For those who fly in Germany, please note the changes to TMZ areas from 30 March 2017:
– Dortmund
– Friedrichshafen
– Hahn
– Hamburg (connected to FL 100)
– Hannover (connected to FL 100)
– Luxemburg
– Memmingen
– Münster-Osnabrück
– Niederrhein
– Nürnberg (connected to FL 100)
– Paderborn
– Saarbrücken
These TMZs will become a Transponder Mandatory Zone with air / ground communication watch – means in the 2017 charts, you’ll find a squawk and a frequency next to the TMZ. If you wish to fly in the TMZ you are requested to select the frequency and squawk. Having looked at the AIP, as far as I can see, it is NOT a demand but a request….
Personally speaking I like the idea of having the listening squawk listed on the charts, in UK there are a number of listening squawks but you need to flick through (e.g.) Pooleys to find them…..
How is mandatory compatible with a request?
As I read Steve’s careful wording, the transponder is mandatory, with a mandatory squawk code; the frequency is a request. That said, I can’t see why anybody would NOT select the requested frequency, especially if able to monitor two frequencies as most modern radios can.
Jan_Olieslagers wrote:
As I read Steve’s careful wording, the transponder is mandatory, with a mandatory squawk code; the frequency is a request.
This is simply a matter of wording. The only relevant source of information is – as always – not an internet forum but the official site which, by the way, instead of “request” uses “urgent recommendation”:
https://www.dfs.de/dfs_homepage/de/Services/Customer%20Relations/Kundenbereich%20VFR/16.03.2017.%20-%20AIC%20VFR%20TMZ%20mit%20H%C3%B6rbereitschaft/AIC_VFR_01_17_16MAR17_sig.pdf2. TMZ with air-ground voice communication watch
Unlike a radio mandatory zone (RMZ) where all VFR pilots are required to report to ATC before entering the airspace, the “TMZ with air-ground voice communication watch” does not require pilots to actively establish radio contact. The urgent recommendation is that pilots select the (responsible air traffic controller’s) frequency published for the relevant TMZ in the ICAO chart 1:500 000 when entering the TMZ and maintain listening watch. Air-ground voice communication watch allows controllers to provide information about IFR aircraft taking off or landing to all VFR pilots listening to the frequency, e.g. by means of a broadcast, or to directly address an individual VFR aircraft in the case of a potential conflict and to provide advice. The controller should be aware of the pilot’s air-ground communication watch. The following supplementary regulation supports this: In addition to the “monitor frequency”, a special “listening squawk” (frequency monitoring code) will be published for every TMZ. When VFR pilots set this code, they indicate that they are maintaining air-ground voice communication watch on the respective frequency and can be addressed directly, if necessary. Contact shall be established by the air traffic controller. Radio communication itself may be conducted in German. After leaving the TMZ and the corresponding radio frequency, the transponder shall be reset to code 7000.
3. Introduction
This recommendation is scheduled to be implemented on 30 MAR 2017. All TMZs established in Germany (see below) will be shown on the ICAO chart 1:500 000 with their respective transponder code and associated monitor frequency.
Above is the wording. Please note the text in BOLD, you will see that it is only a recommendation; having an operational transponder is mandatory, selecting a listening watch / squawk isn’t. If you look at the reasoning, you will see it’s to allow the controllers to identify VFR traffic. So imagine I’m bimbling around, talking to Langen Information with their typical 3704 squawk, I’m hardly likely to switch to the listening frequency / squawk mentioned on the map because the controllers at Langen Radar can see that I’m already talking to Langen Information…..
Got it Steve, I misunderstood.
Thank you @Steve6443, good to know and the exact definition and rules are also very useful.
especially if able to monitor two frequencies as most modern radios can.
Which radios can do that? One can monitor two frequencies with two radios and an intercom (“audio panel”) which has the monitoring feature.
These TMZs will become a Transponder Mandatory Zone with air / ground communication watch
I wonder how much resistance there will be in Germany. In the UK there was massive resistance to TMZs because of a fear that – due to the large number of CAS busts – they would become widespread, covering much of the south east UK.
Many modern radios have a dual watch function.
TMzs don’t create much resistence in Germany. We don’t generally have the UK style attitude towards transponders here. CAS busts also seem to be quite a bit less frequent here.
Peter wrote:
I wonder how much resistance there will be in Germany.
Why should there be any resistence? TMZs have been around since a decade and every sensible pilot knows that it only takes a couple of airproxes between an airliner and a light plane and all those zones will be turned into airspace D or C within the next year…
