30 January 2008
Last year NATS introduced a new London Area LARS service. Based at Farnborough, it initially had two sectors, east and west, with a northern sector promised this year.
That Northern Sector is now being prepared, and will become available part-time (while operators are being trained) from 1 March. The full timetable is:
<table border=1px style=”font-size:9px; border-color:black; border-size:1px”><tr><td></td><td align=center>West<br><b>125.25</b></td><td align=center>East<br><b>123.225</b></td><td align=center>North<br><b>132.8</b></td></tr>
<tr><td>28 Jan – 10 Feb</td><td>Service as normal</td><td>Suspended</td><td>Not implemented</td></tr>
<tr><td>11 Feb – 29 Feb</td><td>Service as normal</td><td>Service as normal</td><td>Not implemented</td></tr>
<tr><td>1 Mar – 19 Mar</td><td>Service as normal</td><td>Service as normal</td><td>Open on 132.8 Mhz, 1000-1600 local</td></tr>
<tr><td>20 Mar – 31 Mar</td><td>Service as normal</td><td>Daily 1000-1700 local</td><td>Daily 1000-1700 local</td></tr>
<tr><td>From 1 Apr</td><td colspan=3 align=center>All services as normal: 0800-2000 local daily</td></tr></table>
<a href=”http://www.flyer.co.uk/news/images/LondonLARSNorth.jpg”>Click for a large-scale version of the chart image</a>
The current closure of London LARS East is required, we are told, to rearrange the Ops room; while the truncated daily service after 1 March is to allow for operator training. NATS specifically asks that you use the North service during this period.
The North sector effectively covers the area north of the Heathrow zone to Sandy in the north – although as you can see from the attached chart, it’s not a regular rectangle in shape.
In order to use the service – when it’s active – you need to call ‘Farnborough Radar’ on the relevant frequency. You’ll then receive a Radar Advisory, Radar Information or Flight Information service, depending on the weather and the workload. NATS asks that if you call the service, you should also turn on your transponder and set it to Mode C (if you have one).
The service is free, and in the first three months of operation of the East sector, NATS says that it provided a service to 3,500 aircraft, prevented 38 infringements and handled two MAYDAYs.
