European Lingo
When I'm fly on Vatsim, I generally fly in Germany, however I noticed something wrong, but I wanted to check to see if it was an error with you guys first.
As far as I understand, you refer to altitude as FLxxx after 18,000 -- Below that, you refer to it as Xthousand feet, correct? Well, on Vatsim, they tell me "DLH639, climb and maintain flight level 100". I know they mean 10,000 feet, but its not the correct way to pronounce it. Do they go by some different regulation in Europe? Your replies are appreciated 😉
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As far as I know, the term 'flight level' is used at and above transition altitude. In the US, the transition altitude is 18000 feet, but in the UK and Europe, it is only 6000 feet, where altimeters are set to a universal setting, so 'flight level' might be used at 6000 feet and above. For simplicity's sake, I don't think they use flight level below 10000 feet but could be wrong. Hope that helps 😉
99jolegg wrote:
As far as I know, the term 'flight level' is used at and above transition altitude. In the US, the transition altitude is 18000 feet, but in the UK and Europe, it is only 6000 feet, where altimeters are set to a universal setting, so 'flight level' might be used at 6000 feet and above. For simplicity's sake, I don't think they use flight level below 10000 feet but could be wrong. Hope that helps 😉
They've been referring to everything as FL. I opted to point it out to them, but the controller figured it wasn't the time to debate this, and we couldn't reach a result, before I had to switch to a different controller 😕
Have they referred to altitudes below 6000 feet as 'flight levels' then? If thats the case, then its either bad airmanship or theres an explanation I don't know about 
Sorry. I hope the answer comes along soon - its an interesting point.
😉
99jolegg wrote:
Have they referred to altitudes below 6000 feet as 'flight levels' then? If thats the case, then its either bad airmanship or theres an explanation I don't know about
😉
I will quote from my last flight out of Frankfurt, proceeding to Munich.
"DLH639, climb and maintain FL500, proceed on the DKB departure, and contact Langen Radar on (i forgot the figure)".
99jolegg wrote:
Have they referred to altitudes below 6000 feet as 'flight levels' then? If thats the case, then its either bad airmanship or theres an explanation I don't know about
😉
Different countries in Europe have different Transition Altitudes.
Reading this will help a lot.
Interesting link Agus 🍻
When you hear a controller say "descend flight level 70" it's probably no newbie, who doesn't know about flight levels. In fact many European countries have very low transition altitudes - and many of them are different.
I think that quote from Agus' site explains it. The transition altitude for Germany is 5000 feet which would explain it 😉
Thanks for that 😉
I'm glad I helped 😀
Aren't we europeans strange!
lenin wrote:
Aren't we europeans strange!
😂 It would make it a lot simpler if there was a universal transition altitude like the Americans have 😉
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