tomjnx wrote:
departs at EDTH, which is VFR only
Didn’t know that…
PapaPapa wrote:
I seem to recall it should be according to the last change of the FPL?
No, according to the departure rules. Your version doesn’t make sense, because for the arrival leg, you can always explicitly state IFR or VFR in the route portion. There’s no place to stick VFR or IFR for the departure leg, hence the flight rule field.
Peter wrote:
Would you not say “XXXXX request IFR clearance”?
When VFR with an IFR flight plan in the system, the correct phrase is “request IFR pickup”. At least in my part of the world 
Vladimir wrote:
@achimha, you filed Z while @tomjnx said it would be Y for such a flight. Can we assume both work?
Yeah that’s because Heubach is not Zurich 
I cannot depart IFR from my airfield.
regarding filing, I seem to recall it should be according to the last change of the FPL?
i.e. if your FPL corresponds to ZYZYZY then file Y but if it’s like ZYZYZ then file Z
Would you not say “XXXXX request IFR clearance”?
PapaPapa wrote:
Actually, that makes me think, how do you request to re-enter IFR mode with ATC ?
By the book “request IFR pickup” but at least in Austria this is routine. You don’t notice that you’re VFR, you stay with the controller and you fly the standard IFR waypoints and then it goes back to IFR automatically. Here’s a sample FPL that I used a couple of times:
(FPL-DEXXX-ZG -C82R/L -SDFGRY/S -EDTH0700 -N0150F120 RIDAR/N0150F120 IFR Y161 MUN DCT LOMRO VFR NOKDA Q100 ARNOS/N0150F120 IFR DCT URAVA DCT LASTI DCT CRE CRE3C -LDLO0210 LDPL -PBN/B2D2S1)
I basically told ATC that I want to fly FL120 instead of FL150. The “VFR” was just pro forma, it was more a visual IFR segment.
When I fly to pula (or back) I usually fly vfr anyway.
My routing is ehrd-ehn-kpt-breno-ldpl which is virtually a straightline and often they will let me climb to 170 over the alps.
Last year i filed this in reverse (departing from pula) but due to local thunderstorms I had to climb to fl 200 and I headed due west first towards Venice before I could turn north towards Bologna. I went straight from Italian AtC to Munich skipping Austrian atc alltogether.
Once clear of the Alps they asked me if I could descend but I answered negative .. On top of the weather.. So they just let me continu .. Eventually I offered them 175 (and later 165) which they gladly approved..
No idea how this play out but surely I must have been in class A?
(They could have asked me to switch to IFR but strangely they never did!)
achimha wrote:
Normally ATC ask me to cancel VFR
IFR I suppose.
Actually, that makes me think, how do you request to re-enter IFR mode with ATC ?
