LeSving wrote:
Germany is 100% ? Or very close, surrounded by Schengen countries where border control is greatly reduced.
Just this morning I read a newspaper article quoting the head of the Federal Police (which used to be called Federal Border Police when we still had borders) in that regular border checks should be reinstated. Obviously only to improve the safety of the general public, not to protect the jobs of the agents who are left with not much to do in the full Schengen regime.
During the G7 summit in Bavaria, Germany temporarily reinstated border checks (allowed by the Schengen treaty) and then the Federal Police proudly presented that they caught 3 car thieves and 5 people on bicycles not wearing a helmet. Obviously major terrorist attacks prevented by that. A few right-wing groups demand border checks but it’s so far gone that it’s really not a big topic anymore.
The US is different in that they consider everything outside their borders as hostile. You can’t even freely roam between Canada (also known as the heart of the axis of evil) and the US. We used to have those ADIZ as well during the cold war.
Hodja wrote:
VFR flight plans are a purely bureaucratic device and a function of government’s intention to control the air.
That very much depends on the airspace class and the country. In some cases a VFR flight plan doesn’t serve any purpose beside search and rescue. In other cases it makes life easier for both the pilot and ATC, just like an IFR flight plan does.
I’ve filed one flight plan of any kind in my entire life, and see no more on the horizon. The concept strikes me as antiquated. If I were flying long legs non-radio over hostile terrain I’d consider it, but in general I fly with at least a hand held radio. Mandatory VFR Flight plans within the Schengen zone are a problem that could beneficially be eliminated.
If I fly an old 747 from somewhere (which can be quite far away) and want to crash it into some place in say Germany, what stops me doing it?
Not a lot, Peter. But then there’s not much to stop you turning the steering wheel violently on the motorway and taking out a few cars and blocking a motorway at great national expense for a few hours.
I am not sure the threats exist in the way we are told. I think we live in a relatively safe place. We do far more damage to the Iraqis, Libyans, Syrians, et al. Than they do to us.
Should every single loop hole be closed, at massive national expense, just to stop the odd one bad apple?
Silvaire wrote:
I’ve filed one flight plan of any kind in my entire life, and see no more on the horizon.
If all my flying was limited to my own country and IFR was not a factor, I could take the same position as you. Luckily there are so many interesting countries to explore and the flight plan strikes me as a very minor nuisance with no impact on my flying.
Why are mandatory VFR flight plans within Schengen a problem?
achimha wrote:
Luckily there are so many interesting countries to explore and the flight plan strikes me as a very minor nuisance with no impact on my flying.
Airborne_Again wrote:
That very much depends on the airspace class and the country.
I’m surely no ATC expert but I can imagine that at some point in the future, ‘pop-ups’ could become the norm for light aircraft IFR, versus the exception. To me, IFR would be a lot more useful and attractive if that were the case.
For VFR within the Schengen zone, flight plans are largely pointless nonsense, a waste of time and a constrain on flexibility – which has value to me. I wouldn’t fly if I had to tell others my plans, and update them. I’d ride my motorcycle instead, as so many in Europe do. YMMV.
NCYankee wrote:
The military in the US have their own radars.
The US military have their own radar in Europe too. There is one that I know of the UK… RAF Fylingdales Who knows what that can see?
And of course there are the various military airborne radar platforms from the US, UK, NATO and others – some obvious, others much less so. Again, who knows what they can see or are looking for.
So you never get VFR flight following in order to avoid telling people your plans ^^? I hope the plane has an aluminium foil canopy, just in case…
The US probably doesn’t bother with flight plans because they never managed to develop the infrastructure. Filing VFR takes 30 seconds, and the confirmation is received in another 30 seconds by text / email.
As to constraint on flexibility – again allow me to LOL. Fancy that you price these 60 seconds at a different price than d!cking around for an hour waiting for an engine heater to do its work in winter say. Or spending time watching the gauges fiddling with the engine (of course in the belief you do it better than a machine) versus enjoying the scenery. Or spending time IRAN’ing the magnetoes (even if you don’t have to pay your A&P).
Or maybe those you ride with in Europe have manual mixture adjustments and Delco ignitions on their bikes…
