Since noone has mentioned this yet (and official doc is just out), thought I’d give a heads up.
It’s mostly France-specific but the impact is so large that pilots crossing France might want to plan ahead.
The most restrictive one is during the opening ceremony (SUP AIP 095/24) :
Basically you can’t enter there on July 26th 1630-2200. The rationale is that, if you penetrate in this zone, a Rafale will catch you in less than 10min, before you have any chance of reaching the ceremony (unless maybe you’re in a SR71).
The next one (SUP AIP 096/24) covers only Paris surroundings, but is valid from July 22nd to Sept 8th.
Basically, if you can avoid, avoid. If you have to go there, you have to file a FP, PPR up to a week in advance (with permission up to a day before the flight), with the identity of everyone onboard, and mandatory stop in Pontoise / Melun to do an ID check. There are many more restrictions (like mandatory inbound / outbound routing, restrictions on training flights, etc.) but the FP / PPR requirement is the most critical.
It’s likely other major Olympics cities have similar restrictions (Lyon, Marseille, etc.)
maxbc wrote:
(unless maybe you’re in a SR71
I believe that in practice “UNL” means “up to FL660”. E.g. all these restricted/prohibited zones do not apply to satellites, space stations, etc. An SR71 cruises around FL800, so is above all that.
lionel wrote:
I believe that in practice “UNL” means “up to FL660”. E.g. all these restricted/prohibited zones do not apply to satellites, space stations, etc. An SR71 cruises around FL800, so is above all that.
For the purpose of distinguishing between aerodynamic/aerostatic flight and spaceflight, the limit is rather somewhere around FL 3300.
Ah yes, I confused the altitude above which it becomes uncontrolled airspace (around FL600 or FL660) and the altitude above which “most nations” don’t claim sovereignty anymore (100km or FL3300 as you say according to someone on the Internet).
So yes, a SR71 is subject to these SUP AIP.
The SR71 definitely was subject to it because during the Libya business the US was not allowed SR71 transit by any country in Europe, except the UK where it flew from. So they had to fly all the way around Spain etc, refuelling in flight.
Not sure if the Blackbird is affected… same as I don’t think they are many of those SR-71, if at all, still in ops missions, or have been relegated to museums 😴
As a fellow SR71 pilot I just hate reading a full week through 14’560 pages of autorouter NOTAMs for cranes some 79’950ft below me, just to miss the one about the Olympics crossing my path.
