That’s very un-German-like, surely?!
They do not trust the electronic distribution methods. That is how I understood it.
Not a good business decision in my opinion. They let go of revenue to protect printed sales.
Anybody who looks at a German newsstand will note that the specialized topic print media is still much more prevalent there than in many other places.
Alternatively there is the old trick – which can be used really safely only with coastal airports – which is to descend through the stuff when out over the water, outside the destination airport’s CAS, and then proceed “genuine VFR” to the destination. This is used by instrument-capable pilots who don’t have the full IR (i.e. Brits with the IMC Rating, when outside the UK) or by IR holders who are flying “VFR” for whatever reason. I never wrote this…
Have had to do this the legal way a few times – IFR flight to VFR airfield, descend to 500’ over the sea and then continue VFR. I wouldn’t be overly keen on doing this to an airfield with which I was unfamiliar.
