UK - Crossing a CMATZ at the w/e.
 

Hi guys can somebody jog my memory, I fly a quite slow flexwing microlight no squawk and am planning at flight that on it shortest route would need to cross the Shawbury CMATZ well the Ternhill ATZ part to be exact at the w/end,

As far as I know a lot of these military airfield close w/ends and CMATZ stubs as well, but of course the ATZ would still be in force,

Now for my question, if I make a call on the controlling airfields freq and receive no reply can I cross the airfields ATZ at less than 3000ft QFE as long as I make blind radio calls.

Nick.

The specific answer to your question is in paragraph 4.1 of AIC 95/2008, which reflects pages 2-2-3-1/2/3 of ENR 2.2 in the UKAIP.

The short answer is that you may transit the MATZ but you should remain clear of the ATZ, which will probably still be active. You may cross above the ATZ, which extends up to 2000' aal, but should not infringe it without specific clearance to do so. Listening watch and/or blind calls within the MATZ (but outside the ATZ) are entirely optional for civil aircraft.

Hope this helps ...

JD
:)

Many thanks JD all is now clear.

Nick.

Think you should call 3 times to establish the MATZ is closed.

This may have been true in the past, however both AIC 95/2008 and ENR 2.2 now contain only the following sentence:

"If, outside normal operating hours, no reply is received after two consecutive calls, pilots are advised to proceed with caution.".

I would read this as meaning that two unanswered calls can be taken to indicate that the MATZ is closed.

JD
:)