliding competitions, ultimately, we must do our best to work within the constraints of the system currently in place to ensure that the safest possible protection is afforded to airspace users.
Dirty Dozen Human Factors
The following ‘Dirty Dozen’ Human Factors elements were a key part of the CHIRP discussions about this report and are intended to provide food for thought when considering aspects that might be pertinent in similar circumstances.
Awareness – Provision of timely and accurate information to airspace users via NOTAM.
Communication – Despite best efforts, unable to communicate safety information effectively.