I have three times passed VFR through DurhamTeeside airspace and found the controller one of the most helpful on each occasion.
please enter traffic circuit…
negative, IMC, request vectors and ILS approach runway in use.
If conditions need you to do so, tell them you’ll declare an emergency.
Declaring a mayday is a problem because paperwork will be generated, and you never know how far it might go.
Especially under the “new UK way of doing things in the CAA”.
Especially if you are not running out of fuel, etc. Simply finding yourself in IMC, if you are instrument rated, is not an emergency.
Obviously ATC will respect a mayday and will do all they can to help but the pilot may regret the eventual outcome, IF an easy option was to simply bugger off and go elsewhere.
A pilot with an IMC Rating is 100.000% entitled to fly an IAP. No need to say that the wx is not VFR, etc.
@Joe-fbs – I have done exactly the same thing, filing via SkyDemon and not realising until after departure that I did not send an IFR flight plan.
My fault entirely, but maybe SkyDemon could make it slightly more obvious that any submitted flight plan is “V” only.
For various reasons I usually use SkyDemon when flying IFR. Free geo-referenced AIP IFR charts is one of the reasons, frequent changes between IFR and VFR another.
I think I have been told why SD cannot send I (or Z, Y) flight plans, but the reason was not so obvious that I remember it now.
In any flight plan filing interface there must be an explicit selector for V Z Y or I. It could be inferred from earlier steps (as in e.g. the Autorouter) but it must still be clear.
However, probably the reason SD doesn’t do IFR is because it is useless for Eurocontrol IFR (developing Eurocontrol validated routes) and in the UK filing an IFR FP which is below the Eurocontrol system is exactly the same as flying VFR in terms of privileges, clearances, and the ATC interface, so you can cover everything needed with a VFR FP.
Years ago I used to feed various suggestions on IFR functionality to SD’s programmer (Tim Dawson) and there were various pretty simple to implement things he could have done, but I stopped doing that when he said (paraphrasing) that nobody flies IFR… In subsequent years, anyone suggesting that SD was in any way less than perfect would be severely beaten up on the main UK chat site 
and I think attitudes to IFR pretty well hardened after that.
The business case makes sense. The IFR community is probably under a few % of the VFR one, although much of the VFR one shuts down during the ~6 winter months.
Simply finding yourself in IMC, if you are instrument rated, is not an emergency.
Sure, not in cruise. But descending in IMC and approaching an airport with intention to land – how do do you do it without flying an approach – and getting it cleared before ?
If you’re on a flight plan and you’re approaching your destination airport – and you’re in IMC and not VMC – how is it done ?
In which country, what flight plan, and what are the pilot’s ratings?
Peter wrote:
Years ago I used to feed various suggestions on IFR functionality to SD’s programmer (Tim Dawson) and there were various pretty simple to implement things he could have done, but I stopped doing that when he said (paraphrasing) that nobody flies IFR… In subsequent years, anyone suggesting that SD was in any way less than perfect would be severely beaten up on the main UK chat site and I think attitudes to IFR pretty well hardened after that.
During the last two years or so, SD has implemented many changes directed towards IFR flight, e.g. georeferenced AIP approach plates. Several of these changes were implemented following proposals from PPL/IR Europe. The SD disclaimer has also changed from stating that SD was not to be used in IMC to stating that SD is not to be used for primary navigation in IMC.
your country – UK – in the context of this thread
Can you paste in an IFR route into a text box, and have the route plotted on the screen? That was my last suggestion to the guy. For example
LDLO
N0152F110 PUL3F PUL P11 ROTAR L615 AKADO Y265 INBUT N503 VIC L615 PEXUG/N0148F130 L615 DESIP N851 UTAVO/N0147F140 N851 ELMUR/N0150F120 L613 HOC G4 HR/N0152F110 G4 RLP B3 BILGO H20 XORBI H40 NEBRU/N0150F120 H40 ABB N20 KUNAV DCT HARDY DCT SFD
EGKA
This isn’t directly applicable to an SD user with the IMCR, because (I am suggesting) there is no benefit in filing an IFR FP (which would need to be Eurocontrol validated, even if London Control bins it later) but it is relevant to
If you’re on a flight plan and you’re approaching your destination airport – and you’re in IMC and not VMC – how is it done ?
You ask for the IAP on initial contact.
