Like the US, many years ago we took our old airspace and picked ICAO letters to describe it, changing nothing. So everything looks the same here, but is completely different. We are now actually commencing a process of changing what we do to emulate the US system, but I (for one) are not convinced those driving the changes understand all the issues.
Either do I.
If you are interested in detail, check out
THE PROPOSED CHANGES
Question 1. I was reading in "Flight" the FAA is recomending GA aircraft encountering GPS interference climb to 5,000ft, thus putting themselves within range of at least one VOR, and they will retain enuf VOR in the future to provide this back-up to GPS. Does this really give an indication of the VOR coverage in the US or am I being misled?
Question 2. This reference in AIH (Chapter 4. IFR Section 1. NAVAID Use Limitations ) seems to indicate that I can't clear a AC50 between, say, YMIA (VOR) and YHSM (Class H RBN 146NM away & outside radar coverage) unless the flight is RNAV equipped. Is this the case? Our rules only require a positive fix every 2 hours, which we separate with by assuming a maximum cross track tolerance of 30nm. It would also be entirely considered a pilot problem and ignored as a factor in clearance issue. Is this sort of restriction actually imposed?