Correct, that is the consolidated legal opinion of the German Bundesländer. They derive it from ICAO which spells out fire fighting requirements. That’s of course complete nonsense because ICAO never said that every meadow in the boondocks used by 3 SEPs a day needs to have firefighting equipment and qualified ground personnel to operate it. It’s the equivalent of each country road having fire fighters on watch every 1km to allow the road to be used.
Airfield concessions in Germany are done by the Bundesländer so there is no federal law. Even inside the Bundesländer it depends a bit on the district what works and what doesn’t. You can find that the more urban the area, the stricter. In the rural areas of the country, aviators have a better standing. If some world market leader happens to be there with a vested interest in the airfield, then virtually everything is possible. See places like Schwäbisch Hall (Würth) or Coburg (Brose).
There is even no requirement to have a tower, let alone to have a person in it.
achimha wrote:
but if there are only cows and sheep
We have a saying: Sheep are alright animals. It’s amazing how often that saying is proved to be true 
Anyway, what you are saying is that there is a requirement for a person to be on the ground, but not a requirement to have one in the tower?
LeSving wrote:
Which responsibilities does this person have? Are they trained AFIS personnel?
AFIS is not required for landing but a person knowledgable in the operation of the locally available rescue equipment is required along with the requirement to be able to call for rescue services. This can be easily fulfilled and depending on the airfield owner and approving authorities, it is possible. The German term is “Fliegen ohne Flugleiter” (flying without AFIS).
LeSving wrote:
So if I purchase a private VFR airport in Germany, sack the Flugleiter and give all pilots the permission to use it at will, what will happen?
No, airfield operations are regulated as part of the airfield permission issued by the authorities. There are some small airfields where everybody just takes off and lands at will, without radio but those are small and typically remote. You find most of them in Bavaria. Their official permission does not allow such operations but if there are only cows and sheep…
achimha wrote:
There’s no sensible reason for that, it’s just been like that for a very long time and it won’t go away.
Which responsibilities does this person have? Are they trained AFIS personnel?
So if I purchase a private VFR airport in Germany, sack the Flugleiter and give all pilots the permission to use it at will, what will happen?
At our (German) airport we have a special PPR solution for times when the airport is closed, which costs € 27 one-way, unfortunately. The guy who runs the airport restaurant gets a list of arriving/departing flights and hast to switch on the radio … and the pilots have to make a blind transmission
LeSving wrote:
Isn’t this just an airport decision? Surely there is no requirement in EASA regulations for a manned airport, except for scheduled commercial flight or some size limit on the aircraft or something.
It’s a decision by the approving authority of the airfield. There are some airports that allow unmanned operations under certain conditions (usually only based aircraft) and there are other exemptions like pilot specific approval to land outside opening hours but generally the authorities require the presence of a ground aid for emergency situations.
There’s no sensible reason for that, it’s just been like that for a very long time and it won’t go away.
Rwy20 wrote:
Germany:
- Airport opening hours and prohibition to land outside these hours
Isn’t this just an airport decision? Surely there is no requirement in EASA regulations for a manned airport, except for scheduled commercial flight or some size limit on the aircraft or something. Avinor have lots of airports along the coast of Norway. These are commercial airports with scheduled flights. Up until last summer they could only be used during the opening ours, which is very limited with 4-5 scheduled flights a day, even days with no scheduled flights. Now they can be used all the time for day VFR thanks to pressure by NLF (Air sport association of Norway). All this is for Avinor (the owner) to decide, the CAA has nothing to do with this. All these smaller airports are soon (2-5 years) to be remotely controlled, which means they will be open 24/7 for all kinds of flights.
Other private airports can also have restrictions for other reasons, noise typically. It could be no flying, or no special flying activity (training, towing etc) after ten in the evening, or no flying before eight in the morning for instance. That is also nothing to do with the CAA or regulations, but negotiations with local politicians and people living there.
At Oppdal, ENOP, there is a tower. Normally it is unmanned. It’s manned only when the rich guys come with their King Airs. I’m not sure if the manning is a requirement by the CAA, or a requirement by the pilots, because it is sometimes crowded with gliders, parachutes and other light aircraft.
When I got this nonsense in Spain some years ago they printed off the flight plan which I had filed via Eurofpl and pretended it was filed locally. It was duly stamped to show I paid the fees.
It is the “little man” problem. Little to do makes people feel important.
Bluebeard wrote:
Recently I called into Burgos LEBG for an intended “splash and dash” fuel stop. En route to Portugal, I had filed a series of flight plans via Skydemon for the day’s legs. Refuelling was pretty quick; but to pay the landing fee I must visit the office inside the terminal building. The friendly but firm lady in the office insisted that my Skydemon flight plan was altogether unacceptable, I must file a FPL on the Spanish system. So I was obliged to cancel the perfectly valid Skydemon plan and refile exactly the same details (with a circa 30 minutes delay) so that a paper printout thereof could be produced – in order to present this to security and get back to my plane.What an utter nonsense!
I had a similar run-in @ Burgos last Winter. Utter non-sense …
But then again, that airport is a £50,000,000 joke that is paid by our European taxes !
