SkyDemon filing has certainly worked for me doing UK-EHxx VFR-only three times in the last fifteen months although the last time was in May.
Thanks all for the info and help (Sebastian_H, thanks for mentioning homebriefing.nl, which is what I was looking for; Peter Mundy, thank you for your kind offer too !)
I should have specified that I’m looking to file Z but the issue is if you start VFR in NL (which I have to from Lelystaad).
I had a similar issue last month filing EHLE→LDSB which were both basically insisting on VFR at both ends. I ended up with a V flightplan from Autorouter that had a large IFR section in it.
When I filed it via EuroGA, it was initally accepted then I got an email from Lelystad saying it had to be Z if I had any IFR element in it.
I ended up fudging the flight plan to Z hoping that Brac would not object even though they were uncontrolled at the ETA, and the flightplan went through.
It did seem odd at the time, but I guess it is one of those cases that Eurocontrol cannot cope with the validation unless there is a recognised element of IFR inside it. For the V plan the addressing it gets sent to is all manual and does not go through the normal IFR portal.
E
eal wrote:
I ended up fudging the flight plan to Z hoping that Brac would not object even though they were uncontrolled at the ETA, and the flightplan went through.
Why didn’t you change back to VFR at the end if that worried you?
Due to EHLE only accepting a Z flight plan, so it could not end in VFR officially. At the end of the day during the actual flight I had to cancel IFR as per Brac’s uncontrolled arrival procedure so in practice that is exactly what happened, but Eurocontrol filing is all about getting it accepted as valid by a machine before you are allowed to take off.
I was only worried about not having the flight plan accepted into the system.
E
AFAIK, IIRC, you can file “I” in or out of Brac, without Eurocontrol validation problems. It is just that on the way in, ATC prompt you to cancel IFR, and on the way out it is self evidently a “UK style IFR but without any clearance i.e. VFR” type of thing
Sounds like with Lelystad they have got Eurocontrol to enforce it. Some countries do that. There is a post there which disagrees with my recollection for Brac, FWIW.
AFAIK, IIRC, you can file “I” in or out of Brac, without Eurocontrol validation problems
Yes, but Crocontrol will then reject it and either advise you or change it to a VFR ending by themselves.
I had the same at LESB last month where Palma Control was very excited about my I flightplan. They changed it to Y.
eal wrote:
Due to EHLE only accepting a Z flight plan, so it could not end in VFR officially.
Yes, it can!
If you have VFR departure, IFR section and VFR arrival, it’s still Z plan rather than V.
I have registered on homebriefing.nl, but it’s still not validated my login; I’ve just received the following :
You have registered for the service of homebriefing.nl, belonging to the Dutch ATS reporting office.Somewhat reassuring, as a Frenchman, to see other European bureaucracies can sometimes match our level of circular absurdity.