Fly 310, Biggin is really easy, they have biz jets arriving all the time through Class G. You’ll be handed over to Thames Radar, who will be giving you radar vectors for the Biggin ILS. Once etablished , you will be handed over to Biggin. You’ll be in Class G, but I would not worry too much about it as you’re being radar vectored and they will call out any traffic.
They have resident Border Control, so you don’t need to wait around to see if they turn up or not (remember the GAR form)
As said, taxi to Bromley South and train to Victoria.
Might be worth mentioning here that Oxford is now also more accessible to London with the new railway station 5 minutes from the airport – Oxford Parkway. You no longer have to go into central Oxford to get to London. Takes about 1 hour to get into the West End (Marylebone). And it will drop you at the new Bicester Village station for those looking to shop!
Thanks @mmgreve!
I have had a look at the arrival routes for Biggin and it seems as OSVEV 1G would be appropriate since coming in via DOVER VOR. Is it likely that I will follow this procedure or continue straight towards Biggin from DOVER via vectors or are you saying that they will give me vectors towards the end?
Fly310
99pct, you will get vectors. Due to the amount of traffic, they prefer to control it, in particular vis-a-vis London City (I believe that’s why you get vectors from Thames Radar, who also work the City arrivals – and before you ask, there is no chance of being allowed into City :-) ). At some point, London Control will pass you over to Thames Radar who will start vectoring you. As said, really easy.
One thing though. Biggin is quite expensive on the ILS, so if you’re CAVOK you can save quite a bit by cancelling IFR and land visual (deadside joint at the midpoint when you arrive from east.). Biggin has some rule about waiving the ILS cost if the cloudbase is below a certain height. I have used it a few times, but can’t recall the height.
So they are charging you for using the ILS? Is that common in UK? What kind of money are we talking about?
I have never heard that before. Sounds like something that doesn’t promote flight safety…
Fly310 wrote:
So they are charging you for using the ILS? Is that common in UK?
Yes, very common.
Fly310 wrote:
I have had a look at the arrival routes for Biggin and it seems as OSVEV 1G would be appropriate since coming in via DOVER VOR. Is it likely that I will follow this procedure or continue straight towards Biggin from DOVER via vectors or are you saying that they will give me vectors towards the end?
You can look for the most appropriate arrival, but in practice you get what you are given, which as stated, is usually radar vectors. They may initially clear you for an arrival, but it is rarely flown in full.
Just go with the flow!
Here:
http://www.bigginhillairport.com/airport-information/fees-and-charges/
Looks like you might be able to argue that an international IFR flight ending in an ILS approach is not training, and they should waive it. Might be worth giving them a call.
Agree on the safety argument. It is complete bonkers and not exactly encouraging people to stay current. I guess the argument would be that they keep the VFR landing fee down and let IFR pilots pay for the upkeep of the ILS and Radar. The issue with that argument though is that there is a lot of sunk cost in an airport, so you really want to keep the utilization as high as possible by keeping the cost down.
BTW, the cut off for waiving the ILS cost is cloudbase of 1000ft AGL
Biggin does not charge for the ILS if you come off an Eurocontrol flight planned IFR flight.
If you arrive via Dover high up you will be in controlled airspace, and you are likely to get vectors/DCTs towards detling, with progressive descents keeping you in controlled airspace, then handover to Thames Radar and vectors to the ILS from Detling, at which point you are likely to be at 4,000 ft. Thames will vector and descend you further, and you will just intercept and fly the ILS as anywher else.
