sceduled flights from small airports
 

hi, recently travelled as pax from memmingen/ allgäu-airport to london-stansted on ryan. something we were wondering about: when the plane leaves the memmingen ctr it flyes through airspace "e" wehre there is ifr-traffic as well as vfr befor it reaches "c". i know lots of private pilots who fly around in "e" without any radio contact for traffic information. is this airspace-e-transition a risk, which e.g. low-cost airlines face when flying out of little airports compared to others, which only fly from big airports? would be glad to read opinions on this...

Yes it is...cowboys don't care where the horse goes :=

Don't know why but I found this really difficult to read.

Just a suggestion for the future. Try paragraphs and lower and upper case letters, it helps us oldies read the thread a lot better.

I'm guessing because sf25 is not (as the profile suggests) from Britain. I wish I could write half as well in a second language. :ok:

Its not ideal, but you were probably in bandit country fro a short period. Possibly with a surveillance service the entire time.
But thats how budget airlines operate with minimal costs, using out of the way airports.

I think airports that operate passenger flights should have Class D protection. But thats a separate thread and not popular with some GA or military. :ouch:

Radar vs non-radar "E"
 

sf25,

You're correct: In "E" airspace, VFR don't need a clearance and do not have to make radio broadcasts. IFR aircraft need clearances to operate in "E" airspace. In "E" airspace, IFR aircraft get separated from other IFR aircraft and receive information about VFR aircraft.

Your situation is not ideal, but it's probably not that much of an issue in Europe, where most of your "E" airspace would have radar coverage (I'm guessing! I'm willing to be corrected on this). IF you have radar coverage for your "E" airspace, then your aircraft will receive information about the VFR and can then take appropriate action to maintain separation.

Hope this helps

DIVOSH!