Ok why is there 3 different circles around an airport? Is one for approach/tower? Is the green circle tower? Thanks In advance
@divebuddha. Right on buddaâŚ(I conclude) Correct me if Iâm wrong but I believe the Outer Ring also delineates ownership of the airspace. Now if thatâs correct it begs the question; Why do IF Towers send Guard msgs when your motoring outside the outer ring? Just Askin, Mad Max Sends
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They donât unless they donât know their air space at leased I donât. I also hand off right before that ring.
From what I can tell, theyâve just simplified this into 3 rings around major airports. Thatâs how I fly with it anyway
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If you arenât entering the ring (even 3-dimentionally), tower shouldnât be sending on-guard messages. You will probably get one before you enter the ring if the tower controller predicts that you will enter their airspace.
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Or if you are headed in the wrong direction and there is no approach controller
Sean⌠âPredictsâ thatâs the rub! I would routinely make a snotty response to the predict bit. Like Houdini died a long time ago. As far as Iâm concerned its getting old when your 30 miles out or skirting the border and some bored Tower Guy is pimping for biz. Control âyourâ designated airspace Tower. No traffic, take a smoke brake and watch the skies. . Just Say in, Mad Max sends
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@MitchellJames Get depiction of vertical separation! But what pray tell is the Horizontal, could it be the Rings around the airports on the IF Chart? There apparently copied from a WAC or Sectional. What say you Mitch?
Mad Max Sends
Any prediction is relative, of course. By âpredictâ I mean youâre literally entering the airspace in 15 seconds so thereâs no point in waiting to contact you anyway.
(@Swang007)⌠Just pinging on ya Sean⌠No malice intended. Just a sticking point what annoys me which happens often. That long distance telegram is distracting for some. Hope itâs covered in ATC school. You do good work, glad you have a thick skin! Regards, Max
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A lot of it may also be for efficiency purposes. If youâre coming in towards the center of the airport, not facing an actual runway, 255 kts at 5,000 ft, itâs better that youâre in contact with a controller earlier.
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Hey Matt,
I highly recommend getting the FAA handbooks online (FREE TO DOWNLOAD)
it covers airspace in one of the chapters. Even watch some good youtube videos to help get a better understanding.
GREAT Question!! most people do not understand the classes of airspace and when to enter etc etc.
Hope this helps!
Have a safe flight!
Castle 55
I would suggest they shouldnât be playing on the LIVE server (playground or Advanced) if they fly at 255 knots at 5000ft directly towards an active towered international airport perpendicular to any runways
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Yeah itâs a bit annoying, but they really arenât doing anything wrong or ruining anyoneâs experience so controllers wonât ghost people like that.
@MitchellJames I think if you see someone on map with 255kts, itâs Ground speed not Airspeed.
I was almost exaggerating (but not really). Yes, map shows airspeed, but you can get away with 259 kts groundspeed without getting a violation. (Violation starts at 260 kts GS)
Great!! Iâll be keeping my eye more on the ground speed at the button tab, when descendingđ
@Swang007 Iâm happy for communication from the tower / aircraft outside the rings like you said if theyâre going to hit the airspace within seconds (common sense) especially if the aircraft is requesting transition. I donât know the measurements of those rings on the map. As an example, if the outer ring is a 15 mile radius, then IF should only allow an on guard message to an aircraft within a 20 mile radius (or even 25, as it seems thatâs the distance aircraft can pick up the tower frequency).
Iâm a bit disappointed that you say someone hitting a controlled airspace at 250knots at 500 feet perpendicular to the runways isnât doing anything wrong and wouldnât be ghosted on an advanced server - unless theyâve been given those crazy transition instructions, then Iâd suggest they are doing something seriously wrong. Especially with other aircraft landing / taking off, entering left or right down winds, performing go arounds etc?
The advanced server should be realistic - you canât just go burning into Class C airspace at 5000ft flying VFR or with no interim of landing at that field. And no IFR route is going to take you along that path on your journey!
The problem is that if we really enforced what you are saying there wouldnât be half as many people on the advanced server. We once had an expert server where controllers could ghost you for any mishap or incorrect usage of the ATC system, but they took it down because everyone was getting ghosted for something that they did wrong. I also wish it was more realistic, but if you ghost someone thatâs going 250 knots at 500 ft itâs (unfortunately) going to take a lot of justification when that person posts in front of thousands of people here or 13k+ people in IFFG that he got ghosted for âdoing nothing wrongâ. Itâs kind of hard to explain, but a lot of people would agree with the pilot instead of the controller. If any other advanced server ATCâs see this, feel free to pitch in.