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Introduction IFR IFR traffic is permitted at uncontrolled aerodromes within vACC Germany if aerodromes have published IFR approach procedures and a Radio Mandatory Zone (RMZ) has been added to airspace G around the aerodrome. A map of all uncontrolled airfiel...

METAR stands for METeorological Aerodrome Report and is a coded weather report at a specific time with a development forecast (trend). In Germany, the METAR is always published 20 and 50 minutes after the hour. Reports between these time periods are called SPE...

ATIS stands for Automatic Terminal Information Service and provides pilots with up-to-date information about the airport. The ATIS can be listened to via the respective frequency or retrieved in text form (e.g. via datalink), this also works on Vatsim. In add...

TAF stands for Terminal Aerodrome Forecast and is a weather forecast for an airport with regard to certain parameters that will change during the forecast period. It contains all meteorological information that is important for flight operations. The validity ...

Runway management is the main task of every tower controller. Without a runway, an airport obviously makes no sense. Not only do we have to use our runway as efficiently as possible in order to fully utilize the airport's capacity, but we also have to protect ...

Many airports have intersecting runways either to compensate for prevailing weather conditions or to increase efficiency due to a lack of space. In Germany, Hamburg and Cologne are particularly well known for their intersecting runways. As always, there are r...

Reduced runway separation is not a mandatory part of S1 training. Requirements ATCOs can only use Reduced Runway Separation if the following aspects are fulfilled: The tailwind component on the ground must not exceed 5 knots Ground visibility must ...

General Radar separation describes a minimum horizontal and vertical distance that must exist between two aircraft in the air. As safety is the greatest asset in aviation, care must always be taken to ensure that separation is maintained at all times. Radar...

Wake turbulence: yet another abstract new term. This video explains what wake vortices are and how they arise. And what do air traffic controllers have to do with it? We have to make sure that accidents like the one shown in the video in New York don't happen...

Visual separation refers to two possibilities of separation used in different cases. There is visual separation in the vicinity of aerodromes (relevant for the tower controller, depending on the situation possibly also for the approach controller) and there ...

With procedural separation, two aircraft can fall below the 3 NM required for radar separation under certain circumstances . Procedural separation is used in the following examples: Independent parallel approaches (IPA) In Frankfurt, Munich and Berlin, unde...

Flight Level, Altitude, Height, Elevation, Level - All the Same? Not at All... Terminology Let's clear up any confusion you might have regarding these terms. We'll go through the terms related to altitude measurement / altimetry step by step: LevelDefinit...

A flight plan specifies how a flight is planned to be conducted. Along with the callsign and aircraft type, it also includes the planned route, altitude, and speed. This ensures that both the pilot and the controller are on the same page with the flight's plan...

In addition to major airports and airfields with an RMZ (Radio Mandatory Zone), there are many smaller airfields that do not have published IFR procedures. At these airfields, operations must always be conducted under Visual Flight Rules (VFR) for takeoff or l...

Airspace classes according to ICAO What is airspace? A simple question at first glance, but how about the details? Legislation states that airspace is the area that extends upwards over a certain part of the earth's surface.However, with more and more air tra...

General There are currently no class A airspaces in Germany. However, they are widespread in the rest of the world, e.g. in Australia, France, Italy, and Great Britain. Airspace A is the most restrictive airspace of all, counts as controlled airspace and onl...

General There are currently no class B airspaces in Germany. They are also not common in the rest of the world, but are typical in the USA. After airspace A, airspace B is the second most restrictive airspace in existence. Airspace B is controlled airspace. ...

General In Germany, airspace above FL100 upwards (or FL130 upwards Alpine regions) generally is Class C airspace. This is not always labelled on the charts. Otherwise, Charlie is usually found in the local traffic control area of commercial airports above the...

General In Germany, Delta is found in the local traffic control area of less frequented commercial airports in order to keep VFR apart traffic from the usually fast, heavy, commercial instrument flight traffic when the traffic load in the airspace increases. ...

A control zone (CTR) is the controlled airspace in the immediate vicinity of a commercial airport or larger aerodrome. The responsible authority is a tower, which in reality operates mainly by sight. The radar screen only serves as support. The control zone h...