Olympics Archives - Golf Hotel Whiskey

Controllers prepare for the London Olympic exodus

With the Olympics coming to a close on Sunday, its going to be crunch time for area air traffic controllers as the mass exodus begins at the start of next week. After all, most arrivals for the Olympic Games were spread out over several days or even weeks but passenger flights will probably be full next week plus there will be all of those business jets taking the VIPs home.

According to an Air Traffic Manager article, more than 9,000 business and general aviation flight slots have been booked at airports throughout the south east of England. That is approaching the 10,000 mark predicted ahead of the Games and 3,000 more than during a typical non-Olympics summer.

Air Traffic Manager also quoted NATS’ General Manager for London Terminal Control as saying that they have ensured that sufficient staff will be available to handle the outflow and that after three years of planning for the games, everything has (so far) gone according to plan.

However, major air space restriction will continue into the middle of next week with minor ones continuing into September.

Boeing 737 business jet sends fighters scrambling at the London Olympics

On Friday at 16.49 London time, a Royal Air Force Typhoon was scrambled from RAF Northolt, North West London, to intercept an aircraft that ATC had loss contact with – a standard procedure according to the London Olympics no-fly zone rules. According to a post by Richard Clements on The Aviationist, the aircraft that started the commotion was a Boeing 737 business jet with serial number N444HE and a Wells Fargo Bank registration (Perhaps a few wealthy bankers popping over to visit the Olympics….?)

The aircraft quickly reestablished contact with ATC and according to an MoD spokesman, the incident was at least the third time that RAF Typhoons have been scrambled to intercept aircraft ince the start of the Olympics on July 27.

However and according to the London Evening Standard, Twitter users were abuzz when the Typhoons flew over London’s skies with Hayley Taylor tweeting: "A Eurofighter Typhoon just flew over my house. It means trouble when those bad boys take off!" Meanwhile, Twitter user JimBaww tweeted: "Eurofighter jets circling in London.#PrettyCool." Plus, Matthew Sheppard tweeted: "Eurofighter just flew overhead at very high speed heading towards Central London. Loud."

In other words, keep an eye on Twitter for all the latest action in the London Olympics no-fly zone!

Aviation highlights from the opening ceremonies of the Olympics

The London 2012 Olympic games have officially begun and so have the efforts of the International Olympic Committee to block any unauthorized videos of the opening ceremonies from being posted on the Internet (Yahoo Sports has a good collection of photos from the opening ceremonies here) but one video they have not blocked is this one of the Red Arrows flying over the Olympic Stadium and Hyde Park:

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W-1ZtS6MBIk&w=480]

In this next video (if it has not yet been blocked!), the Queen is being escorted by no less than James Bond (Daniel Craig) to the opening ceremony:

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T0EtNLJS21o&w=480]

Finally and on a non-aviation note, The Guardian has assembled this short but quirky animated history of the Olympic games on its Youtube channel:

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zJGimegXUcg&w=480]

(Stop) Moaning about the Olympics (and try to enjoy it)!

The London Olympics are about to start but so has all of the headaches and hassles that come with such a big public event. The Atlantic has a detailed article mentioning other articles along with observations that the security measures in place to prevent a terrorist attack are giving the Olympics and London a distinctly “occupied look” while The National has an article listing a whole series of gripes from London residents.

There is also no relief up in the skies as the RAF has already been scrambled once after air traffic control lost contact with a Thomas Cook scheduled flight (travelling from Tunisia to Glasgow) carrying hundreds of tourists. A £125 million Typhoon had only left the runway for a few seconds before contact was restored with the airliner.

The Netherlands is also opening up part of its military airspace in order to alleviate the surge in civilian air traffic during both the Olympics and Paralympics. Specifically, the Dutch Ministry of Defense is opening a civilian air corridor in central and eastern North Brabant. That’s in the southernmost province of the Netherlands along the Belgium border where F-16s usually exercise.

Meanwhile, British authorities are getting plenty of flack after an 11 year old boy was able to fly from Manchester to Rome on his own without a passport, ticket or boarding pass – telling the media after it happened that:

Getting on the plane was easier than doing my homework. I didn’t have anything on me and no one asked me for anything. They smiled at me when I went through.

In other words, maybe missiles on rooftops aren’t needed if everyone just did their job at the airport!

Finally, its worth mentioning an op-ed piece that recently appeared in The Telegraph that also summarized some of the gripping about the Olympics but ended by saying:

So stop your moaning – everything always looks like it’s going to be a disaster until the last minute, but we muddle through and things turn out fine, including the weather. Just repeat to yourself: This is Britain, and everything’s alright. Everything’s alright. It’s okay. It’s fine.

So once again: This is Britain, and everything’s alright. Everything’s alright. It’s okay. It’s fine…..

Source: The Telegraph

Aviation themed Olympics mural complete with an air-to-air missile…

Hat tip to David Cenciotti for noticing a new aviation themed Olympics mural that street artist Banksy has painted on a wall in an unknown location. Cenciotti noted that:

Although he took the license to use an IR-guided air-to-air missile instead of a radar-guided SAM (Surface to Air Missile).

Banksy probably replaced the javelin with the air-to-air missile to draw attention to the controversy about missiles being placed on the roofs of apartment buildings (which the BBC recently noted could all be for show…). No doubt the image has a very good chance of becoming an iconic London Olympics image but its worth mentioning that the Daily Mail has pointed out that a cafe owner, florist, doll maker, cake bake and butcher have all been warned about violating Olympic copyrights – a good reason for Banksy and the location of the actual mural to remain anonymous!

Image credit: Banksy website

London airspace now a no-fly zone patrolled by the RAF

London air space is now in lockdown mode and the RAF has orders to use “lethal force” should the 2012 London Olympics come under threat from above. The prohibited zone is about 30 miles wide but it does not affect commercial aircraft which fly in established air traffic corridors.

Letters have apparently been sent to every pilot in the UK to inform them that most of the restrictions will be in effect until August 15. However, the sailing venue at Weymouth in Dorset will be under restrictions until September 8 and there will also be (less stringent) restrictions in place for the Paralympics that will be following the Olympics.

During the games, any suspicious aircraft will first be contacted by radio and then ordered to rock its wings to acknowledge the warning, follow Typhoon jets or Sea King helicopters and then turn away from London. Those aircraft that don’t follow these procedures will first be met with flares and lasers and eventually with missiles.

The HMS Ocean is also returning to London with a deployment of Royal Marines to secure the River Thames while ground-based air defence systems have been installed at four sites in and around London for those aircraft that don’t get the message that the RAF means business when it comes to Olympic security.

And while general aviation aircraft can still fly over London if they have gone through a series of security procedures, any London based general aviation pilot would have been wise to have already rented out their flat/house to overseas visitors while waiting out the Olympic games (and the havoc all of the security measures will no doubt cause…) over on the Continent!