Originally Posted by
27/09
There are many Instrument Approach Procedures (IAP's) in Class G airspace in this part of the world. We used to have an excellent system for dealing with the situation the LOP refers to.
Each IAP was inside a piece at airspace designated an Instrument Approach Restricted Area (IARA). The lateral dimensions were depicted on the charts. The vertical limits written beside the boundary.
The rules were for VFR flight inside these areas were you had to either operate 1000' below the cloud and 1 nm horizontally from cloud or if you couldn't maintain this separation from cloud you needed to ascertain there was not going to be an approach carried out while you were inside the IARA. Otherwise you just stayed outside the depicted area.
It work really well. I say "worked" because our CAA in their infinite wisdom did away with them as they were not ICAO compliant airspace.
Sounds a bit like Class E airspace. Didn't I read about 12 years ago that Oz had changed to this in a big way? USA already uses it but adds a bit of Class D if there's an iap.
I can only repeat my idea for UK use that every airport with an iap, whether civil or military, should have a 5nm radius ATZ instead of the paltry 2 or 2.5nm which with todays aircraft, barely protects the visual circuit let alone iaps. Would also do away with the MATZ system.