Peter wrote:
The wider issue is that I am pretty convinced that both French and Swiss ATC are scared of calling up their “military” unless they absolutely have to.Delta is actually the right contact person to ask for airspace C crossings. They can directly coordinate with the military, which Swiss Radar might not do so much. Swiss Radar in general is de facto an IFR-only frequency and they’re not quite interested in handling special non-IFR requests. Geneva or Zurich Delta is however trained to deal with the military all the time, think of parachute jumping activities, gliders, sightseeing flights, high VFR-traffic etc. The chances to get a clearance during MIL ON times are however 50/50. If you get denied, Delta often says something like: “I’m very sorry, but the military denied your request.” During MIL OFF times however, the chances to get a clearance are significantly higher, but there is also less need to ask for permission with a lower limit of FL150.
I am fairly sure (I do have the whole mp3 so can check) that all the radio calls concerning that bit of the flight are in the video.
In practice, several Swiss pilots just don’t ask for permission during MIL ON times for some sightseeing turns around the Matterhorn at FL140 or so. According to insiders, the Swiss military doesn’t seem to bother so much about little airspace infringements above Zermatt, so many will get away with it. To make this practice officially legal, some Swiss flying associations applied for a 24/7 lower limit of FL150 around Zermatt. This was unfortunately rejected. And personally, I would not trust those pilots how claim “there will be no issue”, as the Swiss authorities have some very nasty fines.
Do you mean flying below FL130 and “popping up to FL140-150” around the Matterhorn?
I recall flying with a “Swiss banker” out of Wangen Lachen in 2004 and we went near the Matterhorn, and we were around 13500ft which is close to FL130. He was doing all the “nav” and all the radio, while I was shooting off a few rolls of 35mm film 
Those were the days, with LSPV having “exit customs”, done with a fax to Zurich, laboriously transmitted with Winfax driving a Nokia 6210 phone, hung up high on a window at the LSPV clubhouse. In many ways, GA is a lot easier now.
I didn’t hear you try to ask again for FL150.
Didn’t INFO (what you mean by “Delta” I guess – the unit which evidently didn’t have my flight plan or other details) tell me to stay at FL160?
EDIT: going through the Alps bit again, at 12:38 she tells me I am OK VFR but have to be at FL160. The handover to “Geneva Delta” is at 13:12. Around 14:00 they specifically tell me to maintain FL160 again. No mention of any other possibility, so I would not have asked again, having got nowhere with the previous unit.
So much philosophy, bureaucracy and complications about something that should be pretty simple. Obviously, weather conditions, navigation and flying itself are easier parts of such trip…
Peter wrote:
Do you mean flying below FL130 and “popping up to FL140-150” around the Matterhorn?Exactly.
Didn’t INFO (what you mean by “Delta” I guess – the unit which evidently didn’t have my flight plan or other details) tell me to stay at FL160?Information and Delta are two different stations. While Information is a FIS-unit (served by a real ATCO btw.), Delta is a ATC-unit, exclusively for VFR in CAS. They both don’t have any flight plans directly popping up. They need to search for it, so it’s faster to pass your details.
So much philosophy, bureaucracy and complications about something that should be pretty simple.I agree. Croatian ATC is much easier to deal with.
Why does Switzerland have an air force?
On a separate note, I guess it’s quite hard to manage military airspace for fast jets in a country that size. You have to basically block it all out at a given level, because by the time a fast jet is established in the cruise it needs to turn around…
Graham wrote:
Why does Switzerland have an air force?
Really ???!!
@T28 wrote:
What is useless is blaming ATC, posters, the EU, Switzerland and I might be missing a few for your failure to understand a simple VFR airspace map that says the same thing you’ve been told – from time XX:xx to YY:yy the airspace is controlled and while VFR is allowed in controlled airspace the “allowed” part is contingent on clearance which may or may not be given.
According to the information that Mooney_Driver showed and which appears to come from an official source, airspace between FL130-FL150 should not have been controlled at the time Peter was there.
What does he (and I, and other people) fail to understand?
Indeed, and the more basic point is that ATC should not refuse CAS access unless there is conflicting traffic (but we all know they they frequently do exactly that, in general, as a “unit policy” matter).
That DABS website appears to be practically useless. For example, if you get enroute notams, they should show all activity affecting you, except activity notified since you check the notams.
Just a quick update on this trip…
An easy 1hr flight from Mali Losinj to Brac
Brac was non-towered so it was “transmit blind” and pilots talking to each other. I don’t think people in Europe are too used to that I ended up orbiting around the 03 extended centreline while trying to extra info on how many were waiting to depart. In the end agreement was reached – these are videos from the HD video camera as I left the DSLR in the plane so don’t have the pics from it (and I use it for all in-flight pics)
This shows Split airport
Above Bol
Emir arriving
From the highest point on the island
Looking towards Hvar and in the distance Vis
Walked (hard walk) to the monastery at Blaca; built partly into a cave
This town (forgot the name) is mostly abandoned
Probably a hornet’s nest. I put some 100LL on it and set fire to it and ran off really fast (only kidding)
Now relocated to Mali Losinj, for a shorter run back to the UK (Brac to UK needs basically no headwind) and sitting here until the wx improves. Over the Alps and N of there it is really convective
I could raise funds by taking bets on when I will get back
FR24 picked me up only on the last bit to LDLO. Evidently in Croatia not many people have set up the receivers
There was an inbound SR22 and ATC just gave me an orbit for photos, 1000ft above the town. Can you imagine that anywhere else? Well, I did it at 2000ft; pics to come later.
Tomorrow, Saturday, looks probably OK via S France but with some risk of being detailed there if any of a number of things don’t work out.
Sunday looks more doable, on windy.com, with a 0600UTC start at LDLO
The forecast for Sunday has been looking consistent for last few days
I have to do this before flying back, over a video link, but their website for booking the video session is broken, partly with circular menus and, for support, due to a duff recaptcha
The final joke is where this test kit comes from – from the same bunch who gave us this bloody pox in the first place!
I think the problem is this: when you order these tests, it asks you the dates of the airline flights, and if you try to use the kit too early or too late, it doesn’t work. So basically this stuff is a pile of crap and completely useless for GA travel. Max fine is £500 which is same as the avgas burnt I made screenshots of course and will put a lawyer on it if they try to extort the £500 from me. I can do the test myself and just take a pic of it.
Then quarantine… 10 days, or 5 days with two PCR tests. The UK is totally disregarding vaccination status, for all purposes, as a nod to the ultra-PC/equality lobby which has aligned itself with the opposition parties, in the usual way.
The passenger locator form is great
Peter wrote:
The passenger locator form is great
UK PLF is great. (Even if not made for GA/BA travel)
Just tried the new one witch will be deploy for EU countries (Italy made it mandatory) and it’s a pain in the a..
