Flight Plan should be filed for any flight that will cross an FIR Boundary ..?

There are even a few cases where you don’t need to file a Cross-Border FPL.
Germany doesn’t insist on one, and a few neighbouring countries don’t do either.
So you can fly VFR from Germany to Poland, the Czech Republic or Austria without one if you don’t intend to land at a controlled airport (Then the VFR in C or D comes into play again).

I’m on my phone right now and can’t look up the respective AIP references, but will do so later.

And, by the way, a VFR flight plan in Germany will alert people if not closed. Our airfield gets regular calls from AIS-C on this ;)

It took me a while to find the thread but we did that here

There is a number of cases, although they are useful to some people and useless to perhaps most others. For example you cannot use this if you want a CAS transit at any point.

The reason I had originally asked about whether a flight plan had been filed was to get an indication of whether the Italians might have had a valid reason for thinking the flight departed in say Botswana But clearly not! They just could not spell s-c-h-e-n-g-e-n!

CharlieRomeo wrote:

And, by the way, a VFR flight plan in Germany will alert people if not closed. Our airfield gets regular calls from AIS-C on this ;)

Same in Italy – got a call when not closing in time in Caorle (where you to call to close, radio operator there does not do that for you, unlike most airfields/clubs)

Read the Italian AIP.

According to AIP Italy ENR 1.10-8 and 1.10-9 a flight plan is indeed required for flight within controlled airspace. If the flight plan is not filed prior to the flight, AFIL must be done at least 10 minutes prior to planned entry into controlled airspace, presumably with some FIS unit.

The AIP does not mention abbreviated flight plans as far as I can see.

So my assumption is that he tried to enter a TMA without having previously filed a FPL (neither full FPL prior to the flight, or AFIL with a FIS unit) and Rome Approach refused to talk to him for that very reason. This assumption is corroborated by the fact that once he filed a FPL he was granted clearance to transit controlled airspace.

That is like Spain then, which also needs a formal (not airborne) FP for any flight in CAS.

But why didn’t Italian ATC explain their refusal? Perhaps insufficient ELP?

Peter wrote:

But why didn’t Italian ATC explain their refusal? Perhaps insufficient ELP?

Aviathor wrote:

Read the Italian AIP.

According to AIP Italy ENR 1.10-8 and 1.10-9 a flight plan is indeed required for flight within controlled airspace. If the flight plan is not filed prior to the flight, AFIL must be done at least 10 minutes prior to planned entry into controlled airspace, presumably with some FIS unit.

I don’t see that the AIP pages you refer to say anything about that. There is a passage at the beginning of ENR 1.10 that you must submit a flight plan before operating as a controlled flight, but that is self-evident. That requirement is already in SERA, but that it itself does not mean that you have to file a flight plan (not even an AFIL). SERA expressly allows you to pass the minimum necessary details to ATC by radio.

My approach to weird countries: File a flight plan while on the ground (it doesn’t take more than 5 seconds in SkyDemon), and if you stick around long enough you will learn other tricks.

Airborne_Again wrote:

I don’t see that the AIP pages you refer to say anything about that.

The 10 minutes requirement is in line with SERA

Airborne_Again wrote:

SERA expressly allows you to pass the minimum necessary details to ATC by radio.

I just went through SERA section IV and found no such thing. Would you have an exact reference?

This is what I found:

It does not say anything about just being able to call an ATC unit and provide a few information elements to get a clearance.

So basically an Italian requirement of filing a flight plan with the unit responsible for the airspace you are in 10 minutes prior to entering controlled airspace is in not in conflict with SERA.