I have found that the more capable an aircraft you have, the more the VFR despatch rate approaches the IFR despatch rate.
The main reason it never “gets there” is because so many ATC units operate strange airspace access policies.
I could have never done my long VFR trips in a C150. I would have made three stops for every one I actually wanted to make, and yes then the journey becomes your destination. It’s a very personal thing, and many people love that sort of “grass roots” flying but it has never interested me. I always wanted to do a scenic trip but from A to B where B is the desired destination.
So even if I lost the IFR capability I woul still keep the TB20 because it’s such a brilliant long distance VFR machine. Of course, being a superb IFR machine, it’s also great for illegal VFR, which one isn’t supposed to say but it is just a reflection of Europe’s crazy airspace management.
Having an IR is not a perfect solution. You are still limited by icing, convective wx, etc, and while all this can be addressed it is yet more money..
For every day in which you plan to fly, you need at least one day spare. Either for unexpected weather or against the case of failure, either of the plane or the pilot.
I agree about the weather and disagree about the failure. I plan buffer days around the beginning and end of flying trips for weather – but not for a A/C failure or self incapacitation. Say I planned a trip with the car – I wouldn’t plan any contingency because weather wouldn’t be a factor. I would not have buffer days for any sort of failure – which obviously MAY occur, but it is much less likely to happen than bad WX and if it happens, it will have to be dealt with – even if no buffer days had been planned.
There is no way (north of the Alps) that you will have 5 consecutive days of CAVOK in the same general area.
Apart from last week? Which also happened to be my first 5 consecutive days of flying this year. Lucky shot.
Having my own plane
I’d say availability of an airplane for several days. It does not have to be ownership. Availability has yet to become an issue for me to consider ownership.
Be flexible and open minded.
+1 to make that the number one factor. If you look at it from Peter’s “A-B” perspective, I’d say IFR is the way to go. If you regard flying as an adventure/hobby/past-time/“let’s-see-where-it-takes-me”/“journey-is-the-destination” kind of thing, VFR is great.
Flexible and open minded-tick. Capable aeroplane-tick. Pilot experienced in both IFR and VFR long trips- double tick. Pre planning-tick.
Put all of the above together then these trips can be wonderful. I think it would surprise many how few pilots actually do this. I would add one other point. If taking the family or friends, send the baggage Fed Ex. Keep the plane as spacious, and fueled as possible.
send the baggage Fed Ex
And then you fly to Poland with your luggage waiting to be picked up in Bordeaux. 
Yes, well.
Better than flying Sabena to Sicily, who managed to lose every item of luggage we had. Us with the six month old. They went bust before they even attempted to look for it. Holiday from hell that one……
Willing to fly VFR in marginal VFR conditions / to fly SVFR in control zones.
SVFR is not possible in a lot of places however. Given that VFR into IMC still accounts for a large number of accidents every year, encouraging people to fly in marginal conditions they are not ready for is a highly dangerous suggestion.
I’ve seen people get frustrated with VFR touring whose expectations regarding weather were just too high and untealistic. There is no way (north of the Alps) that you will have 5 consecutive days of CAVOK in the same general area.
VFR in the area around the alps is not suitable for any planned travel. This may well be very different in the flatlands further north, it is different south of the Alps, but in central Europe, the chance of coinciding suitable weather at a given time for a given route is unrealistic. And that is for flyable, not CAVOK. These periods do happen, but they are few and far between. In fact we are just having one now and last week, but it won’t last.
For every day in which you plan to fly, you need at least one day spare. Either for unexpected weather or against the case of failure, either of the plane or the pilot.
For the weather I agree, most of the time more than one day.Realistically, if you want to do a one week trip, you need 3 days before and after as a buffer. So two weeks vaccation to go flying for one week has a reasonable success rate. Whether one is willing to sacrifice scarce vaccation time for this kind of thing is another matter.
Having my own plane
Yes. Clubs rules usually are such, that they actively discourage actual travelling, unless you want to reserve the plane for much longer than you need it and pay up for the unused days.
If you look at it from Peter’s “A-B” perspective, I’d say IFR is the way to go.
I agree. VFR while travelling is really only suitable to get in and out of non-ifr places, not for serious enroute travel. Once you have crossed the big granite heap, this changes however.
I recently learnt that one of my colleagues keeps his VFR plane south of the alps and at an airport reachable by airline from his homebase and flies from there. In Summer, he basically has a zero cancellation rate, in Winter somewhere around 50%. I can see where he is coming from though.
SVFR is not possible in a lot of places however. Given that VFR into IMC still accounts for a large number of accidents every year, encouraging people to fly in marginal conditions they are not ready for is a highly dangerous suggestion.
SVFR does not necessarily mean marginal. 1200 ft cloudbase and 50 km visibility would mean SVFR, but is perfectly fine even for a novice PPL.
I agree with Bosco. It is much more dangerous to be a fair weather pilot who will eventually end up in bad weather – than to practice VFR flying close to the minimum. The trick is to know your limits and to do a 180 in time when you get to that limit.
Actually I think that it can be very safe to fly in marginal conditions, if you have good situational awareness and always a plan out. If you plan to fly on sunny days only – good luck. I would not have flown very far in those 22 years …
To me the main difference was the ability to fly VFR on top, knowing that I have VFR conditions at my destination, or at least the possibility to get below the clouds safely close to my destination. Once you are comfortabel with VFR on top it’s the best way to fly for most longer flights in my opinion. Better visibility, less traffic, more sun, a lot of time in case of engine failure.
I will fly VFR with a ceiling of 800 ft is the visibility is 10 km … and I will fly with a visibility of 3 km if the ceiling is 5000 ft. I will not fly if the vis is 1.5 km and the ceiling 800 ft.
Yes; I missed off “easy navigation” from my list 
Without GPS I would have never bothered with flying in the first place. Too much hard work, too easy to screw up and get into trouble.
So, easy to guess that I was happy to finish the PPL training and get away from that whole scene
When I did my PPL in 1994 the first expensive gadget I bought (the airplane I got for free, it was in the family :-)), was a GARMIN 95XL (€ 1500). While it was really worlds away from the Cirrus’ glass cockpit it provided all i needed: a route and a bearing and track to the next WP and the ground speed plus a CDI.
My first longer VFR trip was from EDML (Landshut) to Mali Losinj, and I think I prepared the 2:30 flight for one week. In the end I could have flown it with a GPS … When I got out of that plane in LDLO i felt like Lindbergh :-)
I have never done a long cross country without GPS!
