It was today I was told by Plymouth Mil that they can’t tell me and that I have to call FIS, which I did, and sure enough they were inactive.
2 threads on same topic merged.
“The chances of there being any Royal Navy live firing in the channel on a weekend are so close to zero as to be zero. We have a tiny number of vessels and a small proportion of them are at sea at any given time.”
DA near Southend it is a big show on weekends, I only witnessed that firework from commercial flights tough, having all of that in class D did make a lot of sense
Peter wrote:
Regarding the Channel DAs inactive on weekends, I have just phone Plymouth Mil +441752557751 and was told they are always active and you need to call London Info 124.60 to get the latest. No comment on the assertion that they are inactive at weekends
It’s scarcely an “assertion”:
The guy who answered the phone was clearly not properly briefed.
Peter – not so, they are happy to do so.
I think the guys on the phone are just giving out the party line = always active so we don’t get it taken away.
The chances of there being any Royal Navy live firing in the channel on a weekend are so close to zero as to be zero. We have a tiny number of vessels and a small proportion of them are at sea at any given time.
Every time I cross I ask London info and am always told they are cold. Every time I call London info for anything at all I hear someone asking them about channel danger areas and I have never once heard them say that an area is hot.
When crossing the channel I tend to ask London Info to confirm they’re cold as I’m coasting out. They are always cold on weekends, it would seem.
Of course on a weekday call Plymouth Mil. Even if hot, Prob90 there is nothing actually happening at that exact moment so they will apparently give you a ‘crossing service’.
Our Navy is so small these days that I think any actual live firing out at sea must be pretty rare.
Well, yes, most of Europe is playing that game, but you don’t get a routing through these on a weekday. On a weekend you do. So “something” has been passed on.
Peter wrote:
Eurocontrol happily routes you through them, today (Saturday).
Sure, because zone activation is not reported Eurocontrol. Croatian control never does this and you always get routing like there are no prohibited zones. If they are active, ATC simply gives vectors for avoiding to IFR traffic while VFR traffic have to pay attention to NOTAM. We have similar situation for airports that are IFR/VFR depending on working hours and towering – for Eurocontrol these are always IFR airports because Crocontrol didn’t bother to send them detailed info.
The number is 01752557751 or 01752557550. These are not secret; they are on google.
However they won’t say if the Channel DAs are inactive. They say you have to call on the radio, which is bizzare.
Regarding the Channel DAs inactive on weekends, I have just phone Plymouth Mil +441752557751 and was told they are always active and you need to call London Info 124.60 to get the latest. No comment on the assertion that they are inactive at weekends 
Eurocontrol happily routes you through them, today (Saturday).
