Danger areas

The Spadeadam Danger Area in NE Cumbria shown on a topographical air chart

A Danger Area (DA) in aviation is a defined airspace where potentially hazardous activities, usually military training (like live firing, air-to-air refuelling, or UAS use) or parachute drops, occur at certain times. Three danger areas affect Cumbria:

Warcop EG DG407

This danger area covers an Army Training area on the Pennines to the south of Appleby. It's an extensive area of what could be a good South Westerly flying area. The height of the area is normally 10,000ft but it is occasionally increased (via NOTAM) to 13,500ft. In January 2009, the advertised opening times were Mon-Sat 0730-0200 Sun 0730-1300 in Winter and 1 hour earlier in Summer. Unlike the RAF, the Army do work weekends as a lot of Territorial Army training takes place then. Watch out for this area if you're thinking of flying XC to the East coast.

Eskmeals EG DG406

This danger area covers operations by the Eskmeals gun range. According to the Qinetiq web site, "This facility offers weapon and equipment proving trials over land at short-ranges (to 1.5km), and over the sea for long-ranges (to 49.0km) from 10 operational firing locations." Basically, they fire shells out to sea to see if they work properly. You wouldn't want to extend your coast run from Silecroft when they're firing! As most of the operations are out to sea, this area doesn't really affect us. The height of the danger area is 50,000ft with occasional extensions to 80,000ft. Hours are Sep to March 0800-1700 (1 hr earlier on BST) and April to August 0700-1900.

Spadeadam EG D510

This danger area is tucked away in the northeast extremity of Cumbria. You definitely don't want to go anywhere near here on a paraglider or a hang glider! According to the RAF website "RAF Spadeadam is the only facility in Europe where aircrews can practice manoeuvres and tactics against a variety of threats and targets that they face in contemporary warfare. This fascinating facility attracts aircraft from the RAF, Army, Navy and NATO Forces." So, think very fast aircraft flying very low, surface to air missiles and pilotless aircraft. The height is 5,500ft with occasional notification to 18,000ft. Opening hours are Mon-Thu 0900-1700, Fri 0900-1600 (1 hr earlier in summer). Another reason for keeping away from here is that part of the site is run by Advantica who say on their web site "With over 20 years experience in studying gas cloud explosions, Advantica are world leaders in the field."