Is there someone around who can explain to me, what an airspace classified as RA is? As far as I’ve read on the AIP SUP of sia.aviation-civile.gouv.fr it is concerning military drone operation. There are some 50 airspace zones set up for that. But I even haven’t found what RA is standing for. (T) seems to indicate “temporary”? Is it some sort of “restricted” airspace? Never heard of “RA”. So do I just go ahead as with all the military restricted zones in France and ask on the way for crossing, or is this different?
Background: I’m actually planning a VFR leg along the mediterranean coast, all the way from Italy into Spain to continue along the Pyrenees. It will be an 800 nm trip leg, so won’t go bug hunting down low this time. Regarding airspace situation, the easiest altitude to fly seems like FL125, as it is just inside D (starting at FL115) and things start to ease (if weather permits, of course; if not it’ll be another story, but I already have plans B, C and D).
Boy this reminds me again of why I am doing the IR…wish I had it already…
RA = Restricted Area
TRA = Temporary restricted area.
Treat them as you would “R” but eg R123 would have all of its details within the Complimentaire VFR whereas RAs haven’t been published in the VFR Complimentaire yet and may never be as they haven’t been allocated an identifier. So you treat them as a NOTAM or a SUP Notam.
At least that is how I understand it.
At 500ft above sea level you can fly seamlessly in French rivera and all the way from Nice to Prepignan, you may be slightly out of gliding range but it’s not a bad place to ditch IMO
At +FL80, you can fly VFR seamlessly in the same way, but you need to climb in Italy Class G (up to 12kft) then tell Nice you simply can’t descend (say it’s IMC at 6000ft, it’s comfortable above, fuel burn is too high bellow…), I told them unable to descend for a low VFR transit on the way to Corsica once and they were very helpful
Anything between 1000ft-6000ft will be very hectic for VFR in that place, maybe 20 sectors and 50 freaquencies 
PS: RA is temporary restricted area, you find more details in AIP SUP & NOTAMS (AIP & VFR guides has RA)
Yes, it is stated “these areas will be activated by NOTAM”.
Typically, as far as I had it until now, the only “restriction” is that you have to report and listen to the controller. But I was unsure about the classification. I got used to all the “LFR” zones in France, but was concerned about that.
Thank you for the reply!
Yes lot of RA & RA seems to only require RT comms with the sector FIS(SIV) or monitor some ATC frequency
Aside from pilots without RT papers (ULM) I wonder who flies VFR without talking to FIS/ATC in France?
I’ve been in and of Cannes a few times in the last couple of weeks and had no issues at all. There are a lot of RATs popping up at the moment like this and also for French military ops. Just as for an FIS and the controllers are great. Lots of times I’ve had a proper coordinated handover from sector to sector when VFR without even a flight plan. If in doubt, just ask them to confirm a clearance.
Does Skydemon pick up these (T)RAs?
“RAT activated by NOTAM”, yes very likely
“RAT in AIP SUP”, probably but don’t bet you life on it !
Dahlbeck wrote:
Does Skydemon pick up these
Yes it does, and comparing to the AIP it looks good.
However, it looks as if I was not going to fly that route this weekend, because I’d have to cross the alps before and that doesn’t look easy. So I’ll most probably be flying further north.
