Tom,
That’s IMO a false dichotomy.
That was their answer to the demand for simpler airspace. That does not mean they want to do that (though some of them might).
There is a huge problem in Zürich (Switzerland in General) but that has preciously few to do with the boys and girls at the Tower and ATC who do a great job. They are actually hindered to do those things and others, because we have an environment there, where every incident will immediately result in a ban of the said practice. That, as I understand, is the FOCA´s doing as well as some Skyguide Lawyers, not the ATCO´s.
This super-restrictive stance has caused lots of problems and massive capacity restrictions there.
- Swing Over 14/16 was banned after an Air Prox incident. One. Not several.
- Landing 14 and take off 16 was massively restricted after a go around on 14 triggered an Airprox incident which was actually well handled but led to a safety recommendation. Which in turn is being translated into “You shall” by the authorities.
- VFR / IFR spacing was ordered by the FOCA after an audit showed that the 50 year old practice does not adhere to certain limitations. For the same reason, the grass runway in Geneva was closed.
- Since one flight instructor and his pupil (the FI actually being an ATCO in his main job) produced an Airprox in Zürich, traffic circuits are no longer allowed for anyone.
The list goes on and on. You get ONE incident and ONE safety recommendation and that is it. That was the vision of the old Minister of Transport, who had a “vision zero” for any incidents and accidents. That is why things are so strict. I am amazed that simultaneous use of 16 and 28 is still allowed after some rather dicy incident, which actually had the ATCO in question charged with criminal behaviour! So who wonders if these people operate under massive pressure which comes from everywhere but the actual airplanes and the traffic it generates.
Add to that politics, but that is a different story. There are forces at ZRH and other places who hate GA and VFR with a passion. I´ve been exposed to them venting their spleen in inofficial settings, some of them have the frevor of a Southern Baptist in that matter.
Well, yes, there are people who hate GA – but it’s new to me that they’re in ATC. And ATC can always let you cut a corner of an airspace, if they want. When i was refused that minor shortcut through the TMA it was against safety, and not in favour of it.
Alexis,
As I said, from my experience they are not ATCO’s most of the time. But the ATCO s are often forced into such constraints that their liberty to do their job as they would be capable of and the leeway they have is severely restricted. Either by the existing rules or by experience of what happened to people who did show initiative and tried to push these limits. That is why we have the situation as it is. Frankly, i would not like to be in their place, while I’d love to be an ATCO in places like JFK.
The ZRH controllers don’t even allow a flight over downtown Zurich even though there is zero movement in their control zone in that area. I tried it twice and got denied twice. Very narrow minded ATC in my experience although highly professional.
You may sometimes be able to do it if you ask for a transit along the VFR routes (E or W in and S out).
They want you to first call info and ask for the transit. But IMO this almost assures denial, you have better chances if you directly ask Tower.
The ZRH controllers don’t even allow a flight over downtown Zurich …
Everything in Zürich is about noise abatement. They have their own noise sensitive and very influential clientele along the shores of Zürichsee and, as if that was not enough, half of southwestern Germany fighting against their airport (regarding Zürich airport I am truly ashamed for my fellow countrypeople). The airport is in the worst possible situation, bounded at three sides by either terrain or the noise mafia. Traffic flow into and out of Zürich is not controlled by factors of common sense like wind direction or flight safety, but by noise regulations. During the last two weeks I have been to Zürich three times at different times of the day. The wind was always light southwesterly, yet I landed on a different runway every time and took off from yet another one. Pure madness that has already claimed victims in the past (Crossair 3597). ATC in Zürich have no liberty at all, they are bound by these insane regulations and have to report even the slightest transgression. The controllers are absolutely not to blame in this case.
Achim,
The ZRH controllers don’t even allow a flight over downtown Zurich even though there is zero movement in their control zone in that area.
If you know how to ask you almost always can do it. Best variant is to come from the South (lake of Zürich) to Sierra point and then fly via W1 and W westbound or vice versa. The other variant is to try via E-E1-E2 and then W2, W1, S, but that is going directly over the airport and often denied.
As for the rest, there is nothing to add to “what next” ‘s post. Whoever is at fault in Zürich is NOT the ATCO’s who do a great job. But the powers that are around deny them most flexibility and things which are in their competence but politically unsound.
And yes, some of those people indeed have blood on their hands, not only in ZRH. There were similar cases in Altenrhein before the ILS got comissioned there.
It seem to me that for VFR flying you need some local knowledge to know what is / and what is not possible regarding crossing of restricted / controlled airspace.
For example: When you enter Belgium airspace at a flight level and ask to cross the country via controlled airspace, your request will most likely be granted.
If you do the same for The Netherlands they will tell you to descent and stay below controlled airspace.
Crossing the Rotterdam CTR will always be granted.
Crossing the Amsterdam (Schiphol) CTR will only be allowed if you have filed a FPL and ATC is in a good mood.
Being proficient on the radio seem to help in getting clearances in CAS.
Long distance VFR flying in Europe requires a lot of planning and can be quite demanding.
It can be done, but you need to be quite determined and flexible. Maybe only 20% of the VFR pilots I know do long trips. Most never fly further than 100NM around their home base.
but my suspission would be that it’s more of a languange thing. As soon as they cross a border, they need to be able to speak another language apart from French. Given that the majority of the pilot population is 50+, I suspect a large percentage of them don’t speak anyting other than French.
If I had to be able to speak French or German to be able to leave Ireland, I’d probably never fly out of the country either ;)
I was thinking of why there is so apparently little long distance flying within France.
It’s a big enough country (as big as the bit of the UK where there is actually much GA activity) and there is plenty of scenery – especially in the south. (French aeroclub males would argue the scenery is actually good everywhere in France 
) And the Robins, which are everywhere, have plenty of range.
It could be money, but are the French pilots so poor?
It could be that GA in France is more of a social thing… fly 50nm down the road, have some food and wine with another club…? Whereas British pilots tend to be deadly serious: yellow jackets on at dawn, fly with map+compass (the proper WW2 way), land at some god forsaken airfield in the middle of back of beyond, and eat a burger and chips in the cafe there. A caricature, I know, but how far off?
