Great trip report with great pics 
Let me put forward the alternative case however…
VFR is great in nice weather.
If weather was always nice, and ATC let you into all the airspace which according to ICAO they always should if there is no conflicting traffic (i.e. Class B-G), virtually nobody would ever get an IR. There are only three places in Europe where an IR would be of use:
So why do people get an IR, and why do IR holders fly IFR at every opportunity on long trips?
This is no doubt pointing out the obvious to anybody who has an IR and actually uses it, but the risk in cancelling IFR is that if you later hit weather which you need to outclimb, you may not (in Europe, with its often bizzare airspace) get the clearance for the level you are asking for, due to “random” policies of many ATC units. Also, some people in some units do not speak enough English to understand “request IFR clearance” or “due icing” – Spain comes to mind there.
The alternative is to get back to where you were before i.e. request a fresh IFR clearance, but that can take time.
So, if cancelling IFR early, you need to be really sure of weather ahead and of the ATC policies for any CAS ahead. The alternative approach is to be prepared to do a 180 and land somewhere.
I can think of several really nasty and completely preventable fatal accidents, involving IR holders, who flew either totally or long sections VFR (for various reasons: view, no oxygen, could not work out IFR routes, etc) and got into a sticky situation. Two of them from my airfield; both high-hour pilots. OK; they got killed because they ended up in IMC and obviously didn’t (initially, perhaps) want to tell ATC about it, but the holes just line up…
VFR is a great tool for a job but it needs to be used carefully if you really want to end up at the planned destination
Certainly, the decision to cancel IFR has to be taken with caution.
But when the conditions are right, it’s one of the best things one can do.
Here is the airway void that I was referring to:
As you can see, it is probably due to Romeos 196 and 222, both of which however are usually not active on weekends (often not even on weekdays). It would thus technically be no problem to create a conditional airway in that area, but I guess the people who would benefit from that are simply too few. Most light GA only flies VFR, whereas bizjets and airliners obviously only fly the Upper Airways…
Great report and nice pics. I can confirm the leg of airways west of the alps and nearly no change to get It solved by a short cut its a pain.
But why you descent after climb to FL140? I would use the speed and lower FF at FL140 to FL110!
Certainly; FL140 is the SR22’s sweet spot in terms of cruise efficiency.
But on the other side, I don’t think this pic…
would turn out nearly as nice at FL140…
This june I plan flight from Croatia Zagreb to LFMA. Does airport have customs?( airport of entry) or customs PPR?
This june I plan flight from Croatia Zagreb to LFMA. Does airport have customs?( airport of entry) or customs PPR?
I don’t think so. It appears to be a Schengen-only airport, so no good for Croatia, UK, etc. This is from Navbox, which is my normal way of doing a quick and dirty lookup. No “customs” mentioned
Nearby airports which show “customs”, with various qualifications e.g. 24hr PNR are LFMQ, LFTH, LFTZ and then further away LFMT & LFMD.
The French AIP is here but this has been inaccurate in the past for airports at which customs were removed in recent years (about 50 of them).
But then nobody has found a definitive document for French airports with customs, and many have looked For every list somebody finds, somebody else finds an airport on it which is definitely wrong. Many threads on it here – example
Probably the most reliable way is to ask the airport itself.
The French VFR Manual agrees with Peter; no customs and immigration.
FWIW, I don’t believe France separates customs and immigration, at any airport.
They do. Look at the current NOTAM for LFPN for example.
So they have Customs PNR but no Immigration…
Is this deliberate (anti-UK) or some job creation/protection scheme?
