Virtual | Weather – Venturing across the Channel

Restrictions on travel abroad are being lifted as we speak, and many pilots may be considering venturing beyond English shores this coming summer. The Channel Islands situated in the bay of St Malo and in the sight of the French coast are British, and whilst not part of the UK they are Crown Dependencies, they constitute a possible stepping stone for those wishing to fly to northern France and beyond. Weather conditions as they affect aviators, can be unusual there and these will be described by a Jersey forecaster. Fog is a particular challenge and this will be addressed in the presentation. Threat and error management remain important aspects of flying, and these will be described in a meteorological context in a presentation on weather decision making. This will stress the importance of having, at least, a plan A and a plan B.

GASCo is motivated by the need to improve the Safety of General Aviation, and improved understanding of accidents and incidents is an essential part of safety enhancements. It has been noted that the accident rate for UK registered pilots flying in the near continent is anomalously high. We will present a summary of the 21 fatal accidents to UK registered pilots in the years 2010-2019. All bar three accidents involve weather or terrain or a combination of the two. Particular concerns arise because of the extremes of wind, turbulence and density that can occur, for example, close to mountains in southern France, in comparison to conditions in the UK. If flying to the Mediterranean coast, it is tempting to fly along obvious valleys but pilots should be wary of both the Mistral and the Tramontane winds, with associated turbulence. The threats of both strong winds (at low levels) and low densities (at high levels) will be addressed.