Out of Hours Airspace

[VOD80]

Where I fly in France, there are a whole load of airports that now have a slab of Class "D" airspace but their ATS is only present during quite short periods of the day. Some finish at 17:00 local - leaves a lot of day VFR time over.

So, the question is - what happens to this airspace when there is no air traffic control? Should we keep out or can we cross?

I'll be researching in the propoer places later but just curious...

Cheers

[BackPacker]

If there's a dashed line around the CTR, it's usually open only when the airfield is open. If there's a solid line around the CTR, it's 24H. And in any case the details will be in the AIP.

Practically speaking, you can request the status of a CTR from the ATC unit you're talking to (usually an INFO frequency) before you would switch to the TWR frequency.

In the Netherlands you would get a crossing clearance for a closed CTR from Dutch Mil, usually with the warning 'remain clear of the ATZ'. I recently got a briefing from them saying that this is going to change soon, and there's going to be a computer who is going to respond to your activation of the mike, on the TWR frequency, to give you an automated clearance through the CTR when the CTR is closed. More or less like Pilot Controlled Lightning or Pilot Controlled AWOS like you find in the US.

[VOD80]

Cheers. What you say makes sense. To be honest, I'd never really appreciated the distinction between solid lines and dotted lines. I guess it's time to hit the books again!

I'm going to dig through the AIP but it's a bit daunting for the moment...

[BackPacker]

Actually, the AIP doesn't have to be that daunting. Take a good look at the TOC, because that's standardized (probably some ICAO rule).

Three sections, GEN (which almost nobody needs, maybe except for GEN 1.5), ENR (enroute) and AD (Aerodromes).

Most of the information you're going to need in flight preparation, with regards to rules etc., is contained in ENR. Particularly the VFR unit. And all information about an aerodrome is contained in the AD section. Typically there's a link to "charts" somewhere which allows you to retrieve PDF approach plates etc.

Your question specifically will be answered in ENR 2.1, most likely.

What you need to realise is that the AIP is trying to be all things to all people. It's sort of the LASORS of air traffic control/airspace structure and is the basis for companies like Jeppesen to track all changes in all countries and incorporate them in their own publications. So literally everything that a pilot may want to know is in there (with the exception of NOTAMs). But that's a lot more than what every pilot needs to know...:ok:

[VOD80]

Thanks Backpacker for that little guided tour. It was actually quite interesting :8

I learned a fair bit as well...

Cheers

[AliB]

Pilot Controlled Lightning

Sounds like fun :ok:

[BackPacker]

Well spotted!:ok: