Low Flying System (Hansard, 12 December 1978)

§ Mr. Wellbeloved:

As I told the House on 3rd April and 23rd May, the Air Force Department has been reviewing the arrangements for low flying training in the United Kingdom. This training, which is essential to the operational proficiency of the Royal Air Force, has up to now been conducted within a system of low flying areas and routes. It has become increasingly clear that the system is too small to meet the demands made upon it and that, with the many detailed restrictions introduced into it to minimise 150W disturbance at particular places, it has channelled the flying and impeded training. These restrictions have also led to undesirable concentrations of flying in some districts within the system.

From 1st January 1979 revised arrangements will be introduced, designed to distribute the flying over a wider geographical area. As before, low flying will be prohibit:A over major conurbations and industrial centres and in air space restricted for air traffic control ; and the existing regulations controlling the flying, protecting particular localities and generally minimising disturbance to the public will continue to apply. Most other parts of the country will be available for low flying training, although in some areas, which will be used only for transit, the minimum height will be 1,000 feet.

It is difficult to be precise about which areas will be affected, because flight plans are influenced by factors such as location of bases, terrain and the particular type of training being done, and some areas may never experience low flying aircraft. Most areas other than those I have mentioned can expect to see low flying aircraft occasionally, and some may see them more frequently. However, a main purpose of the revised system is to disperse the training evenly, and we hope that the changes will not only provide for greatly improved operational training, but will remove the concentrations of flying which occurred within the confines of the old system. A map of the revised system is being printed by the Civil Aviation Authority for the information of civil pilots, and will be published on 1st January and distributed with the amendments to "Air Pilot"; a copy of the map will be deposited in the Library of the House of Commons.