Unlikely, but this seems as good a place as any to start

I understand that Europe is not just one place, which is part of what makes it intimidating

That is true but at the same time this is what makes it interesting. You fly for two hours and the place is totally different.

Flying to the Bahamas

I have that also but I fear the European version would be so heavy you could not carry it in the plane ;-)

C and D the same way we treat class B – you need to hear "Cleared into the . The big question for me would be ‘how often is it refused?’

It depends on the airspace. For example over Berlin most crossings will be possible while over Frankfurt you have basically no chance to get in there.

IFR flight plan where appropriate

That is the best way to do it. Unsure about French airspace? just file IFR. If travelling over multiple countries it is just so much easier. And if you have a scenic place to see you can still cancel for a low level sight seeing section.

veto the whole thing if it doesn’t include Italy

Italy is no problem. AVGAS might be hard to get or expensive but if you have enough range you can fuel up in France. The airspace is a little difficult but again just file IFR an it is rather straight forward.

would you rather have an engine that was closing in on or slightly beyond TBO, or a nice new one

I take the old one but beware the real risk on the crossing is not engine failure. Sure it can happen but running out of fuel, crashing in a mountain on Greenland, bad weather in Iceland, icing etc. is much more dangerous.

There are plenty of routes here where VFR winds up being better than IFR

Only if you have a specific objective e.g.

• flying low level generally (has its uses e.g. you can fly under really bad weather )
• flying very low above the Alps without oxygen
• low level sightseeing (including mountain shots, well below MEA obviously)
• flying a route which is OCAS and cannot be filed IFR

I have for a long time planned to do a “UK to Greece nonstop” flight (Lydd to Corfu, of course ) and would try to do some of it VFR because it would save about 50nm (5%) but you never know if you will get ATC trouble doing that (unless really fully OCAS).

I have not flown VFR across Europe since I got the FAA IR in 2006 – except rare sighteeing legs like here

There is a neat one for France (in French…)

What’s the name of that, thanks ?

Petit Futé “La France en avion”.

Merçi Shorrick

Can you give us some more specifics about you and your plane? Example, how long have you had your IFR rating? What type of flying you do? Are you turbocharged? Range? How much time you intend to take off? Is it a R/T? Which countries are you looking to visit?

If I tell you it will cost you $30 K are you still interested?

Re the original question. I’m sure you have already found a few sites on the web covering aspects of this. Beware rules have been changing a lot recently, and there are various differences between countries.

This is mostly about the transatlatic trip but also has a “What’s the difference” section on some things to expect in Europe.
It’s a bit outdated in some respects, eg quoting the standard VFR squawk in Germany as 0021/0022 which was replaced by standard 7000 in 2007.

I’m sure I’ve read others but can’t find a suitable link to offer.