"Larry Dighera" wrote in message
...
On Mon, 19 Feb 2007 19:24:35 -0000, "Chris"
wrote in :

The US has one ATC system, Europe has nearly 40.

Isn't the fact that they are all in compliance with International
Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) standards, make that a moot point?

Not at all. They may all be in compliance with ICAO but that does not stop
the airspace systems being different,

Take Class E airspace - basically none existent in the UK but as soon as you
cross the FIR into French airspace it is class E.

Our class D is treated like the US class B and we have class down to the
surface - in fact a lot of our airspace below 19000 ft is class A.

In Sweden there is no class A or B airspace.

In the UK there is no night VFR, its either SVFR in CAS or IFR. You can fly
IFR without an instrument rating as long as the conditions are VMC. This is
not allowed in France.

You only have to go through the respective AIPs to see the differences
posted by each country from the ICAO norm.

The some countries are in a customs union and some are not so travelling
from UK to France requires a stop at a customs airfield but going from
France to Germany does not. And so it goes on.

In Germany one sets 0021 on the transponder for VFR flight below 5000' and
0022 above. In the UK it is 7000.

The of course there are the aeronautical charts - all different.

And all this for a trip no further than say Albany to Boston.