Sweden, too. When you take off from some small airfield, and fly to some other small airfield, low level, then there is no clearance, and the flight hence is uncontrolled.
boscomantico wrote:
Sweden, too. When you take off from some small airfield, and fly to some other small airfield, low level, then there is no clearance, and the flight hence is uncontrolled.
But can you do this IFR?
You become IFR when you no longer meet the requirements for VFR 
However, expecting the pilot to change from 7000 to 2000 when that happens is rather optimistic, looked at against the background of UK ATSOCAS (ATC services OCAS). Looking at it puritanically it makes sense (2000 would indicate basically traffic flying in IMC) but nobody is going to do that. And TAS/TCAS systems don’t display the squawk anyway (except in narrow circumstances, involving specific – and obsolete – equipment and then only with N-reg callsigns).
Peter wrote:
ou become IFR when you no longer meet the requirements for VFR
Do you? My understanding was that for ANY IFR flight one needs a flight plan… Whether that is filed, or activated enroute may vary, but by definition one is on a flight plan…
LFHNflightstudent wrote:
My understanding was that for ANY IFR flight one needs a flight plan
In the UK, no. In other countries, yes.
But even if you have filed a flightplan, that does not necessarily mean you have to be in receipt of an air traffic service during the flight.
Not in the UK.
There are obviously practical issues with an ATC airport not allowing a departure below the airport minima, the RVR based “approach ban”, etc, but you can fly between “farm strips” in solid IMC, non-radio, non transponder. There is a pan-Euro departure min vis of 400m, IIRC, but you can legally land on a DIY IAP, and I don’t think any minima apply.
The system was thus set up because any “control” in Class G requires ATC provision, which costs a lot of money – of the order of 1M/year for a fully costed H24 radar desk. In the UK nobody wants to pay for anything (especially not taxpayers) so we have great freedom in Class G. The price we pay for this right now is extremely heavy, however… an entry into CAS involves a convoluted process and a screw-up is hit hard.
Another reason for the UK system is the IMC Rating, which is an IR for all practical purposes but needs much less training, so they restrict it to Class D-G (de facto, enroute, this means Class G 
) and that separates the “professionals” from the “amateurs” which suits the prevailing politics perfectly.
Peter wrote:
There is a pan-Euro departure min vis of 400m, IIRC, but you can legally land on a DIY IAP, and I don’t think any minima apply.
But who will be on 2000 squawk doing that
Peter wrote:
400m, IIRC,
and IIRC (from my reval a few month ago), you can “pilot intepret” it, even if it’s an RVR (they apparently can do that on airlines)
The point, in italic, was that even with an RVR of less than 400m, you can claim you can see 400m or more.
I wasn’t told of any special concession special to the airlines of doing that. As I understand, airlines can have their own procedures, but not to be less conservative than the general rules.
