Channel Islands Class A

[dublinpilot]

Purely out of curiousity, I've no axe to grind here, I'm wordering what the reason is for the Channel Islands having such a large area of Class A airspace.

Could this really be the busyist piece of airspace in the UK???? Or is it more to do with politics, and history, and their close proximity to France?

Or is it simply because they asked for it, and no one objected?

Or is it something to do with these islands being seperate states from the UK, and deciding they only wanted one class of airspace?

Just curious.:confused:

[Johnm]

This isn't a new question. The decision is for the Jersey CAA who generally follow UK CAA policies but have a degree of autonomy. I don't think they've ever publicly answered the question. Incidentally once the Island airports close at night, the whole area becomes French Airspace.

[englishal]

...and Class Echo I think......

[bfato]

I heard once it was to keep the French military jets out. Don't know if it's true or not but it makes me smile :)

[skydriller]

I heard once it was to keep the French military jets out.

That made me chuckle:D , but could actually be the reason, because the French military views the whole of France as thier playground.

Despite blocking off a fair proportion of it down here for thier sole restricted use, they seem to delight in blasting through the overhead of our little aerodrome between 500 and 1500 feet though it is probably in the only bit of free G airspace hereabouts!! Ive once been lined up on the runway when a Mirage 2000 blasted overhead on a gracefull turn at about circuit hieght and once been on downwind when 2 alfajets shot by underneath me at around 500ft - I assume(hope) the 1st of the pair saw me as he gave a little waggle on the way past....:suspect:

Ive always wondered about the reason for it being Class A too:confused:

Regards, SD..

[Cathar]

The airspace over the Channel Islands and their territorial waters remains the Islands territorial airspace regardless of whether the airports are open. While French ATC may have certain responsibilities once the airports are closed this in no way impinges on the sovereignty of the airspace. There is no way that French military aircraft can legally operate in the Channel Islands airspace without the approval of the Island governments.