Maastricht ATC
 

Is there a requirement to inform Maastricht ATC of our passing level when transferred from London eastbound, climbing towards REDFA? Twice today this information was requested, but unfortunately we were not aware this was required and only informed Maastricht of our cleared FL, please advise.

Technically speaking if it is from one radar unit to the other the level has already been verified by the unit or previous units handing off the aircraft and only the cleared level needs to be passed by the pilot to the new ATC unit for verification.

However, not being at all familiar with the sectors in question, I cannot answer particular to your issue, there is the possibility a local requirement/instruction is laid down for the accepting unit to verify levels with all handoffs.



:O

Hi 741A,

Eurocontrol Ops Manual Part 1 states

Application of Vertical Separation Using Secondary Radar Mode C

Verification of the accuracy of Mode C- derived level information displayed to the controller shall be effected at least once by each suitably equipped ATC unit on initial contact with the aircraft concerned or, if not feasible, as soon as possible thereafter. The verification shall be effected by simultaneous comparison with altimeter derived level information received from the same aircraft by radiotelephony.

You would then see this as you fly through Redfa,Lamso, (ex London ATC) Toppa (ex Scottish ATC), WSR (ex Bremen ATC), ALS Tuska Grefi (ex Copenhagen ATC) and Departures from Brussels,Amsterdam ACC's etc. Just to name a few.

The reason I think is basically that we are running different Radar Systems to each other, therefore the first sector for each unit is responsible for verifying Mode C for the entire Unit.

Thanks for that Euronator , I'll endeavour to comply with this and pass the requirement on to my fellows aviators :ok:

Just a note from the UK perspective:

MATS 1 GEN 4.5 : "where a controller can acertain from the code allocation plan that an observed Mode A code has been assigned by a unit capable of validating the code, and has not been notified that the code is corrupt, then that code may be deemed validated"

and:

MATS 1 GEN 9.2.3: "A Mode C readout can be assumed to have been verified if it is associated with a deemed validated Mode A code."

So basically if you have been transferred from an adjacent centre to London Control, we can accept the current pairing as sufficient. However I think there may be an exception, but it may have gone with the North Sea changes.......... :confused:

Just wondering about the meaning of 'ATC unit'

Is every frequency with thesame name (ie Maastricht or London) one unit, or is each frequency considered a unit?

I've always given passing levels only in changing the first of the above.

Phoenix x
 

Yes, all frequencies within one centre (ie Maastricht) are considered as the same ATC unit. A mode-c check only needs to be carried out by the first sector within Maastricht as all other Maastricht sectors use the same system and therefore have exactly the same information.