About Defence

Low Flying Area 12

LFA 12 Map

LFA 12

LFA 12 covers Northumberland, Durham and northeast North Yorkshire. Although there are no major flying stations located there, service establishments include the Army Field Training Centre at Otterburn, Albermarle Barracks at Ouston and the RAF air defence radar sites at Boulmer (which also houses a RAF Search and Rescue helicopter detachment) and Brunton.

LFA 12 is ideal for military low flying training. It contains some of the most challenging terrain for aircrew, has more unrestricted airspace above 2,000ft (giving increased flexibility to military aircraft to enter or leave airspace) than many other areas, is sparsely populated and generally experiences better weather than the rest of the country. Day-to-day transiting to low flying activity is also associated with the Army's use of Otterburn and aircraft using the Electronic Warfare Tactics Range at RAF Spadeadam in the adjoining LFA 13.

Usable area: 6,012 km2 (2,321 sq mls). This represents 3% of the total usable area of the UK Low Flying System.

Exercises and events taking place in LFA 12. 

  • EXERCISE TAC BLAZE -12 MAR - 30 MAR 12

For a complete listing of Exercises and Events across the United Kingdom click the link on the right.






Low Flying Hours Booked per Year

2003/04 : 3,528

2004/05 : 3,750

2005/06 : 2,894

2006/07 : 2,724

2007/08 : 2,247

2008/09 : 2,218

2009/10 : 2,355

2010/11 : 2,296

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