BBC Ceefax flight arrivals

[kirmingtonuser]

The current period of disruptive weather highlights the usefullness of the BBC ceefax flight arrivals service. It is much simpler and quicker to use than switching on the computer and searching for forty websites!
This service appears to be under threat from the move to digital transmissions and the (so far) totally inadequate text information services which the BBC provide on their digital channels.
A campaign to save the flight arrivals service ought to succeed because there does not seem to be any technical reason why ceefax cannot continue. Racing UK provide an extensive racing betting and results service on their digital satellite channel using the traditional ceefax format.

[kirmingtonuser]

Further research reveals that there has been quite an outcry, leading to a deluge of letters to M.P.s.
As a result, the BBC have added Flight Arrivals to their red button service on their digital transmissions. Because they suffer from a lack of data transmission capacity on the Astra (Sky) satellite, they have hidden the listings away in a corner and have not done much to publicise the service. It is therefore almost as fiddly as switching on the computer.
The new service can be found as follows:-
1. Switch on the Sky box and wait 3 minutes for it to warm up.
2. Select a BBC channel and press the red button.
3. Select Weather Forecast. This brings up a continuous loop of the latest weather forecast and shows page 400 in the top right hand corner.
4. Type in 471 to show HUY or 440 for the index. The index is grouped under regions. Yorkshire and Lincolnshire has LBA,HUY and DSA. Presumably all the page numbers are identical to those on steam-powered ceefax.