If I want to land at North Weald EGSX which apparently is an uncontrolled airfield in G and I fly IFR – how can I approach this airfield in IMC? What is legal and what is practice? Is a DIY/OBS approach legal or do I need to do a cloud breaking somewhere and fly at low altitude to EGSX?
Here is what I experienced when I departed from there:
I’ve been there once in 2010 and before I departed I got a frequency and a “clearance” which I remember was “cleared to enter uncontrolled airspace below xxx ft, call London control at …”. So I took off and headed to my first filed waypoint as I would do it in Germany, under the assumption that I was save flying IFR. I got London Control but it took a long time to get a clearance. Meanwhile I crossed several CTRs, still under the assumption that I was cleared to cross, and then heading a big antenna on a hill. I was wondering why they don’t provide me an avoid heading. So I told them that I was unable to proceed on this course and did a right turn to avoid. A minute later or so I got my airway clearance. I’m lucky this was in VMC. After landing I studied the CAA website and got a glimpse of what I was wrong. For my excuse I have to say this way my first IFR flight to UK after I got my rating.
Well, ATC won’t clear you in uncontrolled airspace.
Hence, the instruction by NW was probably more like “remain outside of controlled airspace…” And this was not a clearance! If taking off from airfields situated in uncontrolled aispace, the joining clearance to enter controlled airspace will only ever come once in contact with London Control.
It seems a fact of life that in UK it takes longer to get your joining clearance than for example in Germany.
For that reason you need to plan these departures very well and get familiar with the airspace structure on the first 50 miles or so of your flight.
Until you get that joining clearance, you will be OCAS, and without any clearance during that time. So even if you are formally IFR, it is like flying VFR as we know it, i.e. you need to pay attention to all airspaces like restricted areas, TMAs, CTRs, CTAs, ATZs, etc. Plus, obstacle clearance is your responsibility.
If you really crossed these airspaces at the time, these were formally all airspace busts…
It depends on the airport. Some (like Oxford) will usually get you your clearance. But the initial call is almost always remain OCTA. As said, if that is your instruction you are not in receipt of anything at that point (perhaps traffic if you are on a traffic service).
From Oxford it is usually: “London Control clears NXXXXX to enter controlled airspace on track KENET in the climb to FL80. When instructed contact London Control on 123.456. Squawk 1234.”
Alternatively: “On departure right turn out on track BAMBO. Climbing FL60. Remain outside controlled airpace. Squawk 1234. Next Frequency London Control 123.456.”
Thanks. The departure was just an example what can go wrong if you enter UK poorly prepared from a full-service IFR country like Germany.
What is still unclear to me is the approach part as mentioned in my post. Is it just up to me how I approach the airfield as long as I don’t go below 1000 ft AGL? What would be the minimum during approach?
This is what ENR 1.3 (Instrument Flight Rules) has to say about minimum levels:
Minimum Levels
1.2.1 Except when necessary for take-off or landing, or except when specifically authorized by the appropriate authority, an IFR flight shall be flown at a level which is at least 1000 ft (300 m) above the highest obstacle located within 5 nm (9.25 km) of the estimated position of the aircraft; except that the United Kingdom regulations do not apply to an aircraft operating under IFR and flying at an altitude not exceeding 3000 ft (900 m) if that aircraft is clear of cloud with the surface in sight and in a flight visibility of at least 800 m.
So…you can certainly always fly IFR down to 1000 feet AGL. How you fly and navigate during that time is up to you.
That “except when necessary for take-off or landing” potentially even allows you to go below 1000 feet and still be in compliance with the instrument flight rules. Whether this means that you are allowed to fly your approach without any specific cloudbase minimums is, as far as I understand, subject to controversy.
In any case, you should always try to comply with any special joining instructions or noise abatement procedures for the airfield you are flying to.
This is the same issue in every country in Europe, when you are VFR at one end or the other.
You don’t normally get a clearance to enter IMC (which is obviously unenforceable unless you do something very obvious and somebody is out to get you) and you don’t get a clearance to enter CAS (which is enforceable because they have you on radar and is potentially dangerous).
You thus have to find some way to “hang around” OCAS until you get this clearance.
Officially you are supposed to be VFR i.e. VMC during this time but as I say this is not enforceable and is widely ignored. A few people have also done a CFIT during this phase.
How you achieve all that depends on your navigation capabilities. Personally I have the VFR charts for most of Europe running on a tablet and during this difficult and potentially dangerous phase of flight I would refer to that. Obviously one tries to fly in the general direction in which one wants to be going, and on occasions this has resulted in me being in French airspace before picking up the IFR clearance from London Control 
On the way to land, you have to do the opposite. You are supposed to be VMC at/above the MSA (Germany has different rules, due to its IFR in Class G ban) but this is unenforceable. Where VMC at/above the MSA can’t be achieved, there is no really good solution other than to study the VFR charts for obstacles beforehand, plan a safe descent trajectory, and descend to some version of “local MSA” using the “real” VFR chart running as a moving map – a capability which most pilots don’t have because most moving map products have terrain depiction varying from useless to sparse.
In an N-reg, 91.175 prohibits descent below the MSA except on a published IAP. In a G-reg, DIY approaches are legal – certainly in UK airspace – and there is no MDA specified
In the case of North Weald, if I was doing it, I would plan a descent trajectory based on the MSA (highest obstacle within 5nm of the track, plus 1000ft) rather than designing a proper DIY IAP complete with the missed approach etc – because IMHO any DIY IAP needs to be tested in VMC first and then you need to be sure nobody else will fly the plane and mess with the user waypoints (yes it has happened). Then have a Plan B which is to descend over the sea and fly in under the cloud – that is a significant detour but at least you will be visual allthe way. In the UK you need to be 500ft above any man made object when enroute, which is really very low.
If the cloudbase is significantly below 1000ft then you should scrap the flight and go into e.g. Cambridge and get transport from there.
Ok, got it.
I think the problem in understanding this is just that we Germans attach too much to the term “IFR” because it always includes separation, obstacle clearance and mostly radar contact here. This kind of IFR in UK outside controlled airspace seems to be just VFR in IMC conditions (our illegal VIFR).
Yes, but it is fine. The UK has had no known mid-airs in Class G, since WW2.
Once you get over the “emotional” aspect of this, it is no problem
The high (and dangerous) traffic density is in
Some fly-ins get absolutely comical. I recall going into the Sywell show in 2013 and while I was on long final, just below the ~ 1000ft cloudbase, I saw 3 or 4 contacts on TCAS, just above me, descending in IMC obviously on the GPS “long final” track. I would have been very close to some of them once they descended into VMC and IMHO no way could we all have landed on the same runway. Luckily I was able to add a bit of power and got ahead of them and landed. So I don’t normally do “events” at weekends – weekdays only.
Almost nobody flies at/above 3000ft, and even fewer people fly above clouds in any circumstances.
because it always includes separation
I think that is an illusion, unless you mandate Mode C/S transponders for all. Here in the UK, if ATC provided separation against Mode A or non-TXP traffic, they would send you all over the sky – it would be useless and most of the time unworkable to the separation rules.
Here you have always separation as you are at least in E (IFR from IFR).
It must be an illusion since you can have non-radio and non-transponder traffic in Class E.
Non participating traffic in Class E is supposed to be in VMC, but that doesn’t mean you will see it. Some 90% of traffic is never seen.
