VFR Flight Plan Guide

INTRODUCTION

With the removal of barriers in the European Community, it is now convenient for General Aviation pilots to fly both from their local airfield/airport, as well as their farm strip, direct to the Continent. However, although British Customs & Excise and Immigration have simplified their systems, the French Authorities have not and it is still necessary to land at a French airport with Customs and Immigration facilities in order to enter France. It is not this leaflet’s intention to describe the relaxed procedures operating for Customs here in the UK – readers are advised to contact their local Customs and Excise Office to discuss their own individual arrangements.

LEGISLATION

a VFR FPLs must be filed for the following flights: • A flight to or from the United Kingdom which will cross the United Kingdom FIR boundary. • A flight within Class D control zones/control areas. However, this requirement may be satisfied by passing flight details by Radio Telephony (RT). • A flight within the Scottish and London Upper Flight Information Regions, (but since this will be above Flight Level 245, it seems unlikely that many GA pilots will be concerned with this situation).

b Other requirements exist for flights where an aircraft’s maximum take-off weight exceeds 5700 kg (12 500 lbs). We, as microlighters, need not worry about this one!

c In addition, it is advisable to file a VFR FPL if the flight involves flying over the sea, more than 10 nm from the UK coastline or flying over sparsely populated areas where Search and Rescue operations might be difficult. In addition, a VFR FPL may be filed for any flight at the pilot’s discretion.

d The Prevention of Terrorism Order applies to flights between the mainland UK and the Republic of Ireland, Northern Ireland, the Isle of Man and the Channel Islands.

e Some European Countries do not accept aircraft homebuilt aircraft/microlights etc. It is the responsibility of the pilot/ operator to obtain permission beforehand from the State concerned.

f In addition, some – if not all of the following documents may be required to be carried in the aircraft: Tech. Log; Certificates of Registration, Airworthiness, Maintenance Release; Radio Licence; Interception Procedures; Load Sheet; Pilot’s Licence; Insurance Certificates and your passport.

DEPARTURES FROM AIRPORTS

a Assuming that the departure and destination aerodromes are both major airports, then the operation of the FPL is as follows. You complete the FPL at the Air Traffic Service Unit (ATSU) of your departure aerodrome and they will file it into the system on your behalf. The effect of this filing will be to inform your destination airfield, together with any of your alternates, that the flight is going to take place.

b Once you get airborne, the ATSU will then file a ‘departure’ message and this will activate the FPL. Thus the destination airfield, knowing your estimated time en-route from the filed FPL, and now knowing your departure time, will have an estimated time of arrival (ETA) at their airport.

c Once you arrive, they will ‘close’ the FPL on your behalf, and that marks the end of the operation. If, however, you do not arrive within 30 minutes of your ETA, then they will institute overdue action and subsequently, Search and Rescue operations may commence. It is therefore essential that if you land at any airfield other than your destination, you MUST inform your original destination of this fact, otherwise they will institute overdue and Search and Rescue action, the cost of which may be passed onto you.

d This has covered the ideal situation where others handle it for you.

DEPARTURES FROM STRIPS ETC

a What if the aerodrome that you operate from is: • an airfield or airport which does have an ATSU, but your operations are outside their normal hours, or • an airfield without an ATSU, or • a private strip. The responsibility for filing, activating and closing a FPL now rests with the pilot.

b At this state, it is important to understand the concept of the ‘parent ATSUs’. The UK is divided into a total of four areas, each of which has a parent ATSU and the map overleaf shows their areas of responsibility and the table beneath shows the telephone and fax numbers of the Flight Briefing Unit that you should telephone or fax when flight planning.

c To file a FPL, telephone or fax the Flight Briefing Unit at least 60 minutes before the intended flight. A fax is cheaper than a telephone call. Prior to departure, arrange for some responsible person on the ground to telephone the Flight Briefing Unit as soon as you are airborne in order to pass a departure time. This has now activated the FPL. This is a very simple procedure and a suitable responsible person could be your spouse, relative, friend, fellow pilot or secretary. Passing an airborne time over the RT could lead to a delay if the controller is busy. If it is not possible to file a FPL on the ground, it can be filed while airborne with any ATSU, but normally with the FIR controller responsible for the area in which the aircraft is flying. In such cases the message should begin with the words ‘I wish to file an airborne flight plan’. Once again, when this method of filing is used, delays can occur due to controller workload.

Flight Briefing Unit Telephone Number Fax Number
Scottish ATCC – EGPXYFYX 01292 692679 01292 671048
Manchester – EGCCZQZX 0161 499 5502/5500 0161 499 5504
London/Heathrow – EGLLZPZX 020 8745 3111/3163 020 8745 3491/2

RETURNING TO THE UK

a Prior to departure for the return flight to an airfield without an ATSU (when closed for instance) or to a private strip, pilots are responsible for informing a responsible person at their destination of the estimated time of arrival. The responsible person is required to notify the parent ATSU if the aircraft fails to arrive within 30 minutes of the ETA. This action will then trigger the parent ATSU into alerting, overdue and Search and Rescue action. Thus it becomes clear that this person MUST have the telephone numbers of the appropriate parent ATSU. If the parent ATSU fails to hear anything, it will assume that the flight landed safely i.e. NO NEWS IS GOOD NEWS and no further action is required. If the responsible person does inform the parent ATSU of your non-arrival, then the parent ATSU will go back to the filed FPL to check departure times, routings and so on as part of the Search and Rescue procedures.

b It can be seen that the responsible person is crucial to this operation, after all, if no one is expecting you, no one will be looking for you if you do not arrive. If, in an extreme case, the pilot fails to find a responsible person at his destination, then he may contact his parent ATSU prior to departure and request then to act in the capacity of the responsible person. Should the pilot follow this course of action, he will be required to contact the parent ATSU within 30 minutes of landing at his destination or diversion airfield, to confirm his arrival. Failure to do this, will automatically result in the parent ATSU initiating alerting action.

