PI-26-008 - Scottish Free Route Airspace (Deployment 3)¶
| Instruction ID | PI-26-008 |
|---|---|
| Effective Date | 19/03/2026 (AIRAC 2603) |
| Status |  Active |
| Applicable To | Scottish; LAG North |
| Incorporated into Docs | No |
Summary¶
This AIRAC sees the extension of Free Route Airspace (FRA) into the remaining upper airspace of the Scottish (Prestwick) sectors, following the earlier deployments of FRA in Scotland Upper and London LAG West in previous years.
As a result, all ATS routes above FL255 have been removed from the expanded FRA region. Some waypoints have been removed and some new ones have been established at the border of FRA.
STARs for the Scottish TMA airfields, Midlands Group, Manchester (EGCC) and Newcastle (EGNT) have been revised.
Warning
Controllers will need to update the NavData used by EuroScope to ensure correct route display of new routes. This can be done via the Updater.exe included in the pack or by following the guide here.
Note
The real world Scottish Deancross, Montrose and London Lakes sectors are being revised to better suit the new dimensions and traffic flows introduced by FRA D3. We will endeavour to review the AIP digital datasets to then make changes to our sectors for the next AIRAC.
New Extent of FRA¶
The image below shows, at a glance, the extent of FRA before (left) and after (right).
STAR Changes¶
In all cases, if a pilot has outdated navigation data, they may be permitted to fly the old STAR.
EuroScope will display the STAR most appropriate to the end of the route string. For example, an outdated flight plan ending at BEGAM will still display #BEGAM1B or #BEGAM1E (the # indicating out of date) for a period of transition. Where only the numerical designator has changed, the new STAR name will be displayed.
| Airfield | Old STAR | New STAR | Detail of Change |
|---|---|---|---|
| EGPH | INPIP 1E | INPIP 1E | None |
| EGPF | APPLE 1G / RIBEL 1G | ASLIB 1G | Replaced two STARs with one commencing at existing point ASLIB |
| EGPK | APPLE 2P / RIBEL 2P | ASLIB 1P | Replaced two STARs with one commencing at existing point ASLIB |
| EGBB | BEGAM 1B | OMENU 1B | New STAR starts at new point on the revised FRA border |
| EGNX | BEGAM 1E | OMENU 1E | New STAR starts at new point on the revised FRA border |
| EGCC | TILNI 1M | TILNI 2M | Change to level restriction at TILNI from FL250 to FL260 |
| EGNT | RIMTO 1N | RIMTO 2N | Adds point KEFTE on FRA border |
Documentation Status¶
Local and Enroute vMATS Part 2 documentation will be amended as soon as possible. Due to expected sectorisation changes in the next AIRAC, some documents may not be updated immediately to avoid duplication of work.
Errors in this instruction should be reported to operations@vatsim.uk