Mildenhall Airspace – important information for all pilots
The airspace in and around the RAF Lakenheath / RAF Mildenhall Combined MATZ (“CMATZ”) in the centre of East Anglia is particularly busy with military aircraft traffic. These two aerodromes record around 61,000 aircraft movements annually, including fast jets flying at up to 400 knots, KC-135 air-to-air refuelling tankers and large transport aircraft. Maintaining flight safety in this busy environment is a pressing concern.
Aircraft equipped with a transponder but without a sufficient electrical power supply are exempted from the requirement to operate the transponder at all times (SERA 13001). Pilots of the relatively few gliders equipped with transponders are strongly encouraged to ensure their transponder can operate and is operating when flying near this or any MATZ. This gives a reliable display of position and height on ground controllers’ radar. In addition, the automated Traffic Collision Avoidance System (TCAS) carried by larger military aircraft will steer them safely away from transponding gliders at typical cross-country flying heights, even without help from controllers.
For the majority of gliders with no transponder, position reports by radio make an important contribution to flight safety. Where the required radio licence is held and cockpit workload allows, it is suggested that pilots call “Lakenheath Radar” on its MATZ crossing channel (currently 128.900) if within 10 minutes’ flying time of the CMATZ boundary. Because Lakenheath controllers typically have limited knowledge of the local geography, seven prominent “Gliding Visual Reference Points” around the CMATZ have been agreed for use in R/T position reports. Giving Lakenheath Radar an approximate cardinal direction and distance from one of these GVRPs, judged by eye, will give them situational awareness of nearby glider traffic.
Each GVRP is near a standard BGA turn-point, so a GPS flight computer could also be used to give a precise distance and bearing.
| Name | Description | Nearest BGA TP |
| Bury | Bury St Edmunds town | BSE |
| Honington | Honington Airfield | HTN |
| Thetford | Thetford town | THE |
| Methwold | Methwold village | MTD |
| Littleport | Littleport town | LIT |
| Waterbeach | Waterbeach disused airfield | WTB |
| Newmarket | Newmarket town | NMT |
Here is an example R/T exchange.
Pilots wishing to refresh their R/T technique may wish to use the free online self-study materials from the BGA FRTOL Course. Live online training with experienced R/T coaches is also available every winter.
Note that carry-on, battery-powered Low-Power ADSB Transcievers (LPATs) such as SkyEcho 2 do not display on Lakenheath’s radar, nor do they interoperate with TCAS, so pilots of gliders thus equipped are also strongly advised to contact Lakenheath Radar by radio when in the area.