I am planning a trip from EGHE to LFRB in VFR. For my flight preparation I was able to identify the UK Use of Airspace (UAS) which provides when an area is active or not. However, for France I was not able to identify when the area is active or not. The current NOTAM on the ZRT areas stipulate that they can be activated D-2 by NOTAM. I was however not able to find the exact website of those NOTAMS. I have monitored in Foreflight the activation of the areas for days but it is always the same NOTAM and nothing changes.
Any tips from pilots in the area ? Thanks in advance
Ok, there are essentially 4 types of restricted areas that I’ve come across in France (But I’m no expert on them!).
1. High Speed Military corridors. They are typically called LF-R45x (where x is a letter). Some go to the ground and some go to 800AGL, which allows a low level flight below them.
2. Restricted areas that have definitive times that they are active
3. Restricted areas that are active only by NOTAM
4. Restricted areas that are active ‘irregular’ and you have a frequency to call to find out if they are active or not.
Let’s deal with them in order.
1. High Speed Military Corridors
Go to the SIA website
SIA Briefing
Switch to English (top left)
From the menu, click → Preflight briefing
→Activities Defence
→AZBA Charts
These will show you the zones that are active at sometime today or tomorrow (coloured red) or not active (coloured blue).
If they are red, check the times they are active for. They usually are only active for a few hours, so it might not affect you (remember all times are UTC!).
If they are active at your crossing time and going around is a big de-tour, then consider can you go under a section low level. If you go right angles to the airspace, it’s usually only a few minutes flight. Usually there is a gap somewhere that you can get through or under. If the cloud base allows, you can go over.
There are various free apps to show these charts.
Or you can do it the hard way and read through the NOTAMS to find which zone and which times they are active, but that’s hard work.
2. Restricted Zones with definitive times.
For these you can use the AIP.
Again, go the the SIA website above
Click AIP
→eAIP France
→ Date for Current Effective eAIP
You’re looking for ENR5.1
This lists all the prohibited, restricted and danger areas.
Here you can find their active times. Some are 24 hours/7, some 24/5 some weekends some specific times.
3. Restricted areas that are active only by NOTAM
Same as item two above, but the times won’t be given and instead it will say “Activation by NOTAM”.
In this case you need to check NOTAMs. You can use whatever NOTAM briefing system you normally use (provided it’s one with access to all European NOTAMs). You say you use Foreflight. That should be able to give you a NOTAM briefing for your route.
If you want to use the French one, go to the website above and click Flight Briefing
→SOFIA Briefing
→Preparation
You then have the option of doing a Local briefing (NOTAMs in an area) or a route (NOTAMs along a route).
I’ve never used this one, so can’t vouch for it’s easy of use.
4. Restricted areas that are active ‘irregular’ and you have a frequency to call to find out if they are active or not.
Same as item two above in terms of looking up ENR5.1, but this time the active times will be listed as “Possible activation H24” and they will give you some frequencies that you can check the status by calling. In these cases, you need to call the frequency and check at that moment if they are active or not.
These are less common than the others, but are not rare.
Alternatively, you can use an app. The app should be able to tell you the active times for items 2 above and give you the frequency for item 4.
It should also be capable of giving you a NOTAM briefing to assist with item 1 and 3 above.
How it handles item 1 and 3 will vary.
I use EasyVFR. Once you’ve downloaded the NOTAMs and the Airspace Use Plan for that day, it will grey out any areas that are deactivated during your flight time (plus a generous margin). Clicking on an airspace will tell you if it’s been activated by the Airspace Use Plan or NOTAM and give you a direct link to the NOTAM if applicable.
This saves a LOT of time looking up AIPs and reduces the possibility for human error.
Then of course there are other pilots who will just fly and talk to FIS and ask about each area as they come to it.
I think the charts in 1 above are key to getting a good overview of the highspeed corridors, and an app will help you a lot with the others (and the HS corridors).
I hope this was helpful.
Edit:- the charts showing the AZBA areas is down a the moment. Give me a few hours and it should be back up.
Skydemon is useful for stuff like this as it links to the AIP SUP establishing temporary restricted airspace. The AIP SUP can be found here:870645_pdf
__On pages 14-15 it says:
“Compulsory avoidance announced by NOTAM and on :__
https://www.premar-atlantique.gouv.fr/page/zones-reglementees-temporaires-r-17-sur-lelittoral-manche-atlantique
CCMAR ATLANTIQUE : Working days 0600/1500 : +33 (0)2 30 13 82 65
__
…
VFR GAT: compulsory avoidance announced by NOTAM at D- 2. In the absence of compulsory avoidance, transit
possible with approval and under conditions set by Armor after radio contact on 124.725 MHz. Further information
available on :
https:// www.premar-atlantique.gouv.fr/page/zones-reglementees-temporaires-r-17-sur-le-littoral-manche-atlantique”
