23 November 2015
The CAA has launched a second consultation on a UK wide harmonised Transition Altitude (TA) of 18,000ft.
A harmonised TA of 18,000ft would enable future safety, environmental and economic benefits to be realised through improvements to the vertical profiles of aircraft arrivals and departures in the London and Scottish Flight Information Regions (FIRs), said the CAA.
It would also serve as a platform for future airspace and operating concepts through programmes such as Single European Sky (SES), SES Air Traffic Management Research (SESAR), Future Airspace Strategy (FAS) and the UK/Ireland Functional Airspace Block (FAB).
The CAA first consulted on a harmonised TA in early 2012. Responses to the consultation were generally supportive of a higher TA, however further safety work and a more detailed Concept of Operations (CONOPs) was needed so the technical issues could be addressed in more detail before the final level of the TA could be confirmed.
Following an extensive series of simulations, workshops and engagement meetings with a variety of stakeholders, the CONOPs is considered sufficiently robust to warrant a second consultation.
This consultation is aimed at aviation industry stakeholders and therefore aviation stakeholders will be invited to:
* Read the online TA document set as described above;
* If there is anything in the document set which is not clear, review the list of Commonly Asked Questions and Answers;
* Provide responses to the online questions, giving as much relevant information as possible to inform the decision on a harmonised TA at 18,000 ft.
Stakeholders may respond to the consultation by any of the following methods:
* Utilising the online survey tool on the TA Consultation webpage on the CAA website: http://www.surveymonkey.com/r/transitionaltitude. This is the preferred method of responding.
* Sending an email to [email protected]
* Writing to: UK State TA Consultation, CAA House, 45 – 59 Kingsway, London WC2B 6TE.
All responses must be received by Wednesday 24 February 2016.
NOTE: An element of the TA project is the replacement of the existing Regional Pressure Setting Regions, which currently use a forecast of the lowest pressure, with new Altimeter Setting Regions (ASRs) which will use an actual QNH value (chart above).
