23 February 2010 - Inverness Air Traffic Control Safety Night 25th March 2010

An Inverness Air Traffic Control Safety Night date has now been confirmed as Thursday 25th March 2010.
The venue location has yet to be determined as it will be dependent on prospective numbers but will be either HAC or the Airport Terminal.

The focus of this nights discussion will be safety around the airfield in particular the runways and will be hosted by Simon Card (Inverness Air Traffic Controller)

16 February 2010 - British Red Cross and Skywatch Exercise at Easter Fearn Airfield 6th March 2010

over the weekend March 5th - 7th, Easter Airfield will be the forward RV point for a British Red Cross exercise involving the Skywatch Civil Air Patrol, the Police and some of the other emergency services.

Over the weekend March 5th - 7th, Easter Airfield will be the forward RV point for a British Red Cross exercise involving the Skywatch Civil Air Patrol, the Police and some of the other emergency services.

Although the exercise will take place over the entire weekend, Skywatch aircraft involved (Units 23 Highland and 24 Lowland) will only fly as part of the exercise on Saturday, March 6th, weather permitting. They will be involved in the following scenarios:

1. A cross country event in the hills, west of Tain that goes wrong - Skywatch a/c will be tasked to find the walkers and report accurate locations.

2. A canoe event on the inner Dornoch Firth that goes wrong - Skywatch a/c will direct BRC boats to rescue the participants. The BRC jet boats will be based at Tain. The Dornoch lifeboat will also be in attendance.

3. The location of a ditched pilot in a dinghy in Nigg Bay - Again, Skywatch a/c will be tasked to locate the pilot and direct rescue boats.

As some of the flying will take place in the Dornoch Firth, Sqn Ldr John McKeown has kindly offered to put a temporary ban on the use of explosives on the Saturday, so as to deconflict aircraft from demolitions on Tain Range. The Police will also be on the scene at Easter and the Assistant Chief Constable of Northern Constabulary, Gary Sutherland, will be paying us a visit.

The BRC HQ will be Carbisdale Castle and the search frequency 132.65 will be in use. ARCC Kinloss and Helimed Inverness have been briefed by the Skywatch Unit 23 Chief Pilot, Peter Macintosh, and they will also use 132.65 in the search areas, unless a full emergency is declared. If this should happen, we will all change to 123.10 and vacate the area as required.

Again, weather permitting, Skywatch aircraft will be positioning into Easter on the Friday afternoon and Saturday morning from Fife and Kinloss. Including my own, their should be seven in total. On the Saturday, there will also be a SWCAP VariEze operating out of Kinloss but not landing at Easter. Our A/G frequency 122.750 will be manned over the entire weekend. We also anticipate some rotary traffic into and out of the airfield over the course of the weekend but, as yet, I have no details. The BRC Unimog comms vehicle will also be based at Easter for the entire weekend.

Please find below some contact numbers that might be useful on the day:

Ian Rideout, Operations Director BRC - 07740 914051

Peter Macintosh, Chief Pilot, Unit 23, SWCAP - 07976 591322

Suzanne Robins-Bird, liaison person at Carbisdale Castle - 07970 513864

16 February 2010 - Noise Abatement

While it doesn't relate directly to light aircraft sub 5700kg Inverness ATC have asked that all aircraft fly with consideration for the towns located near the airport. When flying circuits please try to use a pattern the avoids flying directly above arderseir, croy, culloden and the outlying towns.

Highland Aero Clube have rescheduled their fly out to Oban for 31st January 2010. Aircraft still available to attend book soon as places filling up fast.

Highland Aero Club Flyout: Highland Aeroclub are organising a fly-out to Oban on the 3rd of January 2010 weather permitting.