After that they told me "but you know that this costs 150 € a night?".
World rule Nr. 1 first ask for the price ;-)
So just back. It was a good trip with EDDB being very well organised. Stopped at EDDG on way back for fuel due to the very strong headwind which was also fine. Was "interesting" crossing the front moving across Germany....
100kt headwind, I felt like I was flying a Piper Warrior...
220kts average speed on way there. 118kts on way back.
1180nm in 7.6 hours.
So - if you don't mind - how much did you pay at EDDB? Please elaborate on why it was well organised? I was expecting it to be the opposite...
I will look up the price but the handling people were good. Airport efficient. Shame no AVGAS and you need a slot but otherwise no issues.
Hi, I'm planning a trip to EDDB week after next and been reading the AIP now a couple of times, looking for the requirment of a slot. Cannot find it....... am I; A, totally stupid B, partially blind C, a combination of both :-)
Best regards / Mats
Matthew,
the slot requirement is imposed by a central coordination authority: FHKD. You don't have to read that, for GA it's complete bull. Only if you arrive IFR, you need a slot at all.
You get your slot free of charge from the German AIS. Either file your flight plan via the DFS web site and enter "RMK/REQ ASL" (request airport slot) or call AIS at +49 69 78072500 to receive your slot number via telephone which you put in your flight plan as ASL/xxxxxxx. With the DFS site, the confirmed flight plan will have the "REQ ASL" replaced with "ASL/xxxxxxx".
I recommend using the DFS's web site for filing such flight plans, that's the easiest way to get the slots. RocketRoute knows about the slot requirement and they promised adding support for requesting slots some time ago. I don't think they have implemented this feature so far.
You get your slot free of charge from the German AIS. Either file your flight plan via the DFS web site and enter "RMK/REQ ASL" (request airport slot) or call AIS at +49 69 78072500 to receive your slot number via telephone which you put in your flight plan as ASL/xxxxxxx. With the DFS site, the confirmed flight plan will have the "REQ ASL" replaced with "ASL/xxxxxxx".
That is a horrible scheme, which no "foreign" pilot will know about or is even likely to discover, yet I gather Germany imposes fines on people who land at these airports without a slot.
I got away with that mistake worthy of being hung drawn and quartered last year (Stuttgart) and completely forgot about it after that.
That is a horrible scheme, which no "foreign" pilot will know about or is even likely to discover, ...
A horrible scheme indeed and quite useless in cases like EDDS or EDDB at this time of the year, because there isn't much traffic. In summertime it's different though. If you file your flight plan in Germany, it usually gets rejected if no airport slot or airport slot request is included, maybe that's different when filing from elsewhere?
The handling from Execujet, which is mandatory, will get you your slot as well which is a bit easier particularly if you need to change it. They did not charge for doing it and it seems like they are better at negotiating the times you want. Rocketroute will accept the slot but not request one.
But as said earlier, it is a requirement for IFR only.
That is a horrible scheme, which no "foreign" pilot will know about or is even likely to discover, yet I gather Germany imposes fines on people who land at these airports without a slot.
Indeed, it is being prosecuted, I have seen copies of letters. From a technical point of view, I can understand why it is necessary -- airports do have limited capacity and the current Eurocontrol system apparently does not provide a provision to include this factor. I would hope that one day this functionality gets integrated into the Eurocontrol system.
Don't forget that EDDB is the main airport of the capital of Europe's largest country and it is still easily accessible to anything C150 and above.
Luckilty it is really dead easy to get a slot and it is free of charge. Ideally RocketRoute et. al. should request the slot automatically.
Still better than PPR airports and no response to your PPR request like in your trip reports, isn't it? 
If you file your flight plan in Germany, it usually gets rejected if no airport slot or airport slot request is included, maybe that's different when filing from elsewhere?
Yes, if you file through other means than DFS, Eurocontrol only checks the capacity of the sky, not the airports.
