ICAO SARPs and SERA allow for abbreviated FPLs
I have already quoted the UK AIP and the definition of an abbreviated flight plan which, when done before takeoff from a controlled airfield is equivalent to what was formerly known as “booking out”, and under no circumstances concerns the whole flight unless it remains within the CTR.
The reality is that within uk airspace there is no system for distributing a VFR flightplan, nor any requirement for closing one, so whether one is filed or not, its existence is somewhat theoretical. In practice, unless over mountainous terrain or water, I therefore simply speak to the en route service provider, which is of more practical value, and as far as I can see, fulfills the legal requirement. Never had a problem with this approach.
Aviathor wrote:
So the UK pays lip service to SERA
This is not true.
Aviathor wrote:
There you go. What’s the point in flying to a country that is so oddball that even an plane full of American pilots don’t understand it.
Those guys were the oddballs….not understanding the globally universal ICAO classes of airspace….in particular, that class G is uncontrolled….granted most class G in the US is very low level and there’s mostly class E to accommodate IFR…but nonetheless their ignorance was cringeworthy.
That happens always when you go somewhere else, just most of us don’t put it on youtube
I got the opposite recently as I flew in the US, I did my BFR and familiarisation flights in the west coast, it took 10h instead of 2h if I did it in the UK, this would have killed all the fun (as a pilot you have to adapt to local rules, what is the point of flying somewhere else if it feels like home !)
If you don’t want to deal with the mess of vfr and local differences, go for IFR inside CAS or airways in something that flies above FL180, that will feel like home everywhere day and night, imc or vmc…
it took 10h instead of 2h if I did it in the UK,
Not sure I got that right. Familiarisation took 10 hrs? If so, someone took advantage of you.
Ibra wrote:
FAA do a 50nm cutoff between local and cross-country
I don’t believe here, vicinity of an aerodrome, does have much to do with the cross-country. Will be to good if you can perform a night flying pas without filing a FPL and stay within 50nm from your start point, but unfortunately this is not the case, at least in Sweden.
What is the “vicinity of an aerodrome” is an open question, wich has different interpretations depending on the topic, radio contact with ATC, navigation and so on, but no authority has clarified/defined how far can be extended, and in special when it comes to night flying.
As someone in another forum has written, this depends on the authority and circumstances and can be used against you, if you’ve done something wrong.
Sure the traffic pattern is included in the vicinity but again is the whole ATZ or not ? What if you have no ATZ ?
That is, can I perform a legal night flight without filing a FPL up to the reporting points of the ATZ or not ?
Can I go and use the NDBs connected to the airport RWYs for the approaches and night navigational training or not ? Here I’m NOT talking about IFR NDB procedures 
