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Does the UK have any Class C below FL195?

If not, isn’t there a blanket ban in Europe for VFR below FL195? See e.g. here.

France bans VFR in much of its widespread Class D above FL115…

Administrator
Shoreham EGKA, United Kingdom

@ Peter do you have a reference for France banning VFR in class D above FL115? All the details I can find allow VFR in France up to FL 195 and I must admit that I have never had a problem flying VFR above FL115.

France

It appeared in all the enroute notams for France. Maybe not now? Various previous threads e.g. here where the poster is an ATCO in France. It was “Paris area” only which was a large area of N France.

Administrator
Shoreham EGKA, United Kingdom

This “class C above FL 195” is standardisation BS combined with change resistance.

Europe imposed the requirement to make that airspace class C with the intent to guarantee that commercial IFR traffic gets separation from all other traffic. The most permissive airspace that achieves that is class C. But instead of saying “at least class c” and leaving it to each country to decide on B or A, they said that it must be class C. That is the regulatory BS part.

And then the UK made the bits they wanted operate like class A anyway. That is the change resistance part.

Biggin Hill

Peter wrote:

Does the UK have any Class C below FL195?

There is certainly some in the Irish Sea, in the London FIR, but control is delegated to Dublin ATC.

Peter wrote:

If not, isn’t there a blanket ban in Europe for VFR below FL195?

Nope. But there is a blanket ban in Europe for VFR ABOVE FL195
EIWT Weston, Ireland

dublinpilot wrote:

But there is a blanket ban in Europe for VFR ABOVE FL195

The International Rules of the Air has the same ban (but above FL200) so it isn’t a specific EU-thing. And it isn’t actually a “ban” but you doi need special permission for VFR.

ESKC (Uppsala/Sundbro), Sweden

In the end this is all about ATC attitude and has very little to do with airspace classification. All controlled airspace in Sweden are class C and there are no problems whatsoever for VFR to get access, unless you try silly things like requesting a crossing of the ILS of Stockholm/Arlanda.

ESKC (Uppsala/Sundbro), Sweden
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