Flying to Irish Republic from Northern Ireland/UK.

A flight plan is required and special branch must be informed at least 12hrs before the flight (** 24hrs
hours notice required if landing at a non-customs airport ** ). Contact the airfield of departure a few days before to get the local contact number.

If you don't to phone you can fax over a GAR Form (General Aviation Report).

Also note you are required to hold a PPL M, have a minimum 50 hours total flight experience, to include 25 hours dual training time of which 10 hours must be solo, and hold an RT Licence (restricted) gained in the English language. You must also hold a ICAO or a JAR-FCL Class 2 Medical Certificate.

A flight in Dublin CTR is prohibited.

Download all the following documents to ensure you are up to date with regulations.

Click here to download the CAA's guide to VFR flight planning (pdf format)

Click here to download the BMAA's Flying Abroad Information Booklet (word document)

Click here to download CAA Interception Procedures - MUST be carried in aircraft on all International flights (pdf format)

Click here to download GAR (General Avaition Report) instructions (word document)

Click here for the Interactive ICAO Blank Flight Plan (pdf format)

Free Flight Planning Aids

Similar format to commercially available pads	Format derived from the Brian Cosgrove book example	Cloudbase's format
For all these spreadsheets, click once on the link with the right-hand mouse button then choose "Save Target As" to save the spreadsheet to your hard disk. (This applies to a Windows machine with Internet Explorer - your machine or browser may differ but should offer an equivalent.)

MAP FOLDING

"Everything you wanted to know about map folding" For those of you that missed the practical demonstration of chart folding, I'll try and describe the method here, so that everybody can have a go.

Tips..
Practice on a sheet of A4 first (stuff on one side, blank on the other), this will help you avoid making a cock-up with the real thing.

Buy a nice shiny new chart from AFE so that you don't get your old and new folds mixed up. Besides which, they were good enough to produce the natty little badges, so we should make it worth their while!

Break the back of all the folds, i.e. make the fold one way and then turn the sheet over and make it the other way, this helps the finished chart to lie flatter. Finish each fold by running along it with a lump of plastic, this makes a fold a fold, not a bend.

Give yourself plenty of room on a nice big table and get a pal to help you keep the folds from going wonky.

Be prepared to modify the instructions for charts that are taller than theyare wide, Scottish chart for example.

If you never want to look at the key panel across the bottom of the chart, simply fold it back out of the way and treat the remaining area as per the following instructions.

If you get it right you will end up with three horizontal and seven vertical folds.

Right, if you're ready here we go.

Fold 1. with the chart printed side down, fold the two longest edges of the chart together so that you get a nice fold running east west along the middle.

Fold 2 & 3. Open out the chart and fold the lower edge up to the centre fold, repeat for the top edge.

You should now have three horizontal folds running east west across the chart. (If you haven't, give up and go down the pub!)

Fold 4, 5 & 6. Open out the chart and repeat the previous process, only this time make the folds north south.

You should now have three horizontal and three vertical folds dividing the chart up into sixteen little squares. (Fun isn't it) All of the remaining folds will be north south.

Fold 7. Open out the chart printed side down and take the lefthand edge and position it on the first fold in from the righthand side. Take a soft pencil and write "not this one dummy" along the resulting fold (You'll see why next).

Fold 8. Open out the chart again and repeat step seven again only this time from the other end. By writing along the previous fold it will hopefully stop you making fold 8 in the wrong place! Remember to fold the edge to the FIRST fold at the other end.

You should now have five vertical and three horizontal folds, if not, the pub option will apply.

Fold 9 & 10. Open out the chart and fold the lefthand edge in to the first fold on the lefthand side. Repeat for the righthand edge to the first fold on the righthand side.

You should now have completed all seven vertical and three horizontal folds and all the vertical holds will be the same distance apart. No? Pub!

Final assembly. Open the chart out flat on the table printed side down and fold the top and bottom segments into the middle. Turn the chart over with the open edges away from you. Starting with the top fold, make the first fold away from you. Next fold towards you, next away and so on until you have a series of concertina folds.

Open the folds out between the second and third peaks of the concertina, turn it through 90 degrees and fold the top away from you.

The job is now finished (yipeee). To use, flip the chart open so that there is an equal number of concertinas each side and page left and right through the concertinas to see the centre portion of the chart. To see the upper and lower portions of the chart, flip it over towards you and page left and right through the concertinas.

If all this is far too confusing for you, e-mail me with your postal addressand I will send you a pre-folded A4 sheet that shows how it all goes together.

Happy folding!

Flight Planning Website Links

- goFLYING Route Planner An excellent interactive VFR planning site.

- DSC Fly A free, quick and easy aviation information system consisting of a worldwide database of over 5 million places and more than 22,000 aviation waypoints.