Hi all
Having not been for a few years, I see the STARs into LFAT have been withdrawn (ref: French eAIP, NAVblue). Autorouter still offers IFR routings from the north of the UK with LYD or DVR as endpoints, as if the STARs are still there.
Looking for suggestions on what to file for those flights which have to be weatherproof and, thus, IFR from start to finish. Has anyone got any tips? I can’t seem to find anything else that will validate (have tried RINTI DCT BNE DCT, filing DCT TUKVI, etc)
Thanks in advance.
In theory, no STAR means you just don’t file a STAR, but a DCT from a “nearby enough” point. They removed the STARs, but they forgot to remove the RAD limiting DCT to 0nmi (that is, forbidding DCT arrivals)! <facepalm>
LYD and DVR work because of rule EG2369 which says you have to either:
Rule LF5276 also says that between FL115 and FL265, you can arrive NURMO DCT DUPER
The STARs seem to have disappeared from the AIP, but they seem to still be in the Eurocontrol database. E.g. for an arrival from the southeast “ABB1B” still validates. Double <facepalm> The other ones seem to be BNE1B, DVR1B and LYD1B.
I get the impression that nobody cares about the contents of the AIP any more… The Eurocontrol database rules the world of (European IFR) aviation, and that’s it. The “highly detailed person” that I am, I had a discussion with the Eurocontrol help desk telling them that the AIP AD2 had an explicit instruction on what departure I should file, and the RAD database forbade that, so I had a problem because they forced me to violate the AIP restriction. They were just “no, the RAD rule is correct, there is a comment explaining why it is there, you found another route that validates and that’s what is intended”. But the route that validated against the Eurocontrol database was forbidden by the AIP, since it requires specifically another route to the exclusion of any other. <banging head against wall>
Thanks, Lionel. Very helpful and interesting.
That was exactly my problem – trying the usual procedure of DCTs to an off-airways airfield just yielded an abundance of DCT RAD violations. I think we’re quite similar in expecting things to be ‘joined up’. Perhaps it’s too much to ask from Eurocontrol in the 21st century. ;-)
Coincidentally, we have a similar problem at my home airfield to your routing dilemma. The AD entry in the AIP directs traffic wishing to join the airways toward a particular reporting point close to a nearby airport. However, the Standard Route Document prescribes a different routing. Pointing this out to the CAA yielded only stony silence. (They responded to the other two questions in my email, though.)
When I fly to LFAT, and the wx may be sub-VFR (which happens quite often, in the sense of cloud at say 800ft; too low for a circuit) then I want to arrive IFR, because then I can call up Lille and they vector me for the ILS, or the RNAV. VFR, you can go straight from EGKA to LFAT tower.
So I file EGKA SFD LYD LFAT 5000ft which is OCAS, so it validates, and the French are 100% happy with it as IFR even though you turn up on 7000 (they give you a proper code). They don’t need a handover from the “gold plated UK owner of all IFR air” (London Control) to treat you as IFR.
On the way back, filed for 5000ft, you get the LYDx SID and when you are in UK airspace they hand you over to “London 124.6” which is the silent termination of your IFR clearance, for for all practical purposes a dump of your flight plan, so you are now VFR traffic. But at 5000ft nobody cares if you are in IMC – like this.
Same if going to the Channel Islands. I am doing that tomorrow, 5000ft again.
I filed & flew these from Stapleford or Damyns Hall, they still validate now, you can fly DCT or STAR zero difference
EGML N0145F080 LYD LYD1B LFAT
EGSG N0145F080 LYD LYD1B LFAT
EGML N0145F090 LYD LFAT
EGSG N0145F090 LYD LFAT
You are expected to talk to Thames Radar to join at DET 4kft, LTC to FL80, Lille, LeTouquet
In the other hand, you can file OCAS (whatever VFR or IFR in AFTN or IFPS) and just ask Lille on first contact for IFR switch to RV/RNP+ILS13 or RNP31 and you will get is (it’s not in your flight plan anyway)
On the way back, filed for 5000ft, you get the LYDx SID and when you are in UK airspace they hand you over to “London 124.6” which is the silent termination of your IFR clearance, for for all practical purposes a dump of your flight plan, so you are now VFR traffic. But at 5000ft nobody cares if you are in IMC – like this.
You will be surprise that things get slaughtered on outbound legs as well, if you drop IFR OCAS bellow Alpha and dared to speak to London Info 124.6, then after you speak straight to LeTouquet tower, they will ask you “vous êtes passez VFR” (have you cancelled IFR?), “a priori non, on peut avoir une ILS?” (not that I am aware but I wanted an ILS?), and all gets sorted easily 
if you speak to Lille, they will sort you out on new squawk (not Eurocontrol one) and clearance without saying much about what happened in the back end 
Ibra wrote:
EGML N0145F080 LYD LYD1B LFAT
EGSG N0145F080 LYD LYD1B LFAT
Hm. LYD1B – it is not in the AIP.
There are no official STARs, apparently.
