§ Adam PriceTo ask the Secretary of State for Defence how many low flying sorties by military jet aircraft of the(a) NATO air forces and (b) RAF were carried out last year within the UK flying system. [129197]
§ Mr. CaplinThe information is not held in the form requested. The amount of military low flying that takes place in the United Kingdom is expressed in hours rather than by number of sorties, which can vary significantly from minutes to several hours. A statement on the Pattern of Low Flying Across the UK is published annually, with copies placed in the Libraries of both Houses. The statement for the training year 2002–03 records that foreign-based aircraft were booked into the UK Low Flying System for some 174 hours (this figure covers all foreign aircraft with the exception of United States Air Forces in Europe (USAFE) aircraft which are based in the UK). The total amount of booked low flying by all military aircraft was some 47,058 hours.
The statement for the training year 2002–03 records the amount of booked low flying in Low Flying Area 7 (an area that broadly equates to the land area of Wales, except for a small area of northeast Powys) was some 7,635 hours.
§ Adam PriceTo ask the Secretary of State for Defence how many low flying military sorties were undertaken within Low Flying Area 7 of the UK low flying system in 2002. [129198]
§ Mr. CaplinThe information is not held in the form requested. The amount of military low flying that takes place in the United Kingdom is better expressed in hours rather than by number of sorties, which can vary significantly from minutes to several hours. On this basis, a statement of the Pattern of Low Flying Across the UK is published annually, with copies placed in the Libraries of both Houses. The statement for the training year 2002–03 records that the amount of booked low flying in Low Flying Area 7 (an area that broadly equates to the land area of Wales, except for a small area of northeast Powys) was approximately 7,635 hours.
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§ Mr.Adam PriceTo ask the Secretary of State for Defence (1) in which military conflicts of the past decade low flying tactics have been used by the RAF; [129202
(2) how many sorties have been flown by UK RAF pilots at a level of 100 ft during (a) military conflicts over the past six years and (b) the recent war in Iraq. [129216]
§ Mr. CaplinLow flying tactics have been used in military conflicts in the Balkans, Sierra Leone, Afghanistan and Iraq. Although fast jet low flying has not been employed in all of these conflicts, I can confirm that a number of fast jet sorties were flown at low level during the recent operation in Iraq. The heights at which operational sorties are undertaken vary according to the assessed threat at the time. Details of the number of sorties and the heights at which they were flown are not held centrally.
§ Adam PriceTo ask the Secretary of State for Defence what arrangements govern the training of foreign nationals in low flying military exercises by the RAF. [129203]
§ Mr. CaplinLow flying in the United Kingdom by non UK-based foreign air forces, whether in RAF-led exercises or any other training, is closely controlled and generally only permitted on a reciprocal basis. Foreign aircrew are bound by the same restrictions as those that apply to UK aircrew, but additionally are not generally permitted to operate under more favourable conditions than those applied to our forces in the country concerned. All foreign aircrew receive a face to face brief from an appropriately qualified member of British forces before they can operate in the UK Low Flying System.
§ Adam PriceTo ask the Secretary of State for Defence (1) what percentage of low flying military aircraft exercises conducted in the United Kingdom in each of the past 10 years were undertaken by foreign nationals; [129204
(2) how many foreign pilots have been involved in low flying military training exercises in (a) the United Kingdom and (b)Wales in each of the last 10 years. [129206]
§ Mr. CaplinLow flying military exercises are not generally conducted by foreign air forces alone. The number of pilots involved in low flying is not recorded centrally. The amount of low flying by foreign military aircraft is typically less than 1 per cent. of all the low flying training that takes place in the United Kingdom.
§ Adam PriceTo ask the Secretary of State for Defence how many accidents involving low flying military aircraft in the United Kingdom have been reported in each of the past 10 years. [129205]
§ Mr. CaplinThe number of accidents recorded to aircraft in the United Kingdom Low Flying System in the last 10 training years is:
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April to March Accidents 1994–95 3 1995–96 3 1996–97 0 1997–98 1
April to March Accidents 1998–99 2 1999–2000 5 2000–01 3 2001–02 0 2002–03 2 April 2003–?Present 2
§ Adam PriceTo ask the Secretary of State for Defence how many complaints his Department received with regard to military low flying aircraft in each parliamentary constituency in each of the last 10 years. [129208]
§ Mr. CaplinThe information is not held in the form requested. The number of individual complaints recorded for each county (based on the information supplied by the complainants) over the last three years is given in the following table. Detailed records are only retained for a three-year period.
