UK Class C airspace
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Joined: May 2001
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From: 75N 16E
UK Class C airspace
All airspace above FL195 in the UK is Class C.....
Can one fly VFR in this Class C at say 20,000' ?
The CAA safety Sense leaflet says:
Why is that if you have the right kit onboard your aeroplane?
Can one fly VFR in this Class C at say 20,000' ?
The CAA safety Sense leaflet says:
c) VFR flight is also allowed in Class C airspace, but in the UK this is all currently above Flight Level (FL) 195, where VFR flight is not normally permitted unless specifically authorised.
Joined: Aug 2003
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From: Surrey
Class C above F195 is one of those bizarre Eurocrat bits of logic. Most everyone able to get up there is going quite fast so visual separation is going to be problematic. Logically, one should have a positive control zone (i.e. everyone controlled - as in A or B). Most people would opt for everyone being IFR as it is simpler (so logically Class A). However, The military and gliders operate in random direction with wide altitude bands (and don't want to remain widely separated) so they can't be IFR.
Rather than picking Class A with restricted areas in which aircraft are not following the normal rules, It was decided to use Class C (but not allowing VFR - so Class A in all but name), with TRAs, where enroute traffic can't go.
So same result in having a 'special rules' area, but using clearly the wrong aispace class and fixing the problem by adding the no VFR rule
Rather than picking Class A with restricted areas in which aircraft are not following the normal rules, It was decided to use Class C (but not allowing VFR - so Class A in all but name), with TRAs, where enroute traffic can't go.
So same result in having a 'special rules' area, but using clearly the wrong aispace class and fixing the problem by adding the no VFR rule
Joined: Sep 2003
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From: 59°45'36N 10°27'59E
So same result in having a 'special rules' area, but using clearly the wrong aispace class and fixing the problem by adding the no VFR rule
Now....it looks like it will be more than two classes after all, but that was the intention.
Quite a few now have Class C from FL100 ish and up.
Joined: Jan 2005
Posts: 523
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From: Kent
Originally Posted by fuzzy6988
Wow! I never knew gliders could climb above FL195!
...found themselves flying well above commercial air traffic - a fact received with bemusement by pilots of passenger jets under the same air traffic control.
OC619
