In the US there is a lot of Class E airspace but there are certainly a lot of airspace related acronyms used elsewhere that nobody would understand.
ATZ, CTA, CTR, TMA & RMZ come to mind along with ICAO… 
although oddly enough it is the fairly rigorous US application of ICAO ‘lettered’ airspace that I believe made those concepts (or similar) redundant. The US does have Mode C Veils around Class B airspace, which I guess is roughly equivalent to a TMZ.
I think the US also has one famously odd example of prior airspace classes – the Terminal Radar Service Area (TRSA) at Palm Springs, in California. I have no idea why they didn’t make it all Class C airspace when the FAA system transitioned to ICAO lettered airspace in I think 1991.
Regardless of country, I don’t see much need for airspace classifications other than A-F lettered airspace.
Stay cool. Not criticizing British pilots at all. Just a factual observation about them not understanding class E airspace very well because they never practically get in touch with it (as long as they don’t go abroad…)
All nations and their pilots have strengths and weaknesses. Even though a standard ICAO term, most German private pilots don’t know what an ATZ is; never even heard of it. Even the term AFIS is mostly unknown to them. Or the term CTA. Or what “booking out” means…
ATC services available, speed restrictions, visibility requirements, etc.
UK pilots tend to be mostly clueless about class E, the reason sure being that there is so little of it up in Blighty.
OK… let’s line up 100 German pilots and see how many of them know the ATC services, speed restrictions and min vis for VFR (day) and min vis for VFR (night) for each class of airspace!
Given that the vast majority of [insert your country, but Germany will do] pilots absolutely refuse to fly across any national border (ask any fly-in organiser, including a German one) I think the % would be an integer in the range of 0 to 5, with the value being inversely proportional to how long since he/she did any PPL or IR exams.
The whole drift in GA ops over the past decade has been
the only difference between class G and class E for a VFR flight is the cloud separation requirement at low altitude vs clear of clouds in G
No, there is much more to it… ATC services available, speed restrictions, visibility requirements, etc.
UK pilots tend to be mostly clueless about class E, the reason sure being that there is so little of it up in Blighty.
Yes Thomas you are correct….badly worded on my part….the “airspace” is either “controlled” or not…it is an attribute of the airspace not of the flight rules being used by a given pilot..I just meant no clearance is required for VFR and no requirement to be “controlled” by ATC….or even speak to them….the only difference between class G and class E for a VFR flight is the cloud separation requirement at low altitude vs clear of clouds in G
Class E is NOT controlled for VFR….only for IFR
I find it slightly bizzare that Class E is “controlled” for VFR but you can enter it non-radio
IMO it makes sense. The airspace classes are about what services you can get. In E, you can get IFR-IFR separation, but not IFR-VFR separation. Therefore, it makes sense to not require VFR clearances (but require IFR clearances)
I find it slightly bizzare that Class E is “controlled” for VFR but you can enter it non-radio
It’s just a play with words.
The American Class D entry system (requires ATC to read back your tail number) is a difference to ICAO. I am not sure if they actually filed it formally.
But it’s correct for A-D.
Thomas this is not strictly true, in God’s Own Nation you’re quite quickly ending up in class D around medium sized airports, which is controlled airspace but doesn’t need a VFR clearance, only 2-way radio communication. But it’s correct for A-C.
