Hi all,
I am planning a flight from Orleans in France to Prague. I will be flying accross Belgium and Germany, this will be fine as I have already been there before, however my last leg will be from Leipzig to Prague, and I would like to take this opportunity to fly over Poland. Maybe not land, but just fly over the border for a quick look.
I know that Germany and Czech Republic do not require a flight plan to enter or leave the country, but Belgium and France do. What about Poland. Does anyone know if I need to file a flight plan to go from Leipzig to Prague via Poland ?
Thanks for your help
No FPL for Poland either, just like CZ!
… and even none required from BE to Germany, these days. From FR to BE you still have to, though. But perhaps you will not even be landing in Belgium? That makes your flight FR-DE, equally with a flight plan mandatory.
and even none required from BE to Germany, these days.
Interesting. Could you point me to the relative Belgian AIP section, SUP or NOTAM please?
Hm, I must admit that is from hearsay only – though it was confirmed (orally) by the Flugleiter at an A/D near the border. ’t Is not impossible, though, the exemption is for ultralights only.
Regarding the official sources, the Belgian AIP states, in ENR 1.10,
< quote >
Flights remaining within the Schengen Area do not need a flight plan as far as the Belgian part of the Brussels FIR is concerned
< /quote >
I’d be grateful for a reference to (the relevant section of) the German AIP.
Thanks, that was the reference I was looking for. Almost brandnew – 30th April 2015. Great news!
I am aware that I need a flight plan in Belgium, to go anywhere (at least to France, but from what happened, it seems to be to any place other than Belgium) : Last year, I filed a flight plan to go back from Oostend to Orleans in France, but the flight plan was filed in France and never reached Belgium. In Oostend, I was told I was not allowed to move from the parking area until they had received the Flight Plan. It took me another hour to file a new one on the phone with the Belgium Briefing services before I could start the engine.
I will be landing in Belgium on that trip, as I have to be in Liege for a business meeting before I go to Leipzig. I’m not yet sure about the leg via Poland, maybe there is a nice place to land not too far from the border with CZ, not sure yet. If anyone has any idea on a nice place to fly to in Poland, but I’m not ready to fly to Warsaw, as I want to be in Prague quite quickly.
It took me another hour to file a new one on the phone with the Belgium Briefing services before I could start the engine.
It might be useful to get an electronic means of filing flight plans.
For VFR flight plans, I have used EuroFPL for some years. They offer a certain number of free flight plans per month, and they are IME (in my experience) very good. This is much better than relying on airport services, and it is not limited to the country of departure or destination.
It is actually quite easy, but it seems that many still have a problem understanding the underlying principle:
Basically, every country is free to decide for what flights they want to mandate flightplans.
But obviously, every country can only decide for itself.
Since an international flight is always one with at least two countries involved (do say!), for the flight to be exempt from filing a flight plan, both countries necessarily need to have renounced to the obligation to file one.
Germany for example has, quite a long time ago, said that they do so. This however was quite worthless as long as nobody else said so. Then Austria joined the party (sort of…, they still ask for one when controlled aerodromes shall be affected), then Poland and Czech.
Now Belgium joined in.
France has never done so. Hence, a flight BE to F (or vice versa) still requires one, whereas a flight GER to BE (or vice versa) now doesn’t.
Jan,
you know, in Germany there is this weird publication called NFL (Nachrichten für Luftfahrer, which by the way means Notices to Airmen, aka NOTAM, which creates a lot of confusion since these have zero to do with NOTAMs) and that’s where Germany often puts this stuff.
The mean thing is that NFLs are not public – they make a business out of it and sell the service as a subscription, much like with the dreaded AIP VFR.
The best I can refer you to is this:
Ausnahmen von der Verpflichtung zur Übermittlung von Flugplänen
NfL-I 129/08 vom 09. Mai 2008
Auf Grund des § 25 Abs. 1 Satz 2 der Luftverkehrs-Ordnung macht das Bundesministerium für Verkehr, Bau und Stadtentwicklung bekannt:
Flüge ziviler Luftfahrzeuge nach Sichtflugregeln in die und aus den nachfolgend genannten Staaten sind von der Flugplanpflicht nach § 25 Abs. 1 Nr. 6 befreit:
Belgien,
Frankreich,
Luxemburg,
Niederlande,
Österreich,
Dänemark,
Polen und
Tschechische Republik
Flüge ziviler Luftfahrzeuge nach Sichtflugregeln aus bzw. nach
Spanien, Portugal, Griechenland, Italien, Schweden, Finnland,
Norwegen, Island, Estland, Lettland, Litauen, Slowakei,
Slowenien, Ungarn und Malta,
soweit sie ohne Zwischenlandung über die o. g. Länder in die Bundesrepublik Deutschland ein- oder ausfliegen, sind von der Flugplanpflicht ebenfalls befreit.
Die Bekanntmachung tritt mit dem Tage der Veröffentlichung in Kraft.
Die Bekanntmachung in den NfL I – 209/01 werden hiermit aufgehoben.
Now this NFL might have in the meantime been superceded by a new one (don’t know), but the content of this one sure is still there.
