MIserlou,
Check out Scotland north of Glasgow.
Highest obstacle is Ben Nevis (over 4000ft) and the transition altitude away from the main airports is 3000ft.
One thing that I have noticed in the UK is that the transition level is calculated as the flight level closest to and above the transition altitude. Thus there is no vertical separation between the transition altitude and the transition level.
When flying in Ireland, the transition level is quoted on the ATIS and is always separated from the transition altitude.
Perhaps people from other countries could state if their "transition level" is separated from the transition altitude or not.
Why with the same (ICAO) definition of transition level do two adjacent FIRs use totally different methods for it's calculation?
I must admit that I am in favour of having the transition level separated from the transition altitude for obvious reasons. I am also in favour of having the TL on the ATIS so that we can get a mental picture of how deep the transition layer is...............if TA is 5000ft and the TL is FL75..........we can instantly see that having changed to 1013 after being cleared to a FL, we are at the MSA of 3500ft after passing FL50. easy.
Regards,
DFC