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HF necessity between Africa - Madagascar - La Reunion - Mauritius

Hello everybody,
I would like to clarify if it is necessary to have HF for a private IFR flight between Mozambique, Madagascar and La Reunion/Mauritius.

At first sight the AIPs of Madagascar and Mauritius are silent on this point.

The French AIP (RUN) says in GEN 1.5 however:
Communication :
- two headsets or two microphones and a set of earphones and a cabin loudspeaker ;
- two V.H.F. 25 kHz T/Rs ;
- in a type H zone, an H.F. transceiver.
What is a Type H Zone?

Within ENR 1.2 (VFR) it is noted:
4. The aircraft radio communication equipment will at least include a category II or III HF transceiver as well as a navigation system using the existing ground radioelectric aids.

Within ENR 1.3 (IFR) nothing about HF, however under 1.3.8:
- The requirements for radio equipment, navigation and transponder carriage for VFR flights are in GEN 1.5.

Maybe it is required when out of reach of any VHF station (which is in most of Africa almost all the time apart from the first and last 20 minutes of flight).

Simply stated, an airplane must be equipped with at least one operating hf radio capable of monitoring and communicating with air traffic control any time the airplane is operated beyond the range of ground-based vhf radio communication even if an operator has an operational SATCOMvoice or satellite Datalink system installed. ICAO Annex 2, Paragraph 3.6.5.1 directs this and also describes HF as a back-up to CPDLC. ICAO Annex 6 states this long-range communication directive again.

That said, I don’t think it is enforced when flying to Madagascar, but I would have to double check and ask around.

Last Edited by AeroPlus at 05 Feb 17:35
EDLE, Netherlands

Thx Aero!!

Maybe Ahmed could share his knowledge, as he might already have had several aircrafts down there to Mauritius and can tell if HF has been necessary.

Any suggestions of a cheap HF?

It took some time but I found it in a 1991 arrêté, in French only:

Basically : type H zone = zone where HF is necessary to reach a ground station.

Very useful indeed

LFOU, France

thx Juju!!

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