On 2006-04-01, Chris wrote:
3. Renting a plane will require a checkride from a school and this may take
some time just to get familiar with both the R/T and the airspace limits.

US translation: R/T = radio work

4. Airports in class D airspace are treated as though they are in US class
B. There is no Class E and class C.

On a point of pedantry - if he flies up to Scotland, he'll find Class E
airspace.

5. A FAA IR is of no use in a UK registered aircraft.

This is true to an extent, however you can still use it in class G
airspace - and most of the time, you'll be in class G airspace. Be sure
to use RAS (radar advisory service).

10. R/T procedure is very strict.

In particular, it generally follows the ICAO conventions (it isn't quite
as strict as you make out though - I find most controllers are pretty
relaxed, but then again I'm not flying around London - it may be
different down there - southerners do have a reputation of being
officious and bureaucratic :-) - in fairness, the airspace in the
vicinity of London is incredibly busy - it's pretty much like flying
around SoCal)

Differences that will stand out from the US:
- they expect you to say where you're coming *from* as well as where
you're going to.
- callsigns are abbreviated to first letter and last three letters -
i.e. G-ABCD gets abbreviated to 'golf charlie delta'
- there are services that don't exist in the US - FIS (flight
information service) and RAS (radar advisory service). RIS (radar
information service) is the equivalent of flight following.
- you will hear things that sound odd such as 'Freecall suchandsuch on
123.45' which in the US would be said as 'Radar service terminated,
squawk 1200, for further flight following I suggest call Houston
Approach on 134.45'.
- VFR squawk is 7000.
- Some airfields have 'AFIS' which is sort of like Unicom Plus. It's not
a control tower as such but the AFIS will sequence you into the
circuit and say things like 'land your discretion' (instead of cleared
to land, because they can't actually clear you to do anything).

The best thing to do is to pick up Trevor Thom's R/T book at the local
airfield - it'll tell you everything you need to know.
Also, I suspect you need an FCC radio license. I got one just to be
sure.

12. There is no such thing as a Unicom frequency and there is no common air
to air frequency. Radio contact is with whoever you want, or no one. Just
keep a good look out.

There may be no such thing, but at airfields with no A/G radio people
will use the US non-towered procedure. It might not be pedantically
'right' but people do it anyway (and it's better than following the
official procedure of not saying anything).

--
Dylan Smith, Port St Mary, Isle of Man
Flying: http://www.dylansmith.net
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