HC Deb 19 May 2004 vol 421 c1072W
Llew Smith

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence pursuant to his answer of 27 April 2004,Official Report, column 873W, on Nuclear Installations (Aircraft Incidents), what reviews have taken place of the flight paths taken by RAF planes in United Kingdom airspace following the infringements he listed. [171647]

Mr. Ingram

There are no fixed flight paths in the United Kingdom Military Low Flying System. All low flying sorties are planned individually in order to spread the distribution of low flying across the UK as much as possible and provide maximum training value by ensuring that a variety of terrain is overflown.

The increases to restricted areas around nuclear facilities from one to, two nautical miles up to 2,000 ft, effective from November 2001, are considered sufficient to preserve the safety and integrity of the sites.