The plane looks lonely now!
Thread resurrection time :)
The link to the VFR arrival might need a refresh and I see the thread suggests Mannheim as an IFR alternate?
Any forumites based at Egelsbach?
Still „partially“ based at EDFE myself.
VFR approach charts are now available for free here
Mannheim doesn‘t really work, as the airport has some weird restrictions for IFR operations.
Frankfurt area, with one if the busiest airports of Europe and a huge pilot population has no GA-usable IFR airport anywhere within 100km either direction.
RobertL18C wrote:
thread suggests Mannheim as an IFR alternate?
Not any more @RobertL18C To land IFR you have to fulfil some requirements that involves to make approaches with a local flight instructor.
You can use Mannheim for cloud breaking, IF you are able to cancel IFR during approach. However, as EDFE doesn’t have any instrument approach you need some option to go there. From Mannheim the terrain is very low, so you can stay very low until EDFE.
If you don’t mind to maybe hold a moment, you could ask for approach on EDDF, and cancel IFR during approach to continue to EDFE. Still the best options.
If ceiling is high enough you can also fly to Ried VOR (RID) and if I remember correctly minimum radar vectoring altitude should be 3000 feet.
But that’s about the options we have. Others are, like @boscomantico said, just farther away.
@Robert, as long as you are an FI (not necessarily with instrument privileges) you´re good to go to Mannheim. That´s how I read the regulations. It´s an easy airport too. The restrictions for IFR operations don´t get enforced anyway as far as I know and the people there are friendly.
I would file for Egelsbach ( going to the Frankfurt area) and use Mannheim as my alternate.
Vielen Dank Freundinnen :) still waiting on details but may visit EDFE next week, or possibly it may be Augsburg.
Plan was to file EDFE with Mannheim as an alternate. IFR takes me as far as TAU so hoping Frankfurt will vector me towards the EDFE VFR entry points. Last time in Frankfurt I remember they like you to fly decelerating ILS :) so busy.
I flew there three months ago and got great info from boscomantico before the flight. Weather was marginal, I approached from the west and Langen radar vectored me to almost over the RID VOR at 3000 ft before gently inquiring whether I saw the ground below me at which point I got the hint and canceled IFR. I believe MVA was 2500 ft for that sector. Apparently when the weather is nice they want you to cancel much earlier but it was no problem at all to stay with them as long as possible for this flight.
On departure you have no choice but to file Z if you want to fly IFR and you need specific initial waypoints as described on the airport website . If you use autorouter it happens automagically.
@Tango thank you, it is around 20 years since I last visited EDFE. However my destination is a bit of a moveable feast, I may be connecting with another pilot in Schleswig-Holstein. Cue Lord Palmerston ‘The Schleswig-Holstein question is so complicated, only three men in Europe have ever understood it. One was Prince Albert, who is dead. The second was a German professor who became mad. I am the third and I have forgotten all about it’ :)
