Quote:
Originally posted by jaguar
I picked up that much, it went jargon from then on. Dosen't usually but i suffer from a curiousity complex.
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OK...if you're actually curious rather than bored, here's a semidejargonizer.
The 3D airspace in the US is sliced up into pieces. The various flavors have different rules for which aircraft can enter them under which flight rules (instrument vs. visual), what weather conditions in terms of visibility and separation from clouds they must observe and what kind of permission they need first. The first major division is between controlled and uncontrolled airspace.As radar coverage gets better and better, there's less and less uncontrolled airspace; it's now found mostly in blobs close to the ground (700 to 1200 feet above ground level or AGL) in between controlled airspace that touches the surface under airways or at airports...even some airports that don't have control towers but have a minimum density of operations under instrument rules...Wings Field in Ambler being an example.
The blobs of *controlled* airspace that are near to or tounch the surface used to have a system of semiconfusing acronymic na
mes: terminal control area (TCA). airport radar service area (ARSA), terminal radar service area (TRSA), airport traffic area (ATA) and control zones (CZ). In 1993, this system was reorganized, and the new airspace classes were given letter names to align them better with international practice as standardized by the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO). At that time, TCAs became Class B, ARSAs became Class C, TRSAs didn't do anything, ATAs became Class D, CZs and all other controlled airspace below 18,000' above mean sea level (MSL) or above Flight Level 600 (60,000' MSL) became Class E, and the "Continental Control Area (CCA)" where most airliners cruise (between 18,000' and 60,000' MSL) was renamed Class A.
So, all the classes of "alphabet airspace" other than G are considered "controlled" to some degree, and *all* aircraft operating under instrument flight rules (IFR) within controlled airspace will be in radio (and usually, but not always radar) contact with an air traffic controller (ATC) whose job it is to make sure all IFR aircraft maintain a minimum separation from each other. The ATC will also, to the extent practical, ensure separation between IFR flights and those operating under visual flight rules (VFR), who he may (Classes B, C or D) or may not (Class E and G) be able to reach via radio. (No VFR operations are permitted in Class A airspace)
OK...what jargon is left? KPHL= Philly International Airport. LAX=Los Angeles International. CVR=Cockpit Voice Recorder, one of two flavors of "black box", the other being Flight Data Recorder or FDR..
I've had too much coffee this morning...