{"id":4004,"date":"2022-01-25T03:49:04","date_gmt":"2022-01-25T08:49:04","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ops.group\/blog\/?p=4004"},"modified":"2024-03-04T06:34:16","modified_gmt":"2024-03-04T11:34:16","slug":"l888-the-silk-road-airway","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ops.group\/blog\/l888-the-silk-road-airway\/","title":{"rendered":"L888 – The Silk Road Airway"},"content":{"rendered":"

We received this interesting question this week:<\/p>\n

We said: “<\/strong>There are four airways over the Himalayas (L888, Y1, Y2, Y3) which the Chinese authorities will only let you use if you have ADS, CPDLC and satellite voice communication, and operators need to verify their equipment with them at least 60 days in advance! So they recommend that only regular scheduled flights apply to use these airways.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

Member said:<\/strong> “We\u2019ve not been allowed to fly these routes, costing time between Europe and Hong Kong. I\u2019ve been unable to get a direct answer of why not from our local Universal Aviation reps except, \u201cthe authorities won\u2019t allow it\u201d.\u00a0Per above, there appears to be a procedure to use these airways. What is the process to gain access to these airways?<\/strong> Our equipment is Gulfstream with everything including the kitchen sink.”<\/em><\/p>\n

We will start with the answer<\/h4>\n

The process to apply for access to these airways is found in AIP CHINA Section ENR 3.3.2.4 “L888, Y1, Y2”.<\/p>\n

Excerpt from AIP CHINA published by CAAC<\/a>:<\/p>\n

\n

12.1 A formal application shall be submitted to Air Traffic Management Bureau of the Civil Aviation Administration of China before air carriers operate data-link route, the application shall include:<\/p>\n

” City pairs;
\n” Schedules;
\n” Starting time;
\n” Type of aircraft used;
\n” Satellite telephone numbers for the fleet;
\n” Procedure of emergent escape. (Y1, Y2 exceptive)<\/p>\n

12.2 Flight plan notification of data-link capability is required before data-link services can be provided.<\/p>\n

12.3 Aircraft equipped with serviceable ATS data-link equipment shall fill in ICAO flight plan forms as follows:\u2028a. Advice of data-link capability shall be included in Field 10 (Communication and Navigation) by using an abbreviation “J”. b. Advice of available data-link media shall be included in field 18 by use of the prefix DAT\/followed by one or more letters, as follows:<\/p>\n

” DAT\/S for satellited data-link,
\n” DAT\/H for HF data-link,
\n” DAT\/V for VHF data-link,
\n” DAT\/M for SSR mode data-link,
\n” DAT\/SAT for satellite phone.<\/p>\n

12.4 Serviceable ADS equipment carried will be annotated by adding the letter D to the SSR equipment carried.<\/p>\n

12.5 Air Carriers are required to provide a list of satellite telephone numbers with each aircraft which flying along route L888, Y1, Y2.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

Now, onto the interesting stuff. The process requires submission of a “Procedure of emergent escape”.<\/p>\n

The available alternate airports for route L888 are (according to the AIP);<\/p>\n