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Complaints per training year County 2000–01 2001–02 2002–03 No county provided 11 13 11 Aberdeenshire 46 48 45 Angus 13 16 35 Argyll and Bute 23 12 19 Avon 26 20 17 Ayrshire 14 14 7 Bedfordshire 42 38 19 Berkshire 31 39 62 Berwickshire 27 22 15 Borders 61 73 56 Buckinghamshire 29 40 27 Cambridgeshire 99 122 109 Carmarthenshire 78 73 63 Central 17 14 8 Ceredigion 30 31 22 Cheshire 15 25 22 Cleveland 6 6 2 Clwyd 16 14 22 Cornwall 91 108 72 Cumbria 138 165 218 Denbighshire 2 3 1 Derbyshire 13 20 18 Devon 178 211 197 Dorset 59 120 102 Dumfries and Galloway 159 165 130 Durham 9 15 26 Dyfed 141 114 109 East Sussex 33 33 29 East Yorkshire 18 15 12 Essex 56 63 78 Fife 22 26 44 Glamorgan 11 12 13 Gloucestershire 96 120 102 Grampian 16 12 42 Greater Manchester 0 0 3 Gwent 11 15 35 Gwynedd 94 26 76 Hampshire 249 243 225 Hereford and Worcester 106 117 150 Hertfordshire 18 15 22 Highlands 124 86 131 Humberside 27 15 16 Isle of Man 0 1 1 Isle of Wight 1 0 0 Kent 61 63 59 Lanarkshire 5 9 14 Lancashire 28 17 107 Leicestershire 22 15 28 Lincolnshire 143 150 110
Complaints per training year County 2000–01 2001–02 2002–03 London 15 13 18 Lothian 59 47 57 Manchester 1 1 0 Merseyside 2 1 8 Middlesex 1 3 6 Monmouthshire 6 12 4 Moray 10 14 14 Norfolk 276 275 246 North Yorkshire 168 143 171 Northamptonshire 39 57 56 Northumberland 119 60 85 Nottinghamshire 36 53 33 Orkney 13 14 18 Oxfordshire 88 73 88 Pembrokeshire 20 71 47 Perthshire 21 29 48 Powys 87 83 96 Ross-Shire 16 25 51 Rutland 1 1 0 Shropshire 52 67 67 Somerset 196 224 226 South Yorkshire 22 9 13 Staffordshire 33 31 31 Strathclyde 48 24 41 Suffolk 148 138 110 Surrey 26 21 44 Tayside 65 34 44 Tyne and Wear 2 2 7 Warwickshire 25 20 20 West Midlands 4 0 2 West Sussex 43 64 67 West Yorkshire 14 31 14 Western Isles 0 3 12 Wiltshire 87 108 97 Yorkshire 11 4 7 Total 4,270 4,350 4,520f
§ Adam PriceTo ask the Secretary of State for Defence how many and what percentage of military low-flying services over the Welsh Military Tactical Training Area, this year was undertaken by foreign nationals. [129194]
§ Mr. CaplinForeign air forces are not permitted to operate in any of the three Tactical Training Areas including the one that exists over mid-Wales.
§ Mr. Peter DuncanTo ask the Secretary of State for Defence how many RAF low-flying sorties have been within three miles of(a) Kirkcudbright and (b) Gatehouse-of-Fleet in the last year. [130457]
§ Mr. CaplinThe hon. Member will be aware that Kirkcudbright and Gatehouse-of-Fleet lie within Low Flying Area (LFA) 16 and Tactical Training Area (TTA) 20T. In the last training year LFA 16 had a total of 3,535 hours of low flying activity booked of which 188 hours and 18 minutes were Operational Low Flying (OLF) activity which is carried out within the TTA boundary. These are the only figures available.