As the nights draw in closer and in preparation for winter months, for the August Star event we will practice night flying skills around a well-lit London and South Coast. Remaining below the Class A London TMA whose base is 2500ft a simple short route should be planned from EGKA Shoreham to EGHI Southampton via a touch and go at EGKB Biggin Hill. You can choose to transit controlled airspace, where this is permitted for light aircraft, in order to shorten the leg to or from Biggin Hill.

The event can be flown anytime in August 2022 and lasts for the duration of the month at a time that suits you, as long as it is within "official night". That is from 30 minutes after sunset to 30 minutes before sunrise on your chosen flight day. Departure is from EGKA Shoreham.

Flight planning plays a major part of this event. Before the event you will need to plan your route. Look to either transit or navigate around Gatwick, touch and go at Biggin Hill and then continue to land at Southampton. Most of the route has Class A overhead @ 2500ft and is usually busy with IFR traffic & controllers. Shoreham to Southampton via Biggin Hill is approximately 1:10mins @ 110kts It is shorter if you choose to transit Gatwick's CTA. When filing your flight plan on VATSIM, be sure to state that it is a night flight.

If you wish to receive help and training for / before the event, please ask. Everyone wants to help…It's the CIX way!

Gatwick EGKK and the London area in general is a popular VATSIM control area (depending on what time you go online). Be prepared and expect ATC to be active over / around the coverage area. If attempting a Gatwick transit, revise the entry / exit transit points. If Solent Radar is active, revise theVFR entry points for the Solent CTA / Southampton. At the time of publishing this event plan, ATC has not been requested, but if co-ordinated, no doubt CIX ATC will be possible.

Take care not to let our TeamSpeak chat cut across ATC. Stop any conversation immediately the R/T comes alive, and then continue if "he wasn't talking to us". This is difficult because when transmitting on TeamSpeak you can't hear the R/T. So be brief on TeamSpeak and be aware that ATC might be trying to get through. If anyone hears an R/T message which seems to be being ignored, just say "ATC is calling G-CIXX" if you have identified the callsign, or "ATC is calling us" which is a cue for everyone to be quiet on TeamSpeak until ATC call again (which they will). Remember too that if asked to "Stand By" by ATC, you do not reply - not even "Roger", but simply wait until you are called again. Remember also that there are different ATC frequencies in use, and you may not be able to hear when communications are taking place. Make sure you have set and know how to use a TeamSpeak mute switch.

To qualify for the August star, the route must be PIREP'd as: EGKA – EGHI Remarks: CIX/VFR/V/NIGHT/GENERAL/AUG STAR