Overflying airfields

[FlyingForFun]

Airspace and airports - US vs UK

Mike,

Can't speak from an IFR point of view, but when flying VFR, the regulations are different, although from a pilot's point of view it's almost identical.

Firstly, there are no Class B or Class C airfield in the UK. (Class B is used for upper airspace, and Class C isn't used.) So whereas, in the US, you'll be provided with ATC seperation near big airports (from all traffic in Class B, and IFR traffic in class C - assuming you're VFR), there is no equivalent in the UK.

Flight through a Class D zone in the US is, in my experience, pretty much identical to flight through a Class D zone in the US. When flying in the US, I was told that VFR pilots don't need a clearance to enter Class D, they only need "two-way radio communication" - and that this is deemed to have been established when ATC read out your call-sign - but that, in practice, ATC won't read your call-sign unless they are happy for you to enter your airpsace. So, in effect, you do need a clearance. In the UK, you need a clearance to enter Class D - none of this messing around with call-signs. I get the impression that a radar service is more common in Class D in the UK than it is in the US, but that doesn't make much difference.

We have a very small number of Class E airports in the UK, but I've never been to one, so I'm not quite sure how they work. I'd imagine that there's no real equivalent in the US. (Is ATCBabe around? Babe, is the airport you work at Class E? I think it is, in which case you can tell us all about them from an ATC point of view!) Note, though, that Class E is used for open airspace in the US, but used for control zones around medium-sized airports in the UK - took me a while to understand that one!

The biggest difference, though, is our Class G airports. Many airports are unlicensed, and they would be exactly equivalent to non-towered US airports. But all licensed airports (I said this on another thread, and was corrected, but it's true in 99% of cases) have a 2-mile or 2.5-mile zone, the ATZ, from surface to 2000' agl, in which flight is regulated. These airports can be controlled, in which case the ATZ is effectively controlled airspace. (I don't think there's such thing as a controlled airport in Class G, or even Class E, in the US.) Most of this thread has been about un-controlled, licensed airfields, where although you don't need permission to enter the ATZ, you do, legally, need to get enough information to operate safely.

So yes, there are some differences between the UK and the US. But, from a pilot's point of view, I'd say the differences are negligable - whatever the rules say, common sense says you should talk to any airport you overfly if they have a radio facility.

Hope that helps.

FFF